365 Photo Challenge - June

It seems that each month I start the new subject with an expectation that quickly gets turned on its head. I thought the subject "Sky" would be really difficult. In a way it was, but only by being too easy. I'll try to make sense of that convoluted statement...

Sky is everywhere - you needn't even go outside, just step to the nearest window - which makes it easy. Sky is everywhere - how on earth does one decide which part of sky to photograph - which makes it hard. If you don't have a tree or a building or a kite you have no sense of scale. If there are no clouds (I live in Washington State - grey skies are normal here) then the picture becomes about the tree or the building or the kite rather than the sky.

Fortunately, June in Washington does provide a lot of 'blue sky with clouds' days so I had enough opportunities. Towards the end of the month I traveled to Montana, the Big Sky Country and I was overwhelmed with sky!

All of the previous monthly subjects were chosen because I had some interest in them. In all honesty, the only interest I had in 'Sky' related to my need for a jacket or an umbrella. Vapor trails hold a new fascination for me now, as do the countless building cranes reaching up so optimistically. I still know little or nothing about clouds, but I can say with certainty that I do look up now with a whole new appreciation for all the amazing cloud formations - and here in Washington...all the Shades of Grey.

On Safari in Montana

My cousin lives about 15 minutes outside of the very small town of Absarokee in Southeast Montana. Visiting there is always a pleasure - I love my cousin & his wife, I love Absarokee, and I love the trip from Seattle across to Eastern Montana.

In 2010 I visited for a wedding and late one afternoon my cousin took me for a ride up into the hills to enjoy the scenery and the wildlife. In addition to a pair of Sandhill cranes, we saw 275 deer. I am not stretching the truth - there were three of us in the car and we counted very carefully. In fact, we surely must have missed some. There were a few small groups of 15 or so, most of them consisted of groups of 2-5 grazing peacefully. I very badly wanted to see some elk - or even 'an' elk, but the closest we came was a man on a bicycle that had us fooled for a few minutes. (you are more apt to see an elk than a man on a bicycle in the Montana mountains) It was an amazing experience, this was not 'managed' wildlife - this was the real thing.

Last August year I visited again and requested that we find time for what is referred to as The Safari. My cousin and his wife take this drive fairly often, with varying routes, depending on the amount of time they want to spend and where they want to end up. They always count the cranes, and the deer, and the elk. Their all time record is something over a thousand total.

We set off in the afternoon a little early for the deer to be down grazing, but we had planned a dinner out so it was in fact a little late when we started spotting deer. Just as previously, the deer were plentiful and the total grew rapidly. Pretty soon we were well over 200 (counting several Sandhill Cranes) and I was wearing a permanent grin.  I was quite pleased, but still holding out hope for a couple of elk.

And then it happened. We came around a long slow curve in the road and we saw elk - lots of elk, lots and lots of elk - spread across four or five hills. It was breath-taking to see this enormous herd moving slowly across the hills almost like a cloud shadow. As soon as we took in the vision, the sound hit us. This herd was almost equal parts cows & calves, and as they traveled they kept in constant communication. It was surprisingly loud and unlike anything I had ever heard before. It was a sound experience that will stay with me forever.

Just a fraction of the herd

There were a couple of other trucks stopped along the road, binoculars out. And we spoke softly among ourselves, spooking the elk only slightly.  I wanted to take pictures, but more than that I just wanted to stand and watch and listen. So I did, openmouthed and a bit verklempt. There was no way we could possibly count this herd, it was the largest my cousin had ever seen, but we estimated upwards of 300. I couldn't even begin to get them all in my camera viewfinder. Eventually, an approaching car at one end spooked the herd enough that it turned on itself. My cousin, educated in animal behavior, decided we needed to move on as the signs of stress were becoming evident among the cows with calves.

We counted at least another 100 deer on the way home - and it would have been more but we ran out of light. They are hard enough to spot in daylight, but they fade away entirely as dusk deepens.

Speculation was that extensive forest fires in the mountains had driven the elk down as one large group. I choose to believe it was just time for me to see some elk - lots and lots of elk!

All Free Wi-Fi is not Equal

I have been traveling for 10 days now, and every night when I find a motel I make sure it offers free Wi-Fi. All but one of my motels has been in the $60 to $100 range and all of them have had signal that varied between low and non-existant. The one motel I paid $130 for (it was Moving-In week at MSU in Bozeman and I was lucky to find a bed anywhere) had a good signal. So it is clear, you get what you pay for.

Starbucks is my drink of choice and traveling through Montana can be trying for those of us Seattleites addicted to their particular taste & menu. There aren't a dozen Starbucks locations in all of Montana and I have that many within 5 miles of my home. I know Starbucks is an expensive way to quench your thirst, but I also know that when I sat down at the Missoula Starbucks on North Reserve the free Wi-Fi signal read excellent. Same thing at the Starbucks on South Reserve. Evidently coffee is like free Wi-Fi...you get what you pay for.

None of this would be so important if the replacement phone I got from Sprint two months ago hadn't crapped out as soon as I crossed the border into Montana. Using my little notebook and the nightly free Wi-Fi was my only way to communicate with home - where my 97 yr old mother is failing and my family worries about a 67 yr old woman traveling alone with a thirteen year old Toyota. I passed 120,000 miles on this trip and took took my Camry to the top of more than one mountain and it never missed a beat.

So the verdict is in...Starbucks & Toyota - YES!  Sprint - NO! Free Wi-Fi - you get what you pay for.

?Year of the Book?

New Year’s Resolutions don’t scare me.  I’ve been making them and breaking them for years and I think I am the better for it.  I try to make my resolutions rather open ended with no specific numbers or dates so failure just sort of slips by quite easily.  Mainly, for me, the point of it all is a sort of taking stock.  I think just pondering appropriate resolutions is a helpful process, bringing things to the front of your mind and cutting into our regular denial a bit.

In the last year I have instituted several changes in my way of getting through life, most of which are going quite well.  So it seemed to me I that I had done enough pondering of my failings already.  Besides, by the time one gets to my age, it’s pretty much the same failings year after year.

Last year, my daughter made a general resolution to finish projects – some just ‘on the list’ and others started but languishing.  I thought I needed some sort of general resolution or theme for 2011 that I could work at all year and yet still set goals, preferably something creative.

The answer came quickly and easily:  2011 – The Year of the Book.  I’m still looking for a title that doesn’t sound so corny, but it wasn’t difficult to set a list of goals. The list includes organizing, finishing, learning, using up, and more.  It does not include reading them, reviewing them, or talking about authors – that will just carry on as usual.  Since I am having so much fun with this blog, it seemed appropriate to set up a separate site to publish my goals and also follow my progress.  

Pages from a finished book of leaves



Pages from a 'nearly' finished travel Journal from 2007



Pages from another 'nearly' finished travel journal from 2010

And so, my first goal is to set up the new site.  I’ll let you know as soon as it is ready to go.  If you can think of a cleverer name for this project, please let me know.

Twenty One Bags

My mother is 96 and her memory is failing, but like most people in this condition she has crystal clear memories of incidents in her youth.  Although you expect it, it is still always surprising.  Most curious to me (and I ponder this often) is exactly what made a particular story stay in her mind – or all they all still there, just not accessible.  This year at Thanksgiving as we sat around the table drinking our coffee and digesting, apropos of nothing, she began a story.  What struck me about this story, although it certainly stands alone as interesting, was how clearly she told the details, without pause or uncertainty.  There was no doubt as to the truth of the story, she is no longer capable of exaggerating without tell-tale hesitation or eye-shifts.

When she was growing up in Montana, there was a man with a very large ranch between her father’s and Great Falls.  He had a son who was learning disabled but still largely functional.  The only problem was that he would wander off into the countryside and it took much time and many people to find him.  So they decided to move him into Great Falls.  They found him a rooming house right downtown next to the Paris Department Store where everything was convenient for him and he seemed to be doing very well.  Every morning he would go into the hole-in-the-wall cafe next door and have them fill his thermos with coffee.  Then he would return there for his afternoon meal.  He followed this routine without fail.  One day his family came to visit him and they stopped at the  café first.  They were told he was doing well, had been in for his morning coffee, but strangely, had not come for his lunch.  When they went to his room they found him on his bed (Mom hastened to assure us he was fully dressed!) but he had passed away.  In the corner of his room they found 21 bags from The Paris.  Each bag contained a pair of pants and a belt.  They all still had their tags and the sales slips. This was a comfort to Mom as she was confident they had been able to return them and get their money back.

It is such an inconsequential story, sad and amusing at the same time.  Obviously it had made a large impression on Mom when it happened and I can envision her family sitting around the table discussing it…just like my family did.