Gift Certificate Doesn’t Last Long At Cda Galleries
The tiny salt-and-pepper shakers in the Phoenix Gallery’s exhibit case awaken Conda Mitchell’s appetite for silver. Her dark hair sweeps across her face as she bends for a closer look. The gallery owner rushes to her aid, key in hand.
One hundred and sixty-nine dollars. Conda smiles and shakes her head. Just as she had thought - the $100 gift certificate she had won last month in Coeur d’Alene’s Artwalk would cover a down payment on most items at the 11 participating galleries.
Conda eyes the Native American dolls and striking clown perched casually atop a showcase. They’d fit nicely into the Indian room in her Rockford Bay home.
But she’s in a Victorian frame of mind at the moment.
“I knew the minute they told me I’d won that I’d spend it here,” she says, walking purposefully into the perfumed world of The Hidden Cottage.
Nothing in the busy shop/gallery escapes Conda’s practiced eye. She’s 40-some and targets her buys with predatory instinct. She took up golf this year just to cut down on her shopping.
The sales clerks know her by name. They chat with her while she studies a foot-and-a-half tall Victorian angel statue, velvet purse, leather overnight bag. Good presents, she says.
Then she spies the straw hats.
They’re half-price. Conda looks like a mature Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm in the two hats she tries. She takes them both.
The walking sticks with ornate heads are an arms-length away. She seizes one with an antique glass doorknob head to add to her collection of 40, then scans the shop. The leather bags are half off. She can’t resist.
Her purchases total $200 after she throws in a third straw hat. Flushed with pleasure from her two-hour shopping workout, Conda hands the cashier her gift certificate and a check for the balance.
“Did the right person win or what?” the clerk says, smiling. “She knows her business.”
Senior class
It wasn’t enough for Ivan Hanson to serve on Coeur d’Alene’s City Council for six years or lead Coeur d’Alene’s Rotary Club in its many community projects. Ivan is 75 now and could kick back and relax. But he just keeps going and going.
Ivan is president of the Lake City Senior Center and Gov. Batt’s newest appointee to the Idaho Commission on Aging. He plans to keep other seniors as busy as he is.
The commission advises the governor, so if you have something to say, talk to the folks at Area Agency on Aging, 667-3179 or (800) 642-9099, and they’ll find Ivan for you.
They go the extra mile
Coeur d’Alene’s Kris Tiede believes she’s found some of the nicest people in Kootenai County in the motor vehicle registration department.
“They go the extra distance to make the hassles of licensing vehicles almost a pleasant experience,” Kris writes. “I always leave with a smile on my face.” And a lighter wallet…
Are there other friendly government-types out there?
A grave matter
Anne Nelson was in second grade at Hayden Lake Elementary when her parents told her President Franklin Roosevelt had died. She remembers everyone’s sad faces. But mostly, she remembers the bulldozer digging a big hole in front of school the next morning.
The hole was for a septic tank, but Anne thought the great man was coming to rest permanently in North Idaho. Every time she sees construction by the school, Anne remembers that day.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo
MEMO: What are some of your memories of school days in North Idaho? Spell them out for Cynthia Taggart, “Close to Home,” 608 Northwest Blvd., Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, 83814; fax them to 765-7149; or call 765-7128.