End of Summer Flowers

It's the last day of August and there are still a few flowers blooming. The Black-eyed Susans are showing off their big yellow faces.

There are a lot of hollyhocks in bloom too. Hollyhocks are special to the rural west.   

They are fast growing flowers, they last a long time, they are aromatic, and they are tall. Archeologists are very interested in stands of old growth hollyhocks. Pioneers planted hollyhocks near their outhouses because of those reasons. When these "old" stands of hollyhocks are found, they are studied to find out more about life in the old west. 

This is not an old growth hollyhock, but one found nearby. It's a pretty flower...

...and based on the buds, it's going to bloom until we get our first freeze.

 

Fall Creek Road

Off of the Snake River Highway there's a "back road" to Jackson Hole. It's about 35 miles long, half of which is gravel. It goes thru some pristine scenery that gets more visitation from moose than people.

The gravel road has a washboard surface in many places, so progress is slow.      

But the emptiness of the land, and the blue of the sky make is worthwhile.

Then you turn a corner and in the distance is The Grand Teton at 13000 plus feet. 

The creek continues to bubble, not paying attention to the beautiful mountain in the background.

And the cattle don't pay attention to the scene either. 

Wyoming, like America used to be.

 

21 for Teddy Bears

Another Teddy Bear blanket has been created. This time I made it for Project Linus. A little girl will love it. 

Along Crow Creek Road

 

There are places where the "hand of man" does not have a big presence. Yesterday we drove along 40 miles of dirt road where we saw a pristine countryside. 

The landscape was not marred by houses--there was the occasional fence and lots of cattle.

The traffic was non-existent...only 2 cars the whole time it took us to drive the road...max speed about 15 mph.

Wide views of emptiness.

We joked this was $200,000 fixer upper!

As you can see, the countryside is dry. We've not had a good rainstorm in a long time. There are fires burning in other parts of the state. Two entrances to Yellowstone are closed as is part of Grand Teton National Park. But for right now the fires are not here and neither is big city development. 

 

It's the Berries

At the very beginning of the summer season, we have what I call "white day" when all the berry plants bloom. The white flowers burst out in the morning and are gone by evening. It's a little miracle to see white day as it's so illusiive. This year I missed white day, I saw the day after. The berry plants were basically done blooming except for a few stragglers that did not arrive "on time" as it were. After months of doing nothing (at least it appears that way) the berry plants are starting to bear some fruit.

This year we have only 2 colors of berries (right now) but more should appear in the next few days. These purple berries are still not completely ripe, as their centers are hard and white. The purple however is a very good dye. Don't get it on your clothes as it's just about impossible to remove.

The snow berries are out too. They are a light yellow-white and about the size of a pea. Both of these berries need a few more days to sweeten up, then the deer will greedily munch on them until they are gone. There's one more berry I'm looking for...I call it a "Tri-color berry" as each sprig will have blue, purple and red berries on it. 

 

Muledeer and Magpie

This is like a "Find Waldo" puzzle...look very carefully...see the deer on the left-center of the picture? Now look down and see the magpie? We've been living in our little chunk of the forest for many years, and we've never seen a magpie in the forest! Today I see 3 of them, and they are grooming a deer. The deer, a yearling buck, is standing still and at one time or another all 3 magpies are standing on his back, grooming his neck, back and rump.   

I wish the pictures were better, but the critters are just not walking out into the open areas! I wonder what is causing the magpies to enter the forest today? And, why have I not seen this behavior before? I'll just have to keep on looking. If you stretch the picture you can get a clearer view of the critters.

20

Here's the 20th blanket of the year. It's various shades of blue. It's warm and cozy and perfect for a youngster.

The New York Times has just published an article highlighting the benefits of knitting (and crocheting). It's good for relaxing, releasing stress, and so much more. It's a good hobby and benefits everyone involved..What a deal!  

Late Summer

The season is changing. It's still summer, but the crops are ripening and the fields are getting dry.

The alfalfa is green and ready to be mowed and baled.

On the other hand, the oats are golden and ripe. 

The trees are still green without a hint of fall, but there's a feeling in the air that says fall is coming soon. The asters started to bloom on July 2 and that was 6 weeks ago. 

 

HP8

The other DrC and I just finished reading the 8th book in the Harry Potter Series: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Unlike the previous 7 books, this one is a screenplay, making it a bit more difficult to read as its only dialogue with stage directions. Given that, the story is good. The book is short, about 300 pages. It was written by J.K.Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany.    The play starts where Book 7 ends. Harry and his family are saying goodbye to his second son as he leaves for Hogwarts. The second son, Albus, is "the cursed child." That's all I'm going to say, as I don't want to spoil the story. The characters are all familiar...they seem like old friends after all these years. We follow the grown-up versions of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Draco as they solve yet another dilemma.    It's a fun read and a "must read" if you are a Harry Potter fan. As we did with the other books, we read it aloud to each other. It took about 6 hours to read and discuss. We crawled right back into Harry Potter's wizarding world and felt right at home. Kudos to my sister for the great early Christmas present...we enjoyed it a lot!

A Bit More of Jasper

One of the few animals we saw in Jasper...a mountain goat on the Icefields Parkway controlling traffic. 

 What started out as a blah color picture came alive when I turned it into a black and white one. The location is right outside of Jasper townsite. 

 

We drove the Icefields Parkway on a cloudy day which washed out the colors....  

I changed to black and white and the mood changed dramatically. Ansel Adams knew what he was doing when he photographed in black and white. I know a thimbleful about photography, but I did learn that  

A little piece of unknown history. During World War I, Canada imprisoned thousands of people who were considered enemy aliens. One of the Internment Camps was at Castle Mountain, not far from Banff. The monument honors the memory of the people who lived at the camp (and others throughout Canada). Please read the official explanation too. It talks of a 1913 Depression, which I had never heard of before.

People visit the Monument and leave small tokens of remembrance.

There are small villages along the Icefields Parkway and the Bow Valley Parkway (both lovely drives)...some of the villages have very old facilities, including this working gasoline pump. I haven't seen this type of pump in years!

A fancy sign on the Bow Valley Parkway...A good catch. 

We are almost home...being on the road has been too much fun!

 

Dillon, Montana

Dillon Montana is an old silver and gold mining town. The first ore was discovered in the 1860S...the last in the 1920s. During it's heyday, Dillon was "the" place to llive...and the folks who mined gold and silver in the nearby creeks and streams, built wonderful homes that still survive. Here are a few of them.

 

 

This brick Victorian is the best of the lot! What a beautiful way to say "I struck it rich!" And even today, 100+ years later, the new owners are showing off their pride and joy.    

In case you need a closer look at the gable end...here it is. Isn't she a pretty home?

There are others.  

Sitting on a corner, with a for sale sign no less, is this Victorian masterpiece. 

Tall, and proud, this Tri-color charmer welcomes you into the "good life" of 1900s Dillon. 

Look at the detail on the front entry.    

The gingerbread doesn't stop...the basement, the railing, the shingles, the door, the sunburst in the front porch gable, all show off the skills of the day and what it took to make a great home.

This little jewel is small in comparison to the other two, but look at the turret, the gables, and the wonderful porch. Definitely a pretty "little" Victorian. Maybe the original owner did not find the biggest vein of gold or silver, but he found something to crow about.    

Not as "splashy" as the others, this white home has a "Widow's Walk" on the second floor balcony. If your look carefully, you can see the rounded glass. That was super special at the turn of the last century. I wonder if anyone knows how to make rounded glass anymore?

Look at the beautiful side window on this tall Victorian. Can you imagine sitting in the niche reading a good book? Or, enjoying a quiet corner to look at the world. 

This home has been converted into a modern photography business. I wonder what it looked like when it was new. The stone turret is grand, and I did not see another in town. A little bit of the original gingerbread is still showing, but I'm guessing it was much grander "in the day."

The public library is still standing from the original days. I'm guessing it's an old Carnegie Library made of local stone. What a wonderful place to find the perfect book and then go back home, to read it on your porch? 

And I'll end with a snapshot of "downtown" Dillon. A brick building with a corner turret and a copper dome. When this   was made, it probably did not have electricity. Back when it was built, the street was not paved, and the horse was the common mode of transportation. If you go into soft focus, can you see the place to "park" your horse? Do you see the water trough? It's all there (at least in my imagination). Dillon is a cute town that has not embraced modernity. Thank goodness there are still a few of these towns left!

 

   

 

   

 

Number 19

Needless to say, I brought my crocheting with me. After a hard day of playing or site seeing, I pull out my yarns and hook and start working away. It's relaxing and fun all at the same time. 

My latest blanket is made up of orange, raspberry, lemon and lime so I've been calling it Sherbert. It's good enough to eat! It's a bright and cheerful blanket that I hope a youngster will like it too. 

Canadian Money

For the last 3 weeks we've been spending Canadian currency. I always enjoy looking at "foreign" currency as it highlights what is important to a country. The current design is called "The Frontier Series" and it depicts people and scenes that focus on Canada's historical achievements and innovations.

Canadian currency is probably very difficult to counterfeit. It's not made out of paper, but a type of polymer that is just about impossible to tear or rip. There's a "clear section" about a 1/2 inch wide on the right side of the bill that has a hologram in it; then there's a maple leaf, that's also clear in the upper left corner of the bill. On the front of the bill is a picture of a famous person.  

On the back of the bill is a scene from somewhere in the country. Each denomination is a different color-- gold, red, green, lavender and blue. It's very easy to see how much money you have looking at the color of the bill. This currency design was put into place slowly staring in 2014. There are no one dollar and two dollar bills, instead coins are used called the "Loonie" (because it has a picture of a loon on it) and the "Toonie" (because it looks like 2 coins in one). You will not find a Canadian penny any more. They have been phased out during the last 2 years. When you purchase items, the cost is rounded up or down.  For instance we bought 3 items that totaled $10.77 but we were charged only $10.75. The current exchange rate is US$1.00 = Can$1.30.

Flowers

It's important to take time and look at the flowers...even if they are dandelions...enjoy a few more

 

Thank you Mother Nature!