The Summer Routine

It's nearly August here in North Idaho. We've slipped into our summer routine - warm/hot and dry weather, lots of visitors, and communal evening meals. We had a relatively rainy spring and early summer - I've seen that once before, but I've never seen a wet August here. That sounds idyllic, but we get occasional smoke from forest fires and the grass fires (set deliberately by grass growers to stimulate new growth). The latter activity is increasingly controversial as the non agrarian population climbs.

This weekend Eli's brother Ivar with family and Eli's son Nik (maybe with friend) will show up. Then my youngest, Jim, will come up with me when I come back from a trip to Spokane. Eli's sister Brit and family are in and out of town, but will settle in for a while next week. They have their own place.

Daily activities vary from person to person, but mountain hikes and mountain biking are the rule. City Beach is a few minutes away so that is a common destination in the heat of the day. Although there a handful of decent restaurants offering waterfront ambience, the culinary talents of this 'organic' group are more than competitive; so we rarely go out to dinner.

Sandpoint's flavor is changing, now that it has been discovered and pushed by several national magazines and newspapers. Real estate prices have skyrocketed, property taxes have tagged along, an esthetically challenged "bypass" is in the works, large condo developments are invading relatively pristine waterfront, and newcomers abound. This was prophesied by the Eagles many years ago when Don Henley sang "call someplace Paradise, kiss it goodbye".

Richard
2005.07.28