As April closes ...

We are heading to Europe!  An epic journey, originally planned for 2020 until the pandemic shut down the world.  (Of course, we have been to the UK since then to visit my in-laws, and we will start and end our visit with them!)  A sneak peek:  several days with one of our former au pairs in France, then a driving tour through Switzerland, Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic.  In Poland, we will visit another one of our former au pairs.  The list of sights and activities is too long to mention here!  And it also worked out that we will experience Bruce Springsteen in concert in Prague!

So, I just wanted to post a few highlights from April, and wish you much joy in the month of May!

Below - back side of Snowbird Resort, which is east of Salt Lake City, Utah.  I was in the area for a climate conference, and several fellow volunteers gave me a fabulous skiing tour of the mountain.

While in Utah, I stayed with my brother and my sister-in-law, so of course it was the perfect excuse to go skiing at Snowbasin again!
 

 

And Idaho Falls is a perfect stopping spot on the way home - such a blessing to get to see #1 Son, and wish him an early birthday!  He took me to Reed's Dairy, which began its family-owned milk delivery business in 1955 in Idaho Falls.  Larry Reed, in the collage below, started and operated the dairy while his two brothers managed the farming side of their business.  And yes, I managed to eat these two massive scoops of ice cream!

And wouldn't you know that Spousal Unit had flowers for me when I got home?  I should go away for six days more often!

April is highway clean-up time in Montana - the snow is gone and all the ugliness of winter trash is revealed ... and you have to get in there before the grass gets too high!  Don't my neighbors and friends look so happy?  This is before they picked up 130 bags of garbage along a 6-mile stretch!  I got reports later of swollen knees and aching backs ... we need some younger recruits!  (Please note that not everyone is in the picture ... a shout-out to all the pickers!)  And do you see the little Grouse to the left of the crew - oddest thing - that grouse followed me around for at least an hour in that area!

Most of you know that April 22 was Earth Day.  I volunteer with Citizens' Climate Lobby, and our local chapter hosted an ambitious Earth Day event at the local community college on April 20.  As part of our pre-event publicity, I was on the radio with my friend Denny, Flathead Audubon Conservation Educator.  I am so grateful to all the people who made this event possible - over 100 community members contributed to financial sponsorship, panel discussions, workshops, tabling and our Electric Vehicle Showcase.  And our volunteers - so many hours of work to put this together, not to mention support from 8 - 5 on the day itself.  I am ready for a vacation, and I am retired!!!

I mentioned that I was in Utah for a climate conference.  One of the presenters shared this quote:

"When any environmental issue is pursued to its origins, it reveals an inescapable truth - that the root cause of the crisis is not to be found in how men interact with nature, but in how they interact with each other - that, to solve the environmental crisis we must solve the problems of poverty, racial injustice and war."  Barry Commoner, 1973

The more things change, the more they stay the same!  If you can and if you dare, be part of the change.

*****************

Joining LeeAnna's I Like Thursday - Prompt for May 2 - What does your name mean? Are you named for someone?  Do you like your name?  Have you ever changed your name?  Would you like a different name?  A Google of Angela yields "messenger, messenger of God."  I am not aware of anyone else in my family with my name, and my Dad always said they named me Angela because I was his "angel".  He certainly did not appreciate it when I adopted Angie - I can still hear him calling me Angela!  I am very happy with my name (Angie) and cannot imagine being called anything else.

Linking to Thankful Thursday

Linking to Mosaic Monday

Because I knew you

I am so blessed to have many good friends, and one of my deepest joys comes from sitting around a table, chatting and crafting.  It's a tapestry all its own, woven with time together, and stories shared.  

When I recently saw an America's Got Talent audition, featuring two women in a duet performance of "For Good" from Wicked, I shed a few tears, thinking of friends around the world.  And especially those right in my own backyard.

Friends, this post is for you!

I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow

If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you...

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good

It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend...

Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a skybird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you

I have been changed for good

Listen to the song! 

***

Joining LeeAnna's I Like Thursday: Prompt for April 4: Amusement Park or Day at the Beach?  These days, I would definitely prefer the quiet of a day at the beach.  Snoozing, collecting vitamin D, walking the length of the beach, reading a book, sipping a rum-soaked beverage.  Much preferable to the noisy clanging of an amusement park, thronged with sweaty people standing in long lines.

Linking to Slow Sunday Stitching

 

Linking to Mosaic Monday

Mosaic Monday #123: Just Another Day

Well, it's happened.  Retirement has become so engrained that I have not written a retirement post for a whole year.  My retirement anniversary (March 3, 2017) even passed me by without a second thought.  Well.  This will not do!!!  I will have to throw my own little party, in my own little way.  Hmmm ...

A party is not a party without some music.  How about some songs to represent the last four years?  And maybe a few photos for eye candy?

Reflecting on my retirement, the first word I wrote was FREEDOM.  Despite the passage of four years, I can recall my desperation to be free as if it were yesterday.  What does freedom mean to you?  For me, it means setting my own agenda, and in a way that is consistent with my beliefs.  As I have learned these last four years, it doesn't mean I won't work.  It doesn't mean I won't have obligations.  But it does mean I get to make those choices!

"Roam" by the B-52s is a song that reverberates with joy and abandon.  When Spousal Unit and I first started dating, this song was an anthem for us.  We dreamed about "rocking through the wilderness ... roam around the world ... without anything but the love we feel."  We live that dream every day.

Since we have moved to Montana, we have been blessed to make many new friends.  Neighbors.  Mountain Ambassadors.  Fellow volunteers.  And, of course, I have "met" many new blogging buddies!

Man with Hat haying with Dear Neighbor Friend

Four years ago, I could never have imagined that I would find my best friend in Montana, and yet that is exactly what happened.  I am grateful every day for Dear Neighbor Friend.  Whether it's kayaking, cross-country skiing or just chatting over coffee, each moment is a blessing.

The way I feel about this place and the people is expressed well in the Zac Brown song, "Homegrown".  "Why would I ever leave?  Cause I know, I got some good friends that live down the street ...  Live in a small town where it feels like home, I've got everything I need, and nothin' that I don't" 

One of things I love about Montana is its history.  It is everywhere you look.  Vintage buildings.  Rusting farm implements.  And the people.  If you ask, you will hear their stories.  And sometimes, those stories come to you in unexpected moments.  When I visited the Whitefish Historical Museum in October 2017, I had no idea that a spur-of-the-moment notion to volunteer there would bring so many unanticipated outcomes.  Such as the day I took a call from Janet Monk, a member of a long-time Montana family, who told me about the train that used to run within 1.5 miles of our house.  I have since visited the unused railway grade with my Dear Neighbor Friend.  The things you learn when you start to ask questions!

In the "Canadian Railroad Trilogy", Gordon Lightfoot captures my sentiment so completely.  This landscape before the trains came.  The vision and enterprise of the men who built the railroads and the industries to support them.  The blood, sweat and tears of the laborers who were the true conquerors.

The Museum was also my bridge to the Whitefish Winter Carnival since the director recommended me to the board.  A blessing and a curse of my personality is that I see lots about our world that could benefit from my help.  But if I want to have that freedom I wrote about at the beginning of this post, I have to choose carefully where I invest my time.  I am sure my thinking on this will continue to evolve, but at the moment, I give my precious hours to PRESERVING THE EARTH, PRESERVING TRADITIONS and ENCOURAGING A FOCUS ON RESPECT FOR OUR FELLOW MAN.  I have thoroughly enjoyed finding a new niche and a voice in the world of retirement.

Here I have included just a few photos that represent these themes.  Winter Carnival is about traditions.  The trash pick-up is just one of several activities that I hope will preserve our environment for future generations.

I have written before about the Violet Protest (August 1, 2020), (May 31, 2020), (March 8, 2020), a public effort to support core American values such as respect for the other, citizenship, compromise, courage, compassion, candor, creativity, and country over party and corporate influence.

I was thrilled to contribute two cross-stitch squares, while my Mom crocheted two squares.  "Whether we knit, crochet, quilt, or embroider these squares — through this social action, and from every corner of America; we as makers of all political persuasions, believe we can employ our willing spirit and our talents to contribute to healing divisions that threaten our country."  Ann Morton, founder  The Phoenix Art Museum will display 9,000 of the squares from March 10 through September 5.  It is not too late to send in squares - go to this link for more information.

The song "Stand Up" by Sugarland speaks to me about our collective responsibility to be there for others - 'light a fire for the silent and the brokenhearted'.

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you are probably surprised that I have not mentioned nature yet.  Have no doubt, it was the second word I wrote down during my musings about retirement!  I only have to look out my window to see nature - plants, wildlife, the clouds in the sky, the wind blowing in the pines.  I relish this aspect of retirement, and I try hard not to take it for granted.  In my moments of deeper reflection, it has dawned on me that I am seeking NEW EXPERIENCES.  And for that, there are not enough hours in the day for all the things I want to do.  We keep learning about other opportunities, such as forest service cabins we can rent.  And we are certainly looking forward to the return of international travel -- we have not been to the UK to visit my in-laws since the pandemic started, and we also owe #1 Son his graduation trip to Grand Cayman!

 "What we live for" by American Authors is a bouncy song that embodies that going-on-a-road-trip, family vacation vibe.  Yep, this is what we live for!  

I hope you have enjoyed my little retirement anniversary party!  Maybe next year I can tell you about a real-life gathering - wouldn't it be fun to mark my five years with food and music and beverages and actual PEOPLE?!?

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. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter