Letting Go of the Bay Leaf: COVID-19

Showing posts with label COVID-19. Show all posts

Sunday, May 1, 2022

Mosaic Monday #175: Five Years in Montana

Tomorrow, May 2, marks the fifth anniversary of our migration from Ohio to Montana. Coincidently, tomorrow we will also be flying home from the UK to Montana, an apt parallel that marks the length of our journey since we first began dating in the Northeast of England in February 1990. What an adventure it has been!

I have written many posts about Montana, and trying to choose my favorites would be time-consuming and just more work than I am willing to do! So, I am taking the easy way out, and highlighting (mostly) the posts that were published on dates closest to the May 2 anniversary. (I might cheat now and then and throw in an extra post that represents a particularly important event in the last five years, but hey! whose blog is this anyway?)

Day 6 - Malta, Montana (5/2/2017)

With two cars, two cats and a parakeet, we had made it this far. "Overnight we are in Malta, a town nestled along the Milk River (think chocolate milk), the railroad that runs from Chicago to Whitefish and beyond, and Highway 2, which will take us to Whitefish tomorrow."

"So, tomorrow, we will finish our emigration, and we are very excited. To celebrate, we cracked open a bottle of Honey Jack, which we have been saving since last Memorial Day. This wasn't just any bottle - it is one that was given to us by dear friends at that time, with a note that said 'Can only be opened in the state of Montana.' Guys, it's open now!"

Day 7 - Whitefish, Montana (5/5/2017)

"Finally, we arrived at the town house, home for the next 9 months or so. The menagerie was glad to unpack the cars (completely) and get settled in. At least, when we weren't too busy looking at the view from the master bedroom!"

Keep Calm and Carry On (3/22/2018)

"June 23, 2016, the day that two-thirds of our household possessions were packed and transferred to a United Van Lines warehouse near Cleveland, Ohio. And on March 19, 2018, Billy, Eric and Levi delivered them to our new house near Kila, Montana."

To Infinity and Beyond (4/21/2018)

"The nights here are quiet, with a velvet black sky littered with sparkling stars. Fresh, crisp air enters your lungs with each deep breath you unconsciously draw, the body's natural reaction to the serenity and awe of standing underneath the mighty constellations. An occasional sighing sound reaches your ears as the breeze rustles the pine boughs. Another deep breath brings the scent of earth and living things. No longer just the figment of my dreams, this is my new reality - as of April 14, our new log house is HOME!"

Graduate with Hat (5/3/2018)

"#1 Daughter (AKA Graduate with Hat) graduated from the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) on April 28.

"A whirlwind week with family and friends began quietly at my sister's house with a morning garden walk. I used to claim Autumn as my favorite season, but these days I give my affection to Spring. Pregnant buds giving birth to unblemished leaves. Vibrant floral hues taking over from the gray of winter. The promise of fruit hidden within the flowers. All of it a fitting metaphor for the bright-eyed hope of spring commencement."

Dithering April (5/5/2019)

"The ski season ended with a cool vibe as Whitefish Mountain Resort hosted Employee Ski/Ride Day. In keeping with the "fun" character of the resort, costumes were encouraged and each department adopted a theme to identify its employees. In the case of the Mountain Ambassadors, everyone decked out in retro/60s gear. We don't often get the opportunity to ski/board at the same time, so this was treasured team bonding."

We have been blessed to build a number of strong friendships in Montana; for Spousal Unit, many of them are fishing buddies drawn from the Ambassador group. In my case, God led me to a soul sister just across the street - Dear Neighbor Friend. Our journeys in life have been vastly different, but we share a deep love for God, and a profound appreciation of the outdoors and the flora and fauna that live within it. I am so grateful to have this beautiful person in my world.

In the five years we have lived in Montana, we have lost all of our feathered and furred traveling companions. Tom the parakeet died while we were still living in Whitefish as our log home was being built. Josie passed on September 20, 2019, and I celebrated her life in this post. A year later, I paid tribute to Maggie in this post after her passing on September 21, 2020. I am so glad that they made the journey to Montana with us.

A "Wait"-y Month (5/3/2020)

"#1 Son celebrated his birthday during the month, and on one our Skype calls he jokingly threw up a picture of a $800 Lego set of the Millennium Falcon, with “Birthday?” scrawled across it. We couldn’t (and wouldn’t) get close to buying it for him, so I did the next best thing and stitched him up a Falcon. This joined several other quirky items meant to create a mini-Grand Cayman care package – sun cream, mini bottles of rum, a sea shell, biryani recipe, cardamoms and bay leaves. After all, it became very apparent as April marched on, that we would not be going to Grand Cayman to celebrate his college graduation. This care package would have to do for now." In the end, there was no graduation ceremony and no trip to Grand Cayman. Glacier National Park cancelled all backcountry camping permits that summer, and the Alaska fishing trip for Man with Hat was cancelled. It was tempting to complain, but not in the face of thousands of people dying around the world from COVID.

Three Years in Montana (5/10/2020)

"Can you believe it? May 3, 2020 marked the third anniversary of our arrival in Montana. (If you need a refresher on our epic cross-country journey, check out this post.) I perused my blog and came to the shocking realization that I have not written about this anniversary. You can read posts about the first, second and third recurrence of my retirement, but you will find zip, zero, zilch about an event that was a decade in the planning. Well, I ask you - what's more significant, the retirement or the destination? It's the destination, my friends. So, I am about to rectify this disappointing oversight. Buckle your seat belts, and welcome to Montana!" This collection of 32 pictures and collages is a photographic diary and National Geographic magazine rolled into one. Featuring some of my best photos from those three years, you can quickly experience hikes, Halloween fun in Whitefish, skiing, critters of all kinds, my garden and our house. Here are just a few.

Since our arrival in Montana, we have been honored to host a number of guests, documented in the collages below. Would you like to add your name and comments to our guest book?

Under the Weather (5/2/2021)

"I need a distraction. I had my second COVID shot yesterday, and I am racked with chills, a headache and a tight feeling across my chest. I have no appetite, much less a desire to write a blog post right now. Also, it has been a tough week for other reasons that I am not prepared to write about at this moment. But maybe focusing on something other than my symptoms would be beneficial. This might be a short post, or maybe I will get a second wind." I did recover, and this post recounts fun Spring activities such as visiting baby goats, coloring Easter eggs and celebrating the birthday of #1 Son. Looking at this collage is especially poignant since I am typing this particular section on his 24th birthday! As I have written in other posts, we relished a year of his living at home AND we are thrilled that he moved on to Idaho Falls after landing the job with the Idaho National Laboratory.

Keeping Her Memory Alive (5/9/2021)

"On April 28, 2021, my Mom joined my father, one of my sisters, a beloved niece and all of her siblings in Heaven. If it is like any other family reunion I have attended, it would begin with Mass. Faith was front and center for the German Catholic families on both sides, and especially for my Mom; you wouldn’t think to begin anything without having given thanks to God. And THEN you could tuck into the bountiful buffet before you – home-made fried chicken, roast beef, chicken with noodles, potato salad, Jell-O with the requisite shredded carrots or cabbage, and desserts that seem to outnumber the stars in the sky." It is hard to believe that 12 months have passed since her death. I think of her often, and miss her terribly. It is especially at family celebrations, or significant life events, that I wish she could be with us. Such as ...

The Engagement (11/7/2021)

The engagement of #1 Daughter and The Boyfriend while the entire family was on vacation in Santa Fe, New Mexico. "Later, over dinner, The Boyfriend would recall the minutes leading up to his proposal. His heart was about to pop out of his chest, while #1 Son and I leisurely read the historical information. And I was shooting a picture of a bush, of all things, while he was trying to get me, the better photographer, to focus on what was about to happen. Oh my! And this is how wonderful family stories, ones that get handed down and told repeatedly, are made!"

The moral of the story? The circle of life continues. Children grow up, get married and move away. World events can impact us in ways we can't possibly anticipate. Parents and friends age, and some of them have made it to heaven before us. At the least, we cope. At the best, we adapt and thrive. On the fifth anniversary of "living our dream", I am reminded - don't become complacent. I pray to God that I will be blessed enough in five years' time to give you another such report, chock full of new adventures!

Mosaic Monday

Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.

Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.

The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Tuesday (U.S. Mountain time).

Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog.

Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back.

As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by.

Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.

Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us.

Saturday, August 1, 2020

Mosaic Monday #91: Savoring Summer

Shaking my head in disbelief, I begin to pen this post about July 2020. How can it already be August 2? If you’re like me, August rouses memories of back-to-school shopping, and last-minute attempts to collect on all of summer’s unfulfilled promises. A few days ago, I was weeding along the roadside, and a neighbor paused to chat while walking her dog. She listed the summer visitors she had been hosting, and then switched gears to describe the fall activities for her kids. “And then it will be Christmas,” she said. It might have been the heat and the dazzling sun, but I almost passed out. Christmas? Stop the bus, I want to get off! It feels like summer has just arrived, and it may disappear again with the blink of an eye. Even Whitefish Mountain Resort joined the conspiracy by sending out an invitation for past employees to re-apply for winter positions. Really? So, this post is my deliberate attempt to drag my feet, to savor summer, to deny that fall is around the corner.

It has been a full month, when I pause to reflect. Three hikes plus one over-night camping trip. Several doctor’s appointments (all is well) and a lengthy visit to the dentist for a crown. Volunteering at the museum. Coffee chit-chats and kayaking with my Dear Neighbor Friend. Ongoing job search support with #1 Son. And of course, joyful intervals in my beloved garden. Activity seemingly makes the hands of the clock launch into overdrive. Occasionally, I long to simply lounge on the deck, gazing out on the beauty right in front of me. When these feelings occur, I rationalize that the season of “lounging” will come of its own accord, when I can no longer be so active. And I jump back into the fray!

Non-human animals have it much simpler, and maybe we (you know I mean me) would be wise to take some lessons from them.

First: take a nap in the heat of the day (not my strong suit)

Second: Eat well (A+ on this one thanks to Head Chef)

Third: Avoid predators (in my case, it's mosquitoes and ticks that threaten my health, and dare I mention the c-word?)

On July 21, I was working in the garden and the badger strolled within 5 feet of me. I was caught by surprise and didn't get him on video. But wouldn't you know he stuck around most of the afternoon, apparently hunting chipmunks, and for your viewing pleasure, I have two videos below. Don't worry, no death and carnage in either one. But if you watch the second one closely, you will see a chipmunk escape the foliage and run under the deck, literally under my feet and then the badger follows.

Fourth: Hang out with buddies (COVID has put a bit of a kibosh on this; I've relished my coffee/kayaking dates with Dear Neighbor Friend, and we invited a couple for dinner on two separate occasions.)

Our back forty is a popular location with the swallows given the lake and the multitudes of flying insects that congregate there. A dead aspen has become a gathering spot for the swallows, until something triggers them to all take off at once, as you can see in this video below.

Fifth: stay hydrated (I don't have any animal pix for this one. And I don't think alcohol and coffee count toward the 90 ounces of liquid I ought to be drinking ... maybe I should move on ....)

Sixth: look after your offspring (this is a joy, not a "task". We are so excited #1 Son is moving to Montana while he continues his job search, and #1 Daughter and her boyfriend are visiting in August. The family reunited!)

July is the month when most plants in Montana progress rapidly from leaves to blooms to seeds. As many times as I have walked our property and the surrounding land, I still make new discoveries. And I rejoice in seeing old favorites as well.

My garden is also flourishing; you can expect another post on that soon. For now, I am tickled “yellow” with the success of the yellow penstemon since in previous summers it seemed weak and prone to insect infestations. Sometimes, gardeners have plants that tend to crowd out others, and we have to actively restrain them. I am not quite ready to do that with the coreopsis (the yellow plants in the pictures below), but I can see the time is coming. Just look at how prolific they are and all from three plants at the time the landscaping was installed.

I have managed to tear myself away from the outdoors long enough to draw a birthday card for a close friend in the UK, and for my father-in-law. Note: if you are planning to send anything overseas, allow plenty of time. Two weeks passed before my friend received her drawing, and it was three weeks for my father-in-law. Yikes! I was also proud and honored to have my Violet Protest square included in a display of Montana-made squares at Honey’s Café in Red Lodge, Montana. Organized by Maggy Hiltner, the installation features 24 squares that will be forwarded to Phoenix to join squares from all over the U.S. for the main Violet Protest organized by Ann Morton. My second square is halfway complete and will be ready in time for the November 15, 2020 deadline. You can still participate!

No summer is complete without a “campfire” and S’Mores. As faithful readers know, I always take the makings for S’Mores on our camping trips, so this summer “promise” has been partly fulfilled. But you may be shocked to learn that we had not yet used our firepit this summer! That was rectified last weekend, and at the end of the night, Spousal Unit said “We need to do this more often.” In Montana, it’s never too hot in the evening for a fire – as soon as the sun begins to dip, the temperatures drop dramatically and the stars blink on. You are likely to spot several satellites tracing their way across the sky. Night sounds are distinct, and identifying them (or letting your imagination run wild) is entertaining. That evening, we saw a crane fly up from the lake and land at the tippy-top of a pine tree some distance from our house. So special.

If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, what remains on your wish list for the summer? I am dreaming about swimming, attending an outdoor concert, and a picnic at the lake. Oh, and definitely more ice cream!