Huckleberries: After 24 years, they’re still dancing through life

You have to like a man who, after 24 years together, still considers his wife “smoking hot” and isn’t afraid to let others know. Obviously, Stu Cabe is still smitten by wife, Callie.

Their life together is an example of life imitating art. She was from Seattle. He was from Portland. They met on the stage of “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” performed by the Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre, a quarter century ago.

She was a bride. He was a brother. But he wasn’t her brother. The director matched the seven pairs by height. But the lines got blurred when Cupid’s arrow hit.

Both have big personalities. She has played gregarious, lovable Miss Adelaide in “Guys and Dolls.” He has performed in “The Full Monty.” On Thursday night, I met them both during the annual show tunes performance of the Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre at Riverstone Pond. She is a board member of the sponsoring Coeur d’Alene Arts & Culture Alliance. He is on the board of the Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre.

While Stu chatted with a couple nearby, Callie answered a question that has bugged me since the end of CST’s “The Full Monty.” Did Stu and the other nearly naked men in the play go “full Monty” as the lights went out on the final act? I was in the third row and couldn’t tell. It seemed so.

The short answer from Callie? Yes.

Worth the pain

You can take the boy out of the huckleberry patch but you can’t take the huckleberry patch out of the boy.

Retired 1st District Magistrate Don Swanstrom has been dealing with back pain. Also, he’s been dealing with a desire to go huckleberry picking.

So he went in search of the wily huckleberry. Found some. Picked. His back ached. He figured his back was going to hurt whether he stayed home and did nothing or whether he went out looking for berries. He concluded on Facebook: “I’d much rather be out looking for berries. Will do that again tomorrow.”

Huckleberries

Poet’s Corner: In Europe it was not thought odd/to conquer foreign lands for God./The error of those ways we see/and conquer lands for Liberty – “The Bard of Sherman Avenue: Poems by Tom Wobker” (“Foreign Policy”) … TeeHee Shirt: Message on the T-shirt worn by a Seasoned Citizen who was herding little ones at Third and Sherman during the lunch hour Wednesday: “My favorite people call me ‘Grandpa’ ” … Upon learning of the TeeHee shirt message, Sheriff Ben Wolfinger of Kootenai County commented: “I totally love being Grandpa” … Poll: More than 76 percent of my Huckleberries blog readers said it’s never OK to leave a dog in a hot car. Period … Landscape architect Jon Mueller will discuss his book on the history of Coeur d’Alene’s City Park at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Coeur d’Alene Library … Shoutout: On their 45th anniversary, Frank and Susan Baker of Hayden had only one complaint after they dined at Satay Bistro on Coeur d’Alene’s Fourth Street. Oh, the food was delicious, Susan says. The problem? They were too full afterward.

Parting shot

Kristi Jacobson Rietze of Coeur d’Alene remembers those hot summer nights as a kid when her family would pack up and go to Coeur d’Alene’s Wild Waters. For you newbies, the decaying Wild Waters site at Interstate 90 and U.S. Highway 95 was the go-to water park before Boulder Beach was a gleam in the eye of Silverwood’s Gary Norton. Sighs Kristi: “I miss Wild Waters.” She isn’t the only one.