New Resolve

Woke up with new resolve to eat less, move more, and be a better person.  Woke the Goob up to tell him about my new resolve.  Told him the things I wanted him to do today (as part of my new resolve to be a better mother).  Goob is concerned that my resolve involved me eating fresh blueberries and vanilla yogurt and involved him getting up before noon, killing weeds and several hours of community service.  That's just how resolve works.

Pillow Talk

STP:  I dreamed about cream cheese.
ME:  Cream cheese?
STP:  Yeah, mostly I was cleaning it out and up.
ME:  You have a sad life, if that's what your brain dreams about.
STP:  It was at my lake house.
ME:  Oh.  Now you're dreaming.

My Dad is Old

Today is my Dad's birthday.  My kids' Pap's birthday.  My grandkids' Great Pap's birthday.

I remember when my Dad was 35.  It was the first time I realized my Dad had an age.
Thirty five seemed very old.

I remember when he was helping to plan his 20th high school class reunion.  Twenty years AFTER high school seemed like an eternity.

 I remember when he came home from work with a new photo ID, concerned that the picture on it looked like his Dad.  You know--old.  That was 25 years ago.

 So today he celebrates 80 years of life.  80 years old.
No biggie--he's always been old to me.

Without a Care

I pretty much invited myself.

Because she described it like this:  It's fun.

You just sit in your tube.

You kick back.

Relax.

And float the afternoon away.

And she was spot on with that description.

Then we ended the afternoon at DairyLand.  Where I had a chili cheese dog and peanut butter milkshake made with chocolate ice cream.  

Soaking up every day and every ray of summer.

Four Sevenths of Thirty Five

“You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be!”

“Really Hagrid, if you are holding out for universal popularity, I'm afraid you will be in this cabin for a very long time”

“If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.” 

“Curiosity is not a sin.... But we should exercise caution with our curiosity... yes, indeed.”

“It is my belief... that the truth is generally preferable to lies.”

“I sometimes find, and I am sure you know the feeling, that I simply have too many thoughts and memories crammed into my mind."

"Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory.”

A Lake, a Boy, and Some Rocks

Oh, Boy!

Look at all these rocks.

Scooping handfuls.

The windup.

TaDa!

Did you see that?

The magic of this moment?  Two million visitors at GNP per year and we have the rock skipping lake to ourselves.

Let's Skip This One

Take one exceptionally beautiful glacier lake lined with exceptionally smooth flat stones. 

Add one vacationing family on a calm summer morning.

Be sure to include at least one skilled rock skipper who is willing to share his secrets.

Have at it.

Watch one.  Skip one.  Teach one.

It was that easy.  

I'm pretty sure that each of us carried a smooth rock away from Lake McDonald.  As well as a memory of the day that rocks practically skipped themselves.   

The Entrance and Obligatory Photos of "The Group"

 We always get a group photo with the NPS entrance sign. People wait in line to get their pictures here.

When there is a sizable line, it is customary to hand your camera to the family waiting behind you and ask them to take your picture.  You take your chances when you do this because the person behind you in line may not know how to work your camera.  When you say 'just push this button'  they may not wait until you are quite ready for the picture.

They may not speak English.  They may not understand that you would like all the letters to appear in your picture so that you can actually read the sign you have waited in line to get your picture taken with.

You can remedy this by handing more than one camera to more than one person.  The problem here is that you will not all be looking in the same direction in your group photo.

You can try a group photo in other places in the park.  Once again, remember that the person you have handed your camera to is more interested in getting you to move out of their way than taking a good picture of your group.  They will not tell you that all they can see of your beautiful granddaughter is her hat.  They will give no thought to the fact that you are posing in front of a magnificent waterfall, and maybe you do not want two thirds of the picture to be the dirt path in front of you.  .

You can edit out the dirt.  But you can not edit in the top of the waterfall.  Or a child's face.
An alternate method is to  use the timer on your camera to set up your own group photo.

But your group will become cranky if you have to try the shot more than once (and you will) and your smiles will look fake (because they are) at the end of 10 seconds.

 But if you are persistent, and try enough times, and find the perfect stranger who knows enough to frame you with just enough beautiful scenery and is willing to sit on the ground to get the right angle, and happens to be nearby when you are genuinely having a good time, you will get a group picture that captures the memory you want to preserve. (Thank you, lady at Lake Josephine, for being all of those things.)

Remember that time we went to Glacier National Park? That was the best.

150 Blurry Memory Joggers (Plus 7)

The STP and I got up before the sun.

And we quietly took the tandem kayak out onto Flathead Lake.

And we watched the sun rise.

And I took a few pictures.

One hundred and fifty seven pictures.

It turns a kayak in the middle of the lake is an excellent location to watch the sunrise.

But the gently rolling action of a kayak makes it a little challenging to photograph the sunrise.

Leaving us with just these seven pictures.
And a wonderful memory.

Wildlife Report

 We went for a hike.  On our way in we met a man who had just seen a moose ahead of us on the trail.  We kept our eyes open, but we couldn't keep our mouths shut as we forged ahead.

 We did not see a moose.  

On the way out we talked to people who had seen a bear crossing the river just ahead of us.

We did not see a bear.

We were obviously not sneaking up on any large wildlife. We were okay with that.

We did see a water ouzel and I got this picture which I am happy to share with you. 

Because its not everyday you see a water ouzel.

Vacation Day Uno

How to have a great vacation--A pictorial travel guide.

Start the first day of vacation with a peach/mango smoothie on the balcony.

Pile most of  the people you are vacationing with onto your bed.

Have a tickle fight.

Photograph it.

Go to church.  Sing hymns with the STP on one side of you and the Queen of Queens on the other side of you. (Best not to take pictures.)

Come back to the lake and fire up the grill.

Play a few hands of Uno while the coals get hot.

Learn how to say,"Good game." like you mean it, and be a good loser, because the STP wins three hands in a row.

Enjoy grilled venison, smashed potatoes, tossed salad, and chocolate mousse cake for lunch.

Spend the afternoon swimming with your grandkids.

All of them, one at a time.  Have the pool to yourselves so you can race and dive for dinosaurs with wild abandon and without thought to how you look in your bathing suit.  Be sure to lose most, if not all, of the races.

Get the kayak out onto the lake.  Try not to covet the big fancy lake houses you see along the shore.  Let the STP do most of the paddling.

Go to see Despicable Me 2 in the evening. (See it in 3D so you can all wear the glasses.  Eat popcorn for dinner.)
Be sure to take the best grandson in the world along.  Watching him watch the movie will make you laugh as often as watching the movie.
Pick up supplies and make a few plans for day two.  Go to bed happy and sleep soundly.
Be sure to charge your camera battery because tomorrow we head to Glacier.

As Exotic a Thing As Has Ever Grown in my SFG

42.  Grow something exotic in the SFG.

I bought 4 kohlrabi plants and dedicated a square foot of the SFG to growing kohlrabi.

Unlike last year's eggplants, the kohlrabi grew quite nicely.

I harvested my first one this week. 

 What's a Kohlrabi, you ask?  An exotic member of the cabbage family, the kohlrabi was once the favored vegetable of European nobles and peasants alike. It was first grown in Europe in the 1500's and imported to America 300 years later.  It has a turnip like appearance, with leaves standing out like spokes from the edible portion, which is a rounded, enlarged stem section growing just above the soil line.  

My favorite kohlrabi recipe: 

1. Peel it.

2. Slice it.  3.  Salt it.  4.  Eat it raw.

Sharing is optional.