We stayed on her parents' ranch, complete with horses, the family dog and quilts on the beds.
Her stepdad, Grant is a true blue cowboy. Her mother is the epitome of a ranch wife. Cinna is considered the black sheep "crazy, flighty artist" of the family. And naturally, my friend.
Her little brother wouldn't go anywhere without his cowboy hat. Montana all the way.
Wow. Ok, here's the best Montana story ever. For Easter morning my friend, Don, got up at 4:00 a.m. to go bear huntin'. He then made it back in time to get all cleaned up to go to church. When I heard that, I laughed for a minute straight. I'm seriously getting such a cultural experience here.
Butte has its own cuisine, called a pasty. (pronouned with a short a, as in cat). It's meat'n'potaters together in the middle of a pastry-like bread.
Looks like this...
You eat it with gravy and ketchup.
Downtown Butte. 1:30 p.m. on a Sunday. I asked Cinna, "Where is everybody?" "At the bars." Butte feels a bit toxic, with the mining of the earth, the rampant alcoholism, and the fact that Butte is the meth capital of Montana. But there are still beautiful things about it, like hardworking dads and soccer moms, and just a lot of families doing the best they can.
Easter afternoon, it started to snow. I laughed, "Cinna, isn't it funny that it's snowing on Easter!?" "Not really."
Here's the drive back to Missoula. Daniel called from Utah. Mom called from Korea. I talked to them both on this drive. That was my Easter family time!
I had the best weekend.
My roommate, Rebecca has a pet dove that I'm taking care of this week. He's really a sweetheart.
8 comments:
Wow. It just warms my heart.
You know, my Dad grew up in Butte. Until he was 10 or something. He has such fond memories. I don't think I'll tell him about the mining and the meth (although I'm sure he's aware of the mining part).
That makes me understand more of my Dad's country-boy tendencies. I think of him as a Californian, which doesn't explain parts of him. Funny that a property english girl of noble birth would marry a Montana Cowboy. That's how you get people like me in the world, I guess.
Wow! What a great Easter weekend.
Sounds wonderful emily
Thanks for showing us!
:)
Ah.
The memories of driving through Montana in the middle of the night.
The moon looked red from all the summertime wildfires and I was sure Armageddon was-a-comin. I made my ammends with God just in case.
And then I hit a deer.
Hey Beautiful:
Today (23rd April) is Orthodox Easter. I tried to send you an e-card but it got sent back to me. You can pick it up here: http://www.care2.com/ecards/p/8111-5616-14521-9969 (Don't anybody look but Emily!)
All the best
~Roderick
P.S. Pasties aren't just a Montana thing. They got them from England! The West Country is especially famous for them, particularly Cornwall.
my grandpa mined in butte. he and his brother, sister, mom & stepdad built cabins out by delmoe lake, & they'd live there in the summers. then during the depression, they lived there year round. his brother got killed in a mining accident there. a year or so ago we had a family reunion there. got to see famliy graves, their old houses, the "finn cabins" etc etc... my grandpa loved pasties. his mother ran a boarding house, & she'd make them for all the miners.
wow. it's so neat how pictures, names, & words can evoke so many responses!
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