No Longer Far From a Montana State of Mind

It's been a long time since I posted here. Life got busy, and though I missed Montana, it was more of a gentle ache than a sharp pain. But now I'm back here for the summer trying an experiment in living in two places each year. Reverse snowbirding I think it would be called. Today I worked in the little glass studio I set up in the garage at my Mom's house here in Polson. I also took a walk down to town this morning with Dave. I was hoping to get a cup of coffee, but none of the coffee shops/espresso huts were open as it was Sunday. In the afternoon we stopped downtown again on our way out to the Lake (Flathead) at the local shoe store so I could get some rugged sandals. There were closed too--looks like everything but the hardware store and the grocery store downtown was closed today. The WalMart out on the highway was open, as was, of course, The East Shore Smokehouse where we stopped for a quick lunch and to pick up a friend of Jessie's whose Mom works there.

When we got to the cabin I discovered that we had missed closing a water valve when we were turning the water and electricity back on for the summer a few days ago, and the entire crawlspace under the cabin was flooded, the pump from the well was running constantly, and there was a huge mudhole around the entrance to the crawlspace so I couldn't even get close to it. There was no sump pump in the garage or the shed, and the neighbors didn't have one either. So I went with the low-tech solution and suck-started siphoning water through a 25-ft garden hose. All jokes aside it was really hard to get it started, and when I finally did, I swallowed a bunch of the water. Blech. But it was still draining when we left at the end of the afternoon to head into Ronan 20-some miles away for the 7:00 pm showing of Brave with Jessie and her friend.

There is a little two-screen movie theatre in Polson, but they aren't showing Brave. We did see Madagascar 3 there last week, and it was amazing. For the first time in a couple of years I was not deafened by the volume of the movie, and the print was really high quality and in focus. As soon as it was over, one of the employees came in *and swept every row clean*. The Ronan theatre is owned by the same company which is how we knew Brave would be there because it is advertised in Polson. It only has one screen, but it's a big screen and they have comfy large rocking chairs.


I put James McMurtry on in the car on the way home, and drove the speed limit all the way--even when it was 25 mph--never bothered or stressed or rushed. The movie got out at 8:40, and when we left the theatre the sun was still high in the sky. It had set behind the mountains by the time we got home at 9:30. Now it's 9:56, and as we sit on the deck sipping glasses of sauvignon blanc, the last of the pink and gold have faded from the clouds leaving only a light tinge of apricot above the deep blue grey mountains in front of the sun.  

The water problem today was a hiccup--not a major catastrophe. The lack of open services elicited a shrug and the responses, "I'll have an iced coffee when we get home", and "I'll come down tomorrow and get the shoes". Given that there are very few restaurants in town, none in Ronan, and the ones there are--besides the Smokehouse and maybe a new Grill and Restaurant out on the point by it--are nothing I'd pay for, and that there are a total of two theaters with three screens all told, you might think I was beginning to go crazy with rustication. You would be so wrong. Instead of resenting the pace of life, I am embracing it. I am thinking more sharply and clearly than I have in I don't know how long (a good thing as I have a book to write and a summerschool program to manage for J).


Maybe the winter in dark, grey, wet and cold would get to me, but that option is not up for consideration at this time. Now I'm here for the summer, and I couldn't be happier.