1. I had to learn to cook for myself again. (Oh, Mom - how I miss you and your delicious cooking.) It wasn't without mishaps. I tried to grill on the cabin's tiny tabletop grill. But the temperature was hanging around the fifties and I couldn't get it to light properly. (I still haven't figured out if the two are related.) So, I left the chicken on, thinking that even if the grill wasn't hot enough to cook it, the tenderloins would get the nice BBQ flavor.
When I came back, they looked like this.
Namely, kind of blackened on one side. Oooooops.
2. The weather has been insane. I know I promised not to talk about the weather anymore, but I figured out why I do it - I'm completely fascinated. It's not at all what I grew up with in Charlotte, NC. As a writer, it's very helpful as far as developing setting goes.
As for my blog readers, please bear with me. (Hehehehe - okay, that was a pun. You'll see why later.)
First of all, when I arrived a week and a half ago, the snow hadn't completely melted:
I decided to just deal with it. Since the temperatures, in the 50's and 60's, I figured it would melt soon enough.
In Montana's June, it storms often. If you're in the valley, you can see it in the distance...
...and coming in fast.
(I may or may not have taken those pictures while I was driving. Whichever isn't illegal.)
In the mountains, thunderstorms can drop enough hail that it almost looks like it snowed (see below).
Then, last Friday, it DID actually snow. That's right. On June 11, 2010, I saw this view from my writing desk:
By the way, all the snow has melted off the porch, but little patches still dot the landscape.
3. In the middle of mud season, the mountain has less people and more animals. For instance, a bear came up on my porch and sniffed the grill I used to cook the afore-mentioned blackened chicken...
(That's where I left the grill by the way, and yes, that's the bear's back.)
...and then left.
I was a little nervous at the time, but after all, it's not a very big bear. And according to wikipedia, black bears are 85% vegetarian. :-D
Anyway, I've stopped taking walks around the neighborhood, just as a precaution, but I haven't seen the bear since I took this picture last Wednesday.
4. I've been working. I need to get a revision to my editor. I've owed her a revision for several months, and we have a couple more rounds of revision to get through before it goes to copy-editing (!!!) in the beginning of September (!!!!).
I haven't been blogging or tweeting regularly. Sadly, I haven't even been reading or commenting on blogs regularly recently either. I'm so sorry, my dears, but that might not change until after my revisions are under control... (insert embarrassed face here)
I'll try to catch up once I get a better handle on work. <3!!
