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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Love tops all the world’s splendors

D.F. Oliveria Staff writer

I want to talk about beauty to kick off this Thanksgiving Huckleberries. Or rather I want to introduce you to Berry Picker Toadman, who wrote a beautiful post to beauty in his Synaptic Disunion blog. He began by telling of the beauty he has seen: “I’ve stood at the edge of the Rift Valley in East Africa, and taken in the vastness of the plane below. I’ve stood on Kilimanjaro and watched the sun rise in the east over the Indian Ocean. … I’ve seen the terrifying beauty of an erupting volcano on the big island of Hawaii and walked on frozen lava flows.” He goes on to say that he’s seen the beauty of women, too: “I was stricken by the beauty of a girl in Kenya in 1990, an Ethiopian with small features and skin so dark and smooth that it was magnificent to behold.” But for Toadman nothing compares to a love that is true, real and dedicated. He closed his post by dedicating these wonderful lines to his wife: “For 15 years, I’ve been an imperfect lover to the love of my life. I’ve made mistakes, taken advantage, and taken for granted, what it is I have, right in my own home … a help mate … a beauty more wonderful than anything I’ve seen in all the world around me … a mother to my children and a wife to me. A woman who accepts me, faults, failures, mistakes, and all, for who I am … and more importantly, who I can be. I love her. … I always will.” Now, what – or make that who – are you thankful for?

‘Idaho’s’ True Meaning

Last week, I gave you columnist Steve Crump, who offered evidence for his claim that the name “Idaho” doesn’t mean anything. This week, I turn to former lawmaker Gary Ingram, who, with tongue firmly cheeked, sez it does. Take it away, Gary: “We old-timers see this topic come up again and again, so it must be explained once again to those who don’t know or can’t remember what they were taught. “IDAHO” is a name once found painted on a rock, deep in the mountains above the Salmon River. In a carefully hidden crevasse was a goat skin journal explaining that ee-da-how was an Indian term of a long-since-extinct tribe meaning “sun coming down the mountain.” In a series of sketches, it shows. The drawings, in sequence, depicted a view from a river bottom facing a mountain exposed to the East. As the sun rose higher and higher in the sky, the shadow from the eastern horizon moved steadily down the mountain. The final panel shows an astonished primate holding his hand on his forehead, pointing to the mountain and exclaiming, “EE-Da-hO. In subsequent translations it became simply ee-da-how. A tourist changed it to Idaho in 1933.” If you don’t believe Gary, some think it means: “I Do Anything Hagadone Orders.”

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: Land of the brave/and home of the free:/take off your shoes/and show your ID – The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“At The Airport”) … The toll from the tailgate parties in the parking lot for the UI/Boise State game in Moscow, according to the UI Argonaut? Five fights. Several cases of public urination. Several arrests for trespassing, disturbing the peace, and minor in possession and consumption. Damage to a vehicle in excess of $1,000. Otherwise, a good time was had by almost all Vandal fans – until the second half … You heard about that Boise soldier (Joshua Roach) who won $5,000 in a Henkel Corp. contest by saying he’d used duct tape to patch together the brake system of his vehicle in Iraq. Well, Berry Picker Cindy Hval, has a use for duct tape that’s almost as good: “I use it to join together errant sentences. It works great for the punctuationally challenged.” Works for me.

Parting shot

MSNBC polled 1,000 mayors throughout the country re: what they think Barack Obama’s top two priorities should be once he takes office. MSNBC received 205 responses from 48 states and Puerto Rico, including one from Idaho – from Post Falls Mayor Clay Larkin, to be specific. Clay, like many others, of course, zeroed in on the economic mess strangling the country as his top priority. His second suggestion didn’t receive much attention during the campaign – a National Transportation Plan. Clay: “This would include the federal government loosening the strings attached to federally funded infrastructure projects, as it lengthens out time on a project … is our worst enemy.” So many needs, so little money to meet them.