Festive February

Chair One Flamingo basking under the 

palm (pine) tree

For many, February signifies chocolate, hearts and roses.  For me, it's that and more.  My birthday.  Super Bowl Sunday.  And now, after our first February in Whitefish, the crazy town-wide bash known as Winter Carnival.  Here's a re-cap of February's festivities.

ONE: Whitefish Winter Carnival

King Ullr and his Queen of the Snows, ably assisted by a Prime Minister and other members of the royal court, fete the town and its subjects each February, to commemorate the King protecting the village from a fierce band of snowmen called the Yetis.

(Internet)

(Seriously.  59 years ago, a dozen community leaders dreamed up this fairy tale to brighten the dull days of February.  And it is a BIG deal.)

This year, the King recruited Eddie the Eagle (a British skier who in 1988 became the first competitor since 1928 to represent Great Britain in Olympic ski jumping) to serve as Grand Marshal for the Carnival.  And so the 2018 Carnival theme of "Fly Like an Eagle" was born.  Of course, for Spousal Unit (being from the UK) this was something of an emotional event, to see his countrymen about town, starting with the Skijoring event.

(Internet)

Skijoring puts a skier behind horse and rider, holding onto a rope secured to the back of the saddle.  The skier then maneuvers a number of jumps and 'gates' on the ground (akin to slalom skiing).  At our particular event, the skier also had to snatch one or more rings from a pole along the course, depending on the level of the competitor.  The shortest time wins!

In true Montana fashion, the fans endured over four hours of cold to watch these mad people compete.  Of course, the alcohol, food and cowbells helped with fan engagement!

(Internet) - Eddie the Eagle

Spousal Unit just about burst his buttons with pride when Eddie the Eagle gave it a go - on borrowed skis, with borrowed boots, having never done it before.  The cheers of "Eddie, Eddie" were loud and persistent.  Rock on, Brits!

Just when you think it can't get any zanier, you witness the Penguin Plunge, the chance for (apparently) perfectly sane people to jump (voluntarily) into Whitefish Lake.  While the royalty observe from a safe distance, teams that have raised funds for Special Olympics leap into the frigid water.  Yeah, baby, it's cold in there!

OK - whew - are you ready for something a little tamer?  Our church hosts the Pie Social during the Carnival, and we put our best foot (well, recipe) forward with Spousal Unit's dessert specialty, Pecan Pie.

On the day of the Social, we sampled the competition (oops, the other pies) and chatted with folks at our table.  Just before we left, King Ullr and his royal court, including Eddie the Eagle, entered to the traditional trumpet blast and "All Rise for King Ullr and the Queen of the Snows!"  Spousal Unit was chuffed to bits (read: very pleased) to have the opportunity to introduce himself to Eddie, shake the Olympian's hand and get a picture with him.  Who would have imagined two Brits would cross paths in Whitefish, Montana, having originated in Cheltenham and Durham?

The capstone event for the Carnival is the Grand Parade.  Temperatures were mild (by Whitefish standards) and swelling crowds lined the streets.

Soon enough, Eddie the Eagle launched the Parade, and the kids, armed with all manner of candy collection devices (plastic bags to buckets to pillow cases) scrabbled for the goodies.  Fly Like an Eagle!

TWO: Super Bowl

For many years, we hosted a grand party at our home in Cleveland.  It became a bit legendary for good food and camaraderie, even if the games were not the best or the half-time shows left us unsatisfied.  This year, we watched the spectacle at the house of our next-door neighbors; for Harry, a Philly native, it was a dream on the line for his hometown.  For us, we just desperately wanted a team other than the Patriots to win!  (Sorry if you're a Patriots fan.)  It was the most exceptional game I can remember for years - down to the wire.  The fourth quarter sack with Brady turning over the ball.  Brady's Hail Mary pass that went incomplete.

Incomplete!!!!

We were all jumping up and down and screaming at the top of our lungs.  Yes, I know it's just a game, but sometimes there is untold joy when your team wins!

THREE: My birthday

I love to start the day with coffee in bed, so I knew a special day lay before me when Spousal Unit brought me not only coffee but my favorite breakfast - smoked salmon with caper sauce on wheat English muffins.

The spa card from Spousal Unit carries the promise of some 'just-for-me' pampering - a facial and pedicure may be just the ticket to celebrate Spring in a month or so. Since I am obsessed with hedgehogs but forbidden to add any real pets to our household, this stuffed beauty and new socks join my make-believe hedgie collection - thanks, # 1 Son!  

Of course, the cards and well wishes from friends and family poured in - isn't it great to be remembered?

We rounded out the day visiting our log house in construction (the ultimate gift), relishing The Post at the movies and noshing on steaks at the Whitefish Lake Restaurant.  I felt celebrated and adored (and not a day older!)

FOUR: Valentine's Day

We celebrated Valentine's Day a few days early to avoid any overlap with Ash Wednesday, a day of fasting.  As Spousal Unit does most of the meal preparation, I wanted to cook something special for him - voila - Nutella French Toast!  A decadent breakfast, a perfect lead-in to the Lenten season.

(A few days later, my frozen fingers testified to the need for new ski gloves worthy of our frost-bite-warning mountain temperatures.  So Spousal Unit whisked me off to the Sportsman and Ski Haus for these beauties.  So toasty.  This is how we like to celebrate holidays - we buy practical things and we 'assign' them to a holiday, even if it's after the fact.  Happy Valentine's Day to me!)

FIVE: Felines

Sometimes the best revelry is hunkering down at home with simple pleasures, such as a fire, embroidery and our cats.

Maggie lending a paw to my embroidery

Josie on her home-made cat tree near the gas fire

Cats remind us to relax (even when stressed out watching our favorite sports teams), and to nap!

Maggie rooting for the Cavs (until she's exhausted with

Spousal Unit shouting)

And sometimes, they simply make us laugh.  That's the finest festivity of all!

Who wants to go to the gym

with Spousal Unit?

Maybe it should be the cat who ate

the butter left on the counter

to soften up for pecan pie!

Linking to

All Seasons


Feline Friday

Mosaic Monday


Saturday's Critters

Willy Nilly Friday

Can it be real?

Pinch.  28 days to delivery of household goods from storage.  Pinch.  50 days to final move-in.  Pinch harder!

Balcony railing overlooks the

kitchen, complete with over-

and under-cabinet lighting,

island pendants and

refrigerator (stove on right

is out of position awaiting installation)

It's been 306 days since excavation began, our lodge cabin shed log home is almost finished, and I can't quite grasp that the end is in sight.  Just the thought makes me tear up - this keyboard is suddenly blurry.

I haven't counted the names (yet) but at least 40 talents have contributed to our dream - each time we visit the house, we meet new people and I am overwhelmed at the activity that is for us, our house, our dream.  Of course, we are paying for every minute, but how do you REALLY thank them for creating beauty from trees, metal, concrete, drywall, paint, tile?

Some members of the team have been with us throughout, and finding them at the house is like running into an old friend at the bar - hugs are exchanged, and we talk about our families (and, if it's in season, hunting.)

View from screening room toward basement family room and into

the guest bedroom beyond.  Carpet installed. 

I am in love with the deep wood trim around walls.

I can't wait for our first open house, when we can welcome them back, and honor them for the treasure they have built, bit by bit.  In the meantime, let me showcase the latest on our palace home.

In my last post about the house, I wrote about railings.  Well, I am tickled to tell you that we are as happy with them inside as outside.  Check it out.

Looking from loft toward great room windows; cables in railings

ensure a clear view

Looking from great room toward

loft and front door

So, what do you think about light fixtures?  Should be simple, right?  Well, it turns out that the word 'center' is all a matter of perspective - center from what?  Thank God our lighting guy is patient and WANTS us to be involved!  Spousal Unit and I chose all of the lighting fixtures in May 2017; how thrilling to finally see the porch and dining room chandeliers in place!

Left - before installation

Right - installed; note stove is out of

position awaiting installation

Stairs to basement; note trim

along entry tile on left, as well

as trim along the steps

I have bragged before about our general contractor and his prowess with woodworking.  As we go on, we have a growing appreciation for his approach to trim.  If you've never built a house, you probably take it for granted.  But when you've seen a project from the ground up, those finishing touches are the proverbial icing on the cake.

OK, time to talk about water closets (loos, bathrooms, restrooms).  For 306 days, it's been the gray porta-potty near the driveway.  Always stocked with toilet paper and hand sanitizer.  And the lid and seat are always down (thanks, guys!)  But, you know, it can be cold here in Montana (as my sister in San Antonio likes to point out, it was 68 degrees there on February 19 and minus 1 in Whitefish!)  So, I am hyper-pleased to tell you that the toilets have been installed and they FLUSH!  Of course, on our most recent visit to the house, I still had to go out to the porta-potty to nick some toilet paper! 

If you're going to put on a hat, ski coat, gaiters (for deep snow), and two layers of gloves in Montana, you make sure it's worthwhile.  So, as long as I was making a dash for TP from the porta-potty, I checked the trail camera as well.  And soon wished I had my snow shoes; in places, the snow rose halfway between my knees and hips!  But I knew my blogging buddies were relying on the latest camera captures, so I trudged on.  Here are the best shots from the last six weeks.

I think the folks staffing the registers at Lowe's and Home Depot recognize us by now; my sense is we are gracing their check-out lines at least once a week!  Or stopping in to pick up items ordered on line.  Here is a selection:

So, the last time we built a house (in Texas), the carpet was the last material to be installed.  You can imagine our joy when we arrived on moving-in day (the United Van Lines truck due to arrive in less than an hour) to find that our general contractor had not met his commitment from the day before to ensure that the carpet would be installed overnight.  Needless to say, we have had a special relationship with carpet ever since.

Character log chosen for its

resemblance to a climbing

frame; carpet will cushion

any falls!

Stairs to basement; bar and

bar fridge in view behind

extra rolls of carpet

Well, as I said, the clock is ticking down.  Hallelujah!  Especially when you consider that the clock really started 8 years ago, when we bought the property.  To dear Spousal Unit (a.k.a. Man with Hat; a.k.a. Head Chef): thank you for finding the parcel, and for shepherding this process from start to finish.  You are the architect of our dream, and I can't wait to join you in walking over the threshold to our castle home on April 14, with numerous new adventures ahead!


Why is this keyboard blurry again?



Linking to

All Seasons


Mosaic Monday


Saturday's Critters

Patience and Hope: Our Journey to Easter

After over five decades on God's Earth, contemplating Lent can be an exercise in creativity.  What to give up this year?  Coffee, tortilla chips, wine, cheese .. done them all.  Or in reverse, what can I do more of this year?  Volunteer at the food bank, sing in the church choir, start resistance training at the gym ... check those off (with varying degrees of success!)

So, recently, I was pleasantly surprised to discover another perspective - a list of behavioral habits that could be subject to fasting.  But best of all, the list presented the opposite behavior as something to FEAST ON.    For those of us who prefer positive action rather than avoiding a negative, this idea struck me like a lightning bolt, and I feel compelled to share it, together with various photos from the last 12 months.  I hope you find something in it that can inspire you through the 40 days of our journey toward a blessed Easter!

Imagine ... Peace and Unity

By William Arthur Ward (American author, teacher and pastor, 1921 - 1994)

Fast from judging others; feast on the Christ dwelling in them.
Fast from emphasis on differences; feast on the unity of life.





Fast from words that pollute; feast on phrases that purify.
Fast from discontent; feast on gratitude.

Big Mountain Jesus

In 1949, the Big Mountain resort hosted the U.S. Ski Championships

and many of the competitors were WWII veterans from the Army's

10th Mountain Division.  They teamed up with the local Knights

of Columbus to commission the statue in memory of their

fallen comrades.

Fast from worry; feast on divine order.
Fast from complaining; feast on appreciation.

Mid-term care packages for #1 Son and his girlfriend

Fast from unrelenting pressures; feast on unceasing prayer.
Fast from negatives; feast on affirmatives.

Fast from hostility; feast on non-resistance.
Fast from apparent darkness; feast on the reality of light.

Grand Cayman Sunset, March 2017

With my Mom at the 

Huckleberry Festival

Fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness.
Fast from thoughts of illness; feast on the healing power of God.

Fast from self-concern; feast on compassion for others.
Fast from anger; feast on patience.

                                              (Columbian ground squirrel at Logan Pass
                                                in Glacier National Park; you'll hear my
                                                voice and that of my Mom)

Fast from personal anxiety; feast on eternal truth.
Fast from pessimism; feast on optimism.

Scott Kelly spent a year aboard the International Space

Station: "There is a lesson here ... about risk and

resilience, about endurance and trying again."

(Internet)

Streep and Hanks do it again in this

poignant story about women in

leadership roles and the importance

of the free press in our society

Fast from facts that depress; feast on verities that uplift.
Fast from discouragements; feast on hope.

Fast from thoughts that weaken; feast on promises that inspire.
Fast from lethargy; feast on enthusiasm.

Snow shoeing Montana style - with temps ranging from -3F to 8F - 

'cause that's just what Montanans do on Sunday afternoons!

Fast from idle gossip; feast on purposeful silence.
Fast from problems that overwhelm; feast on prayer that undergirds.
Fast from shadows of sorrow; feast on the sunlight of serenity.

View of Glacier National Park from summit of Big Mountain

(During Lent, I am working on patience and hope, while embracing meals free of meat and fish.)

Linking to:

All Seasons


Mosaic Monday


Saturday's Critters

Skywatch Friday