Brushes With Greatness

Being part of the rural, really rural, landscape has many drawbacks. Solitude and the ability to stick close to home are not what I would call a drawback, but many (many being most of the population) do not see the allure of being so far away from people of all sorts. Most likely the biggest shortfall of the more isolated lifestyle has to do with meals, going to the store for an item or ingredient is not an option and sometimes can be weeks out from getting any supply. Over the years I have learned to make do with whatever I have on hand and can usually skip by with a substitution or will simply forego whatever I had planed to make, bake or cook and fix something else until the missing ingredient can be procured, borrowed or left out of a recipe.

Even with the distance between me and most of humanity, I do still have interactions with celebrities or at least well-known individuals. It is those that stand out in a crowd that I am talking about.

One of those people is Grant McOmie. Grant is known far and wide by his voice and has been a regular on local TV stations for as long as I can remember, he did segments on the news several times a week. His claim to fame was his outdoor segments that turned into his own TV show, Grant’s Getaways featuring his sportsmanship in the Northwest and all the greatness it has to offer. His half-hour programs have been wonderful retrospectives of hiking, fishing, hunting, local lore, family time and enjoying the beauty around us and has written may books on the subjects that have been selling out for years. But Grant’s claim to fame doesn’t come from any of this notoriety, in my view, his amazingness comes from his time as teacher (he even taught my sister and her class) he tells many stories about his adventures during this part of his life.

Grant always keeps on the lookout for new and interesting things going on in the area and has now brushed up with another of those people who I consider to be great in her own right, Bonnie Shumaker. Grant had a chance to rub elbows with Bonnie who wrote to book High On The Saddle, he highlighted the book in one of his television segments.

This was a very down-played email from Bonnie announcing the segment;

To all my friends who I know enjoy the outdoors:   You are getting this link just for fun.  It is a segment of KGW TV’s “Grants Getaways” featuring Bonnie’s book “High on the Saddle” and a hike up the mountain.  Enjoy!  Grant’s Getaways: High on the Saddle | kgw.com

If you get the chance, please click the link so you can watch and listen to a couple of the people that I look up to especially when they are high on the mountain and even when they are down along the river.

And to Bonnie, thank you for sharing your love of the local area, the flora, fauna and friends that make life so rich.