As a family physician who spent the first 25 years of his career delivering babies, I know how surprising it can be when you expect to see your doctor, but an unfamiliar face walks through the door instead. If you’re a regular House Call reader, you might be thinking, “You’re not my doctor!”

Who says you can't stay home? It's a modification of the Bon Jovi hit, but the bottom line is that Jess Walter has enjoyed a great deal of success as a writer without leaving his hometown of Spokane. Here's a few fun facts about the East Valley High School alumnus.

My best friend from childhood loves Halloween. A decade ago, Nake (his real name is Dave, but when I was 4 years old, I gave him a nickname for life, since it's tattooed on his fingers) decided to get married in Las Vegas on All Hallows' Eve.

The cows got out again. Things like this happen from time to time when you live on a quasi-farm and don’t really have any idea what you’re doing (other occurrences: getting stuck in snow drifts and failing to realize that the pretty purple flowers growing in your front field are actually noxious weeds).

There comes a time in every person’s life when they just need to throw in the towel, put away the quinoa and hummus and hunker down with some good, old-fashioned junk food. With the weather turning colder, the days getting shorter and a pandemic still raging, I would suggest that time is now.

Before making swiss steak, I hadn’t a clue what it was. During a phone call with my mom, she brought up a dish that consisted of beef that was braised in a tomato gravy with onions. The way she nostalgically raved about its rich sauce and tender meat, I was intrigued and knew I had to give it a try.

Each year when the organizers of the One Heart Native Arts and Film Festival choose the theme for the event, they consider "What are the things that are resonating in the country today?" said executive director Josephine Keefe. This year it was the coronavirus pandemic, which Keefe said has hit Indian Country particularly hard.

For author and journalist Anne Helen Petersen, writing was not a career she consciously pursued from childhood, but it nonetheless came to her. Petersen will discuss her book, “Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation,” in a virtual gathering of the Northwest Passages Book Club at 7 p.m. Wednesday.

As my childhood friend Porky Pig says, “That’s all, folks.” I turned 65 this summer and have decided to retire while my wife and I are young and healthy enough to do some of the things that full-time medical practice for the last 40 years has not allowed.

Today, the Spokane Symphony celebrates its 75th anniversary. And, although this past year has been less than kind to the symphony, its members continue to draw hope from the countless other trials and tribulations over which they have triumphed during the previous 74.

It was a little more than two years ago, and I was looking at Twitter as all burned-out journalists are wont to do. I follow a cavalcade of accounts spanning the political and culinary spectrum, and if memory serves, a video of a calf appeared on my feed. It was happy and frolicking in a field of grass.

Her mood swing was as quick and surprising as retired basketball star Allen Iverson was in his prime when the NBA Hall of Famer executed his patented crossover move. "Hey, I just got a notification from NPR," my daughter Jillian said while smiling as she was expecting good news.

Our family returned to church last month for the first time since March. “March?” some of you might be saying. “Big deal. I only go to church on Christmas or if family is in town.” Ohhhhhhh no. The Dittos are church-going people. The only times I miss church are if I’ve just had a baby, or if I or one of my kids is sick.

From the time author and columnist Jim Kershner left high school, more than anything, he wanted to write in whatever style and on whatever subject he could. “It's a tough choice to make,” Kershner said, explaining the difficulty writers face in making a living by their work. But he was determined.

Everyone should have a handful of go-to appetizers for potlucks, parties, snacking or game days, and especially those that require minimal ingredients, pack big flavor and can be made in advance. Jalapeño poppers, with their kick of spice, are one of my favorite apps but are quite tedious to make.

When my son Milo begged to take a Spanish class over the summer, I thought there was a hidden camera and I was part of a reality-TV show. Forgive me for wondering what was going on since for Milo, books are akin to kryptonite. I've tried so often to find interesting tomes in his wheelhouse.

My husband Logan and oldest son George worked all afternoon cleaning out and organizing our garage one day this summer. This is not a pleasant job, as anyone who has ever wrangled unruly frisbees, toppled-over bikes, greasy lawn equipment and scattered kitty litter will attest.

Born and raised in Coeur d’Alene, author Michael Koep has been at various and concurrent times a poet, painter, fencing competitor, cliff-jumper and member of a rock band. Each of these hobbies, among others, has contributed to the wild, psychological adventure that is Koep’s fantasy series, “The Newirth Mythology.”

There are two foods that really make life worth living: chocolate and garlic. While I can’t grow my own chocolate, I certainly can cultivate garlic. It is really easy to grow, and the resulting crop enhances the flavors of so many savory dishes. Fall is the time to plant garlic.