Gardiner on a Monday night

Carrie's house

Garage Sales and more

For the third year in a row, I have hosted a garage sale at my garage. Many things were the same as usual. I had very few things to put in. Carrie Guiles was an excellent co-host. We had many, many people bring items to the sale. Carrie contributed the use of her Wii, to the delight of neighborhood children. Breakfast casserole, mimosas and various other drinks were provided. Wonderful things.
But this year, we also stepped it up a notch. Most of the proceeds this year went to the Sweetgrass Humane Society. A new kitting wing is currently being added to the building. We also had many, many more people donate items. All told, I think there were 12-15 people putting items in this year. I don't have a picture but there were two clothes rods for hanging items and something like eight or nine tables full of clothes and other items. The first week was tons of fun. People showed up in droves. We had both customers and sellers. The Wii was a big draw, and of course, we had several people ask if it was for sale. I guess it was technically in the garage but it didn't have a price tag. The second week brought back many more customers but not as many sales people. I had also forgotten, when we planned the garage sale, that I had said that I would volunteer for the Yellowstone Days second annual fun run. I was set up at the first water station and got a good look as the runners got started. It was a good day for a run. Not particularly warm but not too too cold out. I handed out water and yelled encouragement and got some very strange looks for it but I had fun.
After the sale was over, Emily, Carrie, Mariah and I went to another sale up the valley. We then tried to look for another sale that was supposed to be futher up the way. Couldn't find it, but no one except Mariah had had lunch so we decided to go to Pine Creek. It was closed and we decided to just finish up by heading into Livingston. We had a perfectly delightful late lunch at the Rib and Chop House. The poor waitress. Carrie drove so she was fine but the rest of us had luncheon cocktails (the plural being one for each, not multiples for all of us). We were all giddy from sitting outside, then the drive and then watching the snow come down. Yes, 'twas snowing on the sixth of June. Anyway, we then went back to Carrie's. My pants were bothering me so I borrowed some shorts from Carrie. Running outside to the car, I put together this very charming ensemble. Note the sunburn on my face as well as the pot roast stain at the bottom of my shirt. I've always been a fashionista.

Bookmobile

It's that time of year. The seasonals have arrived and the Yellowstone Research Library Bookmobile is once again on the move. It's a very basic thing. Once a month, the librarians (or, more often, our seasonals) take a couple of boxes of books around the park in order to help provide research access to people around the park.I took a couple of pictures at our stop at Old Faithful. On the left is a picture of our general setup. We get to a stop, pop open the back and then sit for awhile and hope that people will come and use the services that we provide. The other pictures are purely for creating jealousy. The first is a picture of Old Faithful going off. This is the view we have from the bookmobile. The second shows the snow that was still in the park at the end of may. The third is a half picture of one of our new interns, Jessica driving past one of the three bears we saw during our trip. He was just hanging out next to the road playing in the puddle. Interesting fact we found out at our mandatory training session, there have been no injuries committed by a bear during a bear jam (when tens to hundreds of cars stop and disgorge their passengers to stop and stare at bears) since 1977. Too bad the picture is somewhat blurry.

Going back to Indiana

I flew back to Indiana the last weekend of May to help my mother host a bridal shower for my soon-to-be Cousin Emily. I've added some pictures from my train ride on the South Shore. I have to say, coming back to Indiana that way is incredibly relaxing. I mean, you do have to get off the plane, get to the El and then make your way to the South Shore. It also takes an extra hour or two but it gives you time to de-stress and just hang out a bit. After living in the West for so long, it's easy to forget how very green everything is when you have more humidity and precipitation. Even the tree branch that fell off the neighbor's house was just lush.
Saturday morning, my aunt Christine and my mother got up at 5 (!) to start getting food for the party ready. They made crepes (tied with chives), cake, brownies, and many other dishes that required extensive preparation. Of course, the most popular dish were the stuffed biscuity-things that took all of 15 minutes to make. Isn't that always the way?
Around 1, everyone started to show up. It was mostly Emily's family and mine, with a few friends of my Aunt Sue (the MOG) and my mother's. We sat and chatted for quite a time. It was very fun. Then, we pulled out the games. I was in charge of getting them set up.
First, was the wedding-themed word jumble. My family was very put out by this game while Emily's excelled. I was told (by relatives) that I should never do that again. They weren't very good at it and apparently didn't enjoy the experience. Then, was the toilet paper wedding dress. I hadn't wanted to play this game. I don't think it's very fun. But I got to opt out as the coordinator and the photographer. Everyone who played had a lot of fun though. And the dresses were quite...inventive.
It was getting warm in the afternoon so we moved out to the porch to open gifts. Emily received many wonderful things and was super gracious about it all. As we were siting out there, a student driver came by. This is not unusual. My parents live on a well-traveled road but it is not so busy that students cannot practice their parallel parking skills. There are almost always cars on the street to help with this opportunity. That day, the instructor chose the car in front of my parent's house. After the student was done, the instructor opened the door to check proximity to the curb. We burst into applause. He blushed and commented that that had never happened to him before. We all laughed and they moved on.
That evening, my parents, my aunts Chris and Sue, Sue's husband Walt, and the bride and groom went to Wheeler and had pizza and fun. In so many ways, it is so much easier to enjoy your family when you are all grown. I've included a picture of my mom (on the right) with her two sisters. They are all so much fun. I'm glad that I get to have the same kind of relationship with my brother now.
I also got to check in with my dear friend Leslee who is getting married at the end of this month. She modeled her dress, we went shopping and then I got to see the place where Leslee is getting married. It is a park in Hebron... or Merrillville... or Chesterton. I'm not sure. This gets into geography. And they all overlap with each other in that area. It goes back and forth a couple of times between them all and it's very confusing. Especially for the map-reading impaired such as myself.
Overall a wonderful trip.

Another long absence

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I know at this point this is more a diary than anything else, but I feel like I should be keeping it up. There's been a lot going on lately. I'll try to get some pictures and posts up about going back to IN for a whirlwind weekend of wedding stuff, training our new staff, garage sales and all of the other stuff that's been going on lately. Summers in Gardiner are always full-packed. I think it's 'cause we have to shove all of our socializing and activities into roughly two and a half months of the year. There haven't been any barbecues this year yet. It's partly because of burnout from last summer, part from not having the yard ready to go, and part from sheer laziness. Hopefully I'll get it all together next weekend and we'll be able to have a party on the 20th before the second day of the Gardiner rodeo. Oh my gosh, that's the weekend after next. And then, that next Thursday I'm back in Indiana for two weeks. And then it's July. JULY people! Where does time go? I swear I'm going to blink and it will be September again.