Life Changes On A Dime

Michael and I left Emmi in the care of Nat and took a trip to Billings Thursday--we needed some groceries and the cowboy was in desperate need of a Harbor Freight run. :))

Little did we know what lurked in the background as we shopped and had lunch. Back at home the phone rang a little after 8pm and when I saw the words "Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center" on the caller ID, I was immediately nauseated.  See, eastern Idaho is where Yellowstone National Park trauma is taken--my Mom and Chuck are just outside the Park near Ennis working on that dude ranch. 

My Mom's voice was not right. Traveling to Yellowstone to visit a friend with whom she used to work Mom's truck left the road near the Gibbon River bridge and crashed.  A kind soul called 911 and stayed with her holding her hand and trying to keep her calm while waiting for paramedics.  Mom was helicoptered to this medical center with multiple injuries, none life threatening thank God. 

I left home at 9pm arriving at the hospital about 3am. The owners of the ranch where Mom and Chuck are working took Chuck to the hospital. Mom is alert, talking and getting out of bed, albeit in a great deal of pain. It has been a day of scans and doctor visits, phone calls with insurance people, etc.  blogs wil be sporadic, Mom declined to have her photo taken for this post! :))

Wedding and Mini-Reunion

On Sunday we attended the wedding of Megan and Michael—Megan is the daughter of our good friends Kelli and Larry.  Megan and Michael are both in the USAF stationed in Washington, D.C.  but chose to celebrate their wedding in Montana. 

Jill and I drove down to Billings for the actual wedding held in the Greek Orthodox Church.  Having never attended a  Greek Orthodox Church, I was curious.  In Billings it’s a very small sanctuary, gorgeous wood floors, ornate decorations, quiet and peaceful. 

I have to say it was one of the more interesting weddings I have ever attended—meaningful service, no music but lots of chanting, many rituals with interpretations which made sense.  Each wedding guests was presented with a program which explained the Greek Orthodox ceremony.  The wedding ceremony has remained almost entirely unchanged since its origination centuries ago.  Another notable aspect of the Orthodox marriage is that the bride and groom do not exchange vows; instead it is their presence before Christ through the priest and the congregation that signifies their wish to be joined and to accept the Lord into their new home.  It was a joy to watch Megan and Michael—they are meant for each other. 

Back to Big Timber post wedding we all gathered at the home of Megan’s grandmother Jean.  Her home is a bed and breakfast with beautiful grounds—perfect for a wedding reception.  The food was delicious and I don’t think I have ever heard a more articulate “toast” at a wedding than that given by the groom’s brother—quite entertaining!  Michael joined me at the reception and we spent the evening visiting with various friends. 

Bonnie, Megan’s sister and Megan. 

I think my little Canon camera which is small enough to tuck in my handbag spent too many days riding around on an ATV gathering dust—most of my photos turned out blurry.

We received a pleasant surprise last night—we were scheduled to have dinner at the Rib and Chop with Sarge and Sarah.  When they arrived at the restaurant they had some additional guests, Royal and Nancy plus Sox and his date—all the guys of the group graduated from high school together long ago!  I think the folks at the Rib and Chop thought we never were going to give up our table—the place was literally packed on a Tuesday night—summer in Montana!

Michael spent the day in the hayfield and in between he installed a master brake cylinder on his old 1995 Ford pickup.  I spent the day quilting finishing up Donna’s special quilt.

July 4 Weekend Is Over

Whew! That was one busy July 4 weekend—mixed in with haying we were meeting ourselves coming and going. Guess we got what we deserved for being such social butterflies! On Sunday we attended our last holiday weekend event—the wedding of Megan and Michael—Megan is the daughter of our good friends Kelli and Larry. Megan and Michael are both in the USAF stationed in Washington, D.C. but chose to celebrate their wedding in Montana.  As there have been no photos posted online of the wedding I won’t post any here until I’ve seen photographs on Megan’s or Bonnie’s (her sister) Facebook page. 

Michael was in the hayfield before 8am this morning—it was very hot and windy yesterday making it difficult to bale the hay—he’s just now coming in the house at 7pm.  Emmi and I took a walk then it was on to quilting for me—I’m working on another special quilt for my friend Donna—her great-grandmother made the Dresden plate blocks!!  It took me a while to mark the quilt and I finished almost all the stitch in the ditch. 

Emmi and I played taxi driver for the cowboy ferrying him to and from the hayfield.  He is finished haying on the ranch we formerly owned—that’s a relief to him! 

Here’s a couple non-wedding party photos from yesterday:

Isn’t that a handsome cowboy???

Our friend Jill.

It was a beautiful day—80 degrees and a cool breeze—doesn’t get much better than that!  For some reason most of the time we don’t have too many mosquitoes here on our place—there are years when the dang bugs are worse than others but for the most part, we are lucky.  Not so everywhere else we went this weekend—my ankles look as if I have chicken pox!!  At Jill’s on Thursday night she gave me some kind of non-toxic bug spray—thus my ankles look as if I have chicken pox!! I am a mosquito magnet so on the 4th and at the wedding yesterday I used the toxic stuff—with DEET—no new bites.  The cowboy doesn’t have any bites—and he used no bug spray--what’s up with that???

Fireworks

Many years ago when Michael and I first married, the community gathered donations and purchased fireworks setting off the fireworks on property owned by our friends Ken and Lesley.  The entire neighborhood attended and I have such fond memories of those July 4 times.   In Montana I’ve watched July 4 fireworks attired in coat, hat and gloves—last night it was warm enough for just a light jacket.  Our friend Geoff loves fireworks and donated the ones we watched at George and Shirley’s last night.  It was a delightful evening—tons of delicious food, lots of friends and neighbors, ending with a spectacular display of fireworks.  The weather cooperated sprinkling rain just as the party started but the sun came out shortly giving us this gorgeous rainbow:

Today our social calendar was empty—thankfully, we both needed an evening of rest!!!  Michael spent the day in the hayfield and I spent the afternoon doing yard work—mowing and weed whacking.  I did manage to load a quilt backing onto the frame. 

Nat came for lunch as we have a wedding to attend tomorrow on his normal day for coming up the Boulder. 

Taking good fireworks display photographs has always alluded me until last night—I discovered a “fireworks” setting on my camera:

Life is good!

Happy July 4, 2014

We had such a good time at Jill and Terry’s last night—Jill is an awesome cook, look at this July 4 cake she baked:

Each slice looked like a red, white and blue flag.  It not only looked good, it was delicious too!  Dinner was outstanding and so was the company.  Here’s some more last night photos:

Jill and Terry live in an old brick farmhouse which they have lovingly restored—Terry is a building contractor and Jill is a real estate agent/interior decorator with exquisite taste!!

Doug and MichaelJill manning the grill.

Ben, Gayle, Mike and Doug.

We were rather late getting home last night but the cowboy was back on the haying equipment first thing this morning.  I finished another quilt this afternoon—I’m on a roll!!  Tonight we are heading to George and Shirley’s for another July 4 party—we are certainly the social butterflies this weekend.  Tonight’s party will include fireworks, sure hope I can get some good photographs!

Summer Has Finally Arrived

At least we think so!  Eighty degree temps and sunshine signal summer but there’s something else in our household which really tells me summer is here:

See these two guys, the cowboy is usually wearing a down vest and Nat always wears a cardigan—unless it gets very warm—the absence of those garments is a clear signal summer is here.

Yesterday I took a day off from quilting and chasing after Emmi and the cowboy by going to Bozeman with Jill.  We have a wedding to attend on Sunday and of course some new attire was needed.  There are also some great grocery shopping in Bozeman!  It was a good day spent with a very good friend.

Nat came for lunch today and I made a new ice cream—I love to try out new recipes and this one was a real keeper, chocolate mint ice cream.  The recipe uses peppermint extract as well as chopped Andes mints—it was so good I could have eaten the entire bucket full!!  But I didn’t—I really, really liked what the scale told me this morning and this is going to be a tough weekend for dieting—our social calendar is busy!

Michael had a major breakdown with the mower yesterday and spent the afternoon and into the evening doing repairs—welding, banging and banging.  The implement dealership couldn’t get a new sickle bar here before next week so the cowboy fixed the old one.  Haying is progressing:

We are off to Jill and Terry’s tonight for a little gathering—should be fun.  Hope you all have a safe and fun July 4th weekend.

Haying, Quilts and Sunsets

It’s that time of year when Michael is out in the hayfields from early morning until late evening.  He didn’t come inside tonight until after 7pm.  He comes to the house for lunch then I take him water and snacks throughout the day.  Of course Ms. Emmi goes along to the hayfield—today he was cutting over on our former ranch—he cuts the hay there on shares with the owners.  Michael gathered some hay and tied it in a knot—watch what that silly dog does:

I’m quilting and quilting.  Here is one I finished last week and delivered over the weekend:

Today I loaded and finished one for Shirley—a sweet, feminine little quilt—all done!

It was a beautiful July 1 day—about 74 degrees and sunny—are we finally going to have summer??  Let’s hope so for the haying contingent!!  Our flowers are stunning this year:

Yesterday I tried to work myself to death—I declared war on the weeds.  I hate to spray herbicides under our aspen trees so my only other weapon is the dreaded shovel!!!  We also have these really sharp weed hooks on long handles.  Climbing up and down the hills around the house I chopped weeds until I thought my arms would fall off—yoga was painful this morning!

Sunset on Sunday night:

Life is good.