Venice, California, October 19 - 22

 October 19 - We got up very early (5 a.m.) and were on the road shortly thereafter. (Almost 500 miles today) We had hoped to visit Cindy in Yorba Linda, but she is away visiting her "grands." So, we got to L.A. earlier than we had anticipated. We drove to Elaine Mongeon's house and we walked along the L.A. River bike path to Spoke Bicycle Cafe where Elaine and Mark had very good burgers and Barbara had a delicious salad. It is always great to meet up with the creative Elaine and hear about her latest projects.

Chris, Barbara, Mark, Elaine

   Then, Mark drove, through heavy traffic, to Flower Avenue in Venice, thanks to former student, Will Kinsella, where we settled into his lovely oasis of a house. (Will, an avid adventurer, has been traveling the Silk Road.)We walked to a nearby Whole Foods and ate a light dinner in the garden.
 October 20 -
 We woke up way too early today - 5 a.m. as we went to bed so early and our bodies and the time zones are not in synch yet. So, after a cup of coffee, we walked 2.25 miles down to the beach and back, stopping for a coffee at Groundworks at the end.
  We viewed Elaine's short on Huluween, Swiped to Death, and shared it in hopes that she wins their contest.
  We spent the afternoon reading in Will's front garden which was great. Elaine and Chris Kinsella came over in late afternoon and we had a nice long chat about wide-ranging subjects, including their various film projects, and then went out to dinner at an Indian restaurant which was delicious, but it was the company that made the day.

  October 21 - 
 Today we woke up early - again - sigh. We took another nice walk to the beach and back.
  Around 11:30 we drove into L.A. to the Central Library for an architecture tour, having both recently read The Library Book, a history of the 1986 burning of the library which we both enjoyed and which we read for Book Club. Elaine met us there which made it even more fun. And, it was a good tour. Then we walked to a good sushi restaurant and had 4 handrolls. Yum! En route back to the parking garage, we popped into The Last Bookstore, actually hoping for a copy of The Library Book, but they had sold out. They did crazy creative things with books.

   After returning to Venice, we went to Whole Foods and got some dinner.
   We are so relaxed and enjoying Will's house and neighborhood.
 October 22 

Barbara, Donick, Rachel, Mark - Warner Brothers at writing studio of A.P. Bio

    Another great day. We have not mentioned the weather yet....sunny, blue skies. Today was the hottest day - 94, I think.

    A.P. Bio, a comedy, we also got to see Donick Cary who, quite coincidentally, works on that show. (They did not know each other previously.) So, that was even more serendipity.

We had planned to meet Scott Anderson at Warner Brothers, but he was too busy. However, we had a wonderful meeting with Rachel Lind Palmer who we had thought we wouldn't be able to see. So, it was serendipity. When we went to her office where she works on
   Afterwards, we drove back to Venice and went to the organic up-scale grocery store, Erewhon, recommended by Elaine where we got some delicious salads and ate outside at their cafe. We relaxed the rest of the day in Will's peaceful front garden.
     What a wonderful stay in Venice. Will's house is homey and comfortable and we are so happy that we were able to stay here and also sad to be leaving.

Missoula to Parowon, Utah, Oct 17, 18

   Oct 17. Missoula to Pocatello.

   We left David and Maura, happy for their happiness, but sad to say goodbye to them. Maura had to go to work, but David had another day off.
    We drove about 5 1/2 hours to Pocatello, Idaho via I-90 and I-15. The day got warmer and sunnier and we stopped for a short hike off I-15 at Hell's Half Acre, a place where lava pushed up out of the ground long, long ago. It was nice to stretch our legs and to see juniper and sage and the crevasses of lava. We stayed at La Quinta and got some grocery store food for dinner.

Oct 18  Pocatello to Parowon

      We left Pocatello early and drove I-15, passing by the huge sprawl that is now Salt Lake City. The scenery changed as we drove, getting flatter and drier. We could see massive mountains in the distance. We only drive about 5 1/2 hours again. We had hoped to stay in St. George, but it was very booked, so we are about an hour north in a small town. (under 3,000 people.) But, it turned out to be a gem. We are at a little motel (Mountain View) run by a Chinese family. We ate lunch at Hamburger Patty's.

     Then, we set off to find the Parowan Gap, a gap about 10 miles out of town originally formed by an ancient river. First we stopped to see remains of dinosaurs. The dinosaur footprints were not overwhelming, but the scenery was. The dinosaurs were three-toed hadrosaurs and rather common in N. America. The footprints are now in the large chunks of sandstone boulders.
   We went a bit further through the Gap to a site of a huge gallery of ancient American petroglyphs. There are estimated to be 15,000 of them left over 1000s of years by Native Americans most part of what are now called the Fremont people, as they traversed the Gap to the Red Hills on yearly migrations. The most famous and complex glyph represents a lunar and solar calendar. It is too complicated to write about here but is very impressive. No wonder the site is sacred to Native Americans
   
 

Aftermath - Big Fork to Missoula, October 15, 16

  October 15 - A long day! Jecca, Mark and Barbara got up at 4 a.m. to drive Jecca to the airport in Kalispell for a 6 a.m. flight. It was still dark when we got home.
    David came over by 9 and he and Nick went to the venue and gathered up the rental equipment and then sorted out the rest of the stuff that needed to be picked up and taken back to Missoula - flowers, centerpiece items, decorations, cards, presents, lots of leftover wine and beer..... Dennis took some to his house. David and Maura packed their cars to the top and used our truck as well. But, they finished by noon which was quite amazing.

   Michael, Nancy, Marwan and Shelley left around 10:30, although they had to come back after about 10 minutes as Shelley had forgotten a pair of boots. They drove to Gardiner, MT outside of Yellowstone for 4 nights. Their windshield broke and they had to replace their Jeep in Missoula, but managed to get to their rental before dark.
   Ted and Bev left the house around 10:30 for their flight. They took Ben with them as he was flying out at the same time, although to different places. Ted and Bev went to Seattle and on to Phoenix and then rented a car to drive to Sedona for a few days. Ben went home to Boston.
  We followed Dennis home in his truck and said goodbye to Jordan. We drove around and took a few photos out toward Echo.

   Last to leave was Nick. We took him to the airport around 4:30. Unfortunately, he was very delayed and would have missed his connection in Seattle except that that flight was also delayed. He took the red-eye into Boston, landing around 6 a.m. and then drove to N.H.
   We took the evening to relax, clean, eat leftover and sit in the sauna and decompress.
   October 16 -
 We puttered around the rental in the morning, taking our last sauna and doing the last-minute cleaning and chat with Ann Lamm, our landlady, a very nice woman.
    We drove into Big Fork and bought some t-shirts and then drove to Missoula. David and Maura seemed quite relaxed and happy to be back home and unpacked and with their pets. We went out to a restaurant called Eza  for a lovely dinner and then a relaxing and early-to-bed evening.

Big Fork Wedding Day - October 14!

  The morning started with a beautiful full moon for David and Maura's wedding day. And, the weather improved all day long and the sun was out for David and Maura by the time of the wedding which was magical with the amazing backdrop of the mountains along the Flathead River.

  We thought we'd all have to go in to do set-up for the wedding at the Diamond B venue, but we didn't. Jecca, Nick and Shelley got up early and went to breakfast at Echo Lake Cafe. David came over around 9:30 and he and Nick went to get rental equipment. Mark took Jecca over to the venue where she stayed ALL day, taking her wedding clothes with her. She did a variety of tasks including working with Cody to shore up and decorate the arbor for the wedding ceremony. She put decorations on the walls, set up tables/chairs.... She was a great best man for David.
   Mark, Barbara and Nick went in around 2 for photos. Nick had to give his belt up to David who forgot his.
   The floral centerpieces looked beautiful. The corsages and boutinnieres were also dried flowers. Jordan was Maura's Best Attendant and Marcy James was the officiant who married them.
   Photos were able to be taken outside and the light was gorgeous.

   Maura's golden yellow skirt with ivory top highlighted by her unusual hanging basket bouquet of dried flowers and grasses were exquisite. She wore a matching tiara.
     The ceremony was simple. Dennis and Jordan walked Maura down the aisle. David and Barbara followed. Mark and Jecca followed them. Jecca and Erin recited two poems.
   After the ceremony there were more photos. Dinner (barbecue/macaroni and cheese, salad, corn bread) was served and toasts were given. Dennis, Mark, Jordan, Jecca, Maura's aunt Irene, and David's friend Brian gave toasts. There was dancing and a delicious array of beautiful cakes - carrot, chocolate, lemon poppy seed, cookie dough....we have probably forgotten one.
   We sat with Michael, Nancy, Jecca, Nick, Ted, Bev, Shelley and Marwan. But, there was a lot of mingling.
   As it was a do-it-yourself affair, many hands pitched in to clean up, but we were home by 10:30, so....not bad.

Big Fork Open House, Oct. 13

  Another busy and festive day!
  All morning was taken up with prepping for the big Open House. Jecca made a double batch of Congo bars. She set up the bar area outside - wine and beer, non alcoholic seltzers with various things to add in - Huckleberry syrup, Pom juice etc. Bev made labels for all the varieties of food. The outside deck furniture was arranged nicely and the firepit going in the tall table. Nick set up the food on the big table just outside the kitchen and the desserts on the counter. Everyone pitched in and ran extra errands, such as Shelley and Marwan getting extra garbage bins and more bread for sliders etc etc.

   The Open House started at 2 and, once they all started to arrive, it was quite a gathering. We think there were between 60 - 65 people, but lost count. There were about 10 children and they played downstairs and in the backyard mostly. Every part of the house was utilized including the big screen room and the two smaller front rooms upstairs. There were 11 of us east-coasters and the rest were Maura's family and David and Maura's friends. Nick's menu included, among other things: mini beef Wellingtons, salmon with cheese on crackers, shrimp cocktail, bleu cheese puffs, egg rolls, steak sliders (Marwan did barbecuing) Mark McNuggets, roasted eggplant/peppers dip, sausage and cheese charcuterie, fruit platter with a homemade dipping sauce and a veggie platter, also with a homemade sauce. There were lots of baked goods. With all that, we did have leftovers, but not many. We'd have had more desserts left over, but people took baggies of them home.
    Most of the people left by around 5:30 and then many of us went into cleaning mode. Maura and one of her friends, Josie, went into the lower level and worked for hours on the dried flower centerpieces. A few of their friends stayed later, including Ben.

   Mark and Barbara spent some time in the sauna to relax, feeling very pleased with the outcome and proud of everyone who helped and especially proud of Nick and Jecca for working all day.