Mid-summer Weekend Reunion

Keith was coming off a fire at the end of last week and had a few days' leeway before having to go back out again, so we made an impromptu meeting over the pass in Lolo (and Missoula). It was great spending a couple days together, but it was also hard to say goodbye again. Counting down until the end of fire season. 

Hopefully there is an end. It was weird watching the national news Saturday evening and seeing Featherville mentioned. Wonder if the Church of the Wildwood will make it?

Half-way Through Summer

Half-way through the Summer Spent Separately. AKA working out of state to pay off debts. AKA at least there's True Blood, Dexter, and plenty of books.

Also: blackberries are on. First pick was over 5 gallons, second pick was about 3 gallons.
Still a pick left.

If you've never tried blackberry jalapeno jelly, you're missing out on life.

 

The healthy eating agenda is still pretty much on track. I've been eating a lot of breaded eggplant slices w/marinara, quinoa/klamata olive/feta salad, Italian stuffed tomatoes... well pretty much those three things on rotation. Pinned a lot more recipes I'll probably never get around to making but sound good on my "get in my belly" board.

A rock with a crack it in makes a good recipe holder.

Lazlo always has to protest having to sit for a photo. Petting him the other night I felt a lump in the fat part of his chest, so Mr. Brown is going to the vet next week.

Mia Pia is swimmer extraordinaire. Now only if she could kick the fleas. (Apparently it's a bad year for the, mild winter + wet spring = flea epidemic.)

The river continues to drop every day and when we go in the evenings it's that perfect balance of almost equal air and water temps. The skies have turned hazy in the past week or so, no doubt from all the forest fires. Makes me think of Armageddon. "Cause my worst case scenario brain takes over sometimes.

We haven't had rain for a while now so logically the rain barrel is slowly emptying, between feet washing after the river, filling the dog water bowl and watering the plants on the porch I am not sure how much longer it will last. If we had multiple barrels I wouldn't be worried since the early summer was nearly constant thunderstorms. Definitely need to put that on the list of projects. A friend in Kooskia also posted this rainwater harvesting sketch from Mother Earth News on facebook the other day - definitely like this idea.

The Chief Lookkingglass Pow-wow is this weekend. Last year I shot a few b/w Polaroids and this year I'm taking a whole pack of PX70 Color Shade in the SX-70 - pretty excited.

Breaking bad habits

Six weeks of stress eating and watching as much television-on-DVD as humanly possible (oh, Dexter) has caught up with me. I go through cycles of eating fairly decently, but most of the time when I am left to my own devices, I revert to a diet that is admittedly horrible.

I am trying to change.

Step 1: Break up with the microwave. It's lazy. Put some effort into it. I mean, we bought our camp chef oven for a reason. And the propane's already paid for.

To start I built me a pan of bean burritos in jalapeno tortillas smothered in enchilada sauce. Reheating is easy, just throw some tin foil on the little baking sheet and cook on low for 20 minutes or so.

Gets a delicious crunch on the bottom. This little oven would have no trouble roasting veggies, I never even turn it up past the very lowest setting.

Step 2: Don't eat after 7 p.m. They say sumo wrestlers gain enormous amounts of weight by eating a huge meal and then going directly to sleep. Sounds plausible at this point in my short experiment. And instead of trying to convince myself that energy bites are okay to devour because all the ingredients are "basically good" I've started satiating my sweet tooth with an apple and peanut butter after dinner.

Lunch with my very thoughtful friend Melinda in the park last week meant taking leftovers of a delicious quinoa klamata olive feta salad home. And the other day she dropped off a huge bowl of vegetarian chili for me. I am always thinking how I could eat better if only someone would deliver food to me!

I've missed about a month of yoga, which was really starting to feel beneficial. I will be glad to get back to it this weekend. My yoga teacher recommended some books and one I really enjoyed was The Wisdom of Yoga: A Seeker's Guide to Extraordinary Living. I know yoga is seen as some new age flakey woo woo thing, but I have experienced beneficial results, and reading that book made me consider what is possible. 

Last night I read most of Why I Am A Buddhist. My family only went to church for weddings and funerals and I've never felt an affinity with the Christianity I was exposed to growing up. I am more of a science person. Or nature person. I really don't feel the need to have a spiritual awakening - though peak experiences shouldn't be discounted or diminished - but I am finding a lot of what Asma writes in it is in line with what I already believe: all living creatures deserve our compassion, we should try to reduce suffering in the world, truth must be self-tested, that everything is temporary. 

And my temporary physical separation from my husband is....temporary. We talk almost every day and Skype when we can. But there's no replacement for the real tangible within arms reach. I'm trying to appreciate the opportunity that I have, being alone isn't something I'm used to. We've been together pretty much since we met in 1997/98. Then again if this summer job means we get some burdens/bills get paid and we possibly have enough coin to scrape together a short getaway once he returns, it might be worth the separation. The jury is still out.