on this day last year

Over the last few years I’ve kept a log of the highlights of each day.  The highlights are always represented by one or two word reminders either pregnant with meaning, such as “Scotland!” (implying leaving for Scotland!) or “Easter Bunny” (implying that the Easter Bunny came to Cooke!) or to one or two word reminders lacking all sense of meaning, true magic-in-the-mundane words, like “moose,” “Bible study prep,” “shoveled,” which remind me of everything and, at the same time, nothing.

Over the last few months I’ve stopped doing this (at least every day) for some reason; perhaps because they would all say, “sat and read.”  Yahoo. 

On my log for last year on President’s Weekend is written “Hawkfest” and “Lulu Fire.” If I wrote a log for today, it would say “FIRST SNOW!” (for 1.5 minutes!).  Both are very pregnant reminders that not only was my world then very different than anything I had ever known, but that it is very different from the world I now know, which is also very different from anything I have ever known.  You do not find these scenes in Scotland, nor do you find (some) Scottish scenes in Montana.  Both are different; both are good.  

Some of Cooke City’s finest here.

Snowhawks are one-ski snowmobiles.

I am making this picture huge hoping that you can get a sense for the fact that this bonfire was not your typical bonfire.  This one was Montana Style.  It is the same fire as the one pictured above, but had been burning and expanding for a good 4-5 hours.  By the time the earthen grasses started appearing at the bottom, the depth of the snow was about 8ft.  Just imagine the person in the upper-left corner of the picture placed in the pit, or it being filled with beer or coffee cans like those in the corner.  How many beer cans does it take to fill a Montana Winter Mountain Bonfire Pit?  The world may never know… 

I still want to be transported back. I haven’t transitioned completely, and I doubt that (on some level) I ever will.

In 3.5 weeks I’ll be back in Cooke.  I will miss Presidents Weekend and Hawkfest, Hog Roast and Sweet Corn Fest this winter, but the snow will be there, Oh-will-the-snow-be-there!, as will the mountains, the animals, the snowmobiles, the buildings, the church, and most importantly, the people.

3.5 Weeks…