Letting Go of the Bay Leaf

Sunday, October 6, 2019

Mosaic Monday #48: The (brief) Interval

On the last day of September, friends and family members from outside Montana were texting me. Are you snowed in? How much snow did you get? Apparently, erstwhile news outlets reported Montana with deep piles of the white stuff, an outcome of the September 29 storm. To set the record straight - we woke to a dusting. Areas east of us, such as Browning, had four feet of snow. Those schools were closed on Monday and our Governor declared a state of emergency for certain localities - both rare events in a state that prides itself on making it to school and work and Costco no matter the weather.

Down by our lake

As I reflected on my pictures from September, I had to wonder - is that it? Was that our Fall? Was that THE INTERVAL between Summer and Winter? The current forecast calls for highs in the 40s for the foreseeable future - yep, feels like Winter to me. So I am grateful that I captured a few Fall photos while I had the chance!

In September, plants featured berries and fresh technicolor coats. Mushrooms sprang up, the birthright of bounteous precipitation. Some insects seemed to slow down with cooler temperatures, such as this dragonfly that I encountered on the road during a run.

In honor of the changing seasons, I replaced the summery flag in front

of the house with the fall-themed Moose Lodge

I didn't know it at the time, but a kayak on the lake on September 22 with Dear Neighbor Friend may be the last of the season for me.

We attended the Celtic Festival in the middle of the month. It was one of those days when you really don't know what to wear. The morning started off brisk, but then the sun bore down and you wished for shade. And just for good measure, we had a light rainstorm in the late afternoon! We loved watching the athletic events, the dancers and the musical groups. Nothing could match Amazing Grace on the bagpipes. The video below does not present the performance in justice - one bagpiper started it off, and after the first verse, the rest joined in. Stirs my heart every time. (And sorry it's sideways!)

Just for fun, I have included this video of the Sheaf Toss. A bundle of straw weighing 20 pounds is tossed over a ever-rising bar, using a pitchfork. The highest toss wins.

I haven't taken the opportunity to play the piano much this summer, but anticipating a smidgen of indoor time, I followed up with the Piano Man on the repair of the "action" on our upright piano. I am pleased to report that the piano has now been restored and re-tuned as far as he could take it without breaking any strings. Just look at the fresh new leather strips, and the unblemished felt hammers!

On a recent volunteering day in Whitefish, I found myself with extra time and I enjoyed a stroll around town as I used to do when we lived there. It was quite nostalgic, and I might have even sucked up a tear or two!

With the onset of fall in Montana, it is critical to pick fruit that can be an attractant to bears. With great joy we plucked apples from my Mom's Goodland tree for the second year (see first year story here and here.) It was enough for an apple pie, and I can't put into words how I felt when I dove into it. How do you express cinnamon and love, apple and childhood memory, butter and the miracle of the fall harvest?

As long as we are on the subject of food - Head Chef has turned to some of his fall favorites, and as always, I am glad I have a strong workout regime or my waistline would be expanding!

Upper left: Roast Beef, Yorkshire Puddings, Mushy Peas Upper right: Pizza with home-made crust

Bottom: Zuppa Toscana with home-made bread

Inevitably, cooler temperatures inspire my inner craftsperson. I have taken to sending hand-drawn and hand-written birthday cards. Imagine!

I hosted my first Munch and Make session since April. In Montana, summer is precious and most folks wouldn't be caught inside when the mountains are calling! Now, with shorter days and questionable weather, crafty birds flock together.

April Munch and Make - my neighbor, who is a hula dancer, works on a raffia headband. The hula group makes

every element of their costumes.

September Munch and Make: A friend brought hand-made ceramics and glued them to narrow wood pieces

Bottom pictures are the finished product on her bedroom wall

For my part, some new Christmas ornaments are underway.

Pinterest Ruffle Skirt

But I am most excited about the Christmas tree skirt. I mentioned it in my last post about Josie, and now it is appropriate to tell you more. Last year, we bunched up some burlap around the base of the tree, in keeping with our rustic theme. But I wanted something a little more formal, and Pinterest came to my aid with a ruffle skirt design. You would be so proud - I have been able to take the basics of the design and ADAPT it - not usually my strong suit!

The skirt is six feet across, with brown felt as the base. Per the Pinterest design, I began cutting the burlap I had into three-inch strips, using conventional scissors. After my hand nearly fell off, I invested in a rotary cutter and a cutting mat.

Using my superior math skills, I created my own pattern, assuming 13 rows of ruffles and utilizing the burlap on hand. Here you can see Josie helping me measure the radius. No problem.

Not so fast! I dramatically mis-calculated the amount of burlap required. It's the pleats, you see. A seven-foot piece of burlap becomes a 3-foot piece once it's pleated. I need A LOT more burlap. And does Hobby Lobby have the color I need? Nope. I can't really blame them; burlap dyeing is variable, to be sure. So I went back to the drawing board and I believe I have a workable pattern that doesn't waste the burlap I have. You are sure to hear more about this in a future post, whether you want to or not! I might have been a little (!) frustrated, but Candy Corn helped me get through it!

By now you have forgotten (like me) that this post started with snow. But one thing's for sure - my plants are not coming back. While the snow may have been shallow, the temperatures were in the deep freeze, and shriveled fleshy plants.

Left - Pink Poppy on September 27 Right: Same plant on September 30

You might expect me to be outraged, or at least disappointed, about this. As you know, animals who nibble my plants can have that impact. But somehow, I am taking this in stride. Maybe it's because we head out of the country in a week - I am not going to be here to enjoy the garden anyway. Or perhaps I accept that this is a force I can't control with chicken wire or a spray. Or possibly, just possibly, I am growing excited about the Winter - skiing, snowshoeing, the Christmas season - did I mention that both of the kids are coming for Christmas? That's enough to tip me over the edge and past The Interval.

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.

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Mosaic Monday #47: Celebrating Josie

January 2019

She was the five-pound cat that thought she was a Doberman. She had gourmet tastes, leading to an obsession with brie and grilled salmon. She abhorred being picked up, but she still wanted to be in the center of the action. That was our Josie. On September 20, we made the tough decision to have Josie put to sleep. She may have been 16 years old, but she still looked like a kitten and she will always be that kitten in my heart.

In 2005, on a visit to Rescue Village in Chesterland, Ohio, we planned to adopt two kittens. But, as we walked the rows of cages, we noticed two adult cats in a single cage. The sign indicated they had been residents there for almost six months; the previous owner had found that her new dog and the cats did not get along, and she gave up the CATS! We knew kittens would quickly find homes, and none of us could abide the thought of these two spending another day in that small space, so after a short visit with Josie and Maggie in a guest room, they joined our family.

2005 - Age 2 - Rescue Village estimated her age

We enjoyed her antics (mostly) for fourteen years. Both kids graduated from high school and one graduated from college. We moved to Troy, Ohio and then to Montana, first in Whitefish and now in Kila. Maggie and Josie have seen it all. As Josie's health began to decline in the last 12 months, we prepared the kids and ourselves for the inevitable. But it was still an emotional event for all of us, and even as I write this the tears are streaming. I certainly could not bring myself to write this post last week. On the day we lost Josie, #1 Daughter paid tribute to her on FaceBook with this post:

November 2017 - in the "spa"

From the moment she stepped into our home, Josie was a grumpy oddball. She did not like to be picked up. She did not want to sit on our lap for pets, but would sit on a kitchen chair and meow her face off 'til Mom stopped what she was doing to pet her.

Josie liked sunny spots on hardwood floors, ribbons as chew toys, holiday decorations and cardboard boxes as beds.

Josie liked to lay under the Christmas tree and collect pine needles in her fur. We would be hard pressed to find a ribbon or bow at Christmas that didn't have little kitty teeth marks on it. Looking back, I think it was her way of showing love.

Christmas 2011

July 21, 2017 - first time she ever sat

on a lap - it only took 12 years!

Josie was by no means a lap cat, but toward the end of her life, we could find her on my Dad's lap more and more. I think she knew her time was coming to an end and Josie wanted us to have those final memories with her.

I miss you already, Josie Cat. I hope there are plenty of catnip toys for you to play with and cardboard boxes for you to sleep in in heaven.

I can't promise to keep dry eyes for the rest of this post, but I am trying to focus on the memories, as our daughter said above. As I gathered over 140 possible photos for this post, I found myself laughing out loud. "Noodle", as I liked to call her when I was slightly exasperated, had the typical cat penchant to be where she shouldn't be.

On the bed, saying "Feed me" with those big eyes

If a kitchen cabinet door was open, she had to be through it, prompting Head Chef to grumble about "Fuzzhead". If we found the downdraft running on the oven in the morning, you knew Josie the Mosie had been mosey-ing about the kitchen counters in the night.

#1 Son sent me this email:

Josie had her own way of showing affection to the family. She may have come off as grumpy but she really did care for us. It showed in her wariness to strangers. She will be dearly missed.

In her lifetime, Josie became legendary with family and regular visitors - she might act all nice and even approach you. And then she would try to take a hand off, or make a swipe at a passing leg. One of our neighbors, who cared for Josie during some of our absences, recounted wearing socks even in the summertime, to safeguard from Miss Cuteness (and more importantly, her teeth and back claws!!!) As our son says, I believe she thought she was protecting us, and our home. Yes, a five-pound cat channeling her inner Doberman.

November 2017 - in the cat tree

Josie has been in many of my posts; one of my favorites depicted her Houdini talents. But no recollection about Josie would be complete without this story. On our way from Ohio to Montana, we were in a Minneapolis hotel for one night. Shortly after carting all of our luggage, two cats and a bird to the room, I looked around to make sure the cats had used the litter box and settled in. No surprise, Maggie was curled up on one of the beds. Josie? Nowhere to be found. After two full circuits of the room, I was convinced she had gotten out. I roamed down two hallways, asking everyone if they had seen a ~~Doberman~~ gray cat. No luck. Returning to the room, I peered again under the beds, and discovered a hole in the box spring. I could just see a gray spot pressed up against the far wall. What was she thinking? "You will never get me back in that cat carrier again". After dismantling the box spring and retrieving Noodle, we blocked up the hole. Egads, the things we do for our furbabies!

September 2017

Spousal Unit recollects that, even after Josie began venturing onto his lap, she was pretty fickle. Unless conditions were "just right", you could just as easily see her perched on the narrow arm of the chair. At times, she would not tolerate Maggie joining in the cuddles, and would jump down. On other occasions, both of them would make a space and settle in.

June 2018

One day, Spousal Unit was listening to a band cover a Bruce Springsteen song, and Josie jumped on his lap. I caught a little on video.

You may be wondering about Maggie - how is she coping? Although they are not related, Maggie and Josie have been together most of their lives. Rescue Village told us Maggie was 4 at the time of the adoption, so that means the "Old Lady" has passed the 18-year mark. She has a little arthritis in her hips, but that doesn't keep her from jumping onto laps or the ottomans. Since Josie's passing, Maggie has begun meowing in the morning, usually at the same time the coffee maker starts brewing. It might be her way of mourning, or of carrying on Josie's fine legacy of the same. Either way, we are making a concerted effort to give her more attention.

May 2017

July 2019

Josie may have had a favorite lap (Dad's) or a favorite dining room chair (near mine), but any craft activity was a friend of hers. If you didn't want her to sit on it, you shouldn't leave it out in the open!!!

Upper left: My current project - a Christmas tree skirt. This picture was taken September 13 - thanks, Josie, for

putting your paw prints on the last project we will do together!

A week passes quickly when you are busy, and occasionally a movement has caught the corner of my eye, and I have looked for Josie, expecting her to be there. Maybe it is these random moments that I will miss the most.

In our family, Christmas is a significant event, full of traditions. My Josie photo collection contains more snaps from the Christmas season than any other time of year - as you already heard from our daughter, Josie joined in with gusto.

Christmas - 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010

Christmas 2011 and 2017 - what happened in between? Life?

I have no doubt that Christmas 2019 will not be the same without Josie, but we will raise a glass, and tell our Josie stories, and that may be enough.

Mosaic Monday

Sunday, September 22, 2019

MM #46: Things that go Harumph in the Night

Western Pasqueflower in seed

It was 9.30 p.m., and I was sound asleep. "Did you hear that?" whispered Spousal Unit. I didn't respond, until a moment later.

"Harumph?" Splash. Splash.

"What is THAT?" I asked, turning to look in his direction. My inflatable mattress crinkled under the shift in my weight, and my sleeping bag rustled, both of which made me cringe.

"I can't see anything," he said, leaning on his left elbow and peering intently into the darkness through the fine mesh of the tent.

Munch. Munch. Splash. "Harumph?" Splash.

Bear grass - a late bloomer!

Yes, folks, the scene is in the midst of the Jewel Basin, the location of our last backcountry camping trip. For 15 minutes, we listened to a random series of grunts, munching and splashes, with only theories about the source.

"Can you tell how far away it is?" By now I had goosebumps all over and I could feel myself trembling slightly, even in the warmth of my bag.

"Maybe 30 yards," he said, shaking the bear spray canister. (Bear spray has to be well-mixed to be effective.)

"Harumph?" Splash. Splash.

"What do you think it is?"

Cow parsnip in seed

"Maybe a moose," he speculated. Of course, the temptation was strong, to turn on our headlamps and identify the creature. Especially knowing that I love moose. But would this simply serve to antagonize it, whatever "it" might be?

Munch. Munch. "Harumph?" Splash. Splash.

"What's the plan?" I am sure that if I had been able to see anything, it would have been an eye roll from Spousal Unit. Yes, in retrospect, a silly question. But it was practically killing me to lie there with no idea what was lurking just 30 yards from our tent. I almost would have preferred to know it was a grizzly bear, if that was the case.

Crash, crash, crash (the sounds of brush breaking under foot, but growing fainter).

And with that, the critter was gone. You can rest assured that I continued to question the wisdom of backcountry camping for the next few hours, as I tried to calm myself enough to return to the land of Nod. Eventually I succeeded, and in the clear light of day, it was as if this mysterious visit never happened!

The next morning, fortified by a cup of coffee, we ventured down the shore line. Given its rocky nature, it was almost impossible to see any tracks, much less anything identifiable. We could discern divots in the mud of the lake bed, but whether they were made by a moose, elk or bear was anyone's guess. We examined the brushy area, and it was obvious that it is frequented as a route to and from the lake - the bushes have bent branches, and the smaller plants are crushed. But again, no clear tracks. Sigh. No clues to the mystery here.

So we got on with our morning business - I tended the fire and started to pack up small items while Man with Hat plied the lake for fish. It might have been too early for them, and soon enough he was back on shore for breakfast and another cup of coffee.

A second round of fishing resulted in a few nibbles and one catch, but nothing compared to the day before at Wildcat Lake. Yes, you're right, I am telling this story completely out of sequence, but isn't grabbing the attention of your readers one of the keys to great writing? I led with the thrilling part!

Wildcat Lake sits in a cirque surrounded by lush alpine meadow

and dark subalpine fir forest, as well as the crags of the Swan Crest

The day before, we hiked from Camp Misery (no joke - that's its name) to Wildcat Lake. Man with Hat wasted no time in launching his pack raft, and for the next 2.5 hours, made a full circuit of the lake, hooking at least 20 fish. He let them all go; we didn't have a good way to keep them cool for the remainder of our hike. I pottered around the shore, taking pictures (no big shock), making noise and playing Solitaire (I won twice!)

Bottom Center: Huckleberry - leaves turning red!

Upper left - can you see the caterpillar? Bottom left: Mountain Ash

Upper right: Wildcat Lake Middle left: Baneberry fruit Bottom left: Angelica

Bottom middle: Yellow mushroom the size of a grapefruit Bottom right: Jacob's Ladder in seed stage

We climbed out of the basin that contains Wildcat, and the trail led us down one draw (a narrow valley) and up another to stand above Strawberry Lake. Along the way, we spotted a solitary mountain goat high on the cliffs above us.

Upon our descent to Strawberry, we found a few day-hikers, who soon departed to beat the sunset. With the lake to ourselves, we chose a site at the head of the lake, on a spot of grass just the right size for our tent. This "campground" differed from our previous sites (Logging Lake, Ole Creek, Red Eagle/Atlantic Creek) because it did not have pre-defined campsites, cooking area, food hanging pole or pit toilet. In Jewel Basin, you have the freedom to camp where you like, but you have to work a little harder to hang your backpacks, make your own bathroom - well, you get the idea. We followed all the guidelines for separating cooking from the tent, etc., but I wonder if it's just a coincidence that we had a close-to-a-critter encounter here and not at our other locations?

Ramen with re-hydrated vegies

The remaining daylight was quickly consumed setting up camp and making dinner. We retired to the tent, played some Gin, (Spousal Unit won 3 out of 5), and you know the rest of that night's story!!

After we packed up camp, the 3 miles down to Strawberry Lake trailhead was almost an afterthought. I was anxious to get home and start investigating Mr. Harumph. Maybe I could find a similar sound on YouTube, and solve this mystery. But it was not to be. Despite several hours of searching, I have been unable to hear a similar grunt. Maybe Spousal Unit is right - forget the moose, elk or bear - he's going with Sasquatch!

Mosaic Monday