Our Anniversary

These pictures were all I was able to take before my camera died...I think it's condition is terminal.Vince and I spent our anniversary at our snow machine cabin. When we were at the Summer Solstice Music Festival, one of the singers from Canada made a comment that really hit home for me. She said, "I don't know if it is this way around here, but where I come from in Northern Canada we have back country cabins that we escape to in order to get away from the hustle and bustle of our daily small town living." I was laughing. "Because," She said, "Living in a town of a couple hundred people and no stop light, well, it can really get to be a grind!" By this point I was howling!

During the winter our cabin is deeply buried in snow. It is a snow machine cabin. Because we did not own a 4 wheeler, and I have no desire to hunt, I had never been to the cabin in the summer. Vince tells me about it, but the stories revolve around hunting, mosquitoes, book reading, snoring, and more hunting. For me, there was no real urgent need to visit the cabin...

When we arrived I could not believe my eyes. Our cabin is an oasis of flowers!

I think I will no longer call the cabin 'the snow machine cabin'. Instead, I am going to refer to it as 'the Wild Flower Cabin'.


It was unbelievable. The fireweed was a blanket of pink across each rolling hill. The pink was speckled with the deep purples of delphinium and monkshood. Then there is the violet of the wild geraniums and lupine. The Indian paintbrush was an eye catching splash of gold in all those purple hues. I was spellbound.

The rain held down the pollen so I was not an allergic mess. It also slowed down the mosquitoes so that I could take a few moments to enjoy the show before being overtaken by them. The new 4 wheeler is like a Cadillac and so I was cruising across the swampland like the princess that I am.

The cabin was silent. Silence is an experience that I do not often encounter. Vince read nearly an entire book as I was joyfully playing sudoku without interruption.

After dinner Vince took me on a long ride out to Moosehorn Lake to look at more flowers.

As I rode behind him on the back of that Cadillac of a wheeler, I told Vince, "I much prefer 4 wheeling to snow machine riding." (The following interaction clearly shows the difference between men and women.)

He said, "Really? Why?"

"Because I can hold onto you. It's not cold. We don't go fast. We can talk. It's not loud. I can see things. This is a lovely experience."

He said, "That's funny because I was thinking exactly the opposite. I much prefer snow machine riding. You can hold onto me snow machine riding. And really, if you let me buy new four stroke snow machines this winter it will be much quieter..."

"Don't get your hopes up." I told him.

It was a great night.