Er... sorry, Nichole. I saw another moose.
Not very clearly, she was obviously feeling shy. Darla and Michael took their trailer up into the mountains to park it for a while (to be visited on certain hot afternoons), and as we were driving lazily along the roads coming home, there she was - having a nice peaceful dinner in the willows. I don't blame her for hiding - I wouldn't want people driving by to stop and gawk at me while I was eating either.
Wednesday, I will be heading down to Casper to meet Shawna.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Midwife to a Dragonfly
Nichole and I went swimming at a lake near their place last night. That is, to be precise, she went swimming and I played in the water. But it was a lot of fun, and felt VERY good in 104 degree weather! When it cooled down to 99, we both started feeling a little chilly.
There were tons of blue dragonflies swarming all over just a few inches above the water. They were really beautiful; small and iridescent. So I'm standing about chin deep in the lake, wiggling my toes in the mud (pitch black very soft squooshy mud) when I see something swimming on the top of the water towards me. I scooped it up to see what it was - I thought at first it might be a tadpole with half of its legs out. But here was this strange pale green creature - half dragonfly (front half), half fish (back half). I wasn't sure what to do with it - it seemed perfectly happy in my hand, but I wanted to play! Can't do it with a bug in your hand. But I didn't want to put it back in the water if it would drown there; nor did I want to put it on dry land if it would dry up and die. Such a dilemma.
So eventually, I set it on the edge of the land, and let it decide for itself; and went back swimming. After a while, I came back to see what had happened, and the tail had turned into a pair of wings! It was sunning itself and drying out its wings. So somewhere out there on the shores of a lake in eastern MT, I have a dragonfly godchild. If, that is, it is still alive.
I got to Darla and Michael's just before they walked out the door to go to meeting. Time enough to brush my teeth and hop in the car and leave again. Jonathan was very good all through meeting, but as soon as we stopped singing, he hopped off the couch and hurried over to give me a huge hug. (That was the sound of my heart going pitty-patty, btw.) That, apparently, was sufficient, as he was out the door to play the next second.
Tonight, we read 'Potty Time' three times over and were starting on number 4, when Mommy rescued us with 'The Runaway Pumpkin'. Whew! But never let it be said I have shirked my Auntly Duties!
There were tons of blue dragonflies swarming all over just a few inches above the water. They were really beautiful; small and iridescent. So I'm standing about chin deep in the lake, wiggling my toes in the mud (pitch black very soft squooshy mud) when I see something swimming on the top of the water towards me. I scooped it up to see what it was - I thought at first it might be a tadpole with half of its legs out. But here was this strange pale green creature - half dragonfly (front half), half fish (back half). I wasn't sure what to do with it - it seemed perfectly happy in my hand, but I wanted to play! Can't do it with a bug in your hand. But I didn't want to put it back in the water if it would drown there; nor did I want to put it on dry land if it would dry up and die. Such a dilemma.
So eventually, I set it on the edge of the land, and let it decide for itself; and went back swimming. After a while, I came back to see what had happened, and the tail had turned into a pair of wings! It was sunning itself and drying out its wings. So somewhere out there on the shores of a lake in eastern MT, I have a dragonfly godchild. If, that is, it is still alive.
I got to Darla and Michael's just before they walked out the door to go to meeting. Time enough to brush my teeth and hop in the car and leave again. Jonathan was very good all through meeting, but as soon as we stopped singing, he hopped off the couch and hurried over to give me a huge hug. (That was the sound of my heart going pitty-patty, btw.) That, apparently, was sufficient, as he was out the door to play the next second.
Tonight, we read 'Potty Time' three times over and were starting on number 4, when Mommy rescued us with 'The Runaway Pumpkin'. Whew! But never let it be said I have shirked my Auntly Duties!
Monday, July 23, 2007
"I object to being told that I am saving daylight when my reason tells me that I am doing nothing of the kind... At the back of the Daylight Saving scheme, I detect the bony, blue-fingered hand of Puritanism, eager to push people into bed earlier, and get them up earlier, to make them healthy, wealthy, and wise in spite of themselves."
Robertson Davies, The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks, 1947
Hee. I love it.
Robertson Davies, The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks, 1947
Hee. I love it.
Back to the States
Two rather special things about Bowsman:
There were a lot of children who were professing, and in every meeting from the very start of convention, some of them took part and prayed.
And in most meetings there were only three speaking, and it just happened that many times, they were finished a little earlier, often leaving about 30 minutes for testimonies. And there wasn't a meeting where no one was ready to give their testimony until Sunday afternoon - I really thing it's possible that everyone at that convention who wanted to had a chance to have a part. It was very nice.
Portage was very flat. Also very humid. Also very mosquitoey. VERY mosquito-ey. I am not fond of mosquitoes. I squash them with impunity. Even with glee.
It really wasn't too hot though, not until Sunday. Then it was around 90, which isn't so bad if it's just the heat. The problem is the humidity. That runs right up there around 95%, I'm sure - and so 90 degrees is fairly well sweltering. I'm down at Nichole's parents again, and it is 106 here, but much more bearable (so I say as I sit in the air-conditioned house...) because it is dry.
A few days here and then I will head on down to Darla and Michael's for a week or so. Then on to Casper for the month of August.
There were a lot of children who were professing, and in every meeting from the very start of convention, some of them took part and prayed.
And in most meetings there were only three speaking, and it just happened that many times, they were finished a little earlier, often leaving about 30 minutes for testimonies. And there wasn't a meeting where no one was ready to give their testimony until Sunday afternoon - I really thing it's possible that everyone at that convention who wanted to had a chance to have a part. It was very nice.
Portage was very flat. Also very humid. Also very mosquitoey. VERY mosquito-ey. I am not fond of mosquitoes. I squash them with impunity. Even with glee.
It really wasn't too hot though, not until Sunday. Then it was around 90, which isn't so bad if it's just the heat. The problem is the humidity. That runs right up there around 95%, I'm sure - and so 90 degrees is fairly well sweltering. I'm down at Nichole's parents again, and it is 106 here, but much more bearable (so I say as I sit in the air-conditioned house...) because it is dry.
A few days here and then I will head on down to Darla and Michael's for a week or so. Then on to Casper for the month of August.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Bowsman MB
Now that I have a bit more time, I'll try to tell you about Manitoba. Or at least the parts of it that I have seen so far.
We left Plentywood Monday morning and drove north to Regina and then east. It rained all the way across Saskatchewan. It rained all the way through Manitoba up to Bowsman, and it continued raining after we got here. In the greyness, with the clouds hovering low and the rain streaking the windows, it looks an awful lot like Washington. You can even pretend that the Cascades are right there - hidden behind the clouds. Lots of green fields; lots and lots of trees, all of them green too; frogs (yep, green)... and water everywhere. They get most of the water for convention (not the drinking water, but for the toilets and laundry and everything) from a dugout. That is, you dig a large hole in the ground and wait for it to fill up. This would never happen in Montana or Wyoming, but it works quite well here. Unfortunately, along with all this water comes mosquitoes and humidity. Two of my favorite things.... Not. It's not been too bad so far though - it's been fairly cool and rainy. Yesterday, there were several cloudbursts, and once it hailed. And for the excitement of the day, we saw a huge black cloud in the distance that they told us was a half-mile wide funnel cloud. I haven't heard that it ever turned into a tornado though, which is a very good thing. I took a picture of it just in case, but it doesn't look like anything other than a large black cloud. You can't even see any hints of funnelling.
They grow a lot of canola here. All the yellow fields are very pretty, and cheer up the incessent greenery quite nicely, I think. Oh, and here's another similarity to W. Washington that you don't see in MT/WY! I took a walk down the road (gravel) and all along it there are ditches!! Filled with WATER! And cattail reeds and little frogs. (Toads, Nichole told me. They're bumpy on the back, not smooth.) I managed to scare an entire herd of cows by mooing at them. Perhaps they aren't familiar with American mooing and only understand you if you moo at them in Canadian. None of the cows I moo at in the States ever takes off at near-stampede speeds! I was a little offended!
Bowsman is a smaller convention, about 450 people at the biggest. The barn looked very small tonight - not so many folks had shown up yet. I couldn't tell you a number... 200 maybe? But that is entirely a guess, I really have no idea at all. I don't even know how many people were in the dining room. Nichole and I arrived on the grounds Monday night to find out we were both speaking Wednesday night. So I was just a little distracted at supper time tonight. There are positives and negatives to being first off, we've found.
Plus: You're done right away and therefore have the rest of the convention free to listen comfortably.
Minus: You're done right away and therefore have no idea what to do with yourself for the rest of the convention, as you know no one to talk to and can't study for meeting.
I also think perhaps we were practicing for when we go to some other countries - our little cabin has the main ironing board as well as the main email plugin and telephone for the sisters near us; so lots of people were coming and going all day. It wasn't bad; we put in earplugs and stayed happily deaf and undisturbed - it was just a little amusing. Not quite like getting ready for meeting with chickens and pigs and shouting kids running around like some people do! No five-times-daily call to prayer either.
It stays light noticeably later into the evening, though we aren't even as far north as Smeaton (SK). It is 10:10 right now, and looks like about 9 at home. Some of this, I suppose, is because we're not far into this timezone. It really IS about 9. Or so my body thinks. ;) I never realized I was such a creature of habit... I even get hungry on schedule! I'm hungry now - at 9 pm (my time), when I generally have a snack. The problem is that they had snacks out at 9 pm (their time... an hour ago!) when I wasn't the slightest bit hungry. Le sigh. Guess I'll have to raid the chocolate stash again. After all, I can't go to bed hungry! Speaking of my chocolate stash... le sigh again. I cleverly had broken pieces off the latest candy bar Mom got for me, and put them in a little tin in my suitcase. Bite-sized, all of them. At least, until they melted together in the trunk. I guess it was hotter than I realized.
The only bad thing about it up here is that I am having the hardest time getting online. I'm sorry, everyone, that's why no speaking list yet. :( It's very frustrating. We've been having a wonderful convention so far.
Sunday night we go on down to Portage. :)
We left Plentywood Monday morning and drove north to Regina and then east. It rained all the way across Saskatchewan. It rained all the way through Manitoba up to Bowsman, and it continued raining after we got here. In the greyness, with the clouds hovering low and the rain streaking the windows, it looks an awful lot like Washington. You can even pretend that the Cascades are right there - hidden behind the clouds. Lots of green fields; lots and lots of trees, all of them green too; frogs (yep, green)... and water everywhere. They get most of the water for convention (not the drinking water, but for the toilets and laundry and everything) from a dugout. That is, you dig a large hole in the ground and wait for it to fill up. This would never happen in Montana or Wyoming, but it works quite well here. Unfortunately, along with all this water comes mosquitoes and humidity. Two of my favorite things.... Not. It's not been too bad so far though - it's been fairly cool and rainy. Yesterday, there were several cloudbursts, and once it hailed. And for the excitement of the day, we saw a huge black cloud in the distance that they told us was a half-mile wide funnel cloud. I haven't heard that it ever turned into a tornado though, which is a very good thing. I took a picture of it just in case, but it doesn't look like anything other than a large black cloud. You can't even see any hints of funnelling.
They grow a lot of canola here. All the yellow fields are very pretty, and cheer up the incessent greenery quite nicely, I think. Oh, and here's another similarity to W. Washington that you don't see in MT/WY! I took a walk down the road (gravel) and all along it there are ditches!! Filled with WATER! And cattail reeds and little frogs. (Toads, Nichole told me. They're bumpy on the back, not smooth.) I managed to scare an entire herd of cows by mooing at them. Perhaps they aren't familiar with American mooing and only understand you if you moo at them in Canadian. None of the cows I moo at in the States ever takes off at near-stampede speeds! I was a little offended!
Bowsman is a smaller convention, about 450 people at the biggest. The barn looked very small tonight - not so many folks had shown up yet. I couldn't tell you a number... 200 maybe? But that is entirely a guess, I really have no idea at all. I don't even know how many people were in the dining room. Nichole and I arrived on the grounds Monday night to find out we were both speaking Wednesday night. So I was just a little distracted at supper time tonight. There are positives and negatives to being first off, we've found.
Plus: You're done right away and therefore have the rest of the convention free to listen comfortably.
Minus: You're done right away and therefore have no idea what to do with yourself for the rest of the convention, as you know no one to talk to and can't study for meeting.
I also think perhaps we were practicing for when we go to some other countries - our little cabin has the main ironing board as well as the main email plugin and telephone for the sisters near us; so lots of people were coming and going all day. It wasn't bad; we put in earplugs and stayed happily deaf and undisturbed - it was just a little amusing. Not quite like getting ready for meeting with chickens and pigs and shouting kids running around like some people do! No five-times-daily call to prayer either.
It stays light noticeably later into the evening, though we aren't even as far north as Smeaton (SK). It is 10:10 right now, and looks like about 9 at home. Some of this, I suppose, is because we're not far into this timezone. It really IS about 9. Or so my body thinks. ;) I never realized I was such a creature of habit... I even get hungry on schedule! I'm hungry now - at 9 pm (my time), when I generally have a snack. The problem is that they had snacks out at 9 pm (their time... an hour ago!) when I wasn't the slightest bit hungry. Le sigh. Guess I'll have to raid the chocolate stash again. After all, I can't go to bed hungry! Speaking of my chocolate stash... le sigh again. I cleverly had broken pieces off the latest candy bar Mom got for me, and put them in a little tin in my suitcase. Bite-sized, all of them. At least, until they melted together in the trunk. I guess it was hotter than I realized.
The only bad thing about it up here is that I am having the hardest time getting online. I'm sorry, everyone, that's why no speaking list yet. :( It's very frustrating. We've been having a wonderful convention so far.
Sunday night we go on down to Portage. :)
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Medora (North Dakota)
Darla's told me about this place called Medora ever since I met her the first time, I think. I'm pretty sure it was that long ago, because I have this hazy memory of wondering what on earth was Medora... it sounded like it ought to be important and famous and all that, and I'd never in my life heard of it. Town? Amusement Park? Museum??
So last night, we went. I wish we'd had more time to dink around the town; but I can't complain, as it was mostly my fault we didn't. I took a nap instead of dutifully hopping in the car. It's a cute little town (hotter than blazes...) with lots of fun shops. AND.... drumroll Licorice ice-cream. Drool. I got a milkshake out of it, and let me tell you, it was GOOD.
Very good. Excellent. I wanted another one and I wasn't hungry before I bought the first - I only got it because I wasn't sure I'd ever see licorice ice-cream again in my life.
And actually? That was the best way to see Medora the Town possible. Because it really wasn't all that hot if you were drinking something frozen while walking around. I should have gotten two - one for the musical - because that's when I was really hot.
The musical was fun, too. We had front row center seats - which was amazingly better than we were afraid they might be. It might have been just a little nicer to have been 2-3 rows back, so as to be a little higher; but it was really nice being so close. You could see the performers very well, and I like that. I like watching them and looking at their expressions and wondering who they are when they're not singing about being Texaco Men or something. One boy was so skinny, I thought he must surely be sick. But he had enough energy for two of the others, so he must have been healthy enough. And the man who was sort of the main character was dressed in so many layers of very heavy-looking clothes that I was a little worried he might have a heat-stroke in the middle of the play.
For those of you who, like me, have not been privileged to have absorbed information about Medora in the womb, it's all about Teddy Roosevelt. An actor who looks like him wanders around saying hello to people and every now and then during the musical, he pops up with some historical tidbit - like that he once sent cowboy boots to his daughter, who didn't like them. In between times, Buffalo Dale (instead of Buffalo Bill) narrates a sort of loose plot. This year, it involved his sister coming home in a hot pink semi-truck (read gussied up golf cart) and the two of them taking a road trip round and round the stage, while the singers sang and danced and did atmosphere stuff. The songs were appropriate to the journey - like Route 66 and Texaco Man and Convey. It was a lot of fun. At the end, they told about the national park system, and told everyone that if a plain ol' cowboy like Bully Teddy could become president, any one of us could do anything we wanted to.
The best part of the whole thing was the intermission entertainment. They had these men from Kenya over, who are incredible acrobats and they limboed under burning poles and leaped into fantastic pyramids. Talk about strong. They didn't just climb up over the other mens' arms and legs to get to their spot - they hurled themselves onto each other. And all the time, they whistled. I wondered if that's how they applaud in Kenya, or if it was sort of like how we would shout "Go on, you can do it!" to encourage a fellow. It was great!
So last night, we went. I wish we'd had more time to dink around the town; but I can't complain, as it was mostly my fault we didn't. I took a nap instead of dutifully hopping in the car. It's a cute little town (hotter than blazes...) with lots of fun shops. AND.... drumroll Licorice ice-cream. Drool. I got a milkshake out of it, and let me tell you, it was GOOD.
Very good. Excellent. I wanted another one and I wasn't hungry before I bought the first - I only got it because I wasn't sure I'd ever see licorice ice-cream again in my life.
And actually? That was the best way to see Medora the Town possible. Because it really wasn't all that hot if you were drinking something frozen while walking around. I should have gotten two - one for the musical - because that's when I was really hot.
The musical was fun, too. We had front row center seats - which was amazingly better than we were afraid they might be. It might have been just a little nicer to have been 2-3 rows back, so as to be a little higher; but it was really nice being so close. You could see the performers very well, and I like that. I like watching them and looking at their expressions and wondering who they are when they're not singing about being Texaco Men or something. One boy was so skinny, I thought he must surely be sick. But he had enough energy for two of the others, so he must have been healthy enough. And the man who was sort of the main character was dressed in so many layers of very heavy-looking clothes that I was a little worried he might have a heat-stroke in the middle of the play.
For those of you who, like me, have not been privileged to have absorbed information about Medora in the womb, it's all about Teddy Roosevelt. An actor who looks like him wanders around saying hello to people and every now and then during the musical, he pops up with some historical tidbit - like that he once sent cowboy boots to his daughter, who didn't like them. In between times, Buffalo Dale (instead of Buffalo Bill) narrates a sort of loose plot. This year, it involved his sister coming home in a hot pink semi-truck (read gussied up golf cart) and the two of them taking a road trip round and round the stage, while the singers sang and danced and did atmosphere stuff. The songs were appropriate to the journey - like Route 66 and Texaco Man and Convey. It was a lot of fun. At the end, they told about the national park system, and told everyone that if a plain ol' cowboy like Bully Teddy could become president, any one of us could do anything we wanted to.
The best part of the whole thing was the intermission entertainment. They had these men from Kenya over, who are incredible acrobats and they limboed under burning poles and leaped into fantastic pyramids. Talk about strong. They didn't just climb up over the other mens' arms and legs to get to their spot - they hurled themselves onto each other. And all the time, they whistled. I wondered if that's how they applaud in Kenya, or if it was sort of like how we would shout "Go on, you can do it!" to encourage a fellow. It was great!
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Lazy Days
Hanging out in Nichole's living room, feet up on the chest, quilt wrapped cozily around the legs, munching on carrots and potato chips .... playing games!!
Ok, really, that should be Lazy DAY - since tomorrow, we've got plans. Big ones, involving Cake and Medora - which is a place I have never been, but have been assured by multitudes of people, starting with Darla way long ago, is a Cool Place To Go. So I'm going. :) For the first time.
Saturday, maybe I will be lazy again. Don't know yet. Sunday, we drive to Plentywood, and Monday, take off across the border (hopefully, the border police will be rational) to Manitoba!
With Nichole. What fun.
Ok, really, that should be Lazy DAY - since tomorrow, we've got plans. Big ones, involving Cake and Medora - which is a place I have never been, but have been assured by multitudes of people, starting with Darla way long ago, is a Cool Place To Go. So I'm going. :) For the first time.
Saturday, maybe I will be lazy again. Don't know yet. Sunday, we drive to Plentywood, and Monday, take off across the border (hopefully, the border police will be rational) to Manitoba!
With Nichole. What fun.
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