Mosaic Monday #151: On a Mission

By the time you read this post, I will have been in Santa Fe, New Mexico for at least 24 hours.  As I was deciding on a blog post topic for this week, I came across the brochure for St. Ignatius Mission.  No, it's not in New Mexico - it's in Montana!  Spousal Unit and I visited the Mission in November 2017, six months after our move to the Treasure State.  What better way to get into the mood for the Southwest than to re-visit the Mission, virtually?  Vamanos!

The Mission, and the town that grew up around it, was founded in 1854 by Jesuit missionaries and named for their founder, St. Ignatius Loyola.  In the following years it was the home of the first Jesuit theologate and industrial arts school in the Northwest, the first Catholic Sisters and Catholic School in Montana, and the first hospital, sawmill, flour mill, printing press, carpenter shop and blacksmith shop in the Mission Valley.

Today, there remains only the Mission church, built in 1891 and now a National Historic Site, and two small cabins, the original homes of the Jesuit Fathers and the Providence Sisters.

The history of the Mission started long before its founding in 1854.  Beginning in the spring of 1831 and ending in 1839, no less than four Indian delegations travelled to St. Louis, Missouri or Council Bluffs, Iowa to secure missionaries for their people.  They encountered many challenges such as other hostile Indian tribes or language barriers, but they persevered.

In 1864, a wooden church, measuring one hundred by forty feet, with a belfry one hundred feet high, was constructed from materials furnished by the town sawmill.  This church served the Mission until the building of the present church began in 1891.  Over a two-year period, the missionaries and the Indian people together built the church of bricks made from local clay and trees cut in the foothills and sawed at the Mission mill.

The "golden age" of the Mission occurred between the years of 1875 and 1900.  During this time a printing press was established, which produced such works as Narratives from the Holy Scripture in Kalispel and a Kalispel Dictionary, considered by one authority as "one of the most important works issued by any missionary press."   The schools continued to grow.

The interior of the church contains 58 murals, painted in the early twentieth century.  The artist was Brother Joseph Carignano (1853 - 1919), an Italian Jesuit who spent many years as the cook and handyman at the Mission.  With no professional training in art, but a great amount of energy and dedication, he completed his work in between his regular jobs.

Even while the Mission prospered, the Indian people were suffering hard times.  The Indian people had thought that the treaty of 1855 assured their continued existence in the Bitter Root Valley.  However, by that treaty and subsequent presidential and congressional acts, all Indians living in the Bitter Root Valley were required to move to the Flathead Indian Reservation in the Jocko Valley area.

The present century has seen many changes in the Mission at St. Ignatius.  The cutting of federal funds, and later, the end of financial help from the Catholic Indian Bureau, led to the eventual closing of the schools.  Three disastrous fires in less than 30 years also contributed to the changes.  After the last fire, Villa Ursula was built, and the Ursuline Sisters continued to provide education at the Mission until the school's closing in 1972.

*all of the above information was drawn from the St. Ignatius Mission booklet

On our way home from the Mission, we stopped at the Windmill Village Bakery.  Set back from the road along a two-lane highway, it would be easily missed.  I seem to remember reading about it on a list of "must-visit" Montana locations, so we were actually on the look-out for it.  The Bakery was worthy of its reputation.  From the moment you enter, your nose is tantalized by the addicting aroma of donuts.  We met one of the owners, Nancy.  Her mom originally owned a bakery in nearby Thompson Falls, and Nancy still uses her donut recipe.  So, now we make a point to stop there anytime we are passing (which might only be twice a year).  We were quite disappointed when, as we were returning from our road trip to Idaho Falls, the Bakery was not open.  Hopefully, when we help #1 Son make his move to Idaho Falls in the New Year, we can satisfy our craving.  We'll be on a mission!

** I will be slow in commenting this week but I will visit you.  

Also, I will be taking a break for 1 week - there will be no Mosaic Monday on October 17.  Come back on October 24!

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

Mosaic Monday #35: Montana Freedom

By the time this post is published, another Fourth of July will be history.  The pop-up fireworks stalls will be shuttered.  The left-over hot dogs will be cut up for lunch-time mac and cheese.  The strains of America the Beautiful, performed by a myriad of orchestras to outdoor audiences, will have drifted away into the starry night.

But the pride we feel remains.  The heart-swelling, tear-inducing, got-you-in-the-gut emotion lives on.  I reside in a place that offers freedom on many levels: to recreate on public lands, to practice my religion without fear, to leave my house at any time and be surrounded by the splendor of God's bounty.  I am so grateful, and what better way to say thanks than to show you what this has meant for me during the month of June?

MUSHROOM HUNTING

Montana folks are neighborly to start with, but when a man shares his prime mushroom gathering site, it means something.  I was working my normal volunteer shift at the museum, and helping a gentleman with his historical queries.  Out of the blue, he says "Do you like mushrooms?"  "Why, yes," I said, wondering what this had to do with the history of the Stillwater Valley.  "Morel mushrooms?" he asked.  "The best," I said.  And then he proceeded to give me the directions to a spot that had already yielded pounds of this pricy fungus.  "Don't worry," he said.  "There will still be some for you."

And boy, was he on the money.  Morel mushrooms grow best after a forest fire (a silver lining if there ever was one), and I must admit a bit of skepticism when we pulled up to this view.

But within a few hours, Spousal Unit and I had gathered six pounds between the two of us, a market value of $120.  Well worth the gas it cost to get there!  Spousal Unit has become quite the expert on preserving this valuable commodity, from drying them on strands of embroidery thread to coating large morels in flour and freezing them (the flour prevents them from sticking together).  And, by the way, he returned a week later and collected another 6 pounds by himself in less time, which is NOT a comment on my ability!

By the way, just across the road from the fire site is a meadow packed with alpine flowers.  What a difference a few feet and courageous firefighters can make!

FINE DINING

Well, you have to do something with all those 'shrooms.  Top a steak.  Put 'em in an omelet (which is already a glorious dish seeing as it's made with farm-fresh eggs courtesy of our neighbors over the road).  Make a risotto.

And if your Spousal Unit happens to go to Missoula to pick up his early birthday present and passes the Windmill Bakery on the way, he just has to snag a donut or two.  What does this have to do with mushrooms?  Nothing.  But it sure is fine dining!

WORKING PLAYING IT OFF

So you may be wondering how I maintain my svelte figure with all these gourmet meals.  Faithful readers could answer this one: running, gardening, hiking, kayaking, and walking.  It gives me great joy and peace to stroll our back 40. Joining my dear neighbor friend for a walk in the woods or a paddle around her lake burns some calories, and her delightful company is a bonus.  Nature presents an ever-changing palette of plants, animals and skies.  Here's a selection from the month.

All of the above pictures are from the trail camera

Upper left: Prickly rose; Upper right: Willow - not sure what type      Bottom: the turquoise of Ashley Lake

This sandhill crane is "owning" my neighbor's driveway as its own personal runway

Top: Yours truly kayaking with my dear neighbor friend

Middle: Twinflower

Bottom: Bunchberry

ONE BEAR, TWO BEAR     (all pictures are from trail cameras)

Top pictures appear to be a skinny yearling black bear

Bottom pictures are a LARGE black bear

Upper left: Willow now in catkin stage     Upper right: dusk reflected in the lake at the bottom of our property

Bottom left: young pike was flipping about in shallow water on the WRONG side of the dam until I threw him back

Bottom right: a gift from neighbors - perfect for me!

Upper left: fawns are never far from Mom - she is just out of the frame 

Upper right: Buck seeking shelter from the hail         Bottom: a fine young bull elk

All above pictures from trail cameras

Some of the pictures above would not be possible without a drone (which I don't have) or a pair of rubber boots (which I now have, a marvelous gift from my dear neighbor friend).    After tromping around in the woods together, she just decided it's what I needed.  Isn't that what true friends are all about?

As we know, all play and no work makes Jill a dull girl.  Yes, the month brought its share of garden projects.  Major weeding - always!  But there was more.

In a previous post, I shared the construction of our jackleg fence.  In June, we added flower baskets to several sections of the fence.  Chicken wire, coconut fiber, potting soil and plants.  Voila!

Boy yellow marigold; Antigua mix marigold; New Look Dusty Miller;

transplants of coreopsis

Digging drainage ditches that conform to Mother Nature, as she tends to show us during major rain storms.

We completed this on June 23, 4 days before the almighty hail storm.  It was not up to the task, sadly

Self-seeding can be wonderful, as in the case of this coreopsis.  But it can also benefit from shaping.

Left: mid-June - a riot of growth         Right: a little separation creates a sense of order

PAYING IT FORWARD

Of course, with freedom comes responsibility.  At the beginning of June, I organized the clean-up of the six miles of Highway 2 closest to our neighborhood.  Of course, this translates to 12 miles since BOTH SIDES of the roadway need attention.  Over the course of two Saturdays, and some additional time on the part of Dear Neighbor Friend and yours truly, we collected over 110 bags of trash.  My heartfelt thanks to all those who participated.

Not pictured: Dear Neighbor Friend and Yours Truly!

AND YOU?

Regardless of where you live, how have you enjoyed your freedom lately?

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. Monday (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