Kenya – Memorable Trip, Lessons Learned
“So how was your trip to Africa?” people ask. There’s no short answer to that. Only a long one will do. We were a group of nine, sponsors of students at Caring Hearts High School in Kenya. We’d be there for ten days, staying in Nairobi and commuting to the school, where…
My Hardest Jobs Ever; What Were Yours?
A friend and I recently spent some time reminiscing about the hardest jobs we’d ever had. It brought back a lot of memories, most of them painful. The friend, Bob Hagar, lives in Missouri now but grew up in Council. His hardest job was working on a railroad section gang. “Second,” he said,…
Iconic Mardi Gras Ballroom Deserves to be Remembered
The director of the Greater Boise Auditorium District recently was quoted as saying that its purchase of the Mardi Gras Ballroom was “a fun opportunity” to stimulate transformational growth. Nothing was said about the fun the old ballroom brought to generations of Idahoans. The longtime Boise icon, located at 615 S. Ninth Street,…
State’s Natural Wonders Foster Idahoans’ Spirit of Independence, Friendliness, Generosity
As we celebrate 250 years of America’s independence, it’s natural for Idahoans to wonder how their state, and they themselves, fit into all that history. What is it about Idaho and Idahoans that’s special? What makes Idaho Idaho, and how does that affect those of us who live here? Part of what…
Growing Boise has ‘lost a lot, gained a lot’
It didn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone who has lived in Boise very long that it was recently named the number-one city people are moving to from other parts of the country. Boise, according to a recent analysis titled “America’s Most Magnetic Metros Ranked by 2026 Migration Demand,” is the…
Fifty-five Years of Helping People
One of the most memorable incidents of my junior high school years was of being saved. Not in a religious way; I was saved from what most likely would have been humiliation at best, a beating at worst. It happened one afternoon while I was walking home from school. I was partway down…
A Pillared House, a Time Capsule
We never know when moments from our past will return as if they’d happened yesterday. They can stop us in our tracks when we least expect it, sometimes simply by turning a corner. It happened to me on a walk through what I thought was an unfamiliar neighborhood. The winding route took me…
Vacation Blues: One Mishap After Another
To borrow a line from the movie Six Days, Seven Nights, I may have had all the vacations I can stand. Most people’s vacations are relaxing. The Woodwards’ tend to be, well, something other than that. A recent vacation in Mexico was typical. Our home away from home in Mexico was on…
Remembering Neil Sedaka – ‘A Genuinely Nice Man’
Singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka, who died last month at age 86, was a hit machine. He wrote songs for, among others, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Connie Francis, Tom Jones and the Carpenters, in addition to hits he wrote for himself. As seminal a figure as he was in pop music, however, I remember him mainly…
A Lifetime of Flying: ‘Every Time Feels Like the First Time’
Most of us early in life have little idea of what we want to do with our lives. In my teens, I hoped at one time or another to become a rock star, a famous author, an architect or an airline pilot. The airline pilot idea began with family dinners in the old…
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Tim Woodward 