Friday, July 31, 2009

Painting

What do you think of my yellow and orange? Cheerful? A little bit Zen? That's what I was going for.


Now I want to pull up the carpet and re-finish the hard wood floors.

Crystal Lake

Last weekend Kelly and I hoped to go camping at West Rosebud, a popular spot not far from Billings where a river runs into a lake, so there is fishing and swimming. Our friend Kenny went up ahead of us to claim a spot, but was rained out and returned to Billings at midnight the evening before we were due to head up. A last minute plan was hatched with Mom and Dad to find Crystal Lake out of Lewistown, over two hours away. Casey and his friend Hank came too, so we headed off in a three car convoy. I enjoyed quizzing Kelly along the way and got lots of information about Montana, his family's farming history, and summer jobs he had as a teenager ... like the time he got a summer job with Robbie Clark in Roundup climbing up poles to salvage telegraph lines. Robbie was dating a local girl who broke her curfew one night, and the boys had to exit hastily in their pick up truck while the girl's mom unloaded a shot gun in their direction! Anyway, a much more serene setting was waiting for us at Crystal Lake.


I got to cross off an item from my wish list for this holiday because I camped by water and woke up to the smell of a pine forest. I even took my yoga mat and did sun salutations amongst the beautiful trees. We had the forethought to buy a little inflatable raft. Casey and Hank floated across the lake as we walked around it, loving the views and the wild flowers. Then we swapped.

A national forest volunteer came by to warn us that a bear had been spotted in the park the previous night, so we were careful to pack up all our food before we went to bed. Kelly had his 357 pistol by his side in our tent. I don't think any bears came by, although the boys had trouble sleeping because of various noises in the night. We did have a doe and fawn hanging around before dinner, and they were very happy with potato chips. Mike said it would be the salt they craved.

It was such an incredibly beautiful place to camp. On Sunday morning we did a little hike to the top of one of the hills and were rewarded with a beautiful view of the lake.


This camping area is only open for a few months in summer. In winter it is snowed in, and a popular spot for snow mobiles and cross sountry skiing. The lake itself is actually spring fed. There are a couple of spots along the side of the lake where you can see and hear the spring water bubbling up through the stones. The water there is freezing cold, oozing out of the mountains as the winter snow pack thaws and feeds the lake. We filled our water bottles here.

On the way home I had to take a couple more pictures. These are a few of my favourite things - Montana's abandonned farm houses / ghost towns, and the ribbons of gold formed by road side sunflowers.

Home Sweet Home?

When school broke up in early June, Kelly and I only waited a weekend before jumping on a plane and heading 'home' to Oz. He stayed for two weeks and I stayed four. We packed it in on our first return visit: Melbourne, Mornington Peninsula, Adelaide/Aldinga and Alice Springs. Then Kelly had to get back to work, but I pushed on with Freemantle to catch up with Cathy et al, Adelaide again, Sydney and Gosford. I wasn't very systematic or organised with photography, but here is a selection.



Assorted Murphies in Rye



Vic and I squinting into the winter sun


Kelly on one of our wonderful beach walks at Aldinga



My country


Lhere Mbantua - my beautiful river



Mia (right) sitting in the 'star' at her pre-school graduation


Emma cons Mizzi out of another ride on the merry go round


playing with Emma's new ABC puzzle


BFFs on the ferry in Sydney

I saw as many people as we could fit in, I followed the nasal twang of Kath n Kim around supermarkets just to revel in the accent, I ate Arnott's bisuits and fish n chips, watched SBS and the ABC, wallowed in the love of family and life long friends ... I enjoyed the homeness of home. Still, when Kelly had to come back to Montana, I missed him, and returning to our little place on Yellowstone Avenue was just as exciting as landing in Australia. So I guess this trip really reinforced that we are blessed to have two homes, but mainly that home is Kelly.