five things (on a friday)

So I've been in a bit of a funk lately. This kind of thing usually catches me in February when funkiness (not the good kind) is abundant. Feeling a little down and just generally 'off' is not usual for me, especially during a fabulous full-on gorgeous Montana summer.

So I'm trying to take a little time amid the chaos of everyday to appreciate and enjoy the things that make me happy.


Scarborough Fair herbs; parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme


The fabulous and fearless 'Sisters A' perform in my living room


Garlic is harvested, braided, and hanging to cure in the barn


Aven's wispy, wild hair just after she wakes from a nap


Clean laundry hanging on the line, and blue skies.

Happy Friday, out there!

the blackfoot

If you asked me to name my favorite song, favorite book, even favorite ice cream flavor, I would have to take a minute and think about it. And the answer may be different depending on the time of day, my frame of mind, whether or not I had time for three full cups of coffee that morning. But if you ask me which is my favorite river, I don't even have to think about it.

Last week on our way between Seeley Lake and Missoula, we stopped at a fishing access and spent some time at one of my favorite spots in Montana. I've been stopping at this spot for as long as I can remember. There is just something so soulfeeding about the golden beaches, the rocky cliffs, the green water. I feel so at home here.



And they are such water lovers. When Aven sees any body of water out the window of the car, she begins to lobby; "Dip toes, Mama, dip toes there!"



I can usually be persuaded.









"I wish I had a river so long,
it would teach my feet to fly..." Joni Mitchell, River

the picture I didn't take

I am walking down Wilson Avenue in Bozeman, beneath a ceiling of thick green maple leaves. The air is still and hot. It is the end of July. Across the street a crowd slowly emerges from a funeral home, blinking into the bright day, comforting one another in the quiet circle they form on the sidewalk. Just ahead of me, walks my dad carrying Aven in one arm. She has just fallen and hurt herself. She needs to be comforted, too. Amelia walks beside me, her hand in mine, watching the funeral-goes gather across the street. This is a picture; a memory I see as a still-frame, though it is nothing more than a memory. There is a lesson here, I'm still working through. Something about staying present, about living the day we have in front of us. It is also about the way I feel watching my dad carefully carry my daughter through this moment of the day. And in this moment, I am so intensely grateful.

today's harvest

And now it is 10 pm. So naturally, I'm trimming, blanching, and freezing peas.

smells like summertime

I have this memory that makes me smile.

Eight years ago, on a long sunny evening in the middle of July, I drove my beat-up Subaru wagon across the Higgins Street Bridge in Missoula, with all the windows down, every seat in the car taken by someone I loved like family, my good friend Walsh, hanging out the window like an excited lab, proclaiming; "It smells like summertime!" at the top of his lungs.

Then we went to the Top Hat and had just enough beer to decide to float the river. Right that minute. We inflated my raft just as it became dark, and set out for a night float down the Clark Fork River. This was not an atypical evening when I was 22.

So this morning as I snipped basil that was threatening to flower, I remembered Walsh's words.


Like breathing in the smell of cottonwoods and sunshine over the Higgins Street Bridge, fresh basil smells like summertime.

I dug out my mom's wonderous pesto recipe. Can you tell it's been used before?

I love how simple pesto is. You just smash everything together.

I froze most of it to enjoy when it definitely does not smell like summertime (February, ugh), but I smeared a little on a tortilla with tomatoes (not mine...yet) and cottage chesse. Mmmmmm.

growing food

Thank you sun, water, and seeds. Oh, and that grant from the NRCS...thankful for that,too!

oh june, we love you so

Since this is a bit overdue; a (nearly) wordless tribute to (one of) my favorite month(s). Got that?
















Amelia was so excited about her birthday balloons, she tried to bring them along when she went to the bathroom.