After hitting it hard since last Friday, yesterday we all paused and took a day trip to Kalispell, Montana for some errands and supplies. This time of year we can drive along the spine of the US, meandering on a windy USFS road that only is accessible in the summer, that spills out in Eureka and drops down into Kalispell. It is the most beautiful drive, huge mountains, water and lakes everywhere, lush green forests. I love where I live.
I was however, a bit of a dunderhead yesterday, a cloudy consciousness, a flibbertigibbet. Kalispell is no longer the small town I had a track meet in as a youth, I cannot believe how much it has grown and they are building. There is a Chick-fil-a in that town, there's a lot of things.
Their invasion has not been quite as robust and all consuming as the wave that hit my home in Idaho, so the people are still refreshingly Pacific Northwestern, friendly, outgoing, and down homey. All towns in the region used to be that way, and I find I really miss my disappearing culture when I run across pockets of it.
Enough musing on that though, change is inevitable, and I must roll with it. Plus, I found chocolate hazelnut filled beignets at Costco, how could I be down in the look at how things are changing dumps with such a succulent delight around?
We also went to my favorite place to eat in Kalispell, the Desoto Grill. If you like BBQ, and especially if you life mac and cheese, that place is beyond tasty. They serve you iced tea in quart mason jars, and the brisket sandwiches and jalapeno mac and cheese make my soul swoon.
The people who own and run it are just plain lovely as well.
After a week of dismantling a sixty year old hydro system, baking and cooking for a bunch of people, putting in warm weather crops while all of it was going on, and oh yes, going out on multi mile patrols with the corg because we got trespassers and grizzlies about, let's just say this Kat's tail is dragging. I am a bit kaput. Today, well, today might not be as chaotic, but I just looked at my list and I laughed at my delusion.
I'm not sad though. My life always seems to be taking a series of twists and turns. I mean, I get to have my first hair cut since February of 2025 this Saturday, I have to go to a team BBQ that is now 3 hours away with the hubs on Sunday. The raspberries are starting to bud for blooms, so before I know it I will be dealing with all that, and in the greenhouse this morning I saw little cucumbers and cherry tomatoes on my plants, SQUEE!
And before I know it, it will be August and I will be going on my next big adventure, so I think I will make time to sit on the porch for a spell. Multiple spells actually, over the next couple months. Let's see if I can actually do the unthinkable and rest this July. I will try...
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's put in a lot of pocket time miles and manual labor observing this past week iPhone.
