Heaven Discovered... one day in North Idaho...

Today I discovered Heaven. It turns out, I stumbled upon it in North Idaho. Who knew?

The road to my destination.

It started when I woke this morning around 4. I went to bed the night before around 9. Nine is early for me, but since I'm presently living in a motor home and have only battery power for lights, bedtime comes early. After seven hours of sleep, I was ready to get up. I laid in bed waiting for anything I could call light. I got up when it was no longer pitch black. It was ten to five. 

I dressed, put on my last pair of clean jeans, climbed outside, pumped some water, made strong coffee and a very large bowl of oatmeal topped with crasins and walnuts. Breakfast done, I headed to the work-site. It was six o'clock.

The work-site.

The work-site is 50 yards north of the motor home, over a small wooded hill. The motor home is parked next to Dad's garden. The garden is located in the South East corner of my parent's 20 acre parcel, located just North of Sandpoint Idaho. As I approached the work-site, I spotted a deer. She looked up, showed me her white tail and casually strode into the woods. 

This summer, I'm helping my dad build a large building. I want to call it a barn. But in truth it's a very large shop. When finished it'll be 54 feet wide by 60 feet deep -- large enough to hold the tools from Dad's metal fabrication business.

We're just getting started on the project. This morning's task was to finish building the forms for the south foundation wall. Today, I worked alone, as Mom and Dad left for Seattle yesterday. Since this story is about Heaven, I'd like to say I faced trials and tribulations while finishing up this task. But in truth, it involved little more than wrestling with the last bit of re-bar and an encounter or two with Murphy's Law. Indeed, through much of the morning I was accompanied by a curious finch, who happily watched me work, flitting from post to post in search of bugs in the scrap lumber that comprised the forms.

The forms for the south foundation wall.

After a few hours of work, I was finished. I walked back to the motor home for a coffee break and a snack. After over-heating my coffee, I walked to the outhouse for a bathroom break, while my coffee cooled. Upon returning as I walked back to the garden, the sun broke through the clouds. The garden sparkled in a heavenly light. The sun shown off a billion drops of water from last night's rain. The apple blossoms shimmered white and pink. The soil, freshly tilled, was chocolate brown. The new transplants and sprouts shown verdant green. All around, the woods were dark green. The air was cool, crisp, and warm at once. I realized I was in Heaven.

The garden.

Fresh transplants.

Lilacs blooming in the garden.

The water pump.

I walked into the garden, broke off a handful of asparagus shoots. (I'm having trouble keeping up with the asparagus. The shoots in Dad's patch are coming up faster than I can eat them.) Returning to the motor home, I drank my coffee, ate my asparagus, and downed a thick slice of Mom's pistachio bread. It was all delicious.

When done, I reluctantly fired up the truck and headed to Aunt Eva's house. I need to borrow her wheelbarrow to pour concrete this afternoon. Eva lives a little more than 7 miles away. She's in her eighties. It turns out, Eva is an angel. She not only agreed to lend me her wheelbarrow, which she needs for her own purposes (think gardening this time of year). She also lent me her truck for the summer, a sweet ride in the form of a 1972 Ford pickup! Eva even went to the trouble and expense of getting it running again for me. She's also supplying the technology (electricity and Internet) to recharge my cellphone and communicate with the world.

My ride for the summer.

Well, my story is over. I discovered Heaven this morning and the experience continues. Nevertheless, the wheelbarrow and concrete await. After putting in a good effort on the south wall of the foundation, I'll knock off later this afternoon and head over to the Elmira Cafe, where I'll eat dinner and get my daily dose of North Idaho hospitality. My parents introduced me to these kind folks last week and they're already treating me like family. The food too is, you guessed it, heavenly. 

I suppose heaven means different things to different people. But for me, I found a little piece of it today, right here in North Idaho.

Here are a few more pictures of this special place....

The mist after a rain.

Asparagus from the garden.

The view from the outhouse.

Bending rebar.

Wiring rebar with Dad.

Dad mixing concrete.

Pouring concrete.

One sore working hand.

Cathie leveling and installing anchor bolts.

Atop the south foundation wall.

Snake grass in the aggregate pile.

A spectator.