Mounds of snow with a few bare patches of ground and much melting yet to do, but yesterday felt much different from other days this week.
Take away the struggles, the busy schedules and the prospect of more snow storms to come.
Add some extra daylight, a whole lot of brilliant, warming sunshine, and an open afternoon schedule with no need to hurry home, and yesterday made for a much-needed and appreciated brief getaway for Bill and me.
We drove toward Montana and crossed the border.
It must have been the spring air cuz I could feel a quiet urge to forget responsibilities back home and just keep on driving and driving and driving.
Sometimes, that's a mighty tempting thought, but, as responsible souls, we usually put such urges on hold, remaining content to let the little welcome breaks in the daily routine satisfy our needs.
Yesterday's drive took us through some country we've seen hundreds of times, some of it the same route our family often traveled for what we termed "the Sunday drive."
Most of our early spring Sunday drives in those days took us to Montana and down side roads leading to farms and woods and usually lots of deer to count.
Sometimes we ended up in dicy, nail-biting driving areas, leading to noticeable protests from our mother as our dad calmly worked his way through the situation.
Yesterday, we did run across a few questionable areas on the road from Noxon to Heron but no big deal---just some moderate swishing in areas where the squishy wet snow from Tuesday still hadn't seen much plowing.
We also did not see too many deer----one dead carcass along a back road and a group of half a dozen or so blending in with some cows around a barnyard feeder.
We also didn't encounter much traffic on the highway or the back roads. That always makes me happy cuz I don't have to just keep on driving whenever I see a good photo.
There were plenty of stops where Bill would roll down the window and enjoy the fresh air while I stepped from the pickup, left the door open and simply walked around, looking for the best perspectives.
Of course, these drives always involve a little food. In yesterday's case, we stopped at the Clark Fork Pantry for ice cream, a cookie and coffee.
On the way back, Bill practiced improving his mobility by managing his way up and down two different sets of steps.
Knowing you're gonna get inside and enjoy an Ice House Pizza can provide a great incentive for anyone, even Rehab Man.
All in all, we both enjoyed a taste of spring along with a sense of growing freedom to get on with life and eventually to resume a fairly normal life at that.
A week from today, Bill will be driving. He's gonna do a dry run next Saturday, figuring out the best strategy for crutches and a knee roller, getting in and out of a car.
The next day he'll be on his own, driving to a tree growers' conference in Moscow.
And, over the next few days, we'll enjoy a rather gradual melting of all this snow as temperatures rise into the 50s and the sun continues to shine.
Life is looking better. After this past week's challenges, that is a good thing.
Happy Saturday.
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