Dancing, My Passion!

I never thought that when I was 67 my passion would be dancing!  Music has always been a big part of my life since I joined the band in the 5th grade.  I went to school because of music.  When I wasn't listening or singing to it I was playing it on the piano, clarinet, or saxophone.  I majored in instrumental music in college and taught it for 20 years.  Now that I am retired I have found another way to enjoy music, dancing!

Actually it is fitness or aerobic dancing.  It is my exercise,  my outlet, my passion.  I started dancing in grade school in music classes. Our music teacher, Mrs. DePew taught us folk dancing and square dancing.  I loved it then too.  Then I started aerobic classes in my 30's and taught it in my 40's.  I went back to teaching in my 50's after taking time off to be a stay-at-home mom.  Before I only taught instrumental music but the second time around I found myself teaching general music.  After taking Orff classes to help me teach general music I was teaching dance in my classroom.  The young kids love to move and feel the music, it was so much fun.   Anyway now that I am retired I needed a way to keep the weight down and my hips from hurting so much.  I tried classes at the local gym but there were no dance classes and I missed dancing.  I bought a Zumba CD and my passion began!

Zumba is mainly Latin dancing such as the samba or the meringue so I learned Latin steps.  It was new and different and I loved it.  I wanted something more pop so I started choreographing my own dances using a lot of Zumba moves. I also watch others' choreography on YouTube sometimes stealing their routines but most of the time I do my own.  I have a book full of routines from the last 5 years.. Now I  CAN'T  STOP!   I dance almost every day.  I dance for an hour and stretch out for fifteen minutes afterwards.  Two days a week I also lift weights and maybe do a few floors.  I hate floors by the way, especially crunches.

It's hard to explain what dancing and music does for me but it is all engulfing.  Every worry, every problem, every thing disappears except for my movement with the music.  It takes me away to another place.  I fantasize that I am dancing for thousands or just for one.  I visualize a stage and lights and everyone enjoying my passion as much as I do.     No one has ever seen me dance and no one probably will.  I would like to do a flash dance someday.  Who Knows?

I'm back!

It's been a long time since I posted.  I don't know why but I just stopped blogging.  I felt like I had to post at least once a week and it was too much pressure??

My garden is doing ok this year.  The peas are small, some little brown birds ate the leaves off my beets, and I have a critter eating my carrots.  The lettuce has been beautiful this year.  I provided lettuce for Aleta's wedding dinner.  That was a challenge.  Keeping it from going to seed in 100' temperatures was a feat. I covered it with wet sheets during the heat of the day and uncovered night and morning to let it dry out some.  It worked!! My lettuce was beautiful.  Of course I won't count the hours spent washing it to get it from garden to table.  The latest problem is frost in August.  I keep telling myself that this is not unusual but I hate it.  I want to at least make it to September but ma nature always has other ideas.  Nothing much was hurt except a few zuch leaves and beans that stuck their head out of the cover.  The water went on before the sun got on the garden and saved the annuals such as cosmos and zinnias.

A funny thing happened while I was gardening one morning.  A blue heron flew into the pond behind my garden.  It caught several fish spearing them and throwing them up into the air to catch them and swallow each. I watched as each fish traveled down its long neck.  Two deer came to the exact place the heron was fishing.  The first deer stared directly into the heron's eyes and challenged him to move which after a few minutes stare down the blue heron huffed out of the pond and onto the land where it walked to the other side and back into the pond to his spot.  The deer walked nonchalantly where the heon had been.  The next deer also challenged the heron to move but this time the heron said, " no way."  The deer then walked on the bank around the heron and headed on her way.  It was all hilarious and quite unbelievable.

I also had a western tanager stealing raspberries from my garden.  They are beautiful birds with a yellow body, black wings, and an orange head..  He pulled so hard on a  berry that when it came off he did a flip backwards.  I am afraid I laughed pretty hard.  I love the birds and hate when they head south.   I miss their songs and wonderful antics.

Here are a few pics.

Making glass totems with Pam

When I was visiting family in Ohio, I happened to see these class sculptures in one of the second-hand, artsy craftsy stores my sisters and I explored.  I loved them and decided I could make them myself and maybe make lots of money.  Ha ha to that of course.  I purchased some cool pieces in Ohio like a giant daiquiri glass and a beautiful gold plate that I thought was carnival glass but was not.  I was so excited to make these sculptures I ran down to the second hand store immediately upon arriving home and bought a few more pieces.  I was into this project about $10.00 and they were charging $30.00 for them.  Everyday for a while I would stack up the glass each time in a different way not finding what I was looking for.  The glass sat for three months and I was ready to take it all back to the second hand store when the project was saved by my friend Pam. 

She inquired, "What is all of this?" pointing to my table of glass.  I explained it to her and her reply was,  "Let's get started now."  So we did and here they are.  Cool, huh?

                                      Pam making her sculpture.  We just used hot glue.  Hope it works.

Pam's glass sculpture

Bev's sculpture

Here we are with our sculptures and Lucky watching on.

A Blue Heron and a Bear Butt

I have seen the blue heron almost everyday for the last couple of weeks.  He is fishing the creek pretty hard.  It amazes me how they can possibly fly through the trees with those huge wings.  As big as he is how does he fly from the creek so easily to the top of the biggest tree around?  They are one of my favorite birds. 

Lucky and I had a visitor last week, a beautiful cinnamon black bear.  I have seen him several times this summer so he is hanging in the area.  I got his butt as he was running away.  He is on the right of the tractor between the tree  and shed.  Lucky always stayed his distance and did not try to smell his butt.  Smart dog.  That is a big bear. 

                          My kitties were sunning themselves on the porch.  Aren't they beautiful?

The seedum is beautiful in the garden right now.  I have been busy putting in a new tulip bed and transplanting a few perennials.  Bob and I have been spading up a new garden plot for next spring.  I should be down sizing but.......Maybe I can come up with a cash crop.   

No grousing about grouse hunting!

I am not a hunter.  No way will I kill another creature unless it is a mosquito or a spider.  None the less I love to go grouse hunting with Bob in the fall. I love the way the leaves and dry grasses crunch under my feet.  The colors shimmer in bright reds, oranges, and yellows.  I love the smell of fall, crisp and earthy.  Fall is definitely my second favorite season, spring being my first because the song birds come back and I'm back in the garden after a long winter.

  
I go grouse hunting with Bob because I get to walk in the autumn woods with my best friend and my dog, Lucky.

The first area we hunted was on the game range off of Woodworth Road.  It was a wet area with ponds outlined with cattails.    In the back ground you can see the smoke from fires in Montana and Idaho. 

The cattails are losing their fluff. 

The grasses are in seed ready to spread their seeds along with the cattail. 

We also hunted up Little Shanley Creek.  As we walked the old roads and paths I always had to stay a little behind.  Bob didn't want me to get between him and his target.

The leaves of the red-osier dogwood become a brilliant red in the fall.

Lucky did not flush one grouse that day but two days later he and Bob came home with two ruffed grouse.  I made a delicious grouse pot pie with vegies all from the garden.  Yum!

Alien Carrots

I was digging up carrots for dinner when I ran across an interesting group of alien carrots.  They are quite a bunch!  Steppin' Out is the leader of the bunch.  I dug him up first.

Steppin' Out

The next of the bunch I met was Biker Babe.  She was quite insistent that I get her from several angles being a little uppity. 

Biker Babe

                                               Carrot of a Different Color was pretty laid back.

                                                                Meet Cooly Worm.

Cooly Worm didn't want to leave the dirt but made an appearance to show off his beautiful plumage. 

What a fun bunch of carrot aliens.  I wonder how many more of them are diggin' it in my carrot patch?

Here are a couple of pics to share from my fall garden.  I love the veronica.  I did not even know it existed until I did an embroidery of a country garden for my sister.

Fall colors on the peony.  This is the only color it has shown so far.  It has yet to bloom for me in the two years I have had it.   

  

A Trip to Oregon

                                                            Whaleshead Beach

I've been gone for a couple of weeks, busy having summer fun.  I went back to Oregon with my daughter, Adrianne staying with her for a few days.

Then on over to pick up Lindsay and Aleta in Talent and headed to the coast. 

We stayed at Whaleshead , a little north of Brookings.  If you ever go to Whaleshead make sure you go to the beach through the "tunnel?"  Now that was an experience!  I laughed so hard I could not walk in fear of peeing my pants.There were actually three tunnels.  The tunnels were culverts about 10' tall.  Two had  standing water all the way through them and one had a creek running through it.  We chose the middle "tunnel?"  When we got to the other end, 300 feet away, there was a pond of water.  As Adrianne stated, "We have chosen poorly."  We waded the pond and made it to the beach.

                 The cottages were tiered up the mountain side over looking the Whaleshead Bay. 

                                    The hot tub was enjoyed along with the beautiful scenery.

Lindsay, Adrianne, and Aleta playing in the sand.

Lindsay and Aleta in Lindsay and Eric's greenhouse containing watermelon, cantaloupe, tomatoes, and peppers. 

So this has been my escape for a week and I loved spending time with my daughters, being by the ocean, and experiencing  new adventures.  

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"That's the Berries"

"That's the berries."  I've heard this expression often but what does it mean?  I think it means "Well that's something."  Some say "something" means "great" and others "bad."  Right now I say it means plentiful.  My fridge is filled with berries of all kinds. 

I am just finishing up strawberry season.  It was another awesome year for strawberries which by the way are not true berries but an aggregate accessary which has something to do with pollination, two ovaries, I don't know.  Raspberries and blackberries fall in this category also.

Also in my fridge are elderberries.  Some may ask, "What are you going to do with them?  They taste absolutely awful, bitter, seedy...."  I say elderberry pie, elderberry jelly, yum.  I like the nuttiness from the seeds and the rich flavor when sugar is added.  Elderberries are high in phosphorus, potassium and  vitamin C.  As a kid I used to love to walk the railroad tracks, before they started spraying, picking elderberries and bringing them home for mom to make pies and jelly. We were looking for huckleberries when I spotted the elderberries along the Clearwater Lake road.  I yelled, "Stop!" making both my husband and daughter jump out of their seats.  "Elderberries," I yell, "and they are black and oh so ripe."  Bob stopped and we found several bushes picking the dark blue to black clusters of berries. 

Yes, we also found huckleberries.  They are a terribly fickle fruit.  We have many patches that we check  because you never know if they will be producing that particular year.  They are affected by late frosts, too much snow, not enough snow, too dry, too wet, too hot, who knows?  There are about 40 species of huckleberries found all over the United States.  Some bushes are tall and bushy while others are short and squatty.  They can be blue, black, red, purple, and yes, even white.  There are big berries, little berries, and all sizes inbetween. They are found on mountain sides, in meadows, old growth, new growth, burns. Where ever you find them you do not reveal their location to anyone.  Their taste is unique unlike any other fruit.  It is a strong flavor in comparison to the milder blueberry.  They are great in pancakes, muffins, pies, crisps, and jams or jellies. 

All my berries are going into the freezer to be pulled out on some cold snowy day to remind us that summer will come again with all its berries.  Now "that's the berries!"

Bob and Adrianne picking huckleberries.

The Lush Greenhouse

I tried something new in the greenhouse this year.  I now have raised beds following the Square Foot gardening method.   I filled the boxes with 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 vermiculite.

What a difference it has made! My greenhouse is looking fabulous with ripening tomatoes,

Greenbeans, cukes, peppers, lettuce, zuchs, and onions, crowded into a little eight by ten space.

 

 I added flowers this year also to attract the bees to help polinate my vegies.  My mom loved zinnias and usually had a few growing in the garden. They are killed here easily due to our frequent frosts so I have them in the greenhouse.

                                   

                                                My kittie cat, Cheech is checking out the place. 

Strawberries, WOW!

    

     Well I know most of you have already picked your strawberries and they are in jars of jam in your pantry or frozen in your freezer waiting to be placed on shortcakes in January or strawberry daiquiris soon, but not here in Seeley Lake, Montana.  I have  just started to pick and man do I have strawberries.  They are huge and so delicious.  I have picked three days and have over 2  gallons already.  Bob wants a strawberry rhubarb pie.   I want strawberry crepes and some yummy oatmeal strawberry cookies.  The problem is I am trying not to eat sugar so ...

     I think strawberries are my favorite fruit along with huckleberries.  I also love blackcap raspberries but I can't find them in Montana.  I  remember picking black raspberries in Ringses Woods or along the railroad as a kid and mom baking me a black raspberry pie.  I would love to have a piece of that pie right now.

      Alright back to the strawberries.  I have a slug problem.  Every year I put out slug saloons.  They love to sit around drinking beer and being a little sluggish in my slug saloons but luckily for me they drown themselves while in there alcohol stupor. After about a week of partying and drinking themselves dead I no longer have a slug problem.  YeeHaa!!  I love strawberries!!