The Pages Of Her Mind

Cynthia Taggart is on vacation and has turned the column over to readers. Today’s “Best Year” story is by Marilyn Roberge of Rathdrum.

Elvis sang of “memories tucked between the pages of my mind.” I like that picture: memories tucked away in a growing collection of photo albums. It’s such fun blowing away the dust and looking back.

Look. Here I am racing barefoot, laughing. Here comes my collie, my ever-vigilant guardian, kicking up dust devils as he cuts off my escape from the yard.

Here’s my first horse, the last of the cavalry horses from Fort George Wright.

Oh my, here I am the year I graduated from high school. What a peculiar hair-do. Here’s my first car, a backfiring beater, but all mine. And there is my first house. Pink, no less. It looks small in the picture, but it felt like a palace.

Here’s the year Dad died. So long ago and how much I still miss him.

Ah yes, this is the year my marriage to my high school sweetheart died. He turned out an even bigger jerk than my best friend always said he was. She saw what I completely missed.

Leafing back, I see there have been good years, bad years, fretful ones, hopeful ones and sorrowful years. Some years galloped past. Others limped painfully from tedium to agony and back.

Some years ended with a sigh of relief and others with a tear of regret. Yet, each year ended and the memories were frozen forever on the pages of an album.

With each new year comes a new album ready for the onslaught of trials, rewards and memories waiting to be created.

The new year ahead … that’s always my best year.

Shake your booty

Bounce out the old year and in the new with the Coeur d’Alene Marimba Ensemble at Sorensen Elementary tonight.

Nothing short of hot coals under the feet inspires the body to hop, leap and twist like the pounding African beat of the marimbas.

Last year’s New Year’s Eve marimba bash was a smashing success so the band decided to do it again.

The dancing is uninhibited. The drinks are soft. The fun is plentiful.

If you can’t keep up the pace all night, don’t worry.

Spokane’s Malidoma will take over the dancing while everyone else takes a breather.

Malidoma is an African drumming and dancing troupe.

Tickets are $5 in advance or $6 at the door. Dancing starts at 9 p.m.

If you’re in the neighborhood

Maybe you’re going to Boise to visit a legislator. Maybe you are a legislator.

Whatever your reason for being there, stop by the Statehouse and check out the Traditional Arts exhibit.

It includes knives by John Daniels from Plummer and beadwork by Margaret Stensgar from DeSmet. Both belong to the Coeur d’Alene Tribe.

The state arts commission gave John and Margaret money to teach their crafts to a younger generation.

Shakedown

Go ahead - eat, drink and then eat some more.

Then on Tuesday, register for the hip-hop dance class the Post Falls Arts Commission is offering on Jan. 27.

Come on, admit you’ve fantasized about performing in an MTV video.

Dancer Cynthia Hamilton will teach you what to do, as long as you’re at least 9 years old. Call 777-9ART.

Good guys

Idaho Public Television ended the year in good form. It donated new children’s books to food banks throughout the Panhandle, proving that TV - at least public TV - isn’t as useless to kids as some people say.

Maybe television would be better if it ran shows about North Idaho - “CDA, 83814” or “The Streets of Sandpoint.”

Sell me a sitcom or drama on your town (you never know - a vacationing producer may be reading). Pack it with action for Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene 83814; FAX to 765-7149; or call 765-7128.

, DataTimes