Pause of this moment

I am held in the pause of this moment
between being and becoming.
- Kathleen Dunn Moore

Our tickets to the Decemberists at the Kettlehouse amphitheater and Missoula became a wonderful eight day back roads trip through Southwestern Montana. This glorious state can take a lifetime to explore… We never tire of the back roads of Montana. I took my felting projects and think it is such an easy interest to take in the trailer. I wrote my haiku‘s and did watercolors each morning, and felted in the evenings. The pause of these moments kept me present to the beauty surrounding us.
• Started with two days in Helena to visit kids and grandkids
Visited the Archie Bray, and the Holter. Helena is such a beautiful city. Caitlin and Austin are awesome hosts. So fun to hang with them!
• Third day we stayed on Rock Creek, ate at the awesome Stage Coach Café. Attended the concert at the Kettlehouse and it was fabulous! The Decemberists are such a fun, entertaining band. We hung out in Missoula a day, of course I went to Radius art gallery and 111. Fun shopping! Golfed 18 holes at the Ranch golf course. It was windy but fun. FORE! 19th hole was Old Bull Brewery. The kids have done such an awesome job with the brewery, and the beer is stellar! Stayed at Theresa‘s and saw the 4 kids.
•From Missoula we went on down the Bitterroot Valley, my favorite valley in Montana. After living in Hamilton, I am always nostalgic for the area. We spent an evening at Lost Trail Hot Springs, the water was pure silk, in fact The evening was pure magic. The sunset reflecting on the water, the mountains and trees, the pure air and the pure water… The spring is fed from Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone park, pretty amazing.
• Onto Wisdom, Wise River, we even dug for crystals at Crystal Park. Dillon was as pretty as ever. Going through the big hole we stopped at the battle ground of the Nez Perce massacre. It is such a haunting Meadow… We attended the anniversary commemoration of the massacre. Some of the elders sang and circle drummed. The drumming felt as the heartbeat of our earth mother. I felt shame for the white peoples atrocities upon the natives.
•Witnessed beaver slide in operation. The hay is so heavy in the Big Hole it’s almost mind-boggling. What a fertile area. I’m not sure but I think the area is one of the last remaining Beaverslide hay operators… It was really Interesting to watch. Those stacks have got to be 10 times the height of the workers.
•Spent time in Ennis, Joe did some fly fishing. We woke up to the Madison River and to the stunning mountains. Such eye candy! Had to stop in Benji‘s, such memories from their time when they were in Bozeman. Their jewelry got me through all my work in years lol.
​•Stopped in Bozeman. That town is so interesting… Talk about people watching…
​•On Home, had to see how our garden was doing and it is doing well! The deer had taken a bite or two out of a few tomatoes but that was about all the damage done.