yellowstone diary...and beyond

Over the past few years, friends have invited Than and me to a Halloween Party that is a weekend event.   I mentioned Wonderland in a previous blog.  Than has gone once or twice, but has opted out the last few years. This year, as serendipity  has it, Pam's SO had to work so we shared her camper. By my sleeping in the bed that is usually a table, we discovered a roof leak Saturday night during a storm.  I woke up to 2 or 3 square feet of wet mattress, corner of the wonderful down comforter Pam provided, and half of my pillow, but I digress.  The party itself is also a birthday celebration of one of the land owners, Kirk. So much fun. About 30-40 overnight campers including about 15 "kids" (16 to 25 or so) who camped in or near the huge teepee close by the fire pit and the campers surrounding it including 3 buses turned campers. Mike, one of the other guests, was marveling at the bubble we were in, how so many folks from so many different backgrounds can co...

Not only is writing a blog fun, yet challenging at times, it is contagious.  Brenda is going back to YNP for the winter season and is doing a blog about it.  the blog is   ynpfever2019.blogspot.com  She is still in Florida, but on her way by December 1. There are a lot of pictures and maps. She's good at this blogger thing.  I hope she has better luck than I did, but she does have Verizon  and that is the only tower even close.  T-mobile was complaining about how much roaming time I used. Oh well. Speaking of roaming, I am going camping with Pam F this weekend. There is a Halloween party Saturday and a bunch of us are going to Wonderland, the location of the party. on Friday. Than doesn't want to go and Pam's SO Bobby can't make it, so Pam and I are sharing her camper. Wondererland is a piece of land (75 acres) that Trish and Kirk own and have made a great area for camping.  Their last name is sort of close to Alice, therefore it is Alice's...

yesterday, Friday, I had a phone date with Brenda. We chatted for about 45 minutes, catching up and comparing notes.  Right now she is in northern Florida, about 5 hours north of home base, but there is a big storm coming in so she is staying put for now.  She is off until December 1st and expects to be taken into the park by snowcoach as no vehicles are permitted in most of the park. I can't wait to hear about it. it would be cool to visit, but no way would I consider staying and working there.Brenda really likes Betty Boop so I sent her these pictures. I have the doll sitting on a form that taxidermist would use for an otter model.  They sit on a small wooden table at the bottom of the steps, so every time I come down the steps, I can't help but see it.  It makes me smile.  Especially Betty's expression! Christine is still at Yellowstone until early November, 4 weeks off and returning on December.  Christine works in the EDR, employee dining ro...

One of the great things about living along the river is the beauty of the river, the surrounding mountains, and the area in general.  I feel like I live in paradise, mostly.  There are down sides. Yesterday, Wednesday, was a rather rainy, gloomy day. At one point, Than says that it looks like it's clearing up and then this rainbow just popped up.  It reflected in the river so nicely. There was a flock of Canada Geese in the river and seemed to be floating right through the rainbow reflection. Taken from the deck photo from the riverbank Geese floating through rainbow reflection

In yesterday's blog, I mentioned that I would give a fuller story about Elaine and Chris.  Well, I spent a few hours with Elaine and a few minutes with Chris today. Those two together just sparkle. I can't ever remember seeing Elaine more joyful. I went over earlier today, Sunday, to help Elaine move stuff at from her apartment to Chris's house. Unfortunately, I didn't get to spend much time with Chris as he was in a Slackers Bike Race and I got lost on the way over wasting time driving around when we could have socialized.  Next time for sure. They actually started dating sometime in July, eight weeks before they were married. They had seen each other around the coffee house and the bar in Milheim and other music events, but didn't really know each other.  Elaine, urged on by Flora, started a conversation and magic happened.  Chris had already planned the trip to Nashville and invited Elaine along.  Then they decided to elope and since there was a Friday 13th...

Wow, did Than and I ever get a great piece of art for our yard.  One might call it yard art....where have I heard that before?... The artist is Eric Schultz a family friend that Than has know since the late 80's and I met in '92 when he was about 12 or so,.  Eric's mother, Maggie, is a good friend. The family move away, but we always kept in touch.  A few years ago, Maggie and Mike, her hubby, moved to Sunbury so it's even easier to keep in touch.  Anyway, Eric made this for us and gave it to us today.  Presented it, actually.  He had it set up with a cloth covering it.  Wow. To remind you, Mike and Maggie surprised me with a garden redo of my back garden. I'm going to help Elaine and Chris do some moving kind of stuff tomorrow, Sunday, so the next blog will have details about the newlyweds. Stay tuned. Although this is really a sunrise house, we do get reflected sunsets that are rather neat, too. Today with the clouds reflecting and the bridge in ...

All of my crew of friends have left or are leaving YNP.  After the restaurants and lodges close, a few hardy souls stay on to zip it up and winterize.  There is about a 6-8 week break, depending on your job, and then back to open some areas for winter at YNS in early December. the Geyser Grill is in Snow Lodge which you might guess is the hotel that is open for the winter season along with cabins scattered around.  The winter season ends late in March.  In April, The whole cycle starts again.  I was in the very early wave of employees.  In retrospect, I would have preferred starting in May, but I had to leave in August anyway for our party.  It could go on without me here, but it would have been very unfair to Than, especially. Besides that, I really enjoy our party especially now that it lasts a few days with friends helping with set-up and then clean-up. As far as where folks are heading--Rose is still visiting in Iowa, visiting with her daughter a...

It finally feels like I can relax and stop juggling stuff that needed to get done.  It was harder than I thought it would be to leave Yellowstone, and getting back home where I needed to jump in with two feet to the midst of life here was sometimes quite annoying. Oh poor me. I had to be part of planning two great parties. And if I have to say so myself, both our 18th Annual Sunday of Labor Day party and the Celebration of Life of Steve Mitchell were great parties.  I was just a small spoke in the wheel that moved the Celebration of Life.  Now I have no excuse to be in a cloud because of stuff on my mind.  I'll bet I find one. Sunday morning I was listening to the TED Hour on NPR.  They were talking about Maslov's Hierarchy of needs.  I was pleased to hear that one of the things I talk about and consider important is one of the things Maslov actually named. Peak Experience. I refer to it as Snowballs. We have to gather the little things in life that make ...

Yesterday, Friday, we had a Celebration of Life of Steve Mitchell.  What a great event! It was held at the Campus Theater, a beautiful restored theater in downtown Lewisburg. The event had musicians on stage from 4:30 until about 10:30, a nice spread of finger foods, commemorative glasses for sale ($10) with complimentary wine or beer. The theater was decorated with balloons and 2" by 8" blue strips of papers printed with various compliments, e.g. wow, you are looking great, or What a great hairstyle  that sort of thing.  Get it?  Complimentary Beer and Wine.  The music was laced with various speakers talking about Steve and his importance in their lives. Andy S had a great photo show projected to a screen above the bands. It showed photos of Steve over the years.  Every now and then it was a video, too.  Sometimes it almost looked like Steve was playing with the musicians on stage. It was a great way to say good-bye to a very special person. May ...

Than and I met up with a bunch of our camping friends for a weekend of music, food and friendship--Sharefest.   We were at Shade Gap, PA, Fire Company grounds.  Camping is in an open field, but the music and food area is under a lovely grove of trees.  The is a large covered stage and audience pavilion with a nice dance floor and maybe 10 other out buildings that are used as a kitchen, food areas, but most are not used.  There were maybe 20 vendors, many selling their hand-made items.  The food is provided by the festival itself, along with many activities for kids and adults alike.  All in all, it is my favorite music festival.  We had a very good time. The last band on Saturday night had a marvelous light show. The next gathering with many of these folks is a Halloween Party where many people camp for the weekend, too.  I'm camping, but Than may only come for the actual party.  It is at our friends land--75 acres somewhere between Dunc...