Summer in Montana – August 2022

August 2022

Clifford and I are camped at my sister Nancy’s place. So much moving around these last weeks leaves me feeling scattered without focus or purpose. Thinking about Intention and Attention: I need to put more focus on intention and then apply attention to that.

Early August is hot, so one intention for our avoid-the-heat strategy is sitting in the  air-conditioned eating area for lunch at Super 1 in Stevensville followed by an ice cream cone and then going to the nearby Bitterroot River .

I am trying to focus on “Pieces of Perfection” as I call those moments that bring joy to my life. Sitting outside with a cup of French press coffee and my “short stack” – planner, journal, and a book of inspirational reading, and fewer mosquitoes in the early morning are pieces of perfection to start these summer days. Sometimes I walk about the yard finding simple things to photograph, like light just after sunrise hitting the young cottonwoods or highlighting weeds, and often I go with Nancy as she walks her dogs.

Last fall Clifford purchased a used RV for me to have a home base with my daughter Ang. By mid-August, the site is ready and the RV is moved and set up in its new place. There are still things that need to be done to make it fully functional, but having it in place is a big step. I spend a couple days with Ang and start getting my RV furnished with items that were brought from Monticello and that have been in storage. Outdoor table and chairs are set up to provide a shady spot for us to sit on these hot summer days.

One Friday in mid-August, Nancy and I drive to Trout Creek for the Huckleberry Festival. We are surprised to find that the Huckleberry Festival doesn’t start until the next day, which is kind of a bummer to have driven so far for a huckleberry ice cream cone and other fun stuff. Other than that little timing error, it is a beautiful day. We stop along the Clarkfork River for photos and have a picnic at the campground where Nancy and Dick often camp.

We did some fun shopping at the Family Dollar store in Thompson Falls, and then we drove out to a restored CCC building  along the Thompson River where I was the stone mason laying the stone covering the cement foundation when I lived in Thompson Falls in 1997.

Nancy and I have a fun outing near the end of August with a trip to Wallace to visit my daughter Katie and two grandsons. After lunch, Nancy, Katie, and I hike the Pulaski Trail on the outskirts of Wallace, going as far as the bridge and waterfall at the ½ mile marker. This was always a favorite spot when Clifford and I lived in Wallace.

The last week of August, I feel the shift to autumn. Is it a change in the color of the light or the chill of the early morning, or something else – I don’t know, but I feel it.