She still prefers his company to anyone else’s

A look at life in North bend through the eyes of a local.

I hope you all survived the first storm of the winter. We had two

more trees just sort of lay down quietly in the yard. We have been talking

about taking them out, because they were mostly dead, but Mother Nature

beat us to it. The Mountain Man said they went down exactly where he

wanted them. Wasn’t that nice of Mother Nature? And I see the first snow is

on Mount Si and the peaks up toward the Pass. Winter is definitely on the way.

PPP

Did you all get out and vote this week? We vote absentee ballot

because it is more convenient. It is also nice to be able to hang up on all

those annoying people who call the last couple of days before every

election to remind you that their candidate

is the best. I don’t mind the real callers so much; it is the recorded or

electronic ones that bug me.

PPP

I spent an interesting two hours on Sunday as Clara the

Clairvoyant Chicken at the library Halloween Carnival. It is great fun telling the

kids’ fortunes. And if I do say so myself, I am a very good clucker. They

don’t always recognize you and are very wide-eyed when you know

their name! But Clara knows all and tells true. Of course, they are all going

to have wonderful lives, with many adventures.

I would especially like to thank all the volunteers, adults and kids,

who give of their time to make these programs possible. Without their help,

the library would not be able to do these fun projects. So thanks to Erin,

Holly, Thomas, Cody, Lauren, Lisa, Kelsey, Carol, Sandy, Amy and Faith

(the Tooth Fairies), Andy, Ann, Roseanne, Travis and his mom. I hope I

got everyone’s name right and that I didn’t forget anyone. If I did, please

forgive me and consider yourself warmly thanked. We couldn’t do it

without you.

PPP

I have discovered a great Web site that I wanted to pass on to you. It

is www.hungersite.com. Once each day, you can log on and donate free

food to a hungry person. Sponsors who pay to advertise on the site donate the

food. This is a legitimate enterprise. Up to nine sponsors will donate ¼ cup

of rice, maize or other staple food each for each person who logs on.

Every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger in the world, and three-fourths

are children under the age of 5. The site has a map of the world, and every

3.6 seconds, a country goes black. This signifies a death from hunger in

that country. I have never seen the USA go black.

Log on and donate, please. It costs you nothing but a few seconds of

your time. And if you can, do business with the sponsors. Encourage them to

keep on donating. There is a lot of information on the site that tells all

about the program.

PPP

The Mountain Man and I just celebrated our 24th wedding

anniversary. I was asked recently what the secret was to our long association. I gave

the standard answer of being too old to break in a new set of bad habits, but

it made me think. Why have we stayed together? I love the man,

obviously, even when he drives me crazy. But there must be more to it than that.

I finally came to the conclusion that it was because we took our

marriage vows literally. We have “loved, respected and cherished.” (I wouldn’t

let them use “obey.”) “In sickness and

in health” (seven operations, 12 hospitalizations and all the usual colds,

flu’s, and general maladies). “For richer,

for poorer.” (We tried poor, didn’t like it much, but we survived. I am still

waiting for rich.) “As long as we both shall live” is still being negotiated.

And most of all, we are friends as well as husband and wife. I still

prefer his company to anyone else’s. He tells me it is “more fun” if I

come along. We have our private jokes. We know what subjects to avoid,

unless we want to have a real good rip-roaring fight. And then we know

which buttons to push. We have adjusted to what the other one likes to do. (He

lets me read books on the boat, if the fishing is slow. I allow him deep

resigned sighs when I want to look at old cemeteries.) And he has never let me

down. He has been there for me in bad times; he has encouraged me in good. He

is my biggest fan. I hope that he could say the same about me.

His parents celebrated 55 years just before his dad died. My

parents will be celebrating 59 next month. And I discovered something about my

parents. When my dad looks at my mom, he doesn’t see the woman her

illness has reduced her to, he still sees the 16-year-old girl in typing class that he

fell in love with so long ago. And when my mother describes their

wedding, one of her clearest memories, she glows like the beautiful bride that

she was. That’s what I want for us, and I think we have a good start.

Please submit items for

North Bend Nuggets to

Pat Simpson at P.O. Box 857,

North Bend, WA 98045,

or by e-mail to patsimps@hotmail.com,

or drop them by the library.