Very nice second to last day in Whitefish.. Diane and I did another 5 mile trail run.. which made for a complete week. ffels so good to have spent that much time running in the woods..

 

THe rest of the day we took it pretty slow… Max took us out on the boat for a look around.. Gaber got soem Wake boarding time in 

 

home sweet home .. such a huge place !.. I guess thats what you need for 18 people 

the ‘must do’ for the day was to capture pictures of all of us together.. always a fun time trying to aling  folks , smiles, families, etc.. we managed to pull it off.   Note the Samstones in the pictures 

 

 

afterwards came the ‘dyeing of the shirts’.. it’s been soemthing we’d managed to put off ’till the last day.. but it went well

 

 

then we had a mixed-up feast of all the leftover food… 

 

then down to the fire pit for ‘smores and singing.. somehow the theme for the night was Nirvana songs… interesting campfire singalong..

 

max used the fire to finish his ‘Daruma’.. a Japanese doll.. you fill in one eye when you make a commitment to yourself.. and fill in the other when you complete that commitment .   Then you can destroy it. Max successfully moved out of NYC after 12 good years there.. it involved lots of moving and sorting of stuff. Congrats my son  !

 

now sitting at the Kalispel airport ready to fly back to Vt. it’s been a good week.. Nice seeing my family..

Happy to be heading home. !

 

Nite all, nite Sam

-me

Good outdoors day.. first a run with John and Mary.. doing about 5 miles a day which feels good . 

 

then prep around the house for leaving around 12. .. We had a reservation for some white water rafting on the middle fork of the flathead river. 

 

it was about an hour away. We signed the legal forms and all jumped on a bus. 

 

getting in the boats

 

our fearless guide Jen ..   formerly of Durango Co. 

 

the other boat.. all scalawags !

 

wait !.. they passed us !  How’d we let that happen ? 

 

we found a  nice flat place to swin

 

I went in next 

 

stopping to eat dinner.. jen and katherine.. the other guide.. cooked for us 

 

while we tried to warm up in the sun after our swim 

 

dinner time !

 

 

John looking presidential 

yum

 

interesting interlude.. we all got hit by a diffuse mist of bear spray that must have come from far away.. our eyes burned, we all started coughing  and we tasted pepper… .. it  passed in a shot bit.. more interesting than painful  

 

landing 7 rapids later 

 

 

back on the bus 

 

now home and ready for bed,..

nite all. nite sam

-me

 

To sleepy last night to blog.. so here’s an account of a very full day yesterday. The day would have been my dad’s 88th birthday. He died in 2014.. and we all miss him so much. He’d be the guy who’d most enjoy all being together for this sort of reunion the most..  

 

here he is as a kid

 

as a football player

 

in the navy

 

as a madman in NYC

 

 

proposing to my mom in vermont (I think) 

 

moved down to houston

got into running before it was cool .. ran many marathons

 

hang ing out with mom 

 

masters of health at age 67 

 

 

 

in the boat

at a family renumon of his side of the family in 1995.. note the hair styles and body types 🙂 

at one of his last family reunions

 

I have have his alst pair of running shoes and took them running yesterday. 

 

 

Took those shoes on  a 5.2 mile run in the woods with diane.. then another 3 mile walk with my mom . 

 

she made a nice samstone placement 

 

the rest of the day everyone went and did their own thing

I spent part of the day abusing my feet.. I managed to get my feet really dirty cleaning the grill

 

 

and I stepped on a fishhok.. luckily my very calloused foot sashed the hook.. and it didn’t go in that far. 

Ellery climbed up the  chimney and put a samstone up there

 

gabe, john and theo when  mountain biking 

we also spent some great time out on the boat.. I even got out on the tube !

first gabe and theo

 

then gabe, theo and me 

 

check out this air !

 

then raya, ellery and mary 

 

max serenaded us with his banjo from one of the kayaks.. 

 

Diane, max, gabe and I did  an experiment trying to make whitefish salad.  I love whitefish  salad.. a jewish delicatessen standard.. but there’s none to be found in this town called whitefish.. We bought some cod and tried  to smoke it. 

 

THe results were mixed.. the fish smelled pretty fishy to start out with.. . We brined the fish for 8 hours, then smoked it for 3.. the results aere reallllly salty and fishy.  then we chopped it up and mixed in celery , onions, may and sour cream.. it’s actually pretty good.. a little too salty.. a little too fishy.. but hey.. it’s homemade !

 

 

last part of the day..  we had a party to celebrate what would have been my dad’s 88th.. my mom’s upcoming 85th.. and my brothers.. 58th.. 

my mom made my dad’s signature ‘bachelors spaghetti’ 

which we tested as always by throwing at the fridge.. never sure if its done  when it sticks.. or when it doesn’t.. but its a ritual. 

 

we did a caviar toast to my dad.. he loved salty stuff like that 

 

then a cake for my mom.. she’ll turn 85 in spet.. .. she and my brother have the same spet 2 birthday 

 

 

our contribution was a book that diane foudn  when  we were cleaning our attic. in there was a letter  from My mom’s dad to my moms sistyer.. It was written 2 weeks before he dide. It was so cool to ‘hear’ his voice in the writing 

 

after that started a big game of pictionary.. but I was feeling pretty sleepy.. we slipped out and went to sleep

now’s another day.. lets see what it brings..

 

note all, nite sam.. missing you. 

-jc

Slow day in  Montana.. not much happening.. people got along.. it was nice. The big event for me was that max and becky showed up… its nice having max, becky , gabe and raya here.. sam’s here in spirit. 

 

while we were waiting for max and beckys plane we drove towards glacier park.. most of it is closed duw to fire.. but we found.. we thought’.. a nice flat trail for  the kids an grandma.. not much of a trail.. mostly a grassy track next to a new asfalt road.. but it did have this vertebrae. 

 

we came out of the woods at one point to realize we were on a  building site.. so much for wilderness. 

 

and we discoverd this unused col de sac 

 

half way through that hike  diane , gabe, raya and I had to head back to town to meet max and beckys plane.. first a ‘quick’ stop at costco.. 

 

then a crispie creme.. which I’d never been in.. yum

 

then we picked up max and becky and headed home..   first thing to try was the boat 

 

Billy made shskabobs.. with all the trimmings 

then desert and clean up 

 

now off to bed.. Diane and I are sleep ing outdoors.. which is  peaceful… 

and peace is good

 

nite all, nite sam

-me