And the livin' is easy / Fish are jumpin' /

Other than working a couple great jobs (Volunteer and Outreach Coordination for the Wilderness Institute's Citizen Science Summer Monitoring Program and Community Garden Coordinator for the ASUM/Garden City Harvest 70-plot garden), summer 2011 means cooking and hiking.

One of my life plans is to be the neighborhood ravioli maker. I'm practicing (aka slow). It's usually stuffed with mushrooms, herbs, and Parmesan cheese.



We have brought Mabel up to Mount Jumbo (the hill/mountain outside or porch) a couple times now. It gives us a great view of Missoula. It's an amazing feeling to be able to see where I work, where John works, the Clark Fork River, our home, Rattlesnake Creek, the farm I worked at last summer, the vineyard we like to frequent, the wilderness area we hike in, and the bike routes we take everyday...all in one sweep with the naked eye.

Spring Into Action

After another busy semester, taking a billion credits and teaching freshman comp, I had a few weeks to catch up with family and get a head start on my thesis before my summer jobs got into full swing.

First, though, my official photo as a beekeeper...not that I am one. But someone needed to check to make sure they made it through the winter!


We made Michael and Autumn a canoe paddle for their wedding, and I made a block print for the beer we had brewed for the special occasion. We really enjoyed the Amtrak ride from Montana to Minnesota and back!




I enjoyed my second trip out to Sterling College (most awesome college ever) to work with Sandra Steingraber at Orion's Wildbranch Writing Workshop. It was fun to see Vermont again, Director Dave, my dad's cousin Rita, and the fantastic writers and scientists who accompanied me on a productive week of thesis work.

Costa Mosta Mosta!

In late March / early April, we headed down to Costa Rica to explore some of John's old stomping grounds and assist with some of the work done in the field by the organization John works for in Missoula. It was a great combination of hard, hot hiking through some of the most undeveloped coastal rain forest in Central America (10 miles in one day, a few more the day before and after), relaxing at a little resort (reading manuscripts for a workshop I would be attending upon return, drinking pina coladas, swimming in bioluminescent waters, encountering a friendly jellyfish, etc), and helping collect data on nesting leatherback sea turtles (and establishing a garden at the research center). Oh...and a surprise birthday cake for John!

Ski Spectacular

A few friends/fellow grad students and I were invited up to Glacier National Park to write about Avalanche Basin for the Crown of the Continent Research Learning Center. We had a twelve mile round-trip route along Coming to the Sun Road to get to the trail that leads to Avalanche Basin....so we didn't make it to the final destination, as we only had one day, but we sure got a feel for the place in winter! And my national park radio communication skills got a much-needed brush up.

Winter Wonderland Celebration

Back in February, we headed out to Lochsa Lodge for a birthday weekend away. The snow was too deep to ski, so we snowshoed around (Mabel loved every minute of it) giant old cedar groves, had plenty of delicious hot cocoa, caught up on our reading (even if it was for school), and ended the weekend at the Jerry Johnson hot springs.