And the way west continues

We've been gone from North Dakota since Monday. Today is Friday, so you'd think that I'd have said hello to the world of bloggers in the interim. No way! No, literally. No way. We've been in the mountains, parked alongside the Shoshone River in a little place called Eagle Creek Campground in the Shoshone National Forest. Here's how I described it on Tuesday when we arrived.

"Oh sweetheart, we have to stay. It's so pretty. Look at the wildflowers, ahh, and the river. Oh, I bet it's cold and refreshing. This place right here is open and is right on the riverbank. We can sit on those flat rocks with our feet in the water and enjoy the morning. Or come back from the mountains and cool off under the shade trees. Hey! Look that little guy! What is he? A chipmunk? Aww, how cute is that?" 

I wanted to stay two nights. Just two. I figured the lack of electricity and fresh water would probably make things difficult. I'm not a fan of difficult. Richard paid for three, just in case we couldn't find anything else. We didn't look for anything else, but we did find a few places. Those places were so congested and crowded that we returned to our Shoshone River camp and reveled in the quiet. 

There were few other campers, and like us, they were rambling through Yellowstone during the day, returning exhausted and ready for bed. Only the camp host stayed longer than we did. Everyone else seemed to come to their senses on day two. But we're tough Louisiana folks and can take the wilderness. Aren't we the ones who trekked through Arizona dragging three preteens tent-camping in a different place every night? Dang right!

So day three arrives and Richard says, "We have to decide what we want to do: stay here or move farther west so we don't have to drive so much." 
Me: "Oh, we're moving." 
Rich: "Okay, so you want to move? Any idea where?"
Me: "Where there's electricity and water and full services." 
Me: "FULL services."
Rich: "We could stay one more night."
Me: "Sure, if they put in FULL services while we sleep."
Me: "Let's be clear. That ain't happening. We're moving. If you pay for another night, you'll lose your money. We are moving!"

I woke up when the camper suddenly jerked onto the truck hitch. For those of you who don't know: Richard was packing and hooking up the camper to move. 

Yes, we moved. Tonight we will sleep on the Montana-Idaho line and go back into Yellowstone a few more times before going to the Grand Tetons and then somewhere west of here. That has not been decided yet.

So what does a girl do when there's no electricity? Hand-stitching, of course! This little bird quilt has patiently been waiting its turn for some needle attention. Remember the bird on the left is the one that Preeti sent me quite some time ago. 

I made a reverse one to "match," quilted them to hold the two sweethearts in place and put the whole thing aside for this trip. I've pulled it out and in the tiny bit of daylight that was left at the end of each day, I've been stitching. You can see that there hasn't been much daylight! But it's a start. 

Now except that in the picture the bird's wing looks too much like a penguin wing. Hmm. I don't want a penguin bird. Oh, so much stitching to remove! I'll leave you with that happy note.

What do you think? Isn't this a cute little lovebird? Forget the wing, something's going to happen with the wing. But the rest of it? I think this is the girl since it's not very bright and colorful. The other will have some gorgeous thread...but we'll see how that works after this wing gets a makeover. Have a great weekend!

Linking up with:

TGIFF
Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts

        Myra at Busy Hands Quilts
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

International Peace Gardens [Marcottes go West pt 3]

Yesterday my sister Jeanne took us to the International Peace Gardens on the border of ND and Canada. The gardens (there are several) are stunning. Added to that fact is that the Dakotas are in a deep drought and it's amazing how much care the volunteers put into their mission of peace.

1. The two drives include lakes, native trees and wild flowers, and a variety of native fauna. The main gardens are simply breathtaking. Although I recognized many of the plants, the variety and color is well beyond my knowledge. One example of this is the cone flower. 

I'm calling all of these cone flower but they could easily be daisies or perhaps they are related. The point is that the colors are fascinatingly varied.

For more photos of the scenes and flowers at the International Peace Gardens, visit my Facebook page. 

#marcottesgowest    #fleurdelisquilts   #marymarcottequilts

Marcottes go west (pt 2) wild flowers

Perhaps I should mention that I've decided to suspend regularly scheduled programming until we return to the land of normal internet. Unfortunately that's including email and comments. I could easily take care of those, but it's frustrating to write a note only to lose it a minute later because the connection is interrupted.
So for now thanks, love and gratitude; I'll write back soon. :)

In the meantime I will try to post some of the pictures and stories of our vacation. We are now visiting my youngest sister in North Dakota. Jeanne and Al have two children who are fun and seem to enjoy sarcasm, giving as much as they get. They get lots, by the way.

Funny girl kid holding a blunderbuss at the Lewis and Clark Fort Mandan replica.

Funny boy kid rowing a half canoe after refusing to put on the uniform pants to have a complete picture. Why? That's what he asked.

On to the wild flowers. They are much more cooperative. And don't talk back.

Here's an example of the sarcasm I have to deal with: every time I ask the name of a wild flower, the return answer is "weeds."
Is it supposed to be funny every time?

Linking up with:
AmandaJean at crazy mom quilts 
Go see her latest batch of cute pincushions!

Marcottes go west (pt 1)

This post will probably be heavy on the pictures and light on everything else. For some reason we can't seem to grasp the concept of having all the time in the world. We just keep pushing ourselves to see and do more every day. It's the old idea that the fun will end soon and life will go back to normal. 


So here are some of the highlights of the last few days. At least we've been enjoying ourselves.

This guy has an entire prairie and chooses to visit us. 
The look on Richard's face as he watched the bull bison amble 
within arm's reach shows how honored we were. 

Just as wild, just as close...not as scary!

And speaking of prairie...

When you leave the prairie behind, you may find yourself in a place called the Badlands. Heavens, this place is terrifying. I cannot describe the heights and depths of these hills of rock. 

I was standing right in the little dip in the bottom of the picture.
Later I had a panic attack: we drove too close to the edge.

Have to get somewhere quick?
You have to wait your turn for the one-lane tunnel.

I took the tunnel picture through the windshield. Richard does not stop every time I ask. And when he does, he may pass up the view before getting the truck off the road and stopped. I just start clicking when I see something. (And I wonder why my pictures look "so real.")

No matter all that, I'm happy that we're not living
in this little prairie sod house with dirt walls and floor.
Although I admit, I loved every minute of exploring it.

More to come how soon depends on the wifi / phone connection that's available. 

little rosary finishes

As many of you already know, Richard and I are traveling through Nebraska and the Dakotas. Today was a rest day. We can handle three to four days of the road. Then someone gets cranky. Cranky leads to words. Words lead to...

Well, let's just say we've been married long enough to know our limits and respect them.

 I haven't had much time for sewing except the bit of handwork I can do on smooth roads. Want to know how deplorable the infrastructure is? Pick up a needle at 60+ mph. Ouch!

 Today we slept late, had a little brunch, piddled.  Then I pulled out the Bernina and played. I've wanted to make a couple of rosary purses for friends at our church. Today I got started. 

What do you think? They are quilted small! For perspective I left a long quilting pin in each. Those zippers are about three inches long. And yes, the odd shaped one is big enough. In fact they hold my biggest rosary. 

For my non-Catholic readers, a rosary is simply prayer beads used to keep track of a set of prayers or a novina. Oftentimes we pray for deceased loved ones using a rosary.

I'll leave you with a picture or two of the river next to our campsite, the Middle Loup River.

Linking up with:

TGIFF
Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts

        Myra at Busy Hands Quilts

International Quilt Study Center and Museum

IQSCM
I can't post photos of the quilts in the special exhibits because of copyright laws. These I think are okay. Let's hope anyway.
I'm posting with my phone so no edits or explanations.

Going, going, gone!

Written on 7/10/2017

And we’re off! We left this morning for a few days of vacation time. The plan is to go to the Badlands of South Dakota then visit my sister.  If we still have a bit of gas (in the truck and in our own tanks), we’ll head toward Yellowstone, but that won’t be determined until we are almost done with North Dakota.  We may even throw Canada in for fun.

I absolutely want to add at least Nebraska, (Lincoln and Quilt Study Museum prepare yourselves) and the Dakotas to Across America, the button map. The quilt on which I sew a white button to each state as we visit. There are still many states that need buttons, but here out West the states are freakishly far apart! So if I add these three plus Montana (I need only a little piece of the big sky) and Wyoming that will be a huge, really huge, accomplishment.

But we haven’t even gotten to Nebraska. We left at 9:00 (our time) and drove until 3:00 (still our time) and I feel like someone beat me. We’re in Mississippi. Big whoo! I could have residency in this-here state, I’ve been here so often. (Side note: I added my own hyphen to this-here. I like it, so leave it alone.)

The problem is that the new truck is rough. Richard assured me that it would have a smoother ride with the camper holding on to our tail, thanks to the added weight. Well, I’m not so certain that’s working as planned. It’s possible that he hasn’t a clue what he’s talking about. Generally he does, I’ll admit that, but this farm equipment is rough as an old tractor breaking new ground. And yes, the camper is behind us. And yes, it’s got some weight on it. (I had a little more time to pack up some “stuff.”) And yes, I’m keeping myself busy to while away the hours.

I have a book; a quilt I’m hand quilting; my rosary; a morning nap and an afternoon nap; and Cotton needs grooming. Plus, there’s eating, entertaining the driver so he stays awake, and just general annoying everyone around me. Too bad for them they are only two—driver and puppy. Not much of a challenge. However, you’d think I could blink away six hours with all those activities. No, not quite. The achy butt and hot body are reasons for ticking away every second of those six hours. Here's to making good, smooth time tomorrow.  

Written on 7/11/2017

First thing this morning, after we got on the road, I discovered that I'd started us off in the wrong direction. Now understand that lots of things changed in the last 24 hours before our escape. Richard invited the grandies, but then we discovered they would need to be back in a few weeks and decided we could not take our planned vacation. So in a rush to beat the clock, I planned another, completely different, vacation so that Lane and Jolie would have the chance to see mountains--Appalachians rather than Rockies. Not the same, but doable. 

Then all that fell through. And we were back on the path to the Rockies. I guess my brain didn't keep up with the changes because we definitely were not in the right place this morning. We made good time today, but I got to pee only once the entire day...not my favorite way to travel. 

We're back on track--heading northwest anyway. Tomorrow we'll stop at Missouri Star Quilt Company in Hamilton, MO, because why not? It's only 20 minutes out of the way. For that I'm giving up the Laura Ingalls Wilder homes in DeSmet, SD. Maybe I'll find some of the Little House fabrics at MSQ. 

The following day we hope to be in Lincoln, NE, for a tour of the National Quilt Study Museum. My family accuses me of planning our trips around quilt places. I do not. If I did, I would have gone to Marshall Dry Goods in Batesville, AR. It was only an hour out of the way. I do admit that it's a rare occasion when a quilt place along the route slides by. 

We stopped at a little RV park in Cabool, MO. We prefer state and national parks but when it's time to shut down the engine, we take what's available.  It's a bit too crowded with RVs for pictures of tonight's romantic little getaway, but Richard noticed a robin and a pasture full of cows.