Home Alone and Meetin' Folks

I left home for almost two weeks and returned.  A few days went by, and Bill left home.  He didn't get to go to Ireland or anyplace that adventurous.  He went to Moscow.

He's done that every year in March for as long as I can remember.  I think his gathering is called the Idaho Forest Landowners' annual meeting.  So, every year he takes off on a Sunday afternoon and returns Tuesday evening.  

I was thinking of driving down there this morning because my editor for the Idaho Forest Products Commission profiles was planning to be there.  We thought it would be fun to meet face-to-face for the first time after spending a year emailing or calling back and forth.

Some may recognize Maria more by her voice than her name.  She's the Brit who always participates in the KPBX-NPR annual fund drive in Spokane. She's a very involved lady, with her marketing/PR business and her interest in horses.

It would have been nice to meet Maria.  I was thinking of calling my former editor Diane, whom I have met; my current editor Dana from the Appaloosa Journal and Juli from the Horse and Rider magazine, again still only cyber friends, and asking them all to get together for lunch.  

That would be a fun gathering, since all of us have several common threads of interest, especially journalism and horses, but I'm also in the midst of a major feature story assignment.

Yesterday the assignment allowed me to be home alone while meeting some fascinating, fun-loving women from across the country.

I'd already met Grace.  She signs her name on emails as Gracie, but I don't know her quite that well yet.  

She's a member of Sisters on the Fly, as are the others.  I called Grace from the airport in Spokane before leaving for Ireland and warned her that some interview questions would be coming.

Since that time, I've learned that she is a "salt-of-the-earth" lady, as are the others.  Grace and I have exchanged several emails.  She retired from her career as a corrections officer in California and moved up to Spokane to be closer to her daughter.

Since joining Sisters on the Fly, Grace has restored three vintage trailers and has taken in every activity possible put on by the Sisters in this region.  That includes showing off her trailer at an Appaloosa-sponsored trail ride last summer.  

Grace and I talked again yesterday afternoon on the phone and decided that our lively conversation needed to be continued over lunch some day when I go to Spokane.  

I spent a good hour yesterday morning visiting with Maurrie, founder of the Sisters on the Fly.  She lives in Arizona and spends her summers in Absaroke, Mont., fly fishing and engaging in Sisters on the Fly cowgirl-oriented activities.

Maurrie's son owns Sea and Stream Outfitters, seasonally working out of Bozeman and Florida.  He taught his mom how to fly fish.  

It was from those lessons that the concept for Sisters on the Fly eventually took hold with Maurrie and her sister Becky.  The group has since received considerable attention from Cabela's and will be featured in Oprah's O Magazine AND the Appaloosa Journal, of course. 

It was fun to hear Maurrie's stories about how aspects of the organization have unfolded since 1999,  including her association as a cook in Arizona at a cowgirl school, working alongside with Chef Rocko before he became a TV personality. 

My interviewing for this story also introduced me to Pam from the Southern Sisters.  She's a retired school nurse who lives near Savannah, Georgia.  Her group is sponsoring a Sisters' gathering in April on Tybee Island, off the coast near Savannah.

It was a fun day getting acquainted with these ladies and their stories----made the task of pounding out a story more like a big, happy picnic rather than work.  That could be because their motto is "we have more fun than anyone."

Plus, it was a great way to spend yet another rainy day in Idaho.  As I look out the window and see snow spitting from the sky, I'm thinking today ought to be spent doing some more "interviewing."  

Maybe the sun will come and stay for a while one of these days.  Happy Tuesday from the Home Alone Sisters on the Fly wannabe.