Better Latte Than Never

One of Carol Voogd’s favorite things about fall is putting on jackets she hasn’t worn in months and discovering change in the pockets.

The other day she found enough to pay for a latte.

* The best thing about Spokane’s geographic isolation: “It’s too far for annoying relatives to drive for a visit.” — Steve Haynes

* Drink up: Seeing in a press release that Jerry Greenfield is going to speak at Gonzaga University next week reopened an old wound. (He’s the Jerry of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.)

But the fact that the Vermont dessert-makers ignored our idea for Grizzly Beary ice cream years ago is something we need to put behind us.

So we’re refocusing our attention on homemade apple cider.

Here are a dozen possible names for your own cider recipe. Feel free to use any of them. Just save us a sip.

1. Fall Back Elixir.

2. Dr. Marmot’s Magic Mash.

3. Inland Whoosh.

4. Black Cat Vinegar.

5. Volcanic Flush.

6. Spokane Valley Apple Insanity.

7. Green Bluff Blast.

8. Idaho Rocket Juice.

9. The Johnson Family Purgative.

10. Temporary Blindness Tonic.

11. Overthrust Belt.

12. Sip o’Somnia.

* A reader thinking about loneliness wondered: What eligible single person in the Spokane area has gone the most years without a date?

* Today’s special — coffee jitters: Tomas Lynch gets a kick out of signs promoting “Espresso shakes.”

He also smiled when he saw a sign outside a North Side car-cleaning place, “Hand Wash — $2.99.”

Lynch figured he’d wash his hands himself and save the three bucks.

* Slice answer: Pullman’s Linda Marler responded to our question about religiously-diverse families. “At my niece’s farewell in Boise, before she started Disciples of Christ seminary in Berkeley, were her Disciples of Christ mother and her dad who was reared LDS, two Catholic aunts with uncle and cousins, her Methodist grandparents, and her Jewish husband.”

* Here’s the deal: If you choose a street as the location for tossing a football, you don’t get to glare at drivers who have the temerity to interrupt your pass patterns.

* Warm-up questions: What’s your No. 1 voice-mail pet peeve? Where is the Spokane area’s most consistently ignored “No Dogs Allowed” sign?

* Today’s Slice question: What high-profile Spokane area personality would you like to see reproduced in Animal Cracker form so you could enjoy biting off the head?