Summer, I think, must be winters' reward. Lilacs draw me in with their heady scent as i walk by them on the path to my front door. Wildflowers paint the hills in all their brilliance, stealing attention from the moose, who've since made their way to higher elevations. The days are long and beautiful. Living on the ranch, it's not unusual to be up in the morning with the sun and off to bed as the light calmly fades from that great big western sky.

Qliche? Not to me. I'm not a cowgirl. I still love the beach and i think i'll always prefer flip-flops to boots. But somewhere in the short year that i've been here a change took place and i'm waking to find... i've adapted. This culture and lifestyle are no longer foreign to me. I haven't quite decided what to do about that. Does that mean i want to stay here? I don't know... But it does open up a world of opportunity. If i can establish a life i love in the "wilderness" of Wyoming, 40 miles north of the nearest (small) town, what's stopping me from moving to Argentina? or living in a big white tent in Africa? hm. just thinking... Somehow when i sit down to write all this stuff comes out that i didn't really plan to say. I should do this more often. Who knows all the great thoughts i could be missing every day! 

A lot has happened since my last post - when was that? last winter? well.. I went home to Florida for a month in April during the off-season here. Somehow the days flew by and what i thought would be a long time wasn't so long at all. Went camping and diving and kayaking with my family. to SC with friends to visit Iva at Fairplay - who, btw, is now ENGAGED!!! =) yayay IVA!! haha What else... Nida came to FL for almost a week from Atlanta, and of course i drank lots of coffee with old(-er) friends and went to all my favorite places  that i miss when i'm gone... the corner bookstore with vines growing over the window just right for long chats over Chai with beloved and kindred spirits..

When i came back i left my roommate, Nida, and our cozy winter cabin in Wilson to move to a ranch in Buffalo Valley. It was a tough choice to move out here, so many things unknown. But i've rarely felt a stronger sense that i am exactly where i should be and i know with great certainty that the Lord brought me here at just the right time. I'm amazed at the sense of purpose that has given me and the fantastic opportunities He's opened up.

I dove more seriously into photography and launched "Wild Iris Photography". I'm the ranch photographer, so i take photos of guests all week and sell them. I'm also working in the kitchen as pastry chef. With the 2 positions i stay extremely...  ah well, frankly, overwhelmed. But loving what i do is motivation enough so try my best to balance work and still make enough time to go out and explore the wilderness on horse-back, or go hiking. I'm learning fly-fishing from our guides at the ranch and even got to do some rather intimidating rock-climbing. We've been biking a lot too which i hadn't done in awhile. and on my days off i spend as much time as i can with Nida and other friends in town.

There's a big thunderstorm moving in now so i better hustle and finish in case i loose power...

Climbing in Lander with Amy Berry, Drake and Wes.

These boys are the real deal.. haha Big Red is from Nebraska and is great authority on western wear since he's working his way through college at a store that sells that stuff. Troy rides bulls at the rodeo in town every week... and charms the ladies with yellow wildflowers.

We are all required to look western (or try?)... Mark, our activities director/office guy pulls it off pretty well here except that i bet he's wearing tennis shoes. Bonnie, who is from Wyoming, always manages with great ease. I... well, i just try to look cute and have a good time. haha... Luke, is from the city and has a style all his own you can't help but love. His belt buckle has a spinner (ghetto-cowboy?) but he broke down and bought an authentic hat.  

Square dancing! Every wkend after a cookout by the river, it's the last big event before the guests go home...

ALWAYS a party in the kitchen!! Paige, Amy & Corban, dressed in b&w ready to serve.

Chef Jason prepares the second of 6 courses

Pete owns his "real wyoming" mustache. He takes care of the Wednesday morning breakfast ride. It's my favorite morning of the week - and it's tomorrow! Guests ride down the river aways to find Pete cooking eggs and pancakes over an open fire. Coffee always tastes better outside.

Sunrise on snowy peaks, and the Buffalo Fork River where we will eventually be doing most of our fly-fishing. The river runs through the ranch and has been high this spring because of an exceptional amount of snowfall this year.  

In the barn... Bonnie rides the wild ponies while Daniel loads hay, Amy and Paige are just here for the party! and oh yes... those are snowflakes in mid-june.

My birthday!! Another big thing that's happened... i turned 26! We celebrated all wkend with bonfires and picnics by the river and serenades and jumping on trampolines and Sunday brunch at Nora's. What a fun wkend...

Sushi! Fresh strawberries, bing cherries and angel food cake...

Staff camaraderie he he.. Corban, my favorite Irishman, Amaris and Jen, hard to beat those girls southern girls, and Luke...

Yeah we're cool... or maybe we were just entertaining ourselves at a cookout? Daniel always smiling on horse-back.

Wranglers, Brittney, Daniel and Casey.

The "Amys", Amaris & Paige.

Time for Dinner...

 Happy Independance Day / week!!!

So overwhelming is the sheer nothingness of what i do at work. I probably have never had such great dull jobs in my life. There are advantages. but if energy creates energy, it will have to be done very creativly here. So i ski and i run. I've found i become a very disturbing person if i don't.

It's ok. Most of you probably can't relate since you actually "work" when you go to work. I like to enjoy my days always but i'm not gonna lie and say i haven't been counting the wks till my winter is past. I count by wks simply because 3 is a much smaller number then 21. and then i'll spend 38 days in the sunshine with people i've missed.. 

Sometimes i think about saying goodbye to xanga. But i think maybe i like having a place to write anything anytime i have something to say. The mysteries of life often reveal themselves in moments of unfettered ambition.

Recently i've been thinking of the progression age brings. If in living daily we live our lives, that means details and rituals of yesterday today and tomorrow are all there is. Sometimes I think i've accomplished something or arrived and then i realize that subtle nuances slip in and tear down the carefully built character and personality i meant to maintain. i think i've long realized the impact of small choices to the long-term effects on a life but have only recently begun to notice the reality of them in my own life.

Never let it be said that we've taken life too seriously. 

Last March in Florida just for the sake of remembering.

My "too-cool-for-you" little Stephen is growing up and tells me he misses me - precious! haha 

Sunshine and blue clear skies today...

Makes the world a beautiful place.

Nora's is one of our favorite weekly rituals. Quaint and warm, it makes up in character what it lacks in quality. Service is always terrible, and even when the wind chill is 20 below outside, you can count on having a waitress wearing a tank top and shorts revealing multiple tatoos. A prerequisit, i presume, to joining the waitstaff. There's nothing we don't love about this place.

"Coffee?"

"Of course," we say, opening the crisp pages of the Jackson Hole Daily. Nida moves quickly to the center, getting an early start on the crossword. I scan the headlines ("Frontier Airlines to fly to Jackson". Maybe i can go home without paying my last dollar) but i'm distracted by the sight of a rugged-looking man sitting on a bar stool pulling out his laptop. "Does Nora's have WiFi?!" hmm and why wouldn't they? We order the same things every time but they never remember. Sometimes my eggs come out so runny i can't look at them. Sometimes they're just the way i like them. It's the kind of place where you meet your neighbors who spent the night before skiing the powder on the roof of the hardware store, and even the best in the southwest can't compete with Nora's Huevos Rancheros. 

I have lots of photos

 

 

 

 

 

My house and roommates:

 

Erin Holmes and Nida Rab!!! Great times helping Gabriel shovel snow...

 

Midnight lives in the barn but likes to think he's one of us - as do we...

 

 

 

Ray came out to JH from Georgia a week ago... and Nita Helmuth came to see me last wkend!! We went skiing and snowshoeing and snowmobiling, out to dinner and all the other great things to do on a western winter vacation.

 

 

This post is really too long but it's comforting to know that i did most of it while "working". I work too much this winter but i don't do much while i'm there. (that makes sense if you think about it) My favorite job is Valet at a Sporting Club at the Mountain. I get to be one of Harlow's Heroes, chit-chat, do the crossword, park a car, read the paper, watch movies, take naps and get paid to take 2 hr ski breaks. Its the most random job i've ever had... (Greg - i finally have a job that's more cushy then your armchair "health-food" job! hahahahaaaa) soo.. i'm off to live the sporting life.

Peace and love to you...

 

"If I could tell the world just one thing
It would be that we're all ok.

And not to worry because worry is wasteful
and useless in times like these...

"Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before."

"You  only live once, but if you  do it right,once is enough."

Mae West

Jackson Hole is another world covered in white. My big decision this winter is to SKI or to SNOWBOARD... it's a very big decision esp. since i've never done either and it apparently determines a great deal about one's social status. oh well. I'm "not into anything that's cool..."  hehee  

Aside from that, i have the minor decisions... like where to live and where to generate some cash to fund all this gear i have to buy to "not be cool". It's been stressful, i can't help but admit that. ahhhhrrrrrrrrrr... it's awful. Emotional chaos... I can't really justify complaining since i have a place to sleep and plenty of food, still, when i have the constant ring of text messages asking for my address - not that i mind people sending me mail!!!!!!!!!! but i'm HOMELESS. practically. The lady at the post office wouldn't even let me open a PO BOX without a rental agreement or something like it, which i don't have because i haven't found a house in our $2000 a month price range and THEN when i found one, the lady obviously didn't want to rent it and kept making excuses like, a "law" in Jackson where you can't have more then 3 females in a house who are unrelated. guess there goes our risque plan to support ourselves.  

One bright victory though, i got a job yesterday, starting tomorrow (again no complaints) and another starting next week! It's rare that i would be so thrilled to be put to work. Some photos from the road up next...

A few of the people along the way who had coffee with us.. or made us coffee and/or gave us a couch or beds to crash in - "us" is the first photo..

Bro Brian, a real handy guy to have along, he takes care of any technical details.. and of course the heavy lifting.

ATLANTA: Coffee with Nida... If she ever makes it back out here she'll be my roommate.. IF she comes back from Pakistan and IF nothing else comes up! omg, Nida, you've been so skeeeettch...!

This photo is completely irrelevant. except that Greg and i happened to be sitting across the table from Iva and Alex at the Thai restaurant and i thought we should be included here as well! Back in the days when my hair was longer and blond-er.

Ruth took me in at a moments notice when i decided one morning to loop into Lancaster! i have to say it was one of my better decisions.

haha.. little Esther you're so pretty

Janna had lunch with us too on this day, such a short, pleasant time...

Ohio... Paige and Lynley. My entire family drove up from FL for the annual Thanksgiving dinner with the Millers. One of my favorite get-togethers! Brent and Dawn generously provided me with their guest room... so nice of you!!!!!!!

Aunt Betty and my mom... Breakfast at Rebecca's 

My sis (in law) and Mother!!!! I really miss you. 

And here we have dear melly... =) We spent  a delightful day taking in the local flavors of "Amish Country" 

Just a veryyyyy  quick update since i realized that according to this blog i'm still in the west.... i was at home for a few weeks with my family, got to be there for my niece's first birthday and met lots of lovely people i hadn't seen in awhile... lots of lunches and coffee dates and good times... I'm in sweden now visiting friends... tonight i fly to Dublin Ireland for a few days, then back to Sweden for another week! Not much of an update but, there are planes to catch... and a new country to explore...!!! more to come.... Hope all is well in your world tonight!