Huckleberries: 3 blessings + family dinner = happy life
Bill Woolum awakens each morning with visions of silver linings dancing in his head — in triplicate.
Since November 2006, the retired college instructor has found “Three Beautiful Things” daily to spotlight on his blog, Kellogg Bloggin’ (Kelloggbloggin.blogspot.com).
Gonzaga basketball. Photography. Retirement. Beer. Books. Movies. Music. Episcopal worship experiences. Joys of teaching. Living back East. Moving back to Kellogg.
In 2017, he glimpsed a “grave beauty” in the death of his beloved mother, as grievous as it was.
The “Three Beautiful Things” feature has become “a very good habit,” Bill tells Huckleberries.
“It has helped shape my day-to-day attitude about my life and my habits of observation and contemplation,” Bill said. “The fact that I’m writing about these things first thing (almost) every morning sharpens my attention.”
Bill blogs under the pseudonym Raymond Pert, in honor of his father.
Raymond “Pert” Woolum toiled for three decades in Bunker Hill’s zinc plant, retiring in 1982 when the company shut. His mother, Mary, was an elementary school teacher who helped launch the Talented and Gifted program for Kellogg School District.
His mother’s failing health helped reunite Bill with his two sisters in Kellogg.
After teaching at Lane Community College in Eugene, Ore., and moving with wife, Debbie, to a Washington, D.C., suburb, Bill spent stretches of time visiting his ailing mother. Bill and Debbie now live in the family home, purchased in 1962. Sister Christy resides next door. Carol is five minutes away.
Their weekly family dinners provide regular fodder for Kellogg Bloggin’.
“Family dinner,” Bill said, “keeps us in close touch with each other, gives us a chance to try out different recipes, expands our cocktail possibilities, and (reminds us) that we are blessed to be living in Kellogg at the same time.”
The daily blogging doubles as a journal, especially as Bill ages and has “more and more days and years to lose track of.”
It’s also therapeutic.
Two years before he started Kellogg Bloggin’, Bill was diagnosed with a chronic liver disease. In 2015 he was placed on a transplant list. Two years ago, his kidney doctor was surprised that he wasn’t receiving dialysis. Or hadn’t received a transplant.
Bill believes his search for the positive in mundane things has improved his mental health and stabilized his kidneys. And who’s to say differently?
LOOSE MOOSE
For days, Gary Dagastine has suspected that the wind was wrecking the roof of a small shed on his Post Falls property. On Tuesday, he was examining the roof when he spotted the real culprit, towering over him about two feet away. A moose. Gary didn’t move although he felt his Fruit of the Looms might need changing. Slowly, he backed up. And then jumped over a 4-foot fence to get away. The moose simply stepped over the fence and lumbered across a field. Not only did the close encounter explain the roof damage, but also why Gary has been going through so much hay.
HUCKLEBERRIES
Poet’s Corner: Within this building you will see/small countless acts of bravery/and kindness shown to fellow man;/it teaches more than sermons can — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Cancer Clinic”).
Nature’s Poops: In northern Michigan, residents call them “snow turds.” Anne Marin of Hayden prefers the term “slurd” or “slush turd,” both of which describe the road grime that mixes with snow and freezes in your wheel well behind the mud flaps. “When it warms up just a little,” Anne says, “cars take happy little dumps all over town.”
Misery Loves Company: Local restaurateur Naomi Boutz was mortified when she walked into the men’s restroom of the Davenport Hotel Wednesday — in front of strangers. A woman pointed out her mistake. Naomi then hustled to a nearby coffee stand, where a barista had just busted a soda on herself. They swapped stories and laughed, comforted by each other’s faux pas.
A Hallmark Movie? My daughter-in-law, Miss Stephanie, says Mrs. O and I live in a “Hallmark Movie” town. And Kim Brown of Hayden agrees, with a caveat. Our area is beautiful, she says, when you’re looking at it from inside a cozy home, adding: “But the movies are never this cold!” She Facebooked this message after recent night temps dipped to single digits.
PARTING SHOT
Berni Dami, the long-time personal assistant and secretary for the late Duane Hagadone, is gone now. But the words she said for her Coeur d’Alene Press retirement story are worth repeating. In December 2016, at age 86, Berni retired 48 years to the day that she began working for Duane. Berni told reporter Maureen Dolan she never thought of quitting. Said Berni, “If you’re happy with your job and happy with your surroundings and happy with your employer, what else do you want?” Words to live by.
D.F. “Dave” Oliveria can be contacted at dfo@cdapress.com.
