Life in Spokane

Last Friday is was 100 degrees hot here in Spokane. Of course, comparing it to Vegas, it didn't seem so bad, until my friend Amanda Halpin and I ended up sitting in the car at the grocery store for 15 minutes trying to get a package sealed with the really cheap tape we had just bought. People in Vegas know not to do such things. So after that we decided to go swimming. Amanda's grandma was one of the first residents on Liberty Lake outside Spokane, a short drive away. Amanda's dad came too, and her mom arrived later.

While we were still cooling off in the lake, a strong wind came through bringing dust and emptying the trees of dead leaves. After awhile we got out and sat on the lawn to read. Amanda's dad was reading a tourist magazine on Tennessee and he kept interjecting with descriptions of chapel/museums, restaurants that serve ribs, and panoramic pictures of the Smokey Mountains. The wind kept blowing.

Then we saw sheets of lightning on the other side of the lake. Amanda and I tried to stay outside, but the wind was pelting us with tree droppings to the point where we could barely open our eyes, so we went inside. That's when the rain started. I hadn't felt rain in so long that I opened the door and stuck my hand out; the wind tried to push the door into my arm, but a few drops landed on my palm. The temperature had dropped thirty degrees. Lightning switched on and off. After dinner, when the wind had died down and it was still sprinkling, Amanda, her dad, and I went out and watched the sky slowly clear in the East. The storm was over.

On the drive home everything seemed more colorful. We watched the sun set from the back porch of the Halpin house. Their backyard has a garden of tall, grassy flowers that attract humming birds and butterflies. They also have raspberry and blackberry bushes. It is too early for blackberries, but one cool evening we filled a big bowl of raspberries. The berries are sweet and the seeds get stuck in your teeth.

I have spent most of my days over the last two weeks very simply: reading a book on the back porch, swimming at the lake, talking to Amanda, eating dinner with her family at the kitchen table. It has been a beautiful retreat. Today we leave for Bend, Oregon where we will be bridesmaids in our friend's wedding.