Sibling Assignment # 78: An Awful Awful and D and D at the Brunswick Cafe

courtesy of Orange TV at Remember the Roxy which you can find here.


Silver Valley Girl gave the sibling assignment this week. "Pick a business in Kellogg where you used to "hang out" in junior high or high school and tell a story about an incident that happened at
this location that was really memorable." Soon you will find Raymond Pert's here and Silver Valley Girl's here.

I am going to break the rules a bit this week and talk about a place we would hang out in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho called The Brunswick Cafe. In high school we had pep club buses that traveled to games to cheer on our Kellogg Wildcats in football and basketball. Often the pep band also traveled on these long bus trips. I think back to those poor bus drivers during those years on those buses. We screamed, sang "Hey Jude", "99 Bottles of "Root" Beer on the Wall", and " I Think We're Alone Now" a hundred times a trip, and always yelled cheers for our hometown team. Probably all those bus drivers that are still with us are deaf!

It seems like we always stopped in Coeur d'Alene for a restaurant stop on every trip. I am sure we didn't do it every time, but we always stopped at the Brunswick Cafe. I don't know why that was the only place we stopped. It sure is a place I always remember. The big deal at the Brunswick was to order an Awful Awful. It was this big messy hamburger that had about everything on it. It was messy to eat and very filling, but we all ordered them with fries and Pepsi. If there are any of you out there that remember Awful Awfuls... it seems like they were more in the shape of a French Dip in a poor boy bun. I may have that part wrong. Let me know.

Many a late Friday or Saturday night during the early seventies this cafe was filled to the max with rooters from Kellogg High School. It actually seems like sometimes the team was there also sometimes. I always remember not spending all my money at the concession stand during the game so I could order that great Awful Awful.

The memorable incident that happened at The Brunswick Cafe was when I first learned about D and D. This stood for Dine and Dash. One late night some of us were getting ready to pay as we were heading out the door to find the bus again. Some girls from the bus just walked out. Once outside they were cracking up hysterically! When I left the cafe I reminded them they didn't pay. More explosive laughter as they screamed, "We just dined and dashed!"
That was my introduction to D and D and that night I was taken aback by my fellow pep club members. Thoughts raced through my head. They broke the law. It was such a risky act while traveling with a school group. It wasn't like them. I don't know how often they dined and dashed after that night, but the rest of the ride home that night I was bothered. I wondered if they would be caught. I thought the police might stop the bus going past the Rose Lake exit and come and arrest them. I don't think they ever gave it another thought except to brag it up on other trips.

To this day I have still never dined and dashed, but I do remember well how tasty those Awful Awfuls were during those stops that broke up our long, late night bus rides.

Photo Hunt: Family

" All things bright and beautiful

All creatures great and small
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all."
C. Alexander

Our family of animals gets along most of the time. They watch out for each other, comfort each other, tease each other,
and make room for each other when they sleep on vacation!
For other photo hunters using family go here.

The Journey

Last Saturday evening my friend BW was heading to a concert in a college town in southern Idaho with a friend. They were crossing the street at a crosswalk when a car hit them both, throwing them into the air. My friend BW suffered multiple injuries from the accident. Her friend didn't survive the accident. As BW lays in a hospital bed with a broken hip, leg, and ribs she is trying to manage the pain. She also struggles with the fogginess from the concussion. When she first woke up after the accident she was concerned about her dogs, the lesson plans for school, and her many obligations that are first and foremost in her life. She has had to let go and let her body and mind heal.

In the collection of poems Ten Poems to Change Your Life compiled by Roger Housden , the following poem reminded me of the journey ahead for BW. She is blessed to have a support system of colleagues, church members, and friends around her as she embarks on the journey of recovery.
My prayers are with you BW... keep up the fight!!

The Journey

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice --
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do --
determined to save
the only life you could save.
-Mary Oliver

Without a Map: Meredith Hall's Exploration of Family, Love, Loss, and Hope

I am continuing to explore memoir this fall as I add more titles to my Book Recommendation list for others. I highly recommend Without A Map by Meredith Hall. I can't remember when I first heard of the book. I think I read a review of it or saw it linked with another memoir I had read on Amazon. I then visited the U. of Idaho's bookstore and discovered Kim Barnes was using the memoir in her creative writing class. Barnes' body of work has inspired me since I first read Into the Wilderness: Coming of Age in Unknown Country. I picked up a copy of Without a Map when I returned home.

Hall was a teenager in the mid-sixties in a small town in New Hampshire when her life changed drastically as she learned she was pregnant at the age of sixteen. She began a slow, painful journey that started with Hall being expelled from school and shunned by her community. She moved in with her father and he forced her to stay inside the house during the pregnancy. If guests came she had to stay in her room. She was drugged when she gave birth as not to see the baby that was taken away for adoption. She navigated her life after pregnancy without a map. She had no family support, no direction, and drifted through the next part of her life trying to come to grips with depression, despair, and the loss of the child she was forced to give up.

As Hall put her words to paper the events were written with a clear, honest voice. I felt her loneliness, grief, and loss of purpose as I read. I believe when a writer pens a memoir it can be another step toward healing and understanding of life events. I was haunted by her despair as she walked country to country in the Middle East with little money or food. I was moved to tears when she met with her father years after the time she lived with him during the pregnancy. I admired her when she enrolled in college as a forty-year-old mother that wanted to learn, and think, and write.

That theme of loss is woven through the book as she remembers how old the baby would be at a certain month, dreams about his life, and pours her love into two other children she raises. The contrast between her sadness in the first part of the book and her joy in simple pleasures of rural living later gives the reader hope and displays Hall's courage and determination. I hope you add this book to your " must read" list.

“Meredith Hall’s story of loss, shame, and betrayal is also a story of joy, reconnection, and survival; each memory takes us deep to the marrow of sorrow and celebration. A work of extraordinary beauty and grace.”

—Kim Barnes, author of In the Wilderness: Coming of Age in Unknown Country

A Place Worth a Visit: Roosevelt Grove of Ancient Cedars

Part of the purpose of the road trip Saturday was to stop to hike and snap some photos at the Roosevelt Grove of Ancient Cedars. It is located by the Washington-Idaho state line about fourteen miles north of Nordman, Idaho close to Priest Lake. We went over the mountain road from Sullivan Lake which was definitely the scenic route!
The Roosevelt Grove of Ancient Cedars was visited by a forester in 1919. His analysis of the area showed that the trees averaged 800 years of age, while many exceeded 2000 years. On his recommendation, the area was set aside as a scenic area in honor of President Theodore Roosevelt in 1943. It has been a preserve ever since.
It was a quiet day at the grove. We were joined by a few other hikers. Here Annie and Shelby are trying to lead JEJ to the next viewpoint. Views of Granite Falls make the trip worthwhile as hikers move along the viewpoint trail from the upper grove.If you are in this area, it is worth a stop. There are lots of spots to stop and take pictures along the trail.This was our first time stopping in the fall and the area had a whole new beauty with the leaves turning and the weather much cooler. Moisture kept the moss along the sides of the hill green and lush.

Pear Mincemeat: A Keeper from the Recipe Box

A few years ago we had an overabundance of pears and searched for a new way of canning them. I came across the following recipe in my Ball Blue Book of canning recipes. I love mincemeat with fruit and spices, but not with real meat added. A pint of this mincemeat mixed with some tart apples makes a superb pie. Warmed up, it works as a yummy sauce over ice cream or pound cake. It is one of those recipes with lots of possibilities!

Pear Mincemeat
7 pounds Bartlett pears
1 lemon
2 pounds raisins
6 3/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon cloves
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon allspice
1 teaspoon ginger
1 cup vinegar

Wash, quarter, and core pears. Wash and cut lemon into quarters, removing seeds. Coarsely chop pears and lemon. Add remaining ingredients in a large saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil over medium heat; reduce heat; simmer 40 minutes. Ladle hot mincemeat into hot pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 25 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Yield: about 10 pints.