Tuesday Evening

A nearly full moon shines brightly in the sky. A light dusting of snow covers the ground, and the air is chill in a very December-y type of way. I left work late tonight--we had a party for our volunteers, so it was not a bad sort of late night--and, at 6:30, the sun was completely down (and had been down for quite a while), the moon was high and bright, and the sky was dazzlingly dark. I realized that I don't often go out at night, now. I usually come home from work in mid-afternoon, and promptly change into comfy clothes . . . or even pajamas, depending on the day. It's the time of year to curl up in a blanket and read a book, or watch a movie, or cook something warm and delicious in the kitchen, or snuggle with my husband and/or my cat and/or my kitty.

I almost went for a walk when I got home--I was so tempted by the clear cold air and the moonlight and the darkness--but my wonderful Basil-cat needed some love and attention. Over Thanksgiving we discovered a nickel-sized scabby sore above his left eye, and we took him to the vet, who sedated him, scraped the sore in order to do some tests on it, stuck the poor little guy in one of those ridiculous and humiliating neck cones, and gave us some drugs to give him twice a day. He hates the cone. I can't laugh at him, can't even take a picture of him, because he is so horribly sad and confused about why he has to wear this dreadful plastic THING that he can't see around, can't scratch around, can't clean himself around. He mopes around the house and ends up curling up in hidden places, unless I can coax him onto my lap . . . and then he cuddles against me and purrs and purrs and purrs. At least we're getting plenty of cuddle time. He has to wear the darned thing for the next ten days, until we finish with the medication, and I do so hope that by then the sore (whatever it is) will be healed and he will be back to his usual confident, Dude-like self. I wish I could explain to him that it's for his own good, and that he hasn't done anything to deserve it, and that he's a GOOD kitty . . . and maybe he understands, at least a little.

I have been reading blog updates from my dear friend Rachel, who returned recently from several months in Africa--Kenya, Uganda, Congo. I love reading about her travels. I am reminded of what a different place she is in her life, a place between places, a place where she's seeking to find her place. And on a purely geographical level, I have found my place here in Missoula, Montana, amidst mountains and rivers and wild landscapes, and I am content.

But on another level, a meaning-in-life level, I think I'm just as much at an in-between place as Rach is. I enjoy my job; it's great to work for a non-profit and a cause I deeply believe in. I love my husband and I love being married, love sharing my life, with all its fun and challenges and seekings, with my wonderful Greg. I love my little house, my cats, my homey yellow kitchen, my garden. Yet I feel that there is more I should be doing. Is this one of those feelings that everyone has? Do we all feel that we're not quite doing enough, that we could be doing so much more? Or have some people actually found their niche, their calling?

I spoke tonight with one of the volunteers, a woman with whom I've had some wonderful conversations, someone with whom I could be friends. She is a writer, too. She spoke about wanting to write more, to discuss writing together, to push ourselves into disciplined creativity, and our conversation reminded me that this is a big part of what is missing in my life right now. The writing. The putting pen to paper, the typing of words on a screen, the formation of ideas onto a page. This writing ability, once which I like to think I've explored and honed and bettered over the years, is a gift, and right now it feels like a gift I'm not using. Sitting here tonight, typing this little post, feels good. It feels like I'm thinking about my life. It feels like I'm processing. It feels like I'm journaling, at least, if not creating something particularly structured. And those are all things that I want to be feeling. Writing has always helped me to slow down my life, to examine it, to hold it in my hands, look at it, and truly see it--in ways that I don't when I'm not writing.

So here is my challenge to myself. To write. To see. To feel. To explore, examine, imagine. And I wish myself luck . . . and a whole lot of new-found discipline.

A Post AT LAST

Okay, okay, I KNOW.

It's been a Very Long Time since I have updated my blog, and too many people refuse to cut me any more slack on this score.

So, family, Rachel, Jen: here you are. I hope the fact that I am blogging after a long hiatus fills all your hearts with joy. Yay!

And, of course, to make up for the lack of blogging, I will post dozens of pictures. It's the least I can do.

So, I woke up on the Monday before Thanksgiving (yes, we have to go back to Thanksgiving. I haven't blogged since then) to this:



8+ inches of gorgeous fluffy snow that floated straight down, piling up in deep drifts on branches, electric wires, cars, houses.


An absolutely perfect winter wonderland snowfall.






What else is there to do with such lovely snow except . . .



. . . go hunting? Oh, wait. No, I did not kill these deer. They were killed by my friend Peter, who then invited me over to enjoy some oven roasted stuffed deer hearts. Notice, the deer in this picture are lacking hearts. That's why they have large bloody gashes in their chests. Mmm, meat!

So some Missoula folk go hunting.

Midwestern folk, on the other hand . . .



. . . stay inside in their pajamas and make yummy food on Thanksgiving morning! Jen and Joe came to visit me for Thanksgiving, and we had a lovely four days together. Though we did very much enjoy cooking/baking and later devouring the fruits of our labors, I am enough of a Missoula girl after 2 1/2 years to take Jen and Joe to do what many other Missoula folk do . . .



. . . go cross-country skiing in the Rattlesnake Wilderness area.

The snow was perfect.

The sun was shining.

The cold winter wonderland days stretched on.

And I tried unsuccessfully to avoid skiing into trees and small shrubs.






I did successfully manage to look cute with my cross country skiing gear, though!



Jen and Joe succeeded in looking cute as well . . .






I do so like warm hats and fuzzy scarves.



Not to mention good friends.



And, of course, Montana.



(And having my own cross country skis, which I bought this weekend!)

December also brought fun things, though there were the not-so-fun things like final projects and presentations to prepare. Perhaps such things would not have been so not-so-fun had not I procrastinated most of the semester, but alas. Fortunately, Elsa procrastinated as well, so we spent a couple of long late nights sitting at opposite ends of the house, surrounded by papers and pieces of research, shouting encouragement to each other and occasionally meeting in the kitchen to do necessary tasks such as taking out the compost:



and drinking espressos made expertly by Elsa in the French press:



and making various kinds of food in the wee hours of the morning:



Happily, however, Elsa and I both finished the required projects, papers, and presentations, and managed to do them well. Ah, procrastination.

On December 15th, after enjoying our stress- (and schoolwork-) free existence, we decided to take a little tour of the local Humane Society. Just for fun. Just to see all the nice dogs and cats. Just to . . . LOOK.

53 minutes later I walked out of the Humane Society with a box that contained a 10-month old male black domestic shorthaired cat.



Elsa's cat, Olive, was not particularly impressed at first.



But everything's better after a meal . . .





Basil and Olive now get along quite swimmingly, though they have a tendency to tear through the apartment like wild pumas on the rampage, and get into places they're not supposed to, like the Recycling Cave of Death (where their food bag is located, though it is no longer located on the floor), and the kitchen table, the kitchen sink, the bathroom sink, my favorite plant, and on top of the DVD player. And, of course, Basil loves to perch.



Other recent exciting additions to the household are Beth and Britta, two very good friends who have just moved to Missoula! They are in the process of finding an apartment and jobs, and are currently crashing in my living room.



It is so good to have them here! Yesterday we combed the sporting good stores of Missoula for cross country skis, finally hitting the jackpot at Sportsman's Surplus. We also combed the thrift stores for beds (and books . . . and clothes . . . right-o). Today we went to church, transported the bed from the thrift store to my storage shed thanks to Than and his truck, ate burritos at Taco del Sol, and went cross country skiing this afternoon. The past few days (not to mention the past few months) have been very full. So begins 2008!

Some Pictures for Your Viewing Pleasure

At last, a quiet afternoon for updating my blog. Ahh.

It may be trite to say, but life has been incredibly busy these past couple of months. Since the beginning of August I've gotten a wonderful new roommate, Elsa; started my second-to-last semester of grad school; worked WAY too much; thrown a kegger to celebrate three birthdays (mine and those of my friends Heather and Emily); gone out to eat a great number of times for various important occasions; spent a lovely weekend contra dancing up on Flathead Lake; hiked 14.5 miles while my friend Emily ran a 57K (because she is one of those crazy people who do such things); and played hostess to five nomadic friends on their way back from a summer in Alaska.

Of course there's more that I've done, but I think those are the activities that stand out. The past few weeks have just been GO GO GO!! with precious little time to breathe, much less post anything interesting on my blog.

Today is a rainy Sunday, the first long rain we've had in months. It came last night, and all through the night I could hear the steady gentle drip of rain on the roof, and this afternoon I am cuddled up on the couch with my fuzzy blanket, purring cat, and laptop, and am very content indeed. I may make meself a cup o' tea to increase the contentment level . . .

But before I do that, I will post pictures, since it seems that those are of most interest to my friends. Thanks to you all, by the way, who check my blog several times a week in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, I've managed to update it. Do not lose hope! I am here! I am well! I am posting!!


Fire season in Missoula: mid-July to end of August. Ugh. Here's smoke billowing up from a fire near Frenchtown in August:

 

And the red sun rising over shadowed Mt. Sentinel:

My Big Step Into AdultHood (Or Something) For 2007:

(last year: full-size bed. This year: knife set. What comes next?)

What do you mean, this isn't what they're supposed to be used for?!

New addition to the household: Elsa's cat, Olive. She is very weird. She is convinced that she is always starving, and is working her hardest to convince us as well. She meows loudly in the morning and runs to her food dish when the first person emerges from her room, and keep meowing, loudly, until she is fed. She runs across the house like a cat possessed. She sits in the sunshine in a very ladylike manner. She is currently purring madly and sitting on my feet, utterly content. In short, she is a cat, and a marvelous one at that.

Below is Elsa, during our two-day preparation for our Luau Kegger Birthday Party. On the menu: 1 enormous bowl of guacamole, 1 gargantuan bag of tortilla chips, 4 pineapple boats full of fruit salad, 70ish shish kabobs, 3 cakes (carrot, coconut-lime, and chocolate raspberry), and 2 kegs (Bayern Amber and Big Sky Summer Honey). Talk about hours upon hours upon hours of prep time . . .

Heather, organizing the Luau Kegger Birthday Party playlist in the bathroom, because there was no other space in the house:

Emily, attempting to shrink the constantly-growing pile of dirty dishes:

Dave, mixing up his far-too-delectable punch (which, unfortunately, kept people from drinking as much out of the kegs as we'd hoped . . . ):

And me, carving out pineapple boats for our fruit salad:

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the actual party, but since the prep time ended up being about 5 times as long as the party itself, I'm sure ya'll will be satisfied with the prep pictures I posted. At least, you'd darned well better be!

One of my delectable cakes, perhaps one of the best I've done, a Black Forest Blackberry Cake, with three layers separated by a decadent blackberry filling, slathered in chocolate icing, and topped off with homemade whipped cream and milk chocolate shavings. Magnifique!

Yay, a day spent with Amy Gesch-Woman, who was visiting her parents in Helena for a few days. So good to see her over the Labor Day weekend!

And then, my lovely contra dance weekend up on Flathead Lake. It was a sublimely beautiful few days, with dancing galore, gorgeous sunsets, night skies full of stars, and me making WAY too many pots of coffee for all the crazed caffeine addicts. Oh, well, the rest of the experience made up for that stress!

I just took pictures of scenery--sorry, no dancing pics! Someday I'll take my camera along to a contra dance . . .

Last weekend I went up the Swan Valley (finally, after two years!!) with my friends Emily and Lacey. While Emily busted her butt running for 10 hours and 9 minutes, Lacey and I slept in, ate breakfast at Brookies Cookies, a funky little cafe in Bigfork (in fact, it was the only breakfast place we could find in the entire town!), and hiked a mere 14.5 miles. Below, Lacey and Todd (Emily's hyperactive Australian Shepherd who herded us the entire day. Eep.):

Hall Lake, in a beautiful alpine valley. Unfortunately, these little alpine lakes are FREEZING. Lacey jumped in for 12.5 seconds, but I stuck with numbing only my feet and ankles rather than my entire body.

We decided to take a 3-mile detour to Six-Mile Peak, which turned out to rather painful on the way up, but the view was worth it! We could see plumes of smoke from various wildfires; perhaps sometime I'll go up on a clear spring day and see the landscape stretching out for miles.

HAD to take a victory picture at the top!

Emily sleeping in the backseat on the way home, using Todd as a pillow.

Insha'allah that will satisfy those of you faithful readers who have long been awaiting a new post . . . and insha'allah it will not be six weeks before I post again!

Love and salaam to all!!