tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7717755146752532702024-03-06T00:23:33.602-07:00The Life and Times of the PlumeFledging like a small whisper.The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.comBlogger1134125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-75976376035798938902011-11-16T15:23:00.001-07:002011-11-16T15:23:24.287-07:00I HAVE MOVED!!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">You can now find this blog</div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.thenoisyplume.com/blog/">HERE</a></span></b>!</div></div></div></div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-52007030456231869422011-11-11T07:51:00.001-07:002011-11-11T07:51:30.593-07:00I HAVE MOVED!!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">You can now find this blog</div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.thenoisyplume.com/blog/">HERE</a></span></b>!</div></div></div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-68948949951188412532011-11-10T11:29:00.000-07:002011-11-10T11:29:25.296-07:00I HAVE MOVED!!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: center;">You can now find this blog</div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.thenoisyplume.com/blog/">HERE</a></span></b>!</div></div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-30522164194787667732011-10-28T16:38:00.001-06:002011-10-28T18:00:35.411-06:00The Glorious Wind Pinking<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPrflwFuQzLAQ45yJtvWMEsgxpBLhAVO_pQ46pSao9u53SP4GjhsALyXA1EXRAQ2fWYsQuKlDtKCIuv4nrWorR1fyRJ8BtTjCR2wF57c42SSvgCgXYJis3OMvFV6gl5ejMTGwghg2ekDhT/s1600/IMG_6161.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPrflwFuQzLAQ45yJtvWMEsgxpBLhAVO_pQ46pSao9u53SP4GjhsALyXA1EXRAQ2fWYsQuKlDtKCIuv4nrWorR1fyRJ8BtTjCR2wF57c42SSvgCgXYJis3OMvFV6gl5ejMTGwghg2ekDhT/s640/IMG_6161.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Oh!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Oh what autumnal joy is mine!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Today is the first day in three weeks that we have not had a house guest or two in our home. I loved, very dearly, visiting with our friends but let's be honest, if you've been reading this blog since last December, you'll know that we have had at least two weeks worth of house guests at The Gables every month since last December. Life has been full. The love has been so thick -- thick like Canadian maple syrup.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">That said, I am a smidgen tired.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">November begins in just a small handful of days and it is the first month since last December that we do not have any friends or family booked for a visit and I cannot wait to fall head over heels into a creative habit again. I love the people who have visited, with all my heart, but quite frankly, they were bad for my work! That's just bare bones honesty for you.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">So, since this was my first day (<i>in quite some time</i>) in a quiet and private home, I found myself in a long hot bath this morning with my steaming cup of coffee followed by a breezy bike ride through the <i><b>autumn wind pinking</b></i> with a stop at my favorite vintage shop (<i>HELLO YOU WONDERFUL VAIN AND VINTAGE GIRLS</i>) where the ladies and I talked about my new/old beautiful airstream trailer! Hurrah! Also, I found a beautiful blue and gray pleated, mid length wool skirt that will be utterly gorgeous for winter walking with tights and boots. It's so lovely! It's <b>so</b> Sylvia Plath at the country stone cottage. I can't wait to wear it. I had a wonderful batch of sushi for lunch and chatted with a kind fellow from Boise who has a heart for the arts. I peddled around a bit more, coasted across the university campus (<i>and daydreamed about the weaving class I hope to take this spring</i>). I talked to a friend on the phone and we laughed out loud and groaned a bit before exchanging Iloveyous and hanging up.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I listened to this while I pedaled my bike.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I love that low, growly, womanly voice...well, I also don't mind sandpaper kisses...</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JKFKV2TpqII" width="560"></iframe></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">[ the <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Some-Place-Simple-Martina-Topley/dp/B003ZZAYB2/ref=pd_sim_m_2"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #0b5394;">record version</span></a> is amazing...go hear it</i>]</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Then, oh then, oh then of all <b>thens</b>,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I went to my Ace Hardware store and finally bought </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">the Swedish wrap I have been coveting there. I know, this all sounds strange...a Swedish wrap at the hardware store?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Pocatello Ace Hardware is the kind of thing legends are made of. Come visit and I'll show you myself. This particular Swedish wrap is a sensual sort of furry hood that has a scarf attached with pompom ends and it makes me look like a Ukrainian princess in exile in hip deep snow with nothing to eat but cold borscht.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I'll be wearing it obsessively this winter and I'm sure you'll see it in a photograph or two before spring does its springing.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I'm so spoiled,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Spoiled rotten.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">But some days, it's a good day to be spoiled rotten.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Some other tidbits you may enjoy:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I finally watched <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0325055/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">this</span></a>! I loved it, though it was tremendously sad -- it made me wonder if some people are born melancholy.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It made me hold my favorite <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #a64d79;"><a href="http://candacemorris.blogspot.com/">melancholy mistress</a> </span>tightly in my heart.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">If you're in Pocatello and you haven't been <a href="http://www.pocatello.us/se/documents/maps/city_creek_final_legal.pdf">up here</a> yet this fall,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">you'd better hurry. The fall colors won't last forever!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I'm going to finish reading <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Breath-Snow-Ashes-Outlander/dp/0385324162"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #38761d;">this</span></a> tonight.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I can't believe I'm only one book away from finishing this amazing series -- I feel like the characters in these stories are some of my best friends. I can get like that with books. For example, when Dumbledore died I felt like I had lost my grandfather. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Actually, when Johnny Cash died, I felt like I lost a grandfather.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Perhaps I am one who easily attaches?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Maybe I shouldn't be so quick to love?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Perhaps I allow myself to be too transported by books?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Lastly, <a href="http://www.etsy.com/transaction/60361402"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #b45f06;">this</span></a> arrived in the mail today. It's tremendously beautiful.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I have been a huge fan of Lana's work for some time now</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">and finally claimed this rust and gray beauty from her. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It's delicate, robust and generally amazing.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">At any rate, this is all to say that I wish you</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">a merry weekend.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Oh, and Taternator is the cutest quadruped within a thousand mile radius of my home. I'll be sure to give him a smooch for you (<i>he's eating Rhubarb, the cat, right now</i>).</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Tater! Stop that!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">MERRY FRIDAY!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Be well, brave hearts.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Don't let the man get you down.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">x</span></div></div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-92117464825387145622011-10-27T09:50:00.002-06:002011-10-27T15:11:42.912-06:00Isadora<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I had a tremendously and gloriously happy night last night!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Robert, and our lovely friends who are visiting at the moment, went bird hunting with the dogs over by </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Little City of Rocks, here in Idaho. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">When they came home, they were dragging a 1964 Airstream Sovereign travel trailer!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It's so beautiful!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I'd kiss it but my lips would stick (<i>it's cold here</i>)!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Best of all, </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">we paid $500 for it which is a shockingly small number!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We've been searching for an Airstream for a few months now. When they come up for sale, they sell quickly and usually go for somewhere between $2500 and $3500 in Utah, Idaho and Montana.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">To find this Airstream in such wonderful condition for such a low price felt a bit sinful.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I'm so thankful for it.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAkRkHwKhm4KizZm6rRwUfNyDtIcCd3V6TmRVhBVfmXwIvddfRFRjhIsRPA98FdCEXYw9ddltvjVkcxKfpEslu1pJi3O8e6Yp8XA6ToEVRPpXyuyUgLF1G37cTEig0-EM8a0ntf8HKCuH1/s1600/IMG_6122.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAkRkHwKhm4KizZm6rRwUfNyDtIcCd3V6TmRVhBVfmXwIvddfRFRjhIsRPA98FdCEXYw9ddltvjVkcxKfpEslu1pJi3O8e6Yp8XA6ToEVRPpXyuyUgLF1G37cTEig0-EM8a0ntf8HKCuH1/s640/IMG_6122.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuy9ie8bHWoQOzOfjyWnrdyfPSHfilaUcYUO4YZGwiyVS0bKeWyg3j1KCGcK4qPnmW201UYFbWvbJ9jBM8XWytR3s_j75qmjxP_u7R2HKuxU_4SshpfsHrlZMUSbhQ0mcaLUQnFI6O4BOO/s1600/IMG_6107.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuy9ie8bHWoQOzOfjyWnrdyfPSHfilaUcYUO4YZGwiyVS0bKeWyg3j1KCGcK4qPnmW201UYFbWvbJ9jBM8XWytR3s_j75qmjxP_u7R2HKuxU_4SshpfsHrlZMUSbhQ0mcaLUQnFI6O4BOO/s1600/IMG_6107.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Why did we get this hulking pile of travel trailer bliss?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Let me tell you why:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Sometime this summer, RW called me up from the jumper base in Winthrop, Washington and at the same time we both blurted out that we couldn't do summers apart anymore. We've been repeatedly blurting this very thing for a few years now but suddenly the impetus to make a change in our lifestyle materialized and we found ourselves with a plan. The main detail that has prevented me from living in Winthrop these past two summers is the lack of a studio space. After humming and hawing over the phone this summer, we decided that we needed some sort of trailer I could use as a travel work space and after pondering our options we, quite obviously, settled on an Airstream trailer because:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">1. They are awesome.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">2. They have serious character.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">3. There is a subculture of humans that celebrate these trailers and we love being part of such subcultures (we belong to the VW bus subculture as well and it too, is wonderful).</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">4. And of less importance, but importance nonetheless, Airstreams match our big, hulking silver truck....</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDTuuk11M065N9PFhXQ318mOZK9u1-SGV0fprD6EJqMcqFvOMoBZLjRILaGNDuu8EcuzLc1SXJFg8KfsK1EoBKWvd8FNh2rqCeYnP5ZsW1Qm2_lJDV3BSmRywlpD9qnylmQElq8XkphzmD/s1600/IMG_6110.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDTuuk11M065N9PFhXQ318mOZK9u1-SGV0fprD6EJqMcqFvOMoBZLjRILaGNDuu8EcuzLc1SXJFg8KfsK1EoBKWvd8FNh2rqCeYnP5ZsW1Qm2_lJDV3BSmRywlpD9qnylmQElq8XkphzmD/s640/IMG_6110.jpg" width="426" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiojS4pkNUOrnfi_EJgyILIM144Mjkiy4-zYJZPwxrNAR7rAJl2O2d66c7etTHUrqLwuIr_bMNCBzqRKmlYQsZkyoS28pBKJR-VGtRl5xA4p06rfpLLUXjBQw6erR7GczICYyPZA-VqgL-g/s1600/IMG_6113.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiojS4pkNUOrnfi_EJgyILIM144Mjkiy4-zYJZPwxrNAR7rAJl2O2d66c7etTHUrqLwuIr_bMNCBzqRKmlYQsZkyoS28pBKJR-VGtRl5xA4p06rfpLLUXjBQw6erR7GczICYyPZA-VqgL-g/s640/IMG_6113.jpg" width="426" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> This winter, we will entirely gut Isadora (<i>prior-to-renovation-Isadora photos will be coming</i>) and thoroughly renovate her interior into a small studio space for me and a larger living quarters for our little family. I'm excited about it! But I'm even more excited about living in the same place as my husband next summer and being a part of the North Cascades Smokejumper family all fire season long.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">After fire season, we will probably find ourselves doing a few extended trips to the deserts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah where Robert will bird hunt and I will work in my little studio space during the daytime.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We have the hearts of nomads beating here in our chests.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Isadora is going to allow us to explore even more </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">than we already do. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I adore her.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKkf1w5LI2y_qbO3zKRkSKzyrpCVDnS5L2GUVPwDN-eO0sNEkcoHEKB7pRgIucHCTpPW5hJBsN3CwiTun6kR20lS87U2-VFAGwDOjN-40ovnUTqUdeP70iq8bYcFQp-ynE2eTl2-SBYF_n/s1600/IMG_6115.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKkf1w5LI2y_qbO3zKRkSKzyrpCVDnS5L2GUVPwDN-eO0sNEkcoHEKB7pRgIucHCTpPW5hJBsN3CwiTun6kR20lS87U2-VFAGwDOjN-40ovnUTqUdeP70iq8bYcFQp-ynE2eTl2-SBYF_n/s640/IMG_6115.jpg" width="426" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHifzjD8-My-GsIzmBsHdbaPnATOuqUBPBCgPZhXugknmC6iBaQJVgRGasppkUUcdEw5HiWj7xzOSZRp9Ok9tg_qKDyCygzVbyB51Ktemycv_nzWVKL_JnI3fYn3T3_noKPAOHCXZle-RB/s1600/IMG_6116.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHifzjD8-My-GsIzmBsHdbaPnATOuqUBPBCgPZhXugknmC6iBaQJVgRGasppkUUcdEw5HiWj7xzOSZRp9Ok9tg_qKDyCygzVbyB51Ktemycv_nzWVKL_JnI3fYn3T3_noKPAOHCXZle-RB/s1600/IMG_6116.jpg" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2K9mAIdqYB7vXcw33nvo0WVex9Errvn0fW96l9DhNOwsLTF7Yd5PuSdBJFBWbPoB0aFS1bxFlddKQNbwtATY3pqpm-6jcGNbn-SLOjyv20CviMcXHd2IqPpZCEZ01ACfqp0yjpWSoq7CZ/s1600/IMG_6126.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2K9mAIdqYB7vXcw33nvo0WVex9Errvn0fW96l9DhNOwsLTF7Yd5PuSdBJFBWbPoB0aFS1bxFlddKQNbwtATY3pqpm-6jcGNbn-SLOjyv20CviMcXHd2IqPpZCEZ01ACfqp0yjpWSoq7CZ/s640/IMG_6126.jpg" width="426" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4UGvzTfgaQobYYGnre1EGZHCbTekwreG6Zj3AF6ruKf7BJH382LL_cCX7Jd21UhuYVYbSAbtE3HWD9ZTnP83WcCov5yMLIMalROcjlksy6UuXPG-9sA-0of98cEt9mPZDxAdLxcrCmkLG/s1600/IMG_6125.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4UGvzTfgaQobYYGnre1EGZHCbTekwreG6Zj3AF6ruKf7BJH382LL_cCX7Jd21UhuYVYbSAbtE3HWD9ZTnP83WcCov5yMLIMalROcjlksy6UuXPG-9sA-0of98cEt9mPZDxAdLxcrCmkLG/s640/IMG_6125.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">All this is to say, welcome to our family Isadora!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">You make me feel like I'm living in a <a href="http://www.cowboylyrics.com/lyrics/lambert-miranda/airstream-song-28342.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: magenta;">Miranda Lambert song</span></a>.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We're going to shine you up bright and fix you </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">up with some tender loving care.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Soon, you'll be like a silver streaming star in the night sky, shivering, glittering and guiding the moon into her place.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Yee haw!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">xx</span></div><br />
</div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.com43tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-15641256683331726702011-10-24T09:29:00.005-06:002011-10-24T11:26:37.162-06:00Tater Nation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9BZ7edeGy2A7UkfuykWN7c6tULElt-T7q6qqCSDXOCZ3kUadYckgDmusAD8vZ1lK6eqC4-5DrppR3W1sBChWDkijvvt6Nnfcfwb_UOfGMPha3T5uCHL0ScUCFHuHTSe0q8LT9jBIrQ4Dq/s1600/IMG_5127.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9BZ7edeGy2A7UkfuykWN7c6tULElt-T7q6qqCSDXOCZ3kUadYckgDmusAD8vZ1lK6eqC4-5DrppR3W1sBChWDkijvvt6Nnfcfwb_UOfGMPha3T5uCHL0ScUCFHuHTSe0q8LT9jBIrQ4Dq/s1600/IMG_5127.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzjZQ8_ZS-OrcBdp1a86g6EEwj_1q-AYnD2wIXXJnYCpqnC3sq87bCLifvTo19ymKBoXoxy2F4FNGG1ctd7Btjw9JYzX0CY4pfzq2z2M-P0GarFAyZvzP_9YmBCt7KxFfNhnfzsdsDHMFv/s1600/IMG_5056.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzjZQ8_ZS-OrcBdp1a86g6EEwj_1q-AYnD2wIXXJnYCpqnC3sq87bCLifvTo19ymKBoXoxy2F4FNGG1ctd7Btjw9JYzX0CY4pfzq2z2M-P0GarFAyZvzP_9YmBCt7KxFfNhnfzsdsDHMFv/s640/IMG_5056.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicZsWXaHQYTehM82eKOeIIt_Qet1YFe5YkR3tlFPMP6Z1f1ein0_ADxq1RQapdmnBDtvTyDhCnM02KM16bXV04OzpCuGy7W_z5GxPIIF-wCJmIBcSzGev1ZWXZ-WU0RjdzP548PxNQIoBh/s1600/IMG_5078.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicZsWXaHQYTehM82eKOeIIt_Qet1YFe5YkR3tlFPMP6Z1f1ein0_ADxq1RQapdmnBDtvTyDhCnM02KM16bXV04OzpCuGy7W_z5GxPIIF-wCJmIBcSzGev1ZWXZ-WU0RjdzP548PxNQIoBh/s640/IMG_5078.jpg" width="416" /></a></div> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5dfCnv3JxLCn0Bc46gcyfPIH-spxvshGogTJubcMmiQPmMsb143vFrOkMVtl2sSqL1G1RUN6KBe-AYL1xjyAz5jA66YPIrP-YBL5ytsAoZvqk8dUVyuIptcB-SHhQH7mnIijz8gZqZLQ1/s1600/IMG_5238.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5dfCnv3JxLCn0Bc46gcyfPIH-spxvshGogTJubcMmiQPmMsb143vFrOkMVtl2sSqL1G1RUN6KBe-AYL1xjyAz5jA66YPIrP-YBL5ytsAoZvqk8dUVyuIptcB-SHhQH7mnIijz8gZqZLQ1/s1600/IMG_5238.jpg" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8i_Te3t06G7HnmQ3-3qjuX7IcgZk5jQ8-kTPBonX7giw-QL7EuDINtWm9pRTul_swq9R3EV4N1LmNfORPm80FCNc4LVI8jhLk4LlB4mrq3aDXiLzXjtS7-WH-QduMnZdUBd2GLkWIjHXk/s1600/IMG_5849.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8i_Te3t06G7HnmQ3-3qjuX7IcgZk5jQ8-kTPBonX7giw-QL7EuDINtWm9pRTul_swq9R3EV4N1LmNfORPm80FCNc4LVI8jhLk4LlB4mrq3aDXiLzXjtS7-WH-QduMnZdUBd2GLkWIjHXk/s1600/IMG_5849.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGvrR-Caw2YXuiEbLgsHyovrZE4RxX2i40X3NR2l5bvsMzr1mcapxzaEZ_jFdoEJOqhR4di01X-SNHAqNenvRV0LYEFPIjFdiYND7-XNf8kONo4QghwABFFgGT832i2Pk-Xxaw9abkJOcB/s1600/IMG_5908.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGvrR-Caw2YXuiEbLgsHyovrZE4RxX2i40X3NR2l5bvsMzr1mcapxzaEZ_jFdoEJOqhR4di01X-SNHAqNenvRV0LYEFPIjFdiYND7-XNf8kONo4QghwABFFgGT832i2Pk-Xxaw9abkJOcB/s1600/IMG_5908.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4ONpsuqhGHPfMt0dKByTbivXtV3SrCPsKGG0nPthDRSXc0TTGkptnurpR5QkeouUKZD0jkne9cXAWs7szhQpEeL01RsQH_U1RyQlfN4cvOTmbhrhJJJrsoCtjhcAItb57d9AlaBLyKYH9/s1600/IMG_5918.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4ONpsuqhGHPfMt0dKByTbivXtV3SrCPsKGG0nPthDRSXc0TTGkptnurpR5QkeouUKZD0jkne9cXAWs7szhQpEeL01RsQH_U1RyQlfN4cvOTmbhrhJJJrsoCtjhcAItb57d9AlaBLyKYH9/s640/IMG_5918.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikC4mzNJG4P86NSJ-TAbAaY-_lgRJmufU_lQ3k7aczXnWmSMLQZFUDJF9zLGgMzlefnE9tidzICzUKdwCiXIHcsVnuCOWhqq2e-gQaXqaIktMPDjAc9nTZMMJxQ8tetIvh3OQoaqy_tzhE/s1600/IMG_5856.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikC4mzNJG4P86NSJ-TAbAaY-_lgRJmufU_lQ3k7aczXnWmSMLQZFUDJF9zLGgMzlefnE9tidzICzUKdwCiXIHcsVnuCOWhqq2e-gQaXqaIktMPDjAc9nTZMMJxQ8tetIvh3OQoaqy_tzhE/s1600/IMG_5856.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Officially, officially.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This is Montana's Honky Tonk Tater Tot.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Also officially, he is a little bit crazier than <b>his sister</b> Plumbelina was </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">and some of us know how darn crazy darlin' Plumbelina could be! This just goes to prove, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">he's not a Plum, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">he's a Tater. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Every moment I spend with him, I see flickers of Plum's spirit and some of her expressions cross his face. It makes me miss her even more but it makes me happy to have a tiny piece of her living on in this pup.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We're very lucky he was available for us to claim.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We love him.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">He's healing our sad hearts.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">He is tremendously welcome in our little family.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">He's going to be a hard working little bird dog</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">and my best friend.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We call him: </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Tater, Tater Nation, Taternator, Little Man Tate and </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Smallmungous Smoochie Love Beetle.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">He says: </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">How do you do?</span></i></b></div><br />
</div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.com47tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-80165668975409425432011-10-22T18:26:00.002-06:002011-10-22T18:33:20.373-06:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN3-0lc5HrfXcXWls8xXrgmh_LLJwhGWIF1mnzd25ZD01364nUcU64W9dz9XNAqBwR1BbkSYKazEa8Q7CDYxy1jmPNlHGq-HnUZtCorafEmb8NFUcOhmXHIMAJbNS_XKy9HRnB3ipJX9qN/s1600/IMG_5967.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN3-0lc5HrfXcXWls8xXrgmh_LLJwhGWIF1mnzd25ZD01364nUcU64W9dz9XNAqBwR1BbkSYKazEa8Q7CDYxy1jmPNlHGq-HnUZtCorafEmb8NFUcOhmXHIMAJbNS_XKy9HRnB3ipJX9qN/s1600/IMG_5967.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">On this beautiful autumn evening,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I am here.</span></div></div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-3248369099402561652011-10-21T20:09:00.004-06:002011-10-21T20:54:37.401-06:00Yellowstone<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_5WxLBAmgVCQHZjSBQz5kCh-F5tG-tOCKEK5vJy_VLb1sXEE0CaY2kw7ZUu80Xe0ZXCPhLlAgosm_FGjRJ4gZJyms6N-1l_1hR2wEEGDF6KPRbiKcgwnValHqhgVnRg_1E9mJiHNJHz7H/s1600/IMG_5620.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_5WxLBAmgVCQHZjSBQz5kCh-F5tG-tOCKEK5vJy_VLb1sXEE0CaY2kw7ZUu80Xe0ZXCPhLlAgosm_FGjRJ4gZJyms6N-1l_1hR2wEEGDF6KPRbiKcgwnValHqhgVnRg_1E9mJiHNJHz7H/s1600/IMG_5620.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr0aoI7OozE8OElVVhDK5Fk2Jui6E1sMv3XhaQ_cZmOLezxu_r29clcbzioaIApyRerhpNvFAnKUnjIGRVkhlh7p_aF_JWRUEJ2S_NHFftVEvDEEaJ8QdGcN1BL4k4Bm5YcPDtaIYRCBAm/s1600/IMG_5622.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr0aoI7OozE8OElVVhDK5Fk2Jui6E1sMv3XhaQ_cZmOLezxu_r29clcbzioaIApyRerhpNvFAnKUnjIGRVkhlh7p_aF_JWRUEJ2S_NHFftVEvDEEaJ8QdGcN1BL4k4Bm5YcPDtaIYRCBAm/s640/IMG_5622.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOASwHQIsTCn7qn4eheFnshc9YffQSddvCQk-PvB6D5cQ7KU-Zv0XXoG9FxE5QJo2r3YIs9kPIRC_nAEaBnbo2sFBvUdcnsyVpWXtu3iYlDg-nguLDXCjPdXDMj9NK8jUAdHJTNUeVTUx8/s1600/IMG_5626.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOASwHQIsTCn7qn4eheFnshc9YffQSddvCQk-PvB6D5cQ7KU-Zv0XXoG9FxE5QJo2r3YIs9kPIRC_nAEaBnbo2sFBvUdcnsyVpWXtu3iYlDg-nguLDXCjPdXDMj9NK8jUAdHJTNUeVTUx8/s1600/IMG_5626.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">A small cabin on the edge of West Yellowstone.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Funny drinks.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Frosty mornings.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Nights filled with: wolf howl and elk bugle:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">laughter and pranks.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Me in bed with the <i>small one</i> in my sleeping bag, curled about my neck or wound in a puppy circle between my knees. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">RW restless with his kinky-train-accident-back on a rustic bed frame.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The snores of our friends and family coming from the </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">bunk beside us or </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">the next room.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Rosie on the floor by the stove, sleeping in glorious, fire crackling shabbat shalom.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-oJugImlZRb71VxCQrOVghJv_e-c0IXmdeEf9mT5bjZg4WBmYt4_O75GFMGcib7qh1ZouNnnO6G0rqk7K8gzmLEzAEJi25zhZyku_V97l7xwsXhw9nafp5rnLNjq8uL8CZRHacrqx1pkN/s1600/IMG_5630.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-oJugImlZRb71VxCQrOVghJv_e-c0IXmdeEf9mT5bjZg4WBmYt4_O75GFMGcib7qh1ZouNnnO6G0rqk7K8gzmLEzAEJi25zhZyku_V97l7xwsXhw9nafp5rnLNjq8uL8CZRHacrqx1pkN/s1600/IMG_5630.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGirnvrL27lzvFZ6xEVKw6cW2nqUmHqeuObKip7fbI03ZcGy1Or4JxO1obz7Ou2pQydbpDLHWPk7wCQwZheVNooN0BceKXxEzDQn4yD3npx9-1-DWFtBN83_BE3UuoAjxPqddAuOpPeFvM/s1600/IMG_5632.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGirnvrL27lzvFZ6xEVKw6cW2nqUmHqeuObKip7fbI03ZcGy1Or4JxO1obz7Ou2pQydbpDLHWPk7wCQwZheVNooN0BceKXxEzDQn4yD3npx9-1-DWFtBN83_BE3UuoAjxPqddAuOpPeFvM/s640/IMG_5632.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihfimzIesb02Z5RdP_tv8CLy9t_B12VkuYFpLRWgjLPNQumanGIjWXEAgLfbBVkA-PDyA0Zr-DelI1iqwOAeKUWCv1sTdxs-U_TUjXgCl4deBHwoKXzaGjTrbV4jSoE61e34AEGt_CoN-r/s1600/IMG_5641.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihfimzIesb02Z5RdP_tv8CLy9t_B12VkuYFpLRWgjLPNQumanGIjWXEAgLfbBVkA-PDyA0Zr-DelI1iqwOAeKUWCv1sTdxs-U_TUjXgCl4deBHwoKXzaGjTrbV4jSoE61e34AEGt_CoN-r/s640/IMG_5641.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Cooking on a woodstove.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Early mornings.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Blue light.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Log cabin cozy cast iron:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i>Has anyone seen the oven mitt</i>???</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The potatoes are finished!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Can someone deal with the cheddar?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Dinner by candlelight.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Red wine.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The slow hunger of the fire in the stove.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkDLK-KXQxcH5eGgBicoflocvvdGM_jL75Vy5VGG6B1fFup7TQhpfjVWdLBwZ3OPuG8PphfPY-MK3bq0Qy1m0P52ltAcPsy6QTkLcdkOgxwgVe6oLW-7DBJTx0qCdNPm8tR08gKDkIYRIG/s1600/IMG_5638.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkDLK-KXQxcH5eGgBicoflocvvdGM_jL75Vy5VGG6B1fFup7TQhpfjVWdLBwZ3OPuG8PphfPY-MK3bq0Qy1m0P52ltAcPsy6QTkLcdkOgxwgVe6oLW-7DBJTx0qCdNPm8tR08gKDkIYRIG/s1600/IMG_5638.jpg" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiewUKol-iamtGw7_3JmAlKwEKj9g32gvIbge3Ojphp6hrQqCQcgAzohGP0jOAedckX3SuPm8BmkMAQPNMwk6omTCcoc3Sbcs2HyHvZLlMWrSyaydPDC2tvz7kLR5G0uVFRTj1kASHpx8ja/s1600/IMG_5642.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiewUKol-iamtGw7_3JmAlKwEKj9g32gvIbge3Ojphp6hrQqCQcgAzohGP0jOAedckX3SuPm8BmkMAQPNMwk6omTCcoc3Sbcs2HyHvZLlMWrSyaydPDC2tvz7kLR5G0uVFRTj1kASHpx8ja/s640/IMG_5642.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">That calm that comes with spaciousness.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Frost on the entire world.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Tall grass.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Golden sunrise.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Don't-lick-the-truck-your-tongue-will-stick!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-aa0MJdK-74BrPnl_pJnU3a4cwTWgqJ1ZzWcRSEk4S445Yi68l9n4_W1ko1R8Nb0Vh_8K_YBvsjHQHfyox5U2MNHiO-crvepB9blB15E4mhZwIMEdnMvLCKXCtS7CYajA7BDfCj9SdwD_/s1600/IMG_5648.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-aa0MJdK-74BrPnl_pJnU3a4cwTWgqJ1ZzWcRSEk4S445Yi68l9n4_W1ko1R8Nb0Vh_8K_YBvsjHQHfyox5U2MNHiO-crvepB9blB15E4mhZwIMEdnMvLCKXCtS7CYajA7BDfCj9SdwD_/s640/IMG_5648.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDuPPCrbQoUefyOYzjD6DyMa7tyWnV9ZsJDGmzuAoJb_r70mdnidr4ZAtmsjTk7lWdRoiCjnACwZZZvrivJA0XteXUDUkgfXdKOEgcbFZG-B1q8yfn01OXYMIQu0cJKPMPOrKLVxB9VDZ9/s1600/IMG_5673.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDuPPCrbQoUefyOYzjD6DyMa7tyWnV9ZsJDGmzuAoJb_r70mdnidr4ZAtmsjTk7lWdRoiCjnACwZZZvrivJA0XteXUDUkgfXdKOEgcbFZG-B1q8yfn01OXYMIQu0cJKPMPOrKLVxB9VDZ9/s640/IMG_5673.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ16ObcxG7-Nchp5Z4RiG_WLQtpzJMpru9Xt88cUJXRjJQvwdSRx8b_WlhSo0NYxRhdSLNpDCbkNCTrR6QR8AhNUnLMfqybHhKRW6FKe9leEG0vp4_20aoAA3mr4gGMfID5yIVhFUfkXde/s1600/IMG_5674.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ16ObcxG7-Nchp5Z4RiG_WLQtpzJMpru9Xt88cUJXRjJQvwdSRx8b_WlhSo0NYxRhdSLNpDCbkNCTrR6QR8AhNUnLMfqybHhKRW6FKe9leEG0vp4_20aoAA3mr4gGMfID5yIVhFUfkXde/s1600/IMG_5674.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">That broad back,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">narrow waist,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">swinging rhythm of wood cutting...<i>boys, can I get some kindling</i>?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i>Nope.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i>That's not enough.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Boys in trucks and camouflage toting 30-06 rifles headed out for more elk hunting </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">on the snow laced razorbacks of Idaho </span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">(<i>a kiss good-bye, in the dark</i>):</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">lodgepole pine,</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">3000ft vert (x4),</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">quakies turning orange and yellow under autumn sun,</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">wolf dens four feet deep in conglomerate rock,</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">grizzly bears hunkered down on narrow trails</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">shaking their blocky heads</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">and unafraid (<i>take a wide path Jimmy, walk fast, don't look back</i>).</span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ0fN5ZQjr1m02lHf8ZXb8FrxMuR53xdmst1vSGA_6EEC2G2y56CbQ93Yxji6X4ZhvGebV6m_2ek2mSo_cd3ph3YcYFjGQpZe0y6jnOBVi6I3kVDFQDYhjjEW4A7nghjyP8TP_Taf6vEzP/s1600/IMG_5677.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJ0fN5ZQjr1m02lHf8ZXb8FrxMuR53xdmst1vSGA_6EEC2G2y56CbQ93Yxji6X4ZhvGebV6m_2ek2mSo_cd3ph3YcYFjGQpZe0y6jnOBVi6I3kVDFQDYhjjEW4A7nghjyP8TP_Taf6vEzP/s1600/IMG_5677.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Yellowstone National Park</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">dressed in autumn gold</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">and the clear, rippling foil of running water in all directions.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The crackling of steam vents, the boiling mud, the turquoise pools of water burgeoning fresh from the earth's crust.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ke-x6L17V2OsHX88FrSaZD5X7z-AkI6Uo34toQNrTqwEtfUEYephGaZ48WWD03lQUcMUI64XMht3i1tAj9FFjCr1kr34DNw4MOuhxVEwgknWcy2-xF1LzSzM0phV04ppamxHOrKzBjEh/s1600/IMG_5679.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2ke-x6L17V2OsHX88FrSaZD5X7z-AkI6Uo34toQNrTqwEtfUEYephGaZ48WWD03lQUcMUI64XMht3i1tAj9FFjCr1kr34DNw4MOuhxVEwgknWcy2-xF1LzSzM0phV04ppamxHOrKzBjEh/s640/IMG_5679.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz1ht5r-8M0EbMQLN5AiqPWoq3ySw1BIH4rsr_Pn3YZe8BIM5-or3ZiOKhgsTq6AIqwBc3EnQ7vRB7E78GW78c0UdnkymgqMzkDuWlcRJv7cSIM_1veKfPzSpgIJad1uJ7Kapn7YIs1Qmx/s1600/IMG_5749.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz1ht5r-8M0EbMQLN5AiqPWoq3ySw1BIH4rsr_Pn3YZe8BIM5-or3ZiOKhgsTq6AIqwBc3EnQ7vRB7E78GW78c0UdnkymgqMzkDuWlcRJv7cSIM_1veKfPzSpgIJad1uJ7Kapn7YIs1Qmx/s1600/IMG_5749.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxYCarZUuOkoEH5fFN-nm7ujPyzcfMmUPOOInRzP9B1jve2VvWSpZt1d6YfQbhzEhNDk9Rze8HbLAEV85a8NlVsRV-DE9rM8hHq9iWe1m6-mzNhIcWeMyQMd_vyP8rYoTqW6_VAh-ctqbI/s1600/IMG_5754.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxYCarZUuOkoEH5fFN-nm7ujPyzcfMmUPOOInRzP9B1jve2VvWSpZt1d6YfQbhzEhNDk9Rze8HbLAEV85a8NlVsRV-DE9rM8hHq9iWe1m6-mzNhIcWeMyQMd_vyP8rYoTqW6_VAh-ctqbI/s1600/IMG_5754.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> My girlfriends and I cruising through </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">the space of the park.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Me, squeaking at every bison I saw,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">counting the points on the bull elk.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i>Praying for wolves</i>.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOaS1ntozdu0Y02W60ANViRJ3mY8HvFse6pUfSFRT2VVGmHtMFZjEdd5_zu6CU7ALzRWpGtR7SaC-1od2c8sCLukD5VQMzcio1p8z_fQNtRsSXN6A2Xgh2-KDquz9ulyfQ1YYbILEZrHSo/s1600/IMG_5762.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOaS1ntozdu0Y02W60ANViRJ3mY8HvFse6pUfSFRT2VVGmHtMFZjEdd5_zu6CU7ALzRWpGtR7SaC-1od2c8sCLukD5VQMzcio1p8z_fQNtRsSXN6A2Xgh2-KDquz9ulyfQ1YYbILEZrHSo/s1600/IMG_5762.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRCJcS9An-mTwMIn1H57BpY6NX01c3FupR92eJ91V4bqv5IEAEaMI5Km3xIqEIUjZhaCIGCjzGc7N2nA3fdAoTTpuIYePn6WA7km-QsL41vS5nkbtSfozyE5Li9Zaus4d3_gF9G10nbuV4/s1600/IMG_5773.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRCJcS9An-mTwMIn1H57BpY6NX01c3FupR92eJ91V4bqv5IEAEaMI5Km3xIqEIUjZhaCIGCjzGc7N2nA3fdAoTTpuIYePn6WA7km-QsL41vS5nkbtSfozyE5Li9Zaus4d3_gF9G10nbuV4/s1600/IMG_5773.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> The quiet murmur of Old Faithful--</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">the stand up column of white wet hot.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKu9bhF4Dg5k7izFBbBh68_js4Y3DiFP9F9JTn0DjVwXUM-G-jIgDffvcbWoJzdxXCMMDCEm3jGSPX4105ej1SEvqyodgtnTzqbt_XMz_FdVgsphkELNuIORPNV6KilaFARXcrgl5bx830/s1600/IMG_5778.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKu9bhF4Dg5k7izFBbBh68_js4Y3DiFP9F9JTn0DjVwXUM-G-jIgDffvcbWoJzdxXCMMDCEm3jGSPX4105ej1SEvqyodgtnTzqbt_XMz_FdVgsphkELNuIORPNV6KilaFARXcrgl5bx830/s640/IMG_5778.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcl8eKhGo7FvNV-VkBvhyead7Xl0Z_YFOCsSSnvlDHGaopS0yyN1aq_7U_LVOS1oHlw_w8NxeJAZvOmlHZ5LlvsPlkIDKjOKj-2OKXmNKAoskoCzLAERhCdj12Mo63cSxq9oenARoZrilO/s1600/IMG_5784.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcl8eKhGo7FvNV-VkBvhyead7Xl0Z_YFOCsSSnvlDHGaopS0yyN1aq_7U_LVOS1oHlw_w8NxeJAZvOmlHZ5LlvsPlkIDKjOKj-2OKXmNKAoskoCzLAERhCdj12Mo63cSxq9oenARoZrilO/s1600/IMG_5784.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNQpdWtqudJs4367d2wndFQxGRsC5M8cXPFxED5cg4H8s4HnJOLl_eOrEnbhBhPFTkgSyGhyphenhyphenFhwaJ3nZXH4p0Vr6HGfnAzet4M9MHV5vfxK04g94crBudhTx960OKkXOfGJwtAA03mbwUu/s1600/IMG_5792.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNQpdWtqudJs4367d2wndFQxGRsC5M8cXPFxED5cg4H8s4HnJOLl_eOrEnbhBhPFTkgSyGhyphenhyphenFhwaJ3nZXH4p0Vr6HGfnAzet4M9MHV5vfxK04g94crBudhTx960OKkXOfGJwtAA03mbwUu/s1600/IMG_5792.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh05bj34CTWZ90ewq7LXzwDafDubVPqY-bg_-DMgtKbRJ_Azgrqo8pVSWLyBVk4_jwzwY7aimuuTDFTZ8Inmz01J7w02UvjcbPfMgvuxSks5UfFmLRp29NAKtKyHq18wue-8ZzIasLUnhmj/s1600/IMG_5807.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh05bj34CTWZ90ewq7LXzwDafDubVPqY-bg_-DMgtKbRJ_Azgrqo8pVSWLyBVk4_jwzwY7aimuuTDFTZ8Inmz01J7w02UvjcbPfMgvuxSks5UfFmLRp29NAKtKyHq18wue-8ZzIasLUnhmj/s1600/IMG_5807.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> The high places.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The closeness of God.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The thoughts I never spoke.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The speaking aloud.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5sAw5tgvDFFpOCxzEV_w70EzwcE6js566-v23voJeqcToxQDEgbzz1kTShrfb1VR_djtU30Jm-4i3qVrMt0L1rXuAunuQovg8bU9b9YuHVEZHJ7Ner6wVQ5X2sKYtNNQPHgv2CBOS2hHC/s1600/IMG_5814.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5sAw5tgvDFFpOCxzEV_w70EzwcE6js566-v23voJeqcToxQDEgbzz1kTShrfb1VR_djtU30Jm-4i3qVrMt0L1rXuAunuQovg8bU9b9YuHVEZHJ7Ner6wVQ5X2sKYtNNQPHgv2CBOS2hHC/s1600/IMG_5814.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> A small and eerie lake formed by earthquake.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">A bag of candy.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Two strangers at a trail head with the freshly cut pelt of a yearling wolf -- that coarse hair and intelligent face stone still in the afternoon light.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">A little sadness in my soul.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">A snowflake on my arm.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitgjb392Ba9HqqeaOwCTYpy6485HMWcrIKqIAPsD3dpK-kNCVfc3TObWOIejwfEpBcYVTczhEVwcJ7mtHvoOAxqzqDqcW5X6d-erGI8U_4oLpfnINdxrWsxWjzGTIrwPXrfCEsgtx0OlQJ/s1600/IMG_5828.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitgjb392Ba9HqqeaOwCTYpy6485HMWcrIKqIAPsD3dpK-kNCVfc3TObWOIejwfEpBcYVTczhEVwcJ7mtHvoOAxqzqDqcW5X6d-erGI8U_4oLpfnINdxrWsxWjzGTIrwPXrfCEsgtx0OlQJ/s1600/IMG_5828.jpg" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnf6I4NzTPJOR4Cr-KvhA8knUVMqlNjNovFSX7BO4FRuQvy3MzVKMWg3SdEmTlXnwCWr8kJQflxtbl2yBOH2JgiKJrm5hBhgURy65wTuIPOkDWMLaMQmhFP_b_wUWlC2jcPv-mAcugQPNT/s1600/IMG_5613.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnf6I4NzTPJOR4Cr-KvhA8knUVMqlNjNovFSX7BO4FRuQvy3MzVKMWg3SdEmTlXnwCWr8kJQflxtbl2yBOH2JgiKJrm5hBhgURy65wTuIPOkDWMLaMQmhFP_b_wUWlC2jcPv-mAcugQPNT/s1600/IMG_5613.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">A full truck cab</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">and Honky Tonk Tater Tot </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">snoozing sweet puppy chocolate velvet the entire way home.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">________________</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Yup.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">That was West Yellowstone!</span></div></div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.com57tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-42205203369612452012011-10-17T15:37:00.001-06:002011-10-17T15:44:16.168-06:00Fossils<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">While in Alaska this summer, my </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">girlfriend and I went fossil hunting on the coal </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">cliffs near her home. I happily whacked away at stones with a little hammer and let out a blissful <i>OOHHHhhhHHhhhh </i></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">whenever I found a particularly </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">lovely (<i>and intact</i>) fossil. It was a simply sinful amount of fun. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I brought my favorite fossils home from Alaska and have them displayed on one of the end tables in the living room here at The Gables.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSyWxwQCCqbOg5RLWptW6EHodjN87_-CfOFyTDOoYswAuUx-3PF6iVQ3Fmu3YMVclhgCMvudCG63WzB4-0VYnowUd1JL1k_YbvE2-QK0-po75A2TzxV-dvIGDTWPcK_GJ9RjMJ5rHiOJ3Y/s1600/IMG_5408.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSyWxwQCCqbOg5RLWptW6EHodjN87_-CfOFyTDOoYswAuUx-3PF6iVQ3Fmu3YMVclhgCMvudCG63WzB4-0VYnowUd1JL1k_YbvE2-QK0-po75A2TzxV-dvIGDTWPcK_GJ9RjMJ5rHiOJ3Y/s1600/IMG_5408.jpg" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">They're magical little ancient things. Aren't they?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I haven't stopped thinking about fossils since I returned from Alaska and have been pondering for a few months now how to make my own versions of fossils with silver, of course. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">(Wo)man made fossils!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Can you imagine?</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Then! I had a eureka moment and, voila!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUHylZS2NKJcl5Cw98FAC9ciqz8f4fG-jShyphenhyphen51EDHhldVhBc2vRVcif01KcV4ilxA6gm21lxwzUcbEue4p7eW954UIJHIKn7M_GWeUkdHz4rGgMASciTXt85rjK1bracilf5XTauc1XTY_/s1600/IMG_5369.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUHylZS2NKJcl5Cw98FAC9ciqz8f4fG-jShyphenhyphen51EDHhldVhBc2vRVcif01KcV4ilxA6gm21lxwzUcbEue4p7eW954UIJHIKn7M_GWeUkdHz4rGgMASciTXt85rjK1bracilf5XTauc1XTY_/s1600/IMG_5369.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ZE6nj5TPmZHtWQCmXcmvWB50PJQwtHVGBeOgirL_h6pgL2yG-ofZDfIThzpoHM0jnxi1s2XE0CYPjB5KHF765vB1bTR84v2ePydT-GxbkM6KETvAGh35iz65Vstdk8cl-avl2B0NOUtk/s1600/IMG_5376.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0ZE6nj5TPmZHtWQCmXcmvWB50PJQwtHVGBeOgirL_h6pgL2yG-ofZDfIThzpoHM0jnxi1s2XE0CYPjB5KHF765vB1bTR84v2ePydT-GxbkM6KETvAGh35iz65Vstdk8cl-avl2B0NOUtk/s1600/IMG_5376.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">[<i>sterling -- Idaho beach stone and Idaho fern</i>] </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0tdEE52VCj5X1_6Tu7zgCUC_Lppg8FE_VJtAvkHc-hsJtsh64U3uTdx2rkldd4syWWqDNowj7XbhfPZCwGP49-Uz8dnLbUNYE4cKlaZC1osqH67m059Yjd6T9Fio1FWxeS9SjL8fG-IrB/s1600/IMG_5387.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0tdEE52VCj5X1_6Tu7zgCUC_Lppg8FE_VJtAvkHc-hsJtsh64U3uTdx2rkldd4syWWqDNowj7XbhfPZCwGP49-Uz8dnLbUNYE4cKlaZC1osqH67m059Yjd6T9Fio1FWxeS9SjL8fG-IrB/s1600/IMG_5387.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdE92wJyYbL_dpWkZUViEleFihH1hmnw0OKC9uJPuiqacxigmTXrYsciOv9-GEwwAoM_o_YGkVc_cZgCmeNToNxRL5h80pwZmgM6Yyqp4b37ae1GQ63KA-serGIGIFSFb4EvYb231oQI8I/s1600/IMG_5390.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdE92wJyYbL_dpWkZUViEleFihH1hmnw0OKC9uJPuiqacxigmTXrYsciOv9-GEwwAoM_o_YGkVc_cZgCmeNToNxRL5h80pwZmgM6Yyqp4b37ae1GQ63KA-serGIGIFSFb4EvYb231oQI8I/s640/IMG_5390.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCJCWdsKkm1y-NY2X_5AJZs2r5ap_C3J8IcsFJn5-NwvRf7lhvDZ9H27wfJev2rUjNR5pRS7O2XO5V5f8XF6hqkR2dYgxPFu51Z2S4oTK82o9HAiE6OYD_9TBBz3jL5LSE2vMny3X7A2rn/s1600/IMG_5398.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCJCWdsKkm1y-NY2X_5AJZs2r5ap_C3J8IcsFJn5-NwvRf7lhvDZ9H27wfJev2rUjNR5pRS7O2XO5V5f8XF6hqkR2dYgxPFu51Z2S4oTK82o9HAiE6OYD_9TBBz3jL5LSE2vMny3X7A2rn/s640/IMG_5398.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAh8muitJGxuAkEtopyXsmwSx_RGZB4W6PBusNbJgFLAIT8t9pytb7snOn9ufnP37g0D_5eImA8TSK7r-WjEzbH3I6FAj5mWyhh6blncRdT9y9ljL5z4z_LY_5-4oHjYItj0qJEEDfUYmU/s1600/IMG_5403.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAh8muitJGxuAkEtopyXsmwSx_RGZB4W6PBusNbJgFLAIT8t9pytb7snOn9ufnP37g0D_5eImA8TSK7r-WjEzbH3I6FAj5mWyhh6blncRdT9y9ljL5z4z_LY_5-4oHjYItj0qJEEDfUYmU/s1600/IMG_5403.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggo95zyx_OBdFO16NBieV92o2tyCdpBSxfDTvSsQyuEWvB6TNycKBV0f5-YDRyQqShxMZQkHvKmdSwG_YZvuDW1M-0YHB4it0ujNZMK3aC2blvFOolHwexmr2y0K92jSMTEGu1qAyr0E0O/s1600/IMG_5405.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggo95zyx_OBdFO16NBieV92o2tyCdpBSxfDTvSsQyuEWvB6TNycKBV0f5-YDRyQqShxMZQkHvKmdSwG_YZvuDW1M-0YHB4it0ujNZMK3aC2blvFOolHwexmr2y0K92jSMTEGu1qAyr0E0O/s640/IMG_5405.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">[<i>sterling & freshwater pearl -- Alaskan beach slate & Idaho fern</i>]</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Once I started,</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I found I just could not stop!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">These beauties are (as usual): </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Organic!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Natural.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Textural.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Elegant.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Solid.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Weighty.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">They make me happy.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Very happy.</span></div></div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-29587400119704002982011-10-16T11:46:00.001-06:002011-10-16T13:41:03.217-06:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWtHQVVxoZEltc1S-Uz_sdAcP6V18dOpdEtCxuC1nPUEd9P_4SZcio4VOT8_QrfKvM6pVOZmjKahEXWI4Vgb2j_xZCpdATW3DRuvwyP54ExcJLEF0jJ6_QCCp_Rm93-2AQ08XvAchXmjZG/s1600/IMG_5299.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWtHQVVxoZEltc1S-Uz_sdAcP6V18dOpdEtCxuC1nPUEd9P_4SZcio4VOT8_QrfKvM6pVOZmjKahEXWI4Vgb2j_xZCpdATW3DRuvwyP54ExcJLEF0jJ6_QCCp_Rm93-2AQ08XvAchXmjZG/s1600/IMG_5299.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcXIuZBLTOpQHkkw4XrXlzo6TvAY9O0DWM6Bh-IyaiWASPWwf501fqqN1dR0VrNNmJhfR-BCNQNZyGhgzH3lrc6KOSQndciiLo6r0xeVSAl7Pu71vUjGCkE6LVNSyDXSp8RZrslidTfRFw/s1600/IMG_5306.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcXIuZBLTOpQHkkw4XrXlzo6TvAY9O0DWM6Bh-IyaiWASPWwf501fqqN1dR0VrNNmJhfR-BCNQNZyGhgzH3lrc6KOSQndciiLo6r0xeVSAl7Pu71vUjGCkE6LVNSyDXSp8RZrslidTfRFw/s640/IMG_5306.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVGdwiNHFp2Wecl21dbjVVj2iRfgvwSOEQ1WdK3-yHkov3g-11zDGA5rU6uc5Y2jHQOMeP81YDXaWdyYfWZr5xEJ-by1Il19_Lh6FGhXoaykN6cHy80E7ERUcUETSeD-jzdMO4OUvMAAAR/s1600/IMG_5307.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVGdwiNHFp2Wecl21dbjVVj2iRfgvwSOEQ1WdK3-yHkov3g-11zDGA5rU6uc5Y2jHQOMeP81YDXaWdyYfWZr5xEJ-by1Il19_Lh6FGhXoaykN6cHy80E7ERUcUETSeD-jzdMO4OUvMAAAR/s1600/IMG_5307.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm52MAsWCro6q4l2tNx5pzb5XEIIQwzHMhNxzZTlryK5U-fOVHMnu6FE9eGGzYCnJdZFf1In40wEPeRym9NK55P7XYjIuBc9Wr3VqBpbcIsIsK3XuNkgZrmC99UqkTXgtw34sjuHAliDkF/s1600/IMG_5329.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm52MAsWCro6q4l2tNx5pzb5XEIIQwzHMhNxzZTlryK5U-fOVHMnu6FE9eGGzYCnJdZFf1In40wEPeRym9NK55P7XYjIuBc9Wr3VqBpbcIsIsK3XuNkgZrmC99UqkTXgtw34sjuHAliDkF/s1600/IMG_5329.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-fdm0i-EAxMJjRPxJKVPTDWmRleb3-qNwMjx7q61rZNi33gWCQar9zoG6XSri6s6gJ7kNqG69UIeQEnETEYJPf4BPDPTW2kH3VSpNtv3nKOFwSTvjzHHajP2633i7jpQbxPxLai3Wft2y/s1600/IMG_5331.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-fdm0i-EAxMJjRPxJKVPTDWmRleb3-qNwMjx7q61rZNi33gWCQar9zoG6XSri6s6gJ7kNqG69UIeQEnETEYJPf4BPDPTW2kH3VSpNtv3nKOFwSTvjzHHajP2633i7jpQbxPxLai3Wft2y/s1600/IMG_5331.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCnhTPP7GX0Js3Axr_3a2zqO-J728VyPGmZyPdHwxmwzosn3jcwcsGXaJ_vtmFI5eTWTcfiaPwWSuLm3XMoTKkQWaupTuPH3HJE9l0ZqibaRVc8IPl-tsh14akBo3DUNV8GsP0AXD5Bf7R/s1600/IMG_5315.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCnhTPP7GX0Js3Axr_3a2zqO-J728VyPGmZyPdHwxmwzosn3jcwcsGXaJ_vtmFI5eTWTcfiaPwWSuLm3XMoTKkQWaupTuPH3HJE9l0ZqibaRVc8IPl-tsh14akBo3DUNV8GsP0AXD5Bf7R/s640/IMG_5315.jpg" width="640" /></a></div></div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-44864559690400393942011-10-14T14:55:00.004-06:002011-10-14T19:21:43.950-06:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><object height="374" width="526"> <param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="bgColor" value="#ffffff"></param><param name="flashvars" value="vu=http://video.ted.com/talk/stream/2009/Blank/ElizabethGilbert_2009-320k.mp4&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/ElizabethGilbert_2009.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=512&vh=288&ap=0&ti=453&lang=eng&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius;year=2009;theme=words_about_words;theme=women_reshaping_the_world;theme=speaking_at_ted2009;theme=the_creative_spark;event=TED2009;tag=Arts;tag=Culture;tag=Entertainment;tag=TED2009;tag=creativity;tag=poetry;tag=work;tag=writing;&preAdTag=tconf.ted/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;" /><embed src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" pluginspace="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" bgColor="#ffffff" width="526" height="374" allowFullScreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" flashvars="vu=http://video.ted.com/talk/stream/2009/Blank/ElizabethGilbert_2009-320k.mp4&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/ElizabethGilbert_2009.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=512&vh=288&ap=0&ti=453&lang=eng&introDuration=15330&adDuration=4000&postAdDuration=830&adKeys=talk=elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius;year=2009;theme=words_about_words;theme=women_reshaping_the_world;theme=speaking_at_ted2009;theme=the_creative_spark;event=TED2009;tag=Arts;tag=Culture;tag=Entertainment;tag=TED2009;tag=creativity;tag=poetry;tag=work;tag=writing;&preAdTag=tconf.ted/embed;tile=1;sz=512x288;"></embed> </object> </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Before we all head off to our cocktail parties </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">and whatnots this Friday afternoon I wanted to </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">give you all a big yee haw and an interwebular hug! I hope you had a wonderful week. Truly, I do.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Have a tremendous weekend. Make it extraordinary. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Be buoyed up by the delicate and rich details of life. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Read a wonderful book. Write a soulful poem. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Capture an image that makes your heart soar.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Sleep in. Eat delicious, fresh food. Cuddle your cat on the love seat. Kiss your baby boy. Ride a ferris wheel with your true love. Whatever you do, do it with all your heart and be fully present.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Also, if you have a moment, please watch this short TED talk on nurturing creativity.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It is so meaningful to me and puts into dynamic words what my creative effort has become for me</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">these past two years -- honestly, I'm <i>just showing up</i> as often as I can. I think you'll enjoy it but I think you can also learn from it.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Be well, dear friends.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">x</span></div></div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-65331078588303547122011-10-13T16:17:00.001-06:002011-10-13T16:19:40.639-06:00JAM WINNERS<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Thank you all for the beautiful comments you left on the </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">fourth annual plum jam giveaway -- it was like reading a sea of snippets of </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">poetry. I loved everything you had to say!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Quite officially and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;"><a href="http://www.random.org/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">randomly generatedly</span></a> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">(<i>not a real word</i>),</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">the winners of the jam packages are comment numbers</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">41, 26, 137, 107 and 18:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdj9tH1EQ2W_bzD2FCMzgu51n73cPCwF-gv3iPzuikKK9oJaelM05PzHooDuuQomyzpWrGdEYbJ3XI4PoU3l2Pb49V39_b9wkZ0eMBuNgTQB7C4TU0sruNAVvCz4UT1Gy9eH8W5tTazQjv/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-10-13+at+4.06.41+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdj9tH1EQ2W_bzD2FCMzgu51n73cPCwF-gv3iPzuikKK9oJaelM05PzHooDuuQomyzpWrGdEYbJ3XI4PoU3l2Pb49V39_b9wkZ0eMBuNgTQB7C4TU0sruNAVvCz4UT1Gy9eH8W5tTazQjv/s320/Screen+shot+2011-10-13+at+4.06.41+PM.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6gsTWeAusS-8pZ7yrCBfbwnKP87RbGfbdM1XekTGuiqJXzBThhXWhrQKN_pOMYX18zMVz3CE88tHHhUYWiIyfHlX0BEA07L7QMTTPn7hDT9jk7chezWk0TOr9Bxv3saQMn2wn8p7NRnNb/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-10-13+at+4.07.03+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6gsTWeAusS-8pZ7yrCBfbwnKP87RbGfbdM1XekTGuiqJXzBThhXWhrQKN_pOMYX18zMVz3CE88tHHhUYWiIyfHlX0BEA07L7QMTTPn7hDT9jk7chezWk0TOr9Bxv3saQMn2wn8p7NRnNb/s320/Screen+shot+2011-10-13+at+4.07.03+PM.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi5VYWnsD3e1tKJ1rPLbJv8Jw90RUC23k7MRDwB0KvpqVyuycFY6WOIxCNmYWecnhcBUWYkEsxSTqL4uF9frE7_iyw_l_kKQ0pEv-7OO3ZWTfaylU0_Rvl668y1dbQXu5GIHeTl52Kr7cg/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-10-13+at+4.07.43+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi5VYWnsD3e1tKJ1rPLbJv8Jw90RUC23k7MRDwB0KvpqVyuycFY6WOIxCNmYWecnhcBUWYkEsxSTqL4uF9frE7_iyw_l_kKQ0pEv-7OO3ZWTfaylU0_Rvl668y1dbQXu5GIHeTl52Kr7cg/s320/Screen+shot+2011-10-13+at+4.07.43+PM.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGF_uVBFsNaw5eOFk6RImS3RO4LPH6xPGrK-QSDnqlWxYJ9QOT1VYnkisofOztEHRYdjY5gROdpLPTtK19CS-PskqYWvv6y_w811iVVX-5U_BIT6cl_NQBPziyr002c4KpDQi1W7ciXCJG/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-10-13+at+4.09.02+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGF_uVBFsNaw5eOFk6RImS3RO4LPH6xPGrK-QSDnqlWxYJ9QOT1VYnkisofOztEHRYdjY5gROdpLPTtK19CS-PskqYWvv6y_w811iVVX-5U_BIT6cl_NQBPziyr002c4KpDQi1W7ciXCJG/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-10-13+at+4.09.02+PM.png" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDVgv1ChxJfy5j_u5U622gDSaLTi2is7NC64xQ1lw1DlVO1igEBelfRNUOvRaBWGxExzH7Pw9Gh9yZv_ayP7ZJ3zXqqOrLuxlS0DefDi8ueU42FEOAxWnCr5nAwqh_Dp-TpQymU5MWZntw/s1600/Screen+shot+2011-10-13+at+4.10.20+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDVgv1ChxJfy5j_u5U622gDSaLTi2is7NC64xQ1lw1DlVO1igEBelfRNUOvRaBWGxExzH7Pw9Gh9yZv_ayP7ZJ3zXqqOrLuxlS0DefDi8ueU42FEOAxWnCr5nAwqh_Dp-TpQymU5MWZntw/s320/Screen+shot+2011-10-13+at+4.10.20+PM.png" width="320" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">If you gave me your email address, I'll</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">be contacting you about where to mail your package.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">If you didn't give me your email address, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I hope you see this announcement and email ME!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>thenoisyplume@gmail.com</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Thank you all.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">You're wonderful.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">x</span></div></div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-14223112733319544202011-10-13T14:41:00.002-06:002011-10-13T16:36:35.687-06:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8YLv7-sVZuT-uAaHocMb0-OGk0i41hUakqFMQwJRUPfvC7v1KYzm71p4Lrpujoi_XVHnAMioC8ld9uG3egZ-zw4luJ80BqTwro3V7r7E8sml5JgPTqYRTnATSl6Iw7jUKcT6FONuLimW7/s1600/IMG_5183.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8YLv7-sVZuT-uAaHocMb0-OGk0i41hUakqFMQwJRUPfvC7v1KYzm71p4Lrpujoi_XVHnAMioC8ld9uG3egZ-zw4luJ80BqTwro3V7r7E8sml5JgPTqYRTnATSl6Iw7jUKcT6FONuLimW7/s1600/IMG_5183.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIuffsdQb9X08xMQnGkYJxg_WMveeZVwDkd9k1gmhhTwURtCSrxQUJwY3RXIn13b6d97r8MmlOSRtVHebiubgnMvXtFy3SxOha3s5_47wj6pgyxe9qie5u7FX7TNHqP5EYOug2ThgisDUz/s1600/IMG_5186.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="468" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIuffsdQb9X08xMQnGkYJxg_WMveeZVwDkd9k1gmhhTwURtCSrxQUJwY3RXIn13b6d97r8MmlOSRtVHebiubgnMvXtFy3SxOha3s5_47wj6pgyxe9qie5u7FX7TNHqP5EYOug2ThgisDUz/s640/IMG_5186.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZhbTwe0rYjuByRRHUy-ir08pQzhXlW0FjT3kThSlA1fTs8hyphenhyphenSqjXPKOYVBg_Y2xUmz6FjB_uN-HkZwp1mk9EfXDJ91q1hwLqtmK8do6rYI-QpwOuwJ3nUW7gybAFze0tQQsF_U_vZTqew/s1600/IMG_5199.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZhbTwe0rYjuByRRHUy-ir08pQzhXlW0FjT3kThSlA1fTs8hyphenhyphenSqjXPKOYVBg_Y2xUmz6FjB_uN-HkZwp1mk9EfXDJ91q1hwLqtmK8do6rYI-QpwOuwJ3nUW7gybAFze0tQQsF_U_vZTqew/s640/IMG_5199.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Doe in Snow Neck Piece ::: The Quiet Ones Series</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">[<i>sterling, copper, silk & enamel</i>]</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I've been terribly excited about returning to this series with the onset of cooler weather. Actually, I've been thrilled about being able to enamel again, in general. I missed it very much during the summer months when my un-air-conditioned workspace is simply unbearable with the added heat of a kiln. The studio, when I've had moments to work these past couple of weeks, is thrumming with energy, light and that steadiness that comes with hard work.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">:::ALSO:::</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">There's been the adventure of embarking upon a photo project with one of my best friends.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">My involvement with the creative team for <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;"><a href="http://www.persistingstars.com/persisting-soul-photography-course/">this incredible e-course</a> </span>[<i>I promise Maddie! I'll have my thoughts and images to you tonight. TONIGHT!</i>].</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">There is something small and wild taking up a lot of my time...I don't feel ready to share it with you quite yet. But it makes me so happy.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">There's a poem I want to write about the wasps that live in my attic -- the words string themselves out in my mind when I'm falling asleep at night.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">There's a cup of hot tea nearly every hour, on the hour, to warm my autumn bones.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">There's a bit of soul fire to match the red of the scrub maples as they turn.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">There are twenty thousand emails for me to answer but I can't sit still long enough to get the work finished.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">All of our firefighter friends are done their work for the year and are back in town so there has been the beauteous behooving of scintillating sociality many nights of the week followed by the sudden quiet of all the boys </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">leaving for their antelope hunt in Wyoming.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I can't stop listening to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Let-Bleed-Rolling-Stones/dp/B00006AW2G/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1318538408&sr=1-1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">this</span></a>.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Very shortly, there will be some girls and I in a forest service cabin just outside of West Yellowstone for a couple of days. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">There have also been image submissions at the request of <a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Getty Images</span></a> (<i>such a wonderful experience</i>). Perhaps, sometime, you might see Plum smiling on a bag of dog food at the grocery store (<i>rest her crazy little darling soul</i>)!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">There is a stack of letters from friends that need responses, an extra quilt on the bed and plum jam on toast in the mornings.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Oh! And <a href="http://www.anneardenmcdonald.com/noflash/essays/book.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">this book</span></a> just handed to me by the mailman -- which is so beautiful and haunting!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I have a couple of details to wrap up out in the studio before I make myself lunch. Can you believe I'm still eating from my garden every single day?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Shortly, I'll have: roasted beets with a side of baby carrots, kale, patty pan squash, zucchini and garlic lightly sauteed in butter.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Tra la la!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">x </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNqpeMwQuBoi4jAxY39W0MEI4woHzHyYsQhaPL30nHFVPQ_P8VyJLIfmky9HKabnQpYeh_uv7khP7yF4VeB6jpEjbKU8TtKkSOSyM1dI8oCOgTQdVsyMp83aAw4GjkpcoacvjwEiMTwCCw/s1600/IMG_5214.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNqpeMwQuBoi4jAxY39W0MEI4woHzHyYsQhaPL30nHFVPQ_P8VyJLIfmky9HKabnQpYeh_uv7khP7yF4VeB6jpEjbKU8TtKkSOSyM1dI8oCOgTQdVsyMp83aAw4GjkpcoacvjwEiMTwCCw/s1600/IMG_5214.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div></div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-10057231207528091362011-10-10T12:11:00.010-06:002011-10-12T22:17:36.677-06:00The Fourth Annual Plum Jam Giveaway<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Good morning sparrows and starshines!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It's my complete and utter delight to announce the fourth annual plum jam give away here at The Noisy Plume. I can't believe I've done this four years in a row now! It's something I look forward to every fall. The truth of the matter is that I simply love being able to give away a little piece of my property here in Idaho. And let's just be bare bones honest for a moment, this is some of the best jam on the planet Earth. I make a big deal about it, true, but whenever people have their first taste, they're eyeballs get big as a bullfrogs and they nod their heads yes and affirm the truth of my bragging.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">So. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Without further delay,</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">here are the details!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">________________________</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Last year, we did <a href="http://thenoisyplume.blogspot.com/2010/10/annual-plume-gables-jam-giveaway-golden.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">a fantastic golden ticket contest</span></a> with the plum jam, as you may recall. We sold nearly 100 jars of the stuff over in the <a href="http://thenoisyplume.etsy.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Etsy shop</span></a> -- one lucky person won a pretty little necklace with their jam purchase and it was fun and a wonderful gamble. Sadly, packing and shipping nearly 100 jars of jam nearly killed us and while we'd have loved to do it all again, we are a bit busier than usual this fall, here at The Gables, and a simple blog giveaway will have to suffice. Forgive us for not going above and beyond this year.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">As always, I love to give you a quick run down about the plums we use in this jam. Plume Gables boasts a beautiful little, creaky old, 104 year old farm house on an original stone foundation on a piece of property that formerly spanned the entire street. It was originally a fruit orchard! We are the fourth family to ever own and love this property (<i>though the first two families were the first and second generation of the same family</i>). Deeded with the land is a charming set of water rights to one of the spring creeks that flows down off the mountains on the West side of the Portneuf Valley. With this water, we irrigate all of our ancient grapevines, rose gardens and fruit trees. It's a romantic and historical detail about our home since when this little chunk of land was originally homesteaded, the same creek water was used to feed an entire orchard, and more.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We do not spray our fruit trees with any pesticides. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Plums are hand picked when they turn a ripe, </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">deep purple on the trees.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">These beautiful gems are organic as can be,</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">watered with holy water from a spring that wells up out of the mountains we see from the front windows of our home, and they are filled with the nutrients that only a sun ripened fruit can hold.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVGl3ZRY1vmU48z_NJh4DubEcAZpY_WsLTWli-fAVJa8XFz-5CB80j7U1Ud0jmvXGsA8-kbz0sX3iMqKHktc98GLW0VmwlTiJV2eT1TZSDTH4LhZtQh77OI_UMpkB2T2x-3bGAJiL7dk18/s1600/IMG_5024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVGl3ZRY1vmU48z_NJh4DubEcAZpY_WsLTWli-fAVJa8XFz-5CB80j7U1Ud0jmvXGsA8-kbz0sX3iMqKHktc98GLW0VmwlTiJV2eT1TZSDTH4LhZtQh77OI_UMpkB2T2x-3bGAJiL7dk18/s1600/IMG_5024.jpg" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We hand pit these plums with old fashioned paring knives,</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">quarter them and then turn them into jam with the help of a low sugar </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">recipe.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizCsd7VUCENXeLxbmHZ6l8zjBfxj36SlrQ11hEeQGlY9XoETUlhKxB-AMDbrDxmkjmbpCoZcDguJdcg-RdXHYZYAPRSuFctousV5svRvKLWDyAKLpxevemmCMsrxXld5-HiJkmG5x_euMR/s1600/IMG_4980.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizCsd7VUCENXeLxbmHZ6l8zjBfxj36SlrQ11hEeQGlY9XoETUlhKxB-AMDbrDxmkjmbpCoZcDguJdcg-RdXHYZYAPRSuFctousV5svRvKLWDyAKLpxevemmCMsrxXld5-HiJkmG5x_euMR/s1600/IMG_4980.jpg" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6YXJQaLS4B_JQOffj5AD9bz2EjVjMOiIDMzqUGH7IvMMtCRnq8ZzfNVvZgZWFYDBnsl1iClimW_qobRyZAFBVSBqWmqVIZrcfNyIwl69RN9M6SqYrzAlLHdJJPGhN8I2UsMBeKlaesyTk/s1600/IMG_5009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6YXJQaLS4B_JQOffj5AD9bz2EjVjMOiIDMzqUGH7IvMMtCRnq8ZzfNVvZgZWFYDBnsl1iClimW_qobRyZAFBVSBqWmqVIZrcfNyIwl69RN9M6SqYrzAlLHdJJPGhN8I2UsMBeKlaesyTk/s1600/IMG_5009.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The flavor is unbelievable,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">tart and sweet.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The color is like magenta rubies,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">as you can see modeled on this delicious little</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">fluffy, hot-from-the-oven buttermilk biscuit:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuhZAC_qARLmDawa5Nzgk-nl4ku8h0hqZk11FtOU6Mh6JogXTHnMxZDJuD3HXB7yqg8Z9WoXxY5lDrfUCKJLmDfFtnIfWl5t4HS2F3BvwRHIBEPuhwZWZKR6fBv0vuyvm3iNUNebLDdQw4/s1600/IMG_5008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuhZAC_qARLmDawa5Nzgk-nl4ku8h0hqZk11FtOU6Mh6JogXTHnMxZDJuD3HXB7yqg8Z9WoXxY5lDrfUCKJLmDfFtnIfWl5t4HS2F3BvwRHIBEPuhwZWZKR6fBv0vuyvm3iNUNebLDdQw4/s640/IMG_5008.jpg" width="426" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I'm giving away five jars of the stuff. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Since I couldn't muster the golden ticket contest this fall, I am including these jars of jam in sweet little packages that will include:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_UrcJOAv_jjEdXTseGgazRzNgBmfCJu8PnXO3d9_LSAGD23SFnoV2zFAd7eJh5BwL17wNI-6DE-etd_JHpR5K5OWxylqhIn2DKpJh1Dgh2vp7bCr3diN2RgP2rF4DSCXZCSEhtFGy9JK5/s1600/IMG_4989.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_UrcJOAv_jjEdXTseGgazRzNgBmfCJu8PnXO3d9_LSAGD23SFnoV2zFAd7eJh5BwL17wNI-6DE-etd_JHpR5K5OWxylqhIn2DKpJh1Dgh2vp7bCr3diN2RgP2rF4DSCXZCSEhtFGy9JK5/s1600/IMG_4989.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> My favorite loose leaf herbal tea.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWfgRI_s724ob8qSK6rs4q7wnRf-7B0iOSvIEzEQhXMFEr2ednFSjySKdrGyBi_aRX6wCs038i48aa7ZMKssdYjoRMd5i5dTqAzgljJ8XhrbLdWGPhtnxb3iczqSAJHtvh6jU_M_RQzW6A/s1600/IMG_4996.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWfgRI_s724ob8qSK6rs4q7wnRf-7B0iOSvIEzEQhXMFEr2ednFSjySKdrGyBi_aRX6wCs038i48aa7ZMKssdYjoRMd5i5dTqAzgljJ8XhrbLdWGPhtnxb3iczqSAJHtvh6jU_M_RQzW6A/s1600/IMG_4996.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgACR1qoiVixPgZFrOPyaI2NwCZXAthsoES4awxSX1tjMvBwOwQ2vaAAGdG2gxiIeAQA-sNpSz4nssHmsHwgngo0R3EYIm3qcgS3FSkca-vKXdZqinAhy0DzZtYgl9q9RPgp4-A9GGW6e6i/s1600/IMG_4978.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgACR1qoiVixPgZFrOPyaI2NwCZXAthsoES4awxSX1tjMvBwOwQ2vaAAGdG2gxiIeAQA-sNpSz4nssHmsHwgngo0R3EYIm3qcgS3FSkca-vKXdZqinAhy0DzZtYgl9q9RPgp4-A9GGW6e6i/s1600/IMG_4978.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSQAwYpLqnXbFI9milHgZSmDSyn3ifP-lT-UHDmPluRBe0tXslGuJ19W7BSu2ZsmFk09hLiC0SMGLGzTebchFYWR4uSyXjXXiaVp0jLSRVgJYgc6MdzEm9Ug3JYCxNEUKpMCdQLLKi_OQR/s1600/IMG_5003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSQAwYpLqnXbFI9milHgZSmDSyn3ifP-lT-UHDmPluRBe0tXslGuJ19W7BSu2ZsmFk09hLiC0SMGLGzTebchFYWR4uSyXjXXiaVp0jLSRVgJYgc6MdzEm9Ug3JYCxNEUKpMCdQLLKi_OQR/s1600/IMG_5003.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28057482@N05/6230879097/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #cc0000;">Hand picked and bound sage bundles</span></a>, beautiful for sniffing and smudging...</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">and a few other items that will remain a surprise!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">If you'd like to enter your name in this giveaway, please leave me a comment on this post. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Tell me anything you'd like, but I'm especially interested in hearing about how autumn makes you feel and what you love most about it -- if you are in the Southern Hemisphere, tell me about the shifts you're seeing as your world moves into summer!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">If you're shy or thin on time, just say hi.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Please leave only <b>ONE COMMENT</b>, if you can.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">And <b><i>please include your email address</i></b> </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">so I can contact you </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">if you should win.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Everyone is welcome and</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: x-large;"><b>I will ship internationally</b>.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Contest closes on Wednesday at 10PM, MST.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">As always, thank you so much for being part of my world and for being some of the most incredible, kind, supportive, gracious and loving people I've ever brushed up against. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Happy autumn!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Love,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Plume</span></div><br />
</div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.com227tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-62008552768080933042011-10-09T10:13:00.001-06:002011-10-09T10:33:39.415-06:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY5kSx8vuhYhK862bxvw4IjMSIAYAYl4YOTG7lfxhG9Kzf6xyH1XzERlOYoTNzQ6qL7bOoSTUip8LsbSTY95C7e0m4iFtiitFZ5rZsHZiowwSPzsR2pNOpAQsrwHPXmq9qyFAkFfgmAvOn/s1600/IMG_4822.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY5kSx8vuhYhK862bxvw4IjMSIAYAYl4YOTG7lfxhG9Kzf6xyH1XzERlOYoTNzQ6qL7bOoSTUip8LsbSTY95C7e0m4iFtiitFZ5rZsHZiowwSPzsR2pNOpAQsrwHPXmq9qyFAkFfgmAvOn/s640/IMG_4822.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhlwp4GKjIMGA8drGbFTc8YcfUjrzgsIUXicZNJ8DJLj0SOOkKwg4R0rS6wtgsAqlYTdIWTBn0lDvCqVSnqvV8Q0XSuELUrKWFW2PiK8lDmZJj8TkYmA63kadanTQrtTU6vPwMErmncKHd/s1600/IMG_4877.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhlwp4GKjIMGA8drGbFTc8YcfUjrzgsIUXicZNJ8DJLj0SOOkKwg4R0rS6wtgsAqlYTdIWTBn0lDvCqVSnqvV8Q0XSuELUrKWFW2PiK8lDmZJj8TkYmA63kadanTQrtTU6vPwMErmncKHd/s1600/IMG_4877.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijM4IPvkIPStZ-NlpXgXorhXZz3TLL-hv4nfdSvgWYYq_yCbug96TTVQ-2DUQMWo5gJI0b_f309kGJzng_G94Ootp2DIpzFW4Xrp1WCcWbVv8iFPcS9M-sfBEzbCNynQJlLLTf6toP4qjh/s1600/IMG_4886.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijM4IPvkIPStZ-NlpXgXorhXZz3TLL-hv4nfdSvgWYYq_yCbug96TTVQ-2DUQMWo5gJI0b_f309kGJzng_G94Ootp2DIpzFW4Xrp1WCcWbVv8iFPcS9M-sfBEzbCNynQJlLLTf6toP4qjh/s1600/IMG_4886.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2uf8mga5Q1Sfcc-VSOvIVb6Ssw3CkiMC9SGAzjH10NfyXI-4oKlQXJEVxzR3shsLJzByDQOv8-3z_OsVs1v9IoGTI-7ZFeTONAXgZYHisvNnwc_ygORGcy3fw_t1eilPJdTw_BtXgw_8O/s1600/IMG_4893.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2uf8mga5Q1Sfcc-VSOvIVb6Ssw3CkiMC9SGAzjH10NfyXI-4oKlQXJEVxzR3shsLJzByDQOv8-3z_OsVs1v9IoGTI-7ZFeTONAXgZYHisvNnwc_ygORGcy3fw_t1eilPJdTw_BtXgw_8O/s1600/IMG_4893.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> Yesterday was RW's birthday!</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Sometime last week I asked him how he'd like to spend his special day -- though I don't know why I ever ask because the answer never changes. We spent the day over in the <a href="http://thenoisyplume.blogspot.com/2011/05/part-one.html">Little City of Rocks</a> area of Idaho hunting <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chukar_Partridge">chukar</a>, nibbling on a picnic and exploring the sage laced hills and coulees there. Hunting was a four hour hike up and across the rim rock and volcanic hoodoos of Little City of Rocks (<i>not to be confused with <a href="http://www.nps.gov/ciro/index.htm">City of Rocks</a> by the folks who like to climb Idaho</i>) at the end of which we were terribly sun beamed and wind blasted -- I felt exhausted. Farley had <b>run</b> at least seven more miles than we hiked and he was exhausted too. We coasted back down onto the Snake River Plain, grabbed some delicious Italian for dinner with a friend in Twin Falls (<i>lasagna is one of RW's other birthday requirements -- he's like Garfield</i>) and eventually we arrived home in Pocatello where we covered the tomatoes with blankets out in the gardens, belly flopped into hot baths and tossed ourselves into our warm bed.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSqnha5j3XVlsdokFSugcjSWGJtiJEZQT0o_RmKgWO7YIBtCeF9xi6MVrmXFKycpc46sHDrRsanfQQ7B3v1mW0OUrOXGSTCFzOT3g4SQpy1d0BMCSbhCfJFP8BSpp1eFg6DulqJMj3AU-x/s1600/IMG_4895.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSqnha5j3XVlsdokFSugcjSWGJtiJEZQT0o_RmKgWO7YIBtCeF9xi6MVrmXFKycpc46sHDrRsanfQQ7B3v1mW0OUrOXGSTCFzOT3g4SQpy1d0BMCSbhCfJFP8BSpp1eFg6DulqJMj3AU-x/s1600/IMG_4895.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEefE3cmRxN9Ex0exxfX-ha1DzWuynpMinERCCKxAJrGCstqVOmymgGQhPz9H7nK1BSMRx-uw-qM_PV0aMgoV9nW_qsIdgtfaEs8bPy6-blOvHbYhnoOvuWVQf3vMra4s0XooSb9ExLLKI/s1600/IMG_4899.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEefE3cmRxN9Ex0exxfX-ha1DzWuynpMinERCCKxAJrGCstqVOmymgGQhPz9H7nK1BSMRx-uw-qM_PV0aMgoV9nW_qsIdgtfaEs8bPy6-blOvHbYhnoOvuWVQf3vMra4s0XooSb9ExLLKI/s1600/IMG_4899.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2ccpIsRT1Pfbd46MvF0-Ndsid1tKb2mdCN_OKRwpYn_T9HRSWBIhm_JxhU2CU00ltVw9aQe9xWMUhBQdpP7NC-NP7tPaQAEYDIeeEOjb6udy0zIFKXbQbQxcxfEtVp_wTYvjaEwcMival/s1600/IMG_4931.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="462" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2ccpIsRT1Pfbd46MvF0-Ndsid1tKb2mdCN_OKRwpYn_T9HRSWBIhm_JxhU2CU00ltVw9aQe9xWMUhBQdpP7NC-NP7tPaQAEYDIeeEOjb6udy0zIFKXbQbQxcxfEtVp_wTYvjaEwcMival/s640/IMG_4931.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It was such a splendid day.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">You know, when you're out strolling across the shifting hands of the seasons </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">there's an extraordinary amount of texture applied to all the senses. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Those patches of lichens that are so busily lipping at the surfaces of stones seem</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">twice as thick and vibrant as they did in the summer months.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The small body of water in the sea of sage glimmers like holy</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">sapphire! The mountains in the distance, capped white and groaning with imperceptible</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">shakes and quakes, grind away at the sky and the blue holds the faint pulse of indigo crushed fine in the smooth bowl of the mortar.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It's.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Nearly.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Too.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Much.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">For.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Me.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">To.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Bear.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I perish. I die in the wonder of creation, time and time again.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I move through it like I belong in it, like a wild horse owns the rock that trims its hooves, like rivers to the seas, like the clouds so designed and destroyed by the lift of the mountains </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">and the grace of the plains. I move. I belong.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This small body lives to leap up and over stones, scramble through thorny thickets with my heart beat glowing bright in my throat and there on the soft sides of my wrists. Then sifting, sifting like the river water sifts the silt, claiming clarity and purity as it flows. I am lost, divided, made whole again, raked into neat stacks by the tines of the wind and then spread out once more and drifting.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">But I digress.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This was all to say, happy birthday Robert.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I loved being out on the land with you yesterday.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The wind burned my cheeks red and coaxed some tired coal in my soul into flame once more.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I hope you had a wonderful day too. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Let's do it again sometime.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b>:::POST SCRIPTUS:::</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I nearly forgot!</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Canadians! I hope your lives have been</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">full of family, friends and blessings this weekend</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">and always.</span></div></div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-85529668772017891352011-10-06T13:34:00.000-06:002011-10-06T13:34:23.255-06:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_r0SgP3pVkvWk5mg4aeYlp_uwq6WYiKh2rbX6IOZskSKrxPwkNqGAfv7zvvTvoCYor0ieTMf3uqERqGgvdPHCrfQOUfKT1iR0kYgKmckUgFdPEdGaGkXUm2NDm76ONXhWL3UhAFhTRQT7/s1600/IMG_4731.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_r0SgP3pVkvWk5mg4aeYlp_uwq6WYiKh2rbX6IOZskSKrxPwkNqGAfv7zvvTvoCYor0ieTMf3uqERqGgvdPHCrfQOUfKT1iR0kYgKmckUgFdPEdGaGkXUm2NDm76ONXhWL3UhAFhTRQT7/s1600/IMG_4731.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpXUzaaqNBfXRybaL2YWTAlSGstsrBjxZ-_MwofmZcusfcbxCkeLmkWlMKL1_ARQwRDa3A6ClUJFrEFDcBlK8_f9rXMrVOxYVJm5XvvxxLSTyYGm35NuRNp2YTR4zvvl-25pMNkIIuUyBt/s1600/IMG_4730.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpXUzaaqNBfXRybaL2YWTAlSGstsrBjxZ-_MwofmZcusfcbxCkeLmkWlMKL1_ARQwRDa3A6ClUJFrEFDcBlK8_f9rXMrVOxYVJm5XvvxxLSTyYGm35NuRNp2YTR4zvvl-25pMNkIIuUyBt/s640/IMG_4730.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We tend to </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">go straight from summer </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">into winter. This is the Rocky Mountain way. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Bundle up, snow bunnies!</span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div></div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-71901681248626387912011-10-05T20:13:00.002-06:002011-10-05T20:18:22.283-06:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Just a quick note to say thank you all for the comments you left on the last post here.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Thank you also to everyone who popped a note in the mail for us or emailed us -- there's no way I can actually answer all of your emails but I wanted you to know that RW and I have read your notes and appreciate your kindness so very much.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Even though she's gone, Plumbelina is still teaching us</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">so much about love and life. You are too.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Thank you.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">One million times over.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Warmly,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Jillian & Robert </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">(Farley, Penelope, Mister Pinkerton, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Rhubarb Ambrosia Honey Badger and The Hens)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">x</span></div></div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-73541118253332331872011-10-03T10:50:00.011-06:002011-10-03T21:04:43.247-06:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Plumbelina died.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP0lujBDEonJ1TQ9uLqvBfmZz94yoRyMnXJtk55CpUUgiBuk243uH88APXmSe377bqQWlNvQWJTtWsM_ETQ5fIvd7SGgKvOnESp4CNdlrvJv4aY-X9U7Ct8xnhKV5idFDAbpC7zX5H2u2h/s1600/IMG_3821.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP0lujBDEonJ1TQ9uLqvBfmZz94yoRyMnXJtk55CpUUgiBuk243uH88APXmSe377bqQWlNvQWJTtWsM_ETQ5fIvd7SGgKvOnESp4CNdlrvJv4aY-X9U7Ct8xnhKV5idFDAbpC7zX5H2u2h/s1600/IMG_3821.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">On Friday, when we were coming back over the mountains from the cattle drive, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">we stopped at a creek for a while. This lead to that and Plum was nicked by the back tire of our moving truck. Her injuries consisted of a tiny cut on her face and a two inch gash on her foreleg (<i>which wasn't actually bleeding</i>). We hopped in the truck with her laid across my lap and made the rest of the drive down the mountain to get her to the vet. She looked great the entire drive with her head up in the air, looking around, she even seemed to be smiling at me as I stroked her face and held her body close to mine. When we pulled into the parking lot at the vet clinic, her breathing suddenly became labored and her eyes glazed over and rolled back. I struggled to get out of the truck with her in my arms. Robert took her from me and by the time we had her in the clinic on an operating table she had died.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">It was so shocking.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We have been so terribly sad.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">This has been another lesson in love and loss for me.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">For of course, it was better to have known her, loved her and lost her </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">than to never have known her at all.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We took her body up the mountain and blistered our hands digging a deep grave in an aspen stand for her final resting place. Before we covered her in Rocky Mountain soil, I laid a bouquet of wildflowers on her chest. She looked so perfect down there. Snow white and the darkest chocolate brown -- like she was sleeping. I touched her velvet head one last time. It was all so strange. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I remember thinking to myself that she was more mine than she was Robert's since he had been away at work for half her life. I remember feeling thick and stupid with loss. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I wonder how long I'll be this sad. The past few days, I've been wandering around the house crying on and off, out in the studio I broke a hammer in half out of anger with myself and annoyance at the circumstances of her death. I guess grief moves in waves. One moment it has me completely submerged and the next I'm breathing sweet air and sunshine and the world around me is sparkling like diamonds.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">If I feel this sad about a dog,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">will I simply disappear if I lose Robert</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">or a best friend,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">or a parent,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">or a sister?</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i>Why does the body feel so heavy </i></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i>once the spirit has departed?</i></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i>Is it because we lift the dead </i></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i>with heavy hearts and lead arms?</i></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i>Is the soul responsible </i></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i>for our lightness of spirit,</i></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i>our lightness of being?</i></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i>Where does the spirit go?</i></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i>What does that place actually look like?</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We, here in the land of the living, have such a tenuous grip on existence. We hoard it. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We tear it away from each other.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We live fully until we cease to live.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We forget to love what we have sometimes.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">What we love can leave, in the blink of an eye.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">When something we love dies, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">we always realize we loved it more than we knew we did.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The dead sleep, but the living live on.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We live on with the sharp memories of the dead lodged in our throats. Over time, those memories dull and eventually we lay the bluntness of our guilt and sadness to rest and all that is left is a wide field, laced with morning dew and blooming yarrow</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">and a glad dog with wings on her back running like she knows how to fly.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">She cannot be so dead.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">She cannot be so dead </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">when she flickers with such glorious motion </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">here on the broad plains</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">of my heart.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">__________________________________________</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Two days before Plum died, I told Robert that I wanted to take a greater responsibility for her hunting </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">training which he had almost exclusively been working on. I wanted to master her in the field -- which involves <b>so much more</b> than simply telling a dog where to go. It requires understanding the lay of the land, wind directions, the habits of the bird you're hunting and the ability to read your dog and communicate with it. It's an awesome partnership between human and animal. I had this sudden realization over the summer months that consistently hunting the dogs with my fellow could be a really precious family time for Robert and I.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Two days before she died, she ate one of my Birkenstocks. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">What a crying shame.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Writing this made me laugh out loud!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">These dogs are so high maintenance, so demanding of your time and effort, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">an extra portion of their energy and spirit gets in your </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">soul. When they go, they wreck you a little more than usual,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">the quiet and calm left in their wake is disconcerting.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">____________</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">______________</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">On Saturday night, I was thinking about ways I could honor her.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">On Sunday morning, I woke up early with Robert we took our remaining German Shorthaired Pointer sharptail grouse hunting in the Arbon Valley. Before we cast that dog off into a field to do his work, I took his face in my hands and I told him:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Today we hunt for Plum.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We hunt for everything she was.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We hunt for the incredible bird dog she was going to be.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We hunt to give her wings, where she is.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We hunt in her memory.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We hunt for the dog who remains.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">For the steadiness of Farley's beating heart, flesh and bone.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We hunt to put a bird in your mouth, Farley.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We hunt to watch you do that thing you were born and bred to do.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We hunt for the flicker of white in tall grass, for your bright face and fleet feet in the sage.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We hunt for the joy of being on the land and being in nature.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We hunt for the holiness of putting dinner on our table.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I cried a bit for the joy on his face as we cast him off into the tall grass and sunshine. We balanced our shotguns on our shoulders and walked out.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Our hearts felt lighter than they had in days.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8LpcPGTLNa7Wjk0JwTlTRDMBexPkTJX7XjDZRzHzjaOTzdV_3I3oQi8p2zA5zCXBcbXvk8S12rIfbf6R6FIA8_kdXOs7btuqS-cZd4IIXpkqfURLEd5hS3LIMaTpNkATlbg3Z7MGgpL0h/s1600/IMG_4498.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8LpcPGTLNa7Wjk0JwTlTRDMBexPkTJX7XjDZRzHzjaOTzdV_3I3oQi8p2zA5zCXBcbXvk8S12rIfbf6R6FIA8_kdXOs7btuqS-cZd4IIXpkqfURLEd5hS3LIMaTpNkATlbg3Z7MGgpL0h/s1600/IMG_4498.jpg" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqUQQjf8nKWIp-FvAq7VizIwYkCvdfb23ZDjbtEllHb0FES-oRtUw8CW2FQO7P2zFm1036ne_s6KouWnFze0W458-ytErqgJjl3aId9YKaj5tmLnc6l3tqbi6oVNYYYLLJB51LMXNq_SG5/s1600/IMG_4503.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqUQQjf8nKWIp-FvAq7VizIwYkCvdfb23ZDjbtEllHb0FES-oRtUw8CW2FQO7P2zFm1036ne_s6KouWnFze0W458-ytErqgJjl3aId9YKaj5tmLnc6l3tqbi6oVNYYYLLJB51LMXNq_SG5/s640/IMG_4503.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> Plumbelina,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">You were the very best little girl. You were so happy, </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">so exuberant, all the time. When you were good, you were an angel. When you were bad, you were terribly rotten. I never touched velvet quite so soft as you. You were crazy and I loved you. Sleep now, best friend. I hold you in my heart always.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Love,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Your Girl</span></div></div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.com133tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-45329695533667296682011-09-30T15:33:00.003-06:002011-09-30T18:36:45.951-06:00One Thousand Cows<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Sometimes I don't think I can love Idaho more than I do.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Then I go on a cattle drive with, quite literally, one thousand cows and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">about fifty cowboys and cowgirls keeping those bovine babes on the straight and narrow...</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">and <b>then</b> I love it a little more than I did before.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Here are some moments I captured this morning:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEpNKDt2uxdXk2u-WCAXJJxoR8nv7L9rcH_TwUOSu-756Hd6Lf6h_BO84g9OEoPKcKadKlwnk2vM0Epnvumu0LaGkrO25kvnGnTGOZcEEJH4t8nfdmidyrLgp2LaDrRjGp4dIrKMocr36R/s1600/IMG_4206.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEpNKDt2uxdXk2u-WCAXJJxoR8nv7L9rcH_TwUOSu-756Hd6Lf6h_BO84g9OEoPKcKadKlwnk2vM0Epnvumu0LaGkrO25kvnGnTGOZcEEJH4t8nfdmidyrLgp2LaDrRjGp4dIrKMocr36R/s1600/IMG_4206.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcc72p1RqeZ4IQbsBP8ljxJ6GxmTzmXUMdpLpsSzge9bUi59okoHp6fYeNGw-BaaYRyZDYHr1tpmG_qJItnakW5r_0nX10XaYKSOJFc1ha8EUEBbHU5L5m-3E_FWgOdWdBmKvJjae_Awrx/s1600/IMG_4209.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcc72p1RqeZ4IQbsBP8ljxJ6GxmTzmXUMdpLpsSzge9bUi59okoHp6fYeNGw-BaaYRyZDYHr1tpmG_qJItnakW5r_0nX10XaYKSOJFc1ha8EUEBbHU5L5m-3E_FWgOdWdBmKvJjae_Awrx/s1600/IMG_4209.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJo-rRMv4w1XtQwUW_IjqRrqBHwYSpYeXWK2V5VWSJ5rAhy-t7NOlC-AT8M97Ndf81l6BI45iTX7WTu-O_s4sSxDHkozrfcHVUlP5ec69nQwj4dJqUD5lFmzFVGKGERsF1NyZDYjA8JsCt/s1600/IMG_4225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJo-rRMv4w1XtQwUW_IjqRrqBHwYSpYeXWK2V5VWSJ5rAhy-t7NOlC-AT8M97Ndf81l6BI45iTX7WTu-O_s4sSxDHkozrfcHVUlP5ec69nQwj4dJqUD5lFmzFVGKGERsF1NyZDYjA8JsCt/s1600/IMG_4225.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4SiT8IWeF_3qn-mzKF35HmPmrTEBlQdNeU92MJDoC2U0sosoYUeWayiVlvCXeEIqQgtYjSLVvZ2ngebR2cyI8SFCdzJiRwqSRDj1MjHe2LflaqOYemsYrLuJNk3wZAzgUba3EO1bEJOG8/s1600/IMG_4229.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4SiT8IWeF_3qn-mzKF35HmPmrTEBlQdNeU92MJDoC2U0sosoYUeWayiVlvCXeEIqQgtYjSLVvZ2ngebR2cyI8SFCdzJiRwqSRDj1MjHe2LflaqOYemsYrLuJNk3wZAzgUba3EO1bEJOG8/s1600/IMG_4229.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwAH7gHHa7coBxq0C_O9AqWKx1iTna73a_yUlxrtqQNY7z05Gtns3X2Qfc71cScG7fq45W2kQJ90w6S2cgQlqcwjcj-HFV4fk6ketCNSrlREmloEu4BR1m6BF_ejCNcwEf2dTqEogild-b/s1600/IMG_4239.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwAH7gHHa7coBxq0C_O9AqWKx1iTna73a_yUlxrtqQNY7z05Gtns3X2Qfc71cScG7fq45W2kQJ90w6S2cgQlqcwjcj-HFV4fk6ketCNSrlREmloEu4BR1m6BF_ejCNcwEf2dTqEogild-b/s640/IMG_4239.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq0Qirmb9X0sJIlEXZgjLQ0rtHr3w2XIjn6EaqB9xKUy0vnSGkLdM_ArBUwH8AuHuR8MmOE5l8K2wxIh6kKmYF3BtcxUfqkae8yXju8gHWAgKuCPqJKXbRNRJhgeJsBIY29WJLSEoeUG4r/s1600/IMG_4248.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq0Qirmb9X0sJIlEXZgjLQ0rtHr3w2XIjn6EaqB9xKUy0vnSGkLdM_ArBUwH8AuHuR8MmOE5l8K2wxIh6kKmYF3BtcxUfqkae8yXju8gHWAgKuCPqJKXbRNRJhgeJsBIY29WJLSEoeUG4r/s1600/IMG_4248.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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</div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-34732412713538014102011-09-28T18:29:00.005-06:002011-09-29T12:17:12.061-06:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuyEgYkqhJtSFlx9xc4Pt62ZTi5MDmKi-ctAdwb26lJGd_ON9ojv48-Ce7fjhwV8mksDE6xP4QZHgb1sA7FqmsFeLEoL_3LaSdUqZiNKLPT6RjAOnokDxSRp_-lq7GQGwF4WHVFpSdyVfM/s1600/IMG_4072.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuyEgYkqhJtSFlx9xc4Pt62ZTi5MDmKi-ctAdwb26lJGd_ON9ojv48-Ce7fjhwV8mksDE6xP4QZHgb1sA7FqmsFeLEoL_3LaSdUqZiNKLPT6RjAOnokDxSRp_-lq7GQGwF4WHVFpSdyVfM/s640/IMG_4072.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Today.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Today I feel:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">-thin, but pretty</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">-loved and cherished</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">-elegant and long of limb</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">-intelligent</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">-ebullient, but soft</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">-soulful</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">-thoughtful</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">-wound loosely around the soft white bark of turning aspens</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">-like a chorus of cat call, wolf howl and chickadee song</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">-here but there, there but not</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">-forgiving and forgiven</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">-replete with potential but hinging on promises, promises that will be kept, steady with trust</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">-so sure of the good work that is being done in me</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">-positively rich, glad despite my poorness, made merrily thankful by my steady income</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">-one day older than I was yesterday</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">-bone young, soul ancient</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">-strong of spirit and shining smile</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">-that nothing can ever truly be lost</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">How about you?</span></div></div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-89958326580047722202011-09-27T11:29:00.005-06:002011-09-30T15:47:27.358-06:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmPBZGZ2PJPFQX4kSrGWNxAkCT4RBC_e0dqSxqCT5ltn7-V2sQODqN_8NJfjBB8QzI-ZM1xIFRqnBe84Q3rpj3668bwQfeFTQ2fNDsItolbuPogxsjcIwUYKDnD67ja0Zvk2Mxll70_wJz/s1600/IMG_3861.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmPBZGZ2PJPFQX4kSrGWNxAkCT4RBC_e0dqSxqCT5ltn7-V2sQODqN_8NJfjBB8QzI-ZM1xIFRqnBe84Q3rpj3668bwQfeFTQ2fNDsItolbuPogxsjcIwUYKDnD67ja0Zvk2Mxll70_wJz/s640/IMG_3861.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZQgTau583TC5JOw1qHpq2toJoM29lbVyeYyObqLEVSv9OP5bx310YwK4hgg1q6735BWppqEpeiGplSBuqPNVQdc-KaD4Wmrkn9WuqpQvcap3W0KGBNvrHf2iA8FsoAATdZ4uVZPSCTiW6/s640/IMG_3860.jpg" width="640" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I'm so far from home.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Home is always so near at hand!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Remember when this was <a href="http://thenoisyplume.blogspot.com/2011/07/i-like-to-visit-wheat-up-and-over.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #6aa84f;">green</span></a>?</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8D6MUZzwbRXeLmA1T4POksjcwsL-k2CX9z-xpGuUbOGNodGL0OlxNS-M0TyxwVRLkr-HQDUI9ekKsRYcKTxG5zIf9a6YejTm8hhd-7IFnYBDIYgfpT-HCL0PYk7n9HAcO-kB0jJByMPGo/s1600/IMG_3904.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8D6MUZzwbRXeLmA1T4POksjcwsL-k2CX9z-xpGuUbOGNodGL0OlxNS-M0TyxwVRLkr-HQDUI9ekKsRYcKTxG5zIf9a6YejTm8hhd-7IFnYBDIYgfpT-HCL0PYk7n9HAcO-kB0jJByMPGo/s640/IMG_3904.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2EAB-0IykGIhIb_JoP0_3cDc24uNVSckFeVCCPMZm3yhO_Kr6nus_WIQ8TXExBcWAQKWYCNovj38qPbXTinUmP6s-3x9f_qg0dvt4-lfSTrWUvpUnocXjqqVt-h_EPk3kpVBSZuN8X8Ev/s1600/IMG_3908.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2EAB-0IykGIhIb_JoP0_3cDc24uNVSckFeVCCPMZm3yhO_Kr6nus_WIQ8TXExBcWAQKWYCNovj38qPbXTinUmP6s-3x9f_qg0dvt4-lfSTrWUvpUnocXjqqVt-h_EPk3kpVBSZuN8X8Ev/s1600/IMG_3908.jpg" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">While in that wheat field, I gleaned.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">One of those gleaned wheat heads was cast this morning and turned into this ring.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Ruth Ring.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">You can see it in <a href="http://thenoisyplume.etsy.com/">the shop</a> now!</span></div></div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-8880415528775171892011-09-26T12:56:00.001-06:002011-09-26T13:03:24.913-06:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLujNSt8mbVslxOE6o6jH6Qw6j07oVpy-FHlIMnRaC-7n552zbqZJQZ6_aniqF79EG4LcXWLcmtLZ_Sb-NgUQEQp6oudo0i5bQbO7gpUk5tTP6TaOUXnWWZAq5b4DMQcjznrt8LDai3QVu/s1600/IMG_3621.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLujNSt8mbVslxOE6o6jH6Qw6j07oVpy-FHlIMnRaC-7n552zbqZJQZ6_aniqF79EG4LcXWLcmtLZ_Sb-NgUQEQp6oudo0i5bQbO7gpUk5tTP6TaOUXnWWZAq5b4DMQcjznrt8LDai3QVu/s1600/IMG_3621.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBKNQFWJkrfMKekCypVLCTyzGDqv3qpBOCvWpqtDQFLFuJG-gqoso4kh8bUi9D6UxHyQUh1w9pCR0YSZu_6SWM578pww9rkNIYhgNf0XMPzx9l3_bu84nchmEK_qJT-lTWUWkei28zg6aK/s1600/IMG_3628.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBKNQFWJkrfMKekCypVLCTyzGDqv3qpBOCvWpqtDQFLFuJG-gqoso4kh8bUi9D6UxHyQUh1w9pCR0YSZu_6SWM578pww9rkNIYhgNf0XMPzx9l3_bu84nchmEK_qJT-lTWUWkei28zg6aK/s640/IMG_3628.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy0ig7pw__Sjh9EMlpmv2QllpIJyrVnta40LZahOZshgNlyDiVQMnhqOKVpNNh_P2kClVML3hBF9U7Kq1F9l4sg_NvFURwmL91B0zLgyFgomAP68r4a7XzPHTPyZUEFc_x72gDbUVQlWon/s1600/IMG_3636.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy0ig7pw__Sjh9EMlpmv2QllpIJyrVnta40LZahOZshgNlyDiVQMnhqOKVpNNh_P2kClVML3hBF9U7Kq1F9l4sg_NvFURwmL91B0zLgyFgomAP68r4a7XzPHTPyZUEFc_x72gDbUVQlWon/s640/IMG_3636.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4O0CB05PtDbafs7MeyaKEFOTxNf8eMZBd4jgI6a1iDt60wWVHRXF6T0sWwERUqeU8ko0DsmkuG6gHQhyphenhyphenMKDzeMmU3cq2BMaDBGBbYdIbkPgUjjLgATvlEDQTC1BCe9owfi5ObqEbr8TcS/s1600/IMG_3704.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4O0CB05PtDbafs7MeyaKEFOTxNf8eMZBd4jgI6a1iDt60wWVHRXF6T0sWwERUqeU8ko0DsmkuG6gHQhyphenhyphenMKDzeMmU3cq2BMaDBGBbYdIbkPgUjjLgATvlEDQTC1BCe9owfi5ObqEbr8TcS/s640/IMG_3704.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwGiAy6N_1w-GSe4Zd6sW7Tw464LRy7nrmzVMHe7cZKRksRFFYWfsxdSskTN8YTr-08Qkzs7q63X75DEHlTJZ-NwWkJePPYj0JZ7MxNzgpEBsEaFfxRpMES_yPWDzKJx2lJwMMRjShwP_w/s1600/IMG_3820.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwGiAy6N_1w-GSe4Zd6sW7Tw464LRy7nrmzVMHe7cZKRksRFFYWfsxdSskTN8YTr-08Qkzs7q63X75DEHlTJZ-NwWkJePPYj0JZ7MxNzgpEBsEaFfxRpMES_yPWDzKJx2lJwMMRjShwP_w/s640/IMG_3820.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOM4Q2CcHPkTU1eo-U7kkoTC641ljv8aQE2G7MdJFKotaakj9vycRObEOawbJ5yUvPVXiU4nZJkENs6bE8LBoJxfcWMLsWSziQbeQItMW6DNjLqnp5GuDwq77pjx40f5yYEYjMUrhd_g7v/s1600/IMG_3727.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOM4Q2CcHPkTU1eo-U7kkoTC641ljv8aQE2G7MdJFKotaakj9vycRObEOawbJ5yUvPVXiU4nZJkENs6bE8LBoJxfcWMLsWSziQbeQItMW6DNjLqnp5GuDwq77pjx40f5yYEYjMUrhd_g7v/s1600/IMG_3727.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglsaWVDjSwTmLUiz8qBC4WuRknD5Wal794ovqDnwGW_dGz0oWk9f_nDTpIYEjV47WojPhcER9Q3wCygOXsOJ0DCWx492ZQh4Xc8bdCf5LCPMf0RoNlZmV96wEFhBQrhOo8SuY3uZlGm4Tg/s1600/IMG_3814.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglsaWVDjSwTmLUiz8qBC4WuRknD5Wal794ovqDnwGW_dGz0oWk9f_nDTpIYEjV47WojPhcER9Q3wCygOXsOJ0DCWx492ZQh4Xc8bdCf5LCPMf0RoNlZmV96wEFhBQrhOo8SuY3uZlGm4Tg/s1600/IMG_3814.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRNFfZFcoSKw09JRodKj917jvxWqFui-EPnv8OHaOzeD0kf7fj3wv7uMXBV2hNrTtyfMOuVjpHYzBeIRbW-Hwir8HGknhU6SLzvlT-OlfWl7JZu8Nbsh2rBs0nejaLfugInvGbHDAj0cHF/s1600/IMG_3837.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRNFfZFcoSKw09JRodKj917jvxWqFui-EPnv8OHaOzeD0kf7fj3wv7uMXBV2hNrTtyfMOuVjpHYzBeIRbW-Hwir8HGknhU6SLzvlT-OlfWl7JZu8Nbsh2rBs0nejaLfugInvGbHDAj0cHF/s1600/IMG_3837.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlEa7KWFbF_vG8lKTbzZ2N0hQqSIEAtY4N55RxwFC_2ot6nB8ZdFHpttcz6-C3q834bHDlLggmG50OfJTrgeMW0lKt44fwcJA4W2LMGVWT5KWe_bp9Qyx6GokQzFyaPqYGuZ0fv5Ik6pf5/s1600/IMG_3833.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlEa7KWFbF_vG8lKTbzZ2N0hQqSIEAtY4N55RxwFC_2ot6nB8ZdFHpttcz6-C3q834bHDlLggmG50OfJTrgeMW0lKt44fwcJA4W2LMGVWT5KWe_bp9Qyx6GokQzFyaPqYGuZ0fv5Ik6pf5/s1600/IMG_3833.jpg" /></a></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Last night I sat in the banana rocking chair on the edge of a hill in a fragrant Douglas fir stand with a good book and a glass of wine while I watched the sun fall West -- it was pure golden heaven.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The air was crisp.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">At 8000 feet, the leaves are spinning their autumnal </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">tones and I feel perpetually romantic deep down in my soul.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">After a merry dinner on the edge of a small blaze </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">we slept with the side door open on Talulah and sometime in the middle of the night,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I woke up to the sound of some species of beastie sniffing and snuffing about the entrance of our rig. I wasn't afraid because the sniffing and snuffing sounded somewhat delicate and I thought to myself, "<i>It could be nice to have a small silver fox under the blankets with me!</i>"</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Later I woke again when a soft rain began to fall all around.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Then, before I knew it, morning had broken</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">and a new day dawned.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Just another perfect sleepover in Talulah.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">We wish you could have come for coffee --</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">hope your weekend was nifty!</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">x</span></div></div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.com25tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-42683647152153087942011-09-23T12:09:00.004-06:002011-09-23T13:14:37.289-06:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWwluyGwd_XhXLR72FsUvKZkLeHvXewpBcnukdP9o9AeNdVQVnlOluJcCfr7Krv8-iMj_fj9E8eH_aQEAWeml_zIjSP-wboBoTlLbR41zqv_RWkICoVW-WlLylw7AZsO_HZNxhaVwyZTcw/s1600/IMG_3496.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWwluyGwd_XhXLR72FsUvKZkLeHvXewpBcnukdP9o9AeNdVQVnlOluJcCfr7Krv8-iMj_fj9E8eH_aQEAWeml_zIjSP-wboBoTlLbR41zqv_RWkICoVW-WlLylw7AZsO_HZNxhaVwyZTcw/s1600/IMG_3496.jpg" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnXJnKJjEeBKA5o3Fgr9D4EBUGXe3RI91FGozclZp0maE-5st8DIU12mEKgou06K4Ii9RYhSN51rFzI4D-Fmt_QMbENFE-QP05D0HExKQVqasKA4uKjqWZDDnNZwpf_uJaz_Jktj6YJFns/s1600/IMG_3499.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnXJnKJjEeBKA5o3Fgr9D4EBUGXe3RI91FGozclZp0maE-5st8DIU12mEKgou06K4Ii9RYhSN51rFzI4D-Fmt_QMbENFE-QP05D0HExKQVqasKA4uKjqWZDDnNZwpf_uJaz_Jktj6YJFns/s640/IMG_3499.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTNXhXDTVbEStKxDFRhVxg30flFDKrxr6LylloSEi4e1iZduItvf8FxV2jtcw_xKHUb6ftuGMCvDzTo9GlIX6cU6v_eob5utLbgWmj_E5BoqHEfrRAqar7p9SOWhpCRDBsB_LHFEIpxm2x/s1600/IMG_3500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTNXhXDTVbEStKxDFRhVxg30flFDKrxr6LylloSEi4e1iZduItvf8FxV2jtcw_xKHUb6ftuGMCvDzTo9GlIX6cU6v_eob5utLbgWmj_E5BoqHEfrRAqar7p9SOWhpCRDBsB_LHFEIpxm2x/s640/IMG_3500.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Indian summer.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I'm breathing deeply.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">My soul is continuously taking my body outside,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">the indoors aren't expansive enough to hold me.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The final wave of wildflowers is blooming </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">on the slopes above the house. This is the last gasp of summer.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Robert is coming home tonight.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">His fire season is finished. The next six cold months are ours.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Little does he know, he's my eternal summer.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The flowers will quit here,</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">but something inside of me blooms steadily</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">when I'm in his presence -- something bursts into color in my heart, always, just for the knowing of him.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Have a good weekend, you.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">x</span></div></div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-55031818594707137372011-09-21T16:22:00.000-06:002011-09-21T16:22:49.875-06:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhge9pTf3UQF_lrFfqZ2lqSNJ2T9f8qZWkW0XHuXZwRFWnwXsExhvzvguywrXSdFhV-1-626ujwgu3uFwsMoiIoS9oyXYqxcNTa-t0UhONy8IUdVmxQeZJq1MUpZ7_wJKY4kK9zxbvs3Byd/s1600/IMG_3293.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhge9pTf3UQF_lrFfqZ2lqSNJ2T9f8qZWkW0XHuXZwRFWnwXsExhvzvguywrXSdFhV-1-626ujwgu3uFwsMoiIoS9oyXYqxcNTa-t0UhONy8IUdVmxQeZJq1MUpZ7_wJKY4kK9zxbvs3Byd/s640/IMG_3293.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIy5lsM24dbJSgLf2Vm3GryItYWnNXTel38ugOuPzakavKkuFZ0qxctlIE8zK8_ux0wDvR8WZwdhWSef9vCFsvjCycuCCQEazStIAV_TaYt06hBqEpgZXfHmSPObvWTeURu1ZZJW27ckz3/s1600/IMG_3296.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="470" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIy5lsM24dbJSgLf2Vm3GryItYWnNXTel38ugOuPzakavKkuFZ0qxctlIE8zK8_ux0wDvR8WZwdhWSef9vCFsvjCycuCCQEazStIAV_TaYt06hBqEpgZXfHmSPObvWTeURu1ZZJW27ckz3/s640/IMG_3296.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcUsPJUeQaCrsEqs_JKXZT4NDJQOX5pyJ7UwLpDO75SbDuu0Pzq7wpWEmFt0hjGm-VJ_kUJ2srJtNYlygbH7VYO_G9yku-lAX4HRbId9xMOMmm9xPIC-hRBiRQn15SKT4O3INxHsbWSapG/s1600/IMG_3325.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcUsPJUeQaCrsEqs_JKXZT4NDJQOX5pyJ7UwLpDO75SbDuu0Pzq7wpWEmFt0hjGm-VJ_kUJ2srJtNYlygbH7VYO_G9yku-lAX4HRbId9xMOMmm9xPIC-hRBiRQn15SKT4O3INxHsbWSapG/s640/IMG_3325.jpg" width="426" /></span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The Other One</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">[Honoring Remains Series:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i>sterling, pink coral, prehnite, Idaho mule deer antler</i>]</span></div></div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-771775514675253270.post-64257489018561842992011-09-20T17:10:00.013-06:002011-09-20T21:43:31.247-06:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU-Id-JthRP25rL9wkjZa09XyoHdT5L3xHyhlOSMwZU9RtxN4JPoCNu5Le_4L9XnGkkotdCfsJ1vhIFDuy9z63s94ViQym3PErK9DR1twMKH9cqHRIFHPliqNwyGcGwUt1i8g_GhoDU0xA/s1600/IMG_3259.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU-Id-JthRP25rL9wkjZa09XyoHdT5L3xHyhlOSMwZU9RtxN4JPoCNu5Le_4L9XnGkkotdCfsJ1vhIFDuy9z63s94ViQym3PErK9DR1twMKH9cqHRIFHPliqNwyGcGwUt1i8g_GhoDU0xA/s1600/IMG_3259.jpg" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyJLqvBxRSVJUdMpmjBkxZvlEqKAjwGxBtwwmvCw3mmBUlfCKjvCuDPE2en__LXmjRY1N6qb6KZ-0MJwRTQRLtCqf5MtOHSISdLK8prPZpAfXtz7M37chAdWdW1ZRYcvoCX4KAt7sUWkH2/s1600/IMG_3282.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyJLqvBxRSVJUdMpmjBkxZvlEqKAjwGxBtwwmvCw3mmBUlfCKjvCuDPE2en__LXmjRY1N6qb6KZ-0MJwRTQRLtCqf5MtOHSISdLK8prPZpAfXtz7M37chAdWdW1ZRYcvoCX4KAt7sUWkH2/s640/IMG_3282.jpg" width="522" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYioFL_miKkNmQ-sXnTo1uGhJTy5h4vhg2SQo7UHiHiTZtb53WJcHX2f9GkRZT0QYvEZS2a90XfnkZ0w9HyEW4WLXvRiykvu_DkyOKG_qKivwAkx_7rCtfNge8geNKdf_zvp0pWDO-Np2k/s1600/IMG_3290.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYioFL_miKkNmQ-sXnTo1uGhJTy5h4vhg2SQo7UHiHiTZtb53WJcHX2f9GkRZT0QYvEZS2a90XfnkZ0w9HyEW4WLXvRiykvu_DkyOKG_qKivwAkx_7rCtfNge8geNKdf_zvp0pWDO-Np2k/s640/IMG_3290.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">[<i>Honoring Remains Series: sterling, </i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i>Idaho mule deer antler prong and pink coral-- lightness</i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">of soul, breadth of spirit]</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">_________________________________</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I ran last night.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I put huge space between the choppy waters </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">of life and myself.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I ran a greater distance than I normally run.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Today I can feel it in my legs and my biceps, the pointers have been napping more than usual, I had pasta for lunch -- too hungry to face the day without loading up on carbohydrates.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Last night, I passed through a scrub maple stand (<i>already morphing red in the autumn sunshine</i>)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">and caught a glimpse of a mule deer doe and her fawn down the mountainside from me, tawny and long legged, sweeping through the sage and juniper.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Down the trail from there, I saw my cow moose and her calf again.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">She was ornery.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I ignored her bluff charge and urged my legs faster.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I killed the hills.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I moved like wind.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The mountain took me on as her own </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">sweet wild thing.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Living felt better than usual.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Better than good.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">All I know is I don't want to miss a single day on the mountain this season. Every day brings new color, new atmosphere. I want to be part of it...the living and the dying.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The growing and the shrinking.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The fade of green into fire.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The light and the dark...</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">but mostly the light.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Mostly the light.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">_________________________________</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Something must push us onward,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">push us into existence,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">push us into <b>brilliant</b> existence</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">even in the face of trial, persecution and </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">ostracization</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">(<i>no matter where you are or who you are, it's there in some form</i>).</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">I'm finding that thing so easily now,</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">it's like second nature.</span></div></div>The Noisy Plumehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00018497706369436300noreply@blogger.com16