Autumn in Montana - September 2021

After two great weeks camping at Bass Creek Recreation Area in the Bitterroot Valley of western Montana, Clifford and I move to my sister Nancy’s back yard, once a horse pasture, now a big lawn surrounded by trees. Not only is it a pleasant place to stay, we have electricity not dependent upon solar panels, a rarity for us.

Sitting in the morning sunshine with our hot coffee, Nancy and I begin looking through the photos albums that were once Mom’s. These albums go back many years, including photos from our childhood. It is fun and interesting to see these photos before passing the albums onto our sister Lillian.

The morning light is delightful as I walkabout for photos, and sometimes Nancy and I walk through the woods down to a side channel of the Bitterroot River.

For my daughter Ang’s birthday, we have a small family get-together at the Lumberjack for lunch and then we play music on the deck. It is really quite a fun afternoon for all of us.

Our days are filled with projects. Clifford is reviewing some of his research papers, while I work on edits for a couple of authors, do Qigong, appreciating the benefits of the Healthy Heart Routine, and write in my journals.

In mid-September there are a few smoky days, but it is not nearly as bad as what Montana was experiencing earlier in the summer.

When the weather cools, misty mornings provide photo opportunities.

One afternoon in the latter part of September, Nancy and I go out to visit Ang and grandson Oden. It is delightful to have dinner cooked over a campfire with the ambiance of the mountains and trees all around us. Nancy and I also admire oil paintings that Ang has completed in recent months.

Near the end of September, I spend several days with Ang, staying in Terry, the old RV that Clifford and I bought after we got caught in a blizzard in our pop-up a couple of years ago. While I am here, Ang and I enjoy the warmth of the wood stove as we work steadily on the edits for her epic fantasy series, The Novels of Shannon.

Soon it is time for me to head back down the mountain. October is just around the corner and other family get-togethers are in the works before Clifford and I head to Arizona for the winter.

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