The Devil's in the Details

We are about 6 weeks out from stepping on a plane in Missoula to begin our journey. Brian is totally on board about when and where, but I'm developing lists of clothing, U.S. tasks, and Ireland tasks. He starting developing some cognitive issues about six years ago, so planning, to-do lists and packing are for me. We are waiting for our granddaughter to return from summer vacation to snatch her suitcase and begin seeing if the clothing on the lists will fit or not. Then there's the 1-quart plastic bag of liquids allowed on carry-on! I asked my friend Kay to give me two 1-quart bags, thinking they were the size of gallon bags! Revise list!

The summer has been active. We've done some short trips to see friends, hang out in the mountains, and yesterday we floated the Blackfoot River with dear friends from Seeley Lake (where we met). Brian fly fished nearly the whole time. He got bites, but no fish.

Lawn projects call us every few days, mostly pruning or mowing. We have 3/4 acre, surrounded in trees and native bushes, so something is always overgrowing! We've let 1/2 of it go wild to cut down on the machinery tasks, but there's irrigation every few days, even though the spring has been wet. So far no fires (insert crossed fingers here) in the valley. The forecast for next week is high temps, and then there's August heat, but a summer without smoke would be fantastic.

I'm also on a learning curve at the moment making an Excel list of emails to alert folks that a new blog entry is available. My hope is I can send pictures and a few lines almost every day we're gone. I'll post on Facebook too, of course. But at the moment there are big blanks in my learning curve between my phone (pictures) and the laptop, and the blog and the email list. Happily our daughter is a willing geek, so I have a mentor!

Thus the days, strung like beads on a necklace, slip by and my active imagination draws pictures of our B 'n B in Dublin, our meeting with Andrew and Fiona, the harbor at Bantry Bay, and the interior of the extraordinary country of Ireland! Sheep, wind, clouds, ocean, rock walls, now they're appearing in my dreams!!