Hiatus

Dear Portland,
I fear I will be taking a short hiatus in the next week or so. My sister has arrived in Montana and we are very busy having awesome fun sister time and making up for the past 5 months.

It is so great to have her here. We cook all our meals together and are baking a bit too.
We made pudding yesterday.

Reunited

Dear Portland,
My Dad and Sister have traveled far away from your wet streets to visit me! They got in around six this evening. We went to dinner and got some ice cream. Then we enjoyed a family past time that we have not done in a very long time, played cards. A little poker, a little gin, a little go fish. It was really fun.

Tomorrow I'm taking them up to Glacier before my last knitting class and before has to leave later tomorrow night. Hopefully the pass will be open and we will get to see a real life glacier. Hopefully.

To Close For Comfort

Dear Portand,
On my way to class I came frighteningly close to being attacked by a dog. Well almost a dog. A doxen to be exact. I don't know why these sad, pathetic, little excuse for a animals hate me so much but they really do. I was walking down the street totally minding my own business, when this angry little creature started charging at me with his ears flat to his head, teeth showing through tiny vicious growls and barks. I am not ashamed to admit it totally freaked me out. I started to walk away from him faster but this seemed to just make him more angry and determined to latch on to my unprotected ankle. I turned around and told him to go home and stopped. I walked on, he charged again. This happened a several more times (him getting closer each time) and with each charge I had to advance towards him yelling louder, waving my arms more flamboyantly, and adding a stomp here and there. Finally, when I was at the end of the block and he was in the middle of street (prepared to block my crosswalk I'm sure) I gave him one last yell, point, and thunderous advance and he was off, down the block back to his asylum.

After the freak out passed, I could not help but think; "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THE TINY DOGS IN THIS VALLEY?!!"

A Glimpse

Dear Portland,
Having John here was a lot a fun. We were able to get into Glacier National Park yesterday and had a great day. Unfortunately the pass was closed so we didn't get seen any real life glaciers but there were adventures along the way.

My post tonight is going to be primarily photos. I took a lot and there really is no other way to describe the majestic landscape we encountered (the pictures don't do justice). The photos are in chronological order, but on our way up some of the places we wanted to stop were too busy so we hit them on the way down.

McDonald Lake

McDonald Falls

 

Repeat avalanche field

Same avalanche field

The flattened field creates creeks and waterfalls that grow lots of Grizzly Bear food.

Result of a creek flood

Kept going down the hillside

Heavens Peak (8,987 ft)

Forest burnout

The higher we climb (drive), the bigger the mountains get.

A little perspective

Majesty

Hidden Creek (I think)

Gorge that feeds what I believe is Hidden Creek (Trail of Cedars)

Fallen Hemlock roots (Trail of Cedars)

Trail of Cedars

Inches away from an icy dripping waterfall

The day we spent in GNP is indescribable. I can't begin to write about how it made me feel, what it smelled like, the sounds I heard, and the sights I saw. The grandeur of it all still has me in a state of awe.

I'd like to keep it that way. 

Also, this is what John had to say.

p.s. I know my photo spacing is off but blogger is being difficult so those of you who noticed, as I would, just breeze over it.

Exploring

Dear Portland,

JOHN IS HERE! JOHN IS HERE! JOHN IS HERE!

 

The adventuring began today. And oh man, we had a adventures.

The day started out without rain! We walked to the coffee shop and then to the yarn store. We were killing some time before the Algeria/England Soccer game so we walked down Main street and went into "Montana Outfitters," a serious cowboy store. WALLS OF BOOTS. It was amazing. Then we went downstairs to the antique store and I found a goldmine of old school cooking/baking stuff. By the time we were done exploring ancient cowboy mountain antiques it was time for the game. Off to KB Sports bar (at 12:30pm), which is connected to the Historic Kalispell Grand Hotel. The game was disappointing but we did meet this fun British couple.

Back home for a minute (ran into the people who were looking at my apartment today as they were sitting on my porch) and headed for the mountains of Glacier National Park on Going-to-the-Sun Road. Stopped at a Farmer's Market that was more like a craft market (not much food), and continued to the gates of the park. We knew there would be a fee, but were hoping it would be around $15 dollars for the day, that's as high as we would go. The park ranger told us $25 for the day and as we turned around I had flashbacks to turning around at the Grand Canyon last summer. 

 

We had spotted a paved unmarked trail head near the bridge (not far from the official park entrance) and parked on the side of the road to check it out. Went down to the river and followed the path until we saw a tower where I was sure Rapunzel lived. John asked her to let down down her hair but no such luck. We came in to this encampment where there was a whole bunch of firefighting related signs and things and just wandered around. No one seemed to mind at all. As we got into a strange residential area we asked a couple people where we were (park ranger permanent residence) and then they pointed us to a 2 mile bike trail. 

 

 

 

After following it a little ways, we noticed a large animal on the path and it admittedly took me more then a few seconds to realize what it was, but when I did, I literally stopped in my tracks. A little more then 100 ft in front of us was a BLACK BEAR CUB! I was so shocked and excited and enamored that I completely forgot I had a camera around my shoulders. I just stared. I had never seen a bear in the wild before and it was magnificent (even for a baby). Unfortunately a bicyclist interrupted our rapture and away into the forest the cub galumphed. We didn't see the bear again but we were also visited by a doe, some colorful songbirds, and a few gophers. 

 

 

I hadn't worn the right shoes for adventuring (failing boots), so not far after that we turned around and headed back to the car.
We will be going back tomorrow with my neighbors recently expired Park Pass to see if we can get in to see the lakes and all that good stuff. 

In other news, when John got here, he informed me that he has recently become gluten-free. I made completely perfect chocolate chip banana bread that he can't eat it. More for Dillon I suppose.

Cranky Day

Dear Portland,
I have been feeling very weird and crabby the past couple days. I'm all in my head and feel stressed out about nothing. I have been feeling especially annoyed with being in limbo. I haven't been able to take one day at a time and am constantly thinking about the future be it days, weeks, months, and even years. One of the things I have loved most about being here is being able to just think about one day at a time. For the most part at least. It has been super relaxing. With my time here RAPIDLY coming to an end, I am finding myself picking up unnecessary speed and getting all angst-y. 

I have been spending a couple extra hours at the yarn shop lately on class days and am knitting some really awesome news things. I am learning that my retention for new stitches and patterns is kick ass. Today I came home with 2 new stitches and a new concept of half a pattern in my head and it is coming out great.

My friend John is coming tomorrow and is going to spend a couple days here with me on his way out to Tennessee for the summer. I'm super stoked.

I Have Been Bit

Dear Portland,
It seems that summer is finally starting here. The kids are out of school and the mosquito's have hatched.

Last night when I was getting ready to write a new post my internet went down so here are the results of my meringues. They turned out awesome even with the lemon juice. The only problem is that I might have over whipped them. They have a texture that is like a mixture of cotton candy and marshmallows. 

I also taught myself a new knitting stitch. An eyelet stitch. And I'm in the process of combing it with the new hat I learned. Hopefully I will be far enough along tomorrow to take some pictures tomorrow to share with you.

I will be up late tonight because it's soooooo warm here. It's breezy but my apartment it super warm. I hope to get some good sleep.

Experiment

Dear Portland,
Tomorrow I'm going to attempt to make chocolate meringues (cookies). I don't have any cream of tartar so I will either walk to the store, or use lemon juice (which I do have). I've read that using a liquid acid as a substitute can really mess up a recipe because of of the liquid content (cream of tartar is powder). But I think because these are very simple cookies I will be able to watch the reaction and figure out what I need to fix the problem before it gets out of hand. There aren't a lot of ingredients or steps so I can keep a close eye on things. I have never made meringue of any kind and I've heard it's hard but I don't really believe it. Maybe I am being over confident, maybe not. I have read a bunch of different recipes tonight that have different techniques and I'm pretty confident I will be fine.

We will find out tomorrow.

Today I Had A Time Machine

Dear Portland,
I had a busy housewife kind of day. I cooked, I cleaned, I knit, I made pudding (not from a box).
It was nice.

I haven't been feeling talkative as of late. So here are some more photos instead of words.

THE PUDDING

Super easy; chocolate, milk, sugar, corn starch, and heat.

THE MAC & CHEESE

Sharp Cheddar, Gruyere, a little Mozzarella, and a little Parmesan, a butter roux, some half and half,  salt, white pepper and bread crumbs.

KNITTING

These arm warmers were made from natural plant dyed yarn by my friends Aunt. It dyed my hands and my bamboo needles which I actually like.

Sleepy

Dear Portland,
Today I felt really small. But not really insignificant. Just small. I don't really know how to explain it. And I'm not going to try to because, apart from feeling small, I am also extremely tired.

I don't have a lot to say. Or really anything.
Except that I want to see The Lion King and the Keller in July. I hate that I can't go to the ballet and see plays and musicals because I'm broke. I really hate it.

But that's the way my world is for now.

Redemption

Dear Portland,
Today I had all these plans; pudding from scratch, paying my electric bill (which means actually driving to the next town over and giving them a check because I'm out of stamps), making a a meal for myself, and going to the store.
(I went to the store)
Is 1 out of 4 acceptable?
No.
No? Really?
Yes, really.
I have an excuse.
Let's hear it.
I was up all night because of the dogs.
Heard it.
No really! It has gone past they are loud and annoying. I was up thinking about why they are always out and barking and being annoying. I started to move past anger and now I'm just sad for them. I'm sad because those poor animal are being neglected. The grass in the front lawn is so long the Doxen gets lost in it. All allong the fence the grass doesn't even grow because it's all mud now and there are holes. The Springer Spaniel is digging holes. I tried contacting animal control today but that is rediculous because it's really just an animal shelter. They don't do rescue. So I have to do some more investigating and I guess call the cops. I feel bad. I can't just do nothing.
Alright. That's a good enough excuse. Just don't stick your nose too far in.
I won't.
Good.

Progress

Dear Portland,
I decided to bring my camera to class today and take pictures of the girls work so far.
I'd like to present to you:

My fastest knitter, Joselene. 

 The most diligent knitter with perfect tension, Sierra.

This girl Abby, can watch you once and know how to do it herself. 

Stella is a little slow to understand a new concept but once she gets, nothing but perfection.

The 7 year old Vanessa who knows everything about everything and always comes to class excited.

Class has been going great and I'm very proud of my girls and infinitely impressed with their abilities and patience to learn.