I met Terry Folsom today, he volunteers at the temple. His name was interesting to me. One of my best and earliest friends in life is Doug Folsom. We share the same birthday and have kept in touch all these years.
50 years ago Terry lived about 100 miles north of Spokane in a little trailer. He worked construction. His wife was expecting their first, and she told him to buy some land down in Spokane because she didn’t want to have the baby out in the boondocks so he drove down to Spokane, bought 6 acres, and moved the trailer there. They eventually built a house on the property and raised their family in it.
After doing some work in the temple I went to Thai Kitchen for lunch.
I like to try local restaurants and find out what makes them unique. This was a great one.
NO EXIT. NO SMOKING. NO TO-GO. As the sign says, they haven’t done to-go orders for 15 years. That kind of focus is effective. They focus on serving, and they are really good at it.
The guy who owns the place and serves, calls himself Uncle John.
He’s a character. He’s been doing this for 30 years and LOVES his work. He’s so friendly and happy. He walks with a bounce. He runs to get your food when it’s ready and is so pleased to bring it to you. When he serves your food he does it with flair and energy. It was beautiful to watch him serve and take care of people — the way he serves is a form of art.
Everyone in the place was happy and smiling. When I first saw the NO signs when walking in, I prejudged and thought I was in for a negative experience. Not so! If you are in Spokane and want to see service as an art, go visit Uncle John.
Uncle John: “You dine with me before?”
Me: “No I’m from Texas.”
Uncle John: “That’s long way! You try my curry, too much flooding in Texas.” Big smile. And the curry was delicious.
While walking around the temple I thought I’d try a little art photography. This picture seemed to frame up nicely.
And lest I leave out Emily’s cat, I’m including a picture I took yesterday. I was reading poems Emily wrote when she was 3 (well she dictated and Tiffany transcribed). Her cat Kitty jumped up on my lap and wanted to read along with me!
Maybe I should go into hand modeling with cat subjects?
Aerial video of the temple:
Loved your post. I love hole in the wall dining places too. Did you buy a drone?
Yes, I got a DJI Inspire 1 drone 🙂
http://www.dji.com/product/inspire-1
I love how you are trying the local fare and enjoying the whole ambience! You had me laughing out loud for real when you wrote about Kitty and being a hand model with cat subjects!
Damon, the aerial views of the temples are amazing! I am also enjoying learning about the people you meet and the places you eat at as well. I had been wondering if you still had ‘Kitty’ with you. She gave us quite a scare when you came to Modesto and we thought she had run away.
You don’t run into a Folsom every day. Terry must be a distant cousin. Nice post, thanks.
I agree with Shelby – Damon can totally work that cat / hand modeling job! Didn’t know you had such skills!