Striking Gold

 

We've seen it all dozens of times, but we may have never seen the area quite like it appeared yesterday afternoon.

That would be the Meadow Creek, Moyie River drive. 

Yesterday, we turned off HWY 2 northeast of Bonners Ferry and began our fall color experience on the road to Meadow Creek. 

My stepdad's mother taught in a one-room school house when there was a small town at Meadow Creek.  

Nowadays, a lovely Forest Service campground draws recreationalists to the area. 

Yesterday we saw four units filled with camping material and trailers or tents. 

We spent some time walking a trail down to the creek and just enjoyed a quiet, laid-back short hike with the dogs. 

Then, we moved on up the Moyie River where Bill likes to fish in the fall.  This year's fishing gave way to our recent trip, so yesterday he probably just looked and yearned for a few moments with his fly rod. 

I've been going to the Moyie River since childhood, and, like our experiences in Ireland, I never tire of the scenes and the beauty.  

Yesterday's gold added a special touch to pretty much everywhere we went. 

We also stopped at the Forest Service picnic area above the Moyie where big fish are out of water and seemingly swimming above land all over the area.   

It's actually an Interpretive sight with a sculpture surrounded by metal fish.  The sculpture is called Kaniksu Passage. 

You can learn more about the process used in creating the sculpture and the artist/blacksmith from Bigfork, Mont.,  who created it by clicking the following link. 

 https://jeffreyfunkmetalworker.com/project/kaniksu-passage-stone-process-sequence/

While we were visiting the picnic area, a construction worker, driving a roller, was packing the road and another open area.  We're wondering if the road will be paved. 

We moved on to Addy, which is about a mile east of Good Grief where the Moyie River Road ends at HWY 95.  

Bill let me out at the bridge so I could take pictures and, after turning around, spent some time at the bridge looking down in the water---probably yearning again. 

Our final stop before enjoying a dinner at the Bonners Ferry Mexican restaurant was Brush Lake.  

A lone fisherman stood on the dock as we left the pickup and walked a ways up a trail to get different views of the lake, which is surrounded by trees of gold.  

Bill says in a couple of weeks the larch will turn gold and add to the color. 

It was a pleasant break from all the projects around the Lovestead, and we knew we'd better take advantage of it before the rain and cold roll in sometime tomorrow. 

As a photographer, I know that the wealth of color will soon leave us and diminish my opportunities for what I love to do----until the snow flies, that is!

We live in a beautiful place, no matter what direction we go, and that makes it all the more fun. 

Happy Tuesday. 

Enjoy the photos.

  

Monday Monday

 

Another lovely day ahead. 

And, a holiday.  Sometimes, because we have seven Saturdays a week, Bill and I almost forget about holidays, 'cept for the big ones. 

Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian friends and Happy Indigneous People's Day.

May you enjoy your special days. 

*******

I managed to prepare six small jars of jelly yesterday. 

I had totally forgotten how LONG it takes the juice in apple pulp to find its way through the jelly bag and into the kettle below. 

I remembered once I had my stuff set up outside. 

Have been doing that ever since a kettle of pulp and juice fell on the kitchen floor and I slipped in it. 

That wasn't a pretty sight or a fun clean-up of the floor and myself. 

So, the pulp dripping began outside with me guarding it from active Miss Bridie and blind Foster.

Plus, I kept bringing half the kitchen outside to give the process the TLC it demanded.   

After about 45 minutes of that surveillance and care, I decided there was enough jelly in the kettle to make a few jars and that I'd do a different set up where no guarding was needed. 

The rest of the juice has been dripping into the kettle in the utility room sink. 

And, I'll make the rest of the jelly this morning. 

The apple-raspberry combo is just as I expected:  both tasty and tangy. 

We all know that this unbelievably beautiful fall weather will be drawing to a close later this week, so today will be another busy day outside. 

I managed to do cleanup with the lawnmower over almost all of my lawn yesterday. 

Talk about a dirty job---dirtiest of the entire lawn mowing season.  So, the minute I had finished, I spent about 45 minutes cleaning up my person with a shower, hair wash and all clean clothes.  

When they get that road paved, the extreme dust baths that come with lawn mowing should end.  May have to wait until next year to find out. 

Paving has its downside and its good side.  We're figuring out once quiet dirt road will turn into a motor speedway. 

On the plus side, the two rows of cedar trees along our right-of-way should remain fairly green throughout the summer and fall. That will be nice.  

Lovin' my red maple tree, which mostly puts out red leaves but allows some other colors to participate in the fall show. 

In other news, this weekend, my sister Laurie received her official winners' circle and ride-by photos from last month's Arabian Sport Horse Nationals. 

I'm including a couple along with the announcement of their open barn this coming Saturday at 2 p.m.

Visitors will be able to see this magnificent national champion along with my other sister Barbara's Dusty who has some national and reserve national championships to his credit also. 

Plus, the rest of their herd are pretty and accomplished in their own right. 

It will be cold but the celebration will be in their indoor arena, so dress for cold weather and plan to have a good time watching and petting pretty horses. 

Plus, there will be refreshments and chairs. 

Their ranch is located at HWY 95 and Center Valley Road, just past Woods Meats and the two halves of beef. 

That's Laurie, Pache, the presenter and my sister-in-law Joyce's sister Martha who lives in Ohio and was able to attend the show.  Brother Kevin is standing at the right. 

One of the views this morning while Bridie and I walked the hay field. Those are the Cabinet Mountains in the silouette. 

Soon, with shorter days, our walks at that time will have to include a flashlight. 

Re-Entry and Routine

 

I never left the Lovestead yesterday. 

And, that was just fine. 

It's been fun going through the decompressing, re-entry phase and settling into a routine. 

With all the fall stuff to do, the routine is far from boring. 

On any given day our routine includes a few "do-this-every-day" tasks:  walk the dogs at o-dark-thirty, give Foster his meds, cook the breakfast sausage links, do the blog, figure out 'what's for dinner,' etc. 

The past few days of walking the dogs early has been a joy because there are so many stars to be seen in the sky. 

In fact, the daily star show has rivaled those Northern Lights everyone was enjoying earlier this week. 

Star bright is the only way to describe what one sees while looking upward at 5 a.m. each morning. 

One slight change to the "do-this-every-day" schedule involves taking Bridie for a walk around the place. That has replaced walking the horses to pasture, and it will most likely happen every day until the horses come home in the spring. 

Again, cool, crisp and clear fall weather makes that part of the day something special as the sun is slowly rising to the top of the Cabinet Mountains and the light of day is gradually coming. 

A soft wind blowing adds a pleasant and calming dimenstion to the trip around the hay field and through the woods.  

And, so, the routine returns and along with it come the unique highlights of each day. 

Yesterday's highlight:  a visit from Becky and Shawn from the Meserve Preserve next door. 

I was on my lawnmower in the north lawn mowing some grass, a lot of riffraff and a few dust piles created by gophers. 

I looked up and saw a 4-wheeler with a cute homemade trailer coming around the right-of-way where our place borders the Meserve's. 

Shawn parked, grabbed his chainsaw and the two of them went over to the trunk and limbs and leaves from a tree-top that had broken off during the storm two weeks ago. 

In almost the blink of an eye (maybe a bit of an exaggeration), the mess was cut up, picked up and deposited in the trailer. 

Along with that thoughtful neighborly deed came some quality visiting, which I'm sure will eventually fit into the "routine" slate of affairs. 

Becky and Shawn have been living at the Meserve Preserve throughout the summer and now into the fall. 

And, they work outside a lot because their place incurred a vast amount of blowdowns as a result of the storm. 

So, that chainsaw and trailer and 4-wheeler, along with the new orange tractor on the block named "Bota" have been putting in the hours aiding the cleanup. 

Eventually, Bill came home from running errands in town, and he joined the visiting. 

Twas a lovely interlude to a beautiful autumn afternoon, and we are so thrilled to once again have neighbors at the Meserve Preserve.

Thanks, Becky and Shawn, so much for the clean-up project and the visit.  

Also, during the day, I picked some more apples for jelly.  It was a must do since some I had picked the day before got a little hot on the bottom of the kettle, and when it comes to jelly, the hint that something in the pulp may have burned doesn't go away. 

So, another kettle went on the stove, and this morning, I'll finally do the drip routine and then cook up a batch of jelly. 

I must have been feeling domestic yesterday because I also baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies, adding the magic touch with a few sprinkles of sea salt on top.  

Pretty yum, yum.  

As I said to Bill, this was a batch where, like the old Lay's potato chips commercial, I could say, "Betcha can't eat just one."  I know of at least four cookies that left the plate.

Oh yeah, I also hauled some dead sunflowers and tomato plants from the garden.  

Anywho, the fall routine, complete with some good football games began anew yesterday, and I'm figuring on a repeat performance with a few different highlights today. 

Still feeling pretty good to be home and to be getting stuff done. 

Happy Sunday.