Summer wanes, wonderfully

Spokane listened to Lucinda Williams on Sunday night as she glided through a set of songs from a new album and belted out her tough tune about a worthless boyfriend.

Headlining a busy weekend across the Inland Northwest, Williams capped the penultimate day of Pig Out in the Park, helping the event draw its customary thousands.

With the weather cooling and children off to school, summer is nearing a close.

So residents took in the best. Many campgrounds were full, lakes teemed with boaters and trees laden with ripening peaches at Green Bluff orchards beckoned canners and pie-makers.

“It’s that time of year,” said Francis Hunt, of Eleven Acres farm at Green Bluff. “We hope people come out.”

Hikers, huckleberry pickers and kids with fishing poles shed worries of ominous-looking clouds Saturday and were rewarded with plenty of sunshine and postcard views of Stevens Lake near Lookout Pass.

The Spokane Symphony delighted the picnic crowd at Comstock Park on Monday, and the Coeur d’Alene Symphony Orchestra played in City Park.

Parents shopped for backpacks, pencils and last-minute school supplies for their youngsters. Today, children across the region will start a new grade at school. Some of their teachers spent Monday getting ready for the crush of students lining up outside grade schools.

The college football season began with all three big regional programs losing their games by a combined 121 points.

And the girls soccer team at Ferris High School busied itself with footwork drills and running. Tennis players of all ages filled the school’s courts on the sunny and cool Monday afternoon.