Senior photos - Sherry's Magic

Once again Sherry has worked her camera & computer magic so Esther could have a senior photo & announcement to mail to relatives & give out to friends.
Since she had prepared the day before, Sherry took fading light & minimal time and created these great photos for Esther. We are so very grateful to Sherry for her continuing friendship in action!

Apple Cider Vinegar cure-all

My mailbox is located about 1/4 of a mile down our lane. Today I walked with my two goldens to that mailbox & realized once again the aged condition of Tanna. Her back legs just don't function well anymore. She tends to walk in a sideways fashion with her hind legs, although her front legs are walking normally. If she tries to speed up, she tends to hop with the hind legs. Twice on our little walk her back legs just gave out on her. She sat a few seconds and started her typical forward-sideward movement. For 13 & 1/2 years, she's actually doing "ok". I've been reading about the health benefits of drinking a mixture of 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp. raw honey or molasses and a cup of water once or twice a day. Perhaps I should add this mixture to Tanna's dry food instead of just plain warm water... It might be a good way to test some of the claims re. reversing arthritis, etc. Ginny, our other female golden who normally lives with Jan Hall, will be coming back on Saturday to stay for a few weeks. Jan will be attending the school for the blind again this summer. Ginny is 12&1/2 years old, so I may include her in the experiment, as well.

Shavuot - The Festival of Weeks

Shavuot starts at sunset this evening. This wheat harvest festival gets its name from the Hebrew word for "weeks", because it is celebrated 7 weeks or 50 days after Passover. It is one of the 3 pilgrimage festivals where the men of Israel were to travel to Jerusalem to formally worship at the temple. You may know this feast as Pentecost, the birthday of God's body of believers - the church - when the Holy Spirit came to indwell believers. (Acts 2:1...Pente" is the Greek for 50.) As well as rejoicing as the wheat crops were gathered in, Shavuot is traditionally celebrated as the day that God gave the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai to Moses for Israel. Many Jews gather the night before Shavuot for an all-night Torah study session called "tikkun leil Shavuot." If you manage to stay awake until the morning service, you would hear readings from the Ten Commandments and from the book of Ruth. This book describes the grain harvest in ancient days. Cheese cakes, honey cakes and other dairy foods are eaten to remember the Land of Israel as it was described as a "land flowing with milk and honey." Honey & milk are also symbols of Torah or "the Word".

Hallelujah Hikers

Our Wednesday hiking group has named ourselves the "Hallelujah Hikers" since we tend to break out in prayer, song or praise on our hikes. This week we hiked to Bear Creek Canyon Falls and then about 30 minutes beyond, as the hike was only 1 & 1/2 miles to the falls and we usually hike at least 4 miles round trip. We saw a couple more unknown plants in bloom like this bush with stems loaded with tiny pinkish or yellowish flowers with maroon centers. My friend, Laura, called the bush with the white blooms and interesting bark the "Nine Bark Plant". Montana Ash with their large white blooms were along the trail. They are more noticeable in the Fall when they have clumps of their orange or red berries until the CedarWaxWings come through and gobble them up. Because of a few mountain springs, there were ferns at places in this hike.

PTL!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow! We received Esther's official GED test scores today. She received more than a passing score in each test & has therefore earned her State of Montana High School Equivalency Diploma! We are so thankful she passed the GED tests on the first try. We are grateful for the hours of encouragement and help Sherry (& Andy) Chidwick invested in Esther so this result was more certain.

My favorite Spring hike

Last September I hiked Sweathouse Creek Canyon as far as the falls. This week some friends and I returned & found the canyon gloriously dressed in a multitude of flowering plants & trees, as well as cool with the spray from the roaring creek & falls on a warm day.

Sweathouse Creek Canyon

The Oregan Grape seemed to love the mist from the falls and boasted 4-5 blooms on each plant. The tiny Bluelips found the shade and most woody soil, as did the wild strawberry plants. The canyon's floor was littered with fallen older trees, but the youngsters were around as well. We again examined the flat needles of the fir, the multiple needles in a bundle on the soft Western Larch, and the different types of pines & their characteristics. The mixed pine & flower fragrances, the sound of the rushing creek or the thundering falls, & the glorious sites kept us wishing this hike would never end.

The Falls area

A few Trillium were still in bloom at the heights near the Falls amongst the joint grass. We also found tiny, pink Fairy Slipper (Calypso). The rush of water captures fallen logs & brush in many places along the roaring creek.

Sweathouse Creek Falls Hike

In my series of Wednesday morning hikes, Sweathouse Creek Falls was our destination this week. The Lupine was now blooming along with the Penstamen. At the lower elevations, chokecherry bushes were loaded with their elongated white flowers. We made mental notes to return in the Fall to pick the chokecherries. They cook into a delicious pancake & waffle syrup or jam.
At the higher elevations the Solomon's Seal blooms were along the trail, often mixed in with many of the other Spring wildflowers. Sweathouse Creek is smaller than Kootenai & Bass Creeks, but still reflected the Spring run-off.

Trees and mystery bloom

One of the hikers with me knows a lot about the native plants & trees in our area. Here is one flowering plant she did not know. It smells strongly like a rose, but its white bloom does not look like a rose to me. Laura also taught us about types of trees by looking at the needles. The firs had friendly flat needles, while the spruce had triangular shaped needles in cross-section. The Lodge Pole Pine has 2 needles in a bundle, the Ponderosa has 3 in a bundle & White Pine has 5 in a bundle. Does anyone know the name of the mystery flower?

More of the Kootenai Creek Hike

Snowcapped mountain peaks teased our gaze upward, while the blooming blue Climatus, Oregon Grape (which is yellow now, but turns purple later in the summer), the light purple to pink Shooting Stars, the orange & red Indian Paintbrush, the blue Larkspur, the white wild strawberries, yellow dill-looking plant blooms, Blue Lips & light pink Kinnikinnick painted the landscape all around us. God had created the most wonderful wild garden for our benefit!!

Kootenai Creek Canyon in the Spring

The temperature last Wednesday was 90 degrees plus, so Kootenai Creek was roaring down the canyon from the melting mountain-top snow run-off as I hiked with three friends. The white frothy water was a warning to not try crossing the creek. Blooming Spring wildflowers were everywhere. The single purple Trillium blooms and bunched yellow Balsamroot which we saw last week in Bass Creek Canyon were still around. Lining the trail this week were the smaller yellow Arnika flowers & white blooms of the service berry bushes. Arnika is added to massage creams in this area to soothe sore muscles.

Bass Creek Trillium, Woodpecker Tree & Spring Runoff

Wednesday was clear, warm & perfect for a spring hike with friends. We hiked the couple of miles up the trail to the small dam. The creek was white water almost the whole way with spring run-off water. We stopped frequently to snap photos of the wild flowers along the way. The trillium were everywhere...white flowered in the shade and purplish in the sun. We examined a wonderful old woodpecker tree. Isn't it great that age doesn't keep us from being useful?!

Antrum Point Revisited

After Esther had finished the last two exam portions of her GED on Friday, Sherry & Ruth shared a quick hike with me to the top of Antrum Point. Sherry took some photos that I hope she will share on her blog. There were blue shooting stars and yellow balsamroot blooming in bunches all over the conservancy land. We didn't find any Bitterroot blooming yet. They will come in June. We stopped at the "Lover's seat" before heading home.