Gratitude Monday --Moose Drool Edition

Ya gotta love a brew that calls itself "Moose Drool."

I sure do.
Yes, this week's gratitude post is about beer. I'm grateful that I can tolerate a bit of alcohol now and again and I am grateful that I had the chance to drink a bottle of this fine beer when we were in Montana over the long weekend.

It has top notes* of dark coffee and dark chocolate and a lovely finish with a wee hint of bitter. It is refreshing, entertaining, and goes very well with steak.

I'd seen it around at various spots in the state, but I confess to being initially put off by the name.  But on our way home on Sunday we stopped at a steakhouse and I decided to give it a go after asking the waitress what local brews were available.  She suggested this and let me see the bottle first.
I'm glad I tried it. I was so taken with it that the next morning I found some in a convenience store when we stopped for gas and brought a half-dozen home with me.
They're waiting in the fridge.


Nota bene, the Moose Drool makers, Big Sky Brewing Co., in Missoula, Montana have not paid me to shill for them.

*I have no idea if this is the right term for discussing the taste of beer.

Until I Try

An osprey takes wing near Gardiner, Montana.

I've been away from the blog for a few days. Okay, nearly a week. But I have two really good excuses, one of which is I was away for the weekend.
It was the Heritage Day long weekend here so my husband and went to Yellowstone. It was a wonderful trip and I am so glad I did it. I hope to get back to spend more time there.
The other excuse was I am conducting an experiment on myself. I've committed to writing 1,000 words a day.
I started this last week and did it three days in a row. The fourth day was the first day of the mini-vacation and we left at 5:30 a.m. Yes, I could have written the quota, but I needed my sleep.
I'm pleased to report that the writing sessions for those three days went well. I sat down and pounded out the quota and then some in one sitting. Said sitting was less than an hour.
Even though I haven't reviewed what I wrote, I am confident that up to 100 words each day will prove to be keepers.
I've done this for other manuscripts though never formalized it. This time I've made the commitment and I've made an hypnosis suggestion to make it so.
I've been a Transpersonal Hypnotherapist for 14 years. I've experimented on myself many times and was pleased with the results including the time I used self-hypnosis to cut down on the amount of potato chips I eat.
Last week I made a word quota suggestion on tape plus threw in the phrase "thousand words a day" at random points as I was relaxing myself.
Has it worked?
Well, I'll tell you this, I'm much too tired today to do anything with my manuscript yet I feel compelled to fire up a file and write. It's similar to the craving a smoker gets when she needs a smoke ( I'm an ex-smoker. I know of what I speak.) or a desperate need for good, dark chocolate.
It's too early to call it a success, but it looks good so far.
And, like the osprey in the photo leaving its nest, I won't know until I try.

Enjoy The Journey

We're in such a hurry to get where we think we need to be we forget to stop and enjoy the journey.

On my way to Lewiston I stopped every 20-30 minutes to enjoy the sights and listen to the meadowlarks. I still arrived well before registration and I was relaxed and calm.

I tried to get a photo of a meadowlark, but they were too smart for me.

Bright Spot

Erythronium grandiflorum

The setting sun struck these glacier lilies and made the forest floor come alive. They were growing in a burn area in northern Montana.

Did Cows Once Rule?

Another Montana photo today.

The cows looked quite placid grazing in the hot midday sun.

Bucolic as it was, it reminded me of Gary Larson's The Far Side (R) cartoon with the saurus-esque cows ruling the Earth, but modernized.

And the flat -topped mountain on the right looks like it should have a smoke coming out of it.

I Hear Dinosaurs

Between Great Falls and Lewiston the land is open and rimmed by mountain ranges.
At certain times like when I stopped to admire this eastward scene, I could swear I heard a brontosaurus stomping.

Lewiston Labyrinth

I really enjoyed my walk through the Lewiston labyrinth on Saturday during the retreat's lunch break.
It's so relaxing to walk through the flowers and to read the inscriptions on the stones inlaid along the pathways.
The bench in the center is perfect for meditating.

Wrong Turn, Adequate Pic

I really enjoyed my visit to the States and didn’t want to leave. Little did I realize how little I wanted to leave until I tried to go home on Sunday.

First I went to the labyrinth in the town park for a while, then I stopped and got a sandwich which I ate in the park at the west end of town.
It has a magnificent view of the mountains and rolling countryside and a Horned Lark bopped around a few feet away looking for its lunch.
Then I headed up the highway to Great Falls.
I pulled into Eddie’s Corner about 17 miles up the road. I hadn’t had anywhere near enough road trip food and I wanted to try Coke Zero™.(NB this has all kinds of ingredients, none of which belong in any product that got its start as a glorious concoction of Coca leaf and Kola nut extracts.)

I also found some wonderful potato chips, Bermuda Sweet Onion. Sorry I can’t recall the brand, though. I was just settling back in the car with two fellow retreaters went by and turned at the intersection.
Now, logically, as they were from Calgary, going the way they went would seem like the right thing to do.
Ha.
I’m not sure of the direction but they made a left turn while I went straight. I cannot say why I did this. I recall seeing a sign for some Fort or other and I supposed I thought they were off for some sightseeing.

Where do I get these ideas?

The important point was Eddie’s Corner was behind me and on the proper side of the road. I had a feeling something wasn’t right, but I ignored it.

The scenery was wonderful though not familiar and neither were the road signs. There was enough cloud cover to keep me from being sure where the sun was although I had a feeling it was ahead of me instead of behind.

So I drove. Munching and guzzling and enjoying the Montana speed limit.
It was wonderful. I even saw the above Sandhill Crane in a field. We have them up here but we usually see them in the evenings, not the afternoon.

It took a turn for the eerie when I drove through a wind farm. I came through some windmills on the way down but this seemed to go on forever. Wind energy is wonderful but windmills cast an otherworldly feel at the best of times. Driving through the middle of a never-ending wind farm on a cloudy day with no other traffic for miles was just plain creepy.

I bought some chocolate bars in a charming older-style store in Judith Gap and went on my merry way. Then I got a town whose name I don’t think I ever noted and saw a road sign pointing to Billings.

I only panicked a little. I knew I’d messed up. It was simple matter of looking at my map. I couldn’t seem to find anything on the map to match were I was. I couldn’t even find Billings.

So I asked at the service station. I’ve got to say Montana has some of the nicest, most helpful people I’ve ever found.
The woman behind the counter pointed to where a semi was parked and said to take the road that ran behind it, and that I about 130 miles from Great Falls.

Lewiston, where I started from, is 109 miles from Great Falls.

A few miles up road found me behind a vehicle about the size of a water truck. I was glad for someone to follow. After few minutes I realized the truck had an Alberta licence plate. Okay. He’s probably heading home. I’ll follow him.
It was calming to have something familiar to look at, especially going through that wind farm.
When we got back to the right highway I considered ever-so-briefly stopping at Eddie’s Corner again, just so I could drive back out and go in the right direction. I kept on going.

The truck I’d followed got too far ahead and put some vehicles between us. Clearly his job was finished. I knew I’d be okay and sent a thank you out to the Universe for sending me a guide.

I enjoyed my little side trip. It added about an hour to my journey, but I got to see rolling hills, wide, sweeping farmland, found some wonderful towns, and after I got back on the right road I drove through a pounding hailstorm for a few minutes.
Most refreshing.

Curiosity Spurs Me On

Would you let a stranger...

...touch your spurs?

I had the coolest experience in Montana.


Last Sunday morning I was out in the hotel parking lot putting something in my car when a rumbling noise caught my attention. I turned to see a kindly looking, nicely dressed man in his sixties pulling a suitcase.
He was wearing cowboy boots, which one could reasonably expect in Montana. The boots had spurs. I was fascinated.


I’ve heard the arguments that spurs are cruel and inhumane. I’ve heard they don’t hurt the horse. But I’ve never been close enough to a set of spurs to draw my own conclusions.


“Excuse me sir,” I said bravely. “Can I ask you about your spurs?”


He stopped, smiled, and let me ask.
He said they just kind of tickled a horse.


Then, gathering more gumption than I realized I possessed, I asked this kindly stranger if I could touch his spurs.

Now that’s got to be weird. Some middle-aged woman stops you in parking lot and asks you that?

But this man was a gentleman through and through.

I knelt down and ran my fingers along the blunt edge of the spokes. Interesting. It felt like the top edge of a hunting knife as opposed to its sharp cutting edge.

When I stood back up to thank him and ask yet another question this retired university professor from Texas realized the best way to answer.
He turned around, put his hand on my shoulder and ran the spur down my calf. It was a biting tickle sensation.


I’m not sure how many people would be this accommodating, but it was broad daylight in a public place. I’m sure that helped. And it was a sincere question. I really wanted to know about spurs and there was nothing else to it.


I’m so grateful that I was reporter for almost 20 years. I learned that most people are helpful, kind, and accommodating. It taught me to approach people properly and because of that I can ask the dangdest things. More often than not it works out well for me.


Thanks to Debora Alder for taking this photo of me.

Through A Burn

I found this lovely peak during a trip through a burn area in northern Montana.

Away

I'll be offline for a few days.

This weekend is the ARE ® retreat in Montana with Dr. Barbara Lane.
I wrote about it in this post.
It features several regression sessions including one to the interlife. It’ll be amazing.

I’m driving down starting tomorrow--it’s at least 10 hours--and turning this into a five-day road trip.

That’ll be amazing, too.

Just me and my car and my thoughts. And road trip food.
Lots of road trip food.

In the meantime Miss Prozac has been busy at our team blog, Prozac Palace.

See you Tuesdayish.