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I was sweeping ash off the concrete around the house, and Ollie insisted on helping. He did a great job sweeping the… rocks?

I thought that would satisfy him, but he promptly walked over to the (rock) sidewalk and continued his work…

If only kids were this helpful when they’re older!

It’s sure fun to have Alex and his family visiting with us. Here are a couple of photos that bring a smile to my face.

The cherries are finally ripe!

This season got off to a slow start, with some cold, wet weather in May and June, but our trees are looking great. We went down and loaded buckets full of the deliciously sweet fruit. Here’s Alex picking a bunch:

This year we’re officially classified as organic. Last year was considered “transitional”: although we sprayed with organics, the previous year involved traditional pesticides. After hauling three buckets up to the house, Pepper and Kaitlyn went to work washing and sorting them.

Then they made a fantastic cobbler while I headed out to drop off bags of cherries at several friends’ homes. It’s become an annual tradition to share our bounty with people around us. We still have plenty in the fridge:

Unlike past years, this time we’ve arranged things so we have a picking crew coming, and then we’ll sell the crop to a guy from Missoula. If things go to plan, we’ll actually cover our costs for a change! We love the fruit, but given the amount of money we spend every year maintaining and supporting the orchard, they’re the most expensive cherries ever. Fingers crossed…

Our friend Susie invited us over to her house to pick some raspberries. When we arrived, she and her husband Gary took us on a tour of their garden, which is easily the largest and most thorough garden I’ve seen. It seems like they’re growing one of everything.

In addition to a bucket of raspberries (half of which Ollie ate), we came home with all sorts of herbs and vegetables. It was an impressive spread; the picture below doesn’t include everything.

In gratitude for their generosity in giving us vegetables and herbs, we’re going to let them pick cherries from our orchard. Seems fair…

Two years ago, Bird Island caught fire due to some negligent campers. The entire island is only a few acres in size, and pretty much the entire thing burned to a crisp. Even now, it’s still off-limits to boaters and people who would picnic there.

Last year, the so-called Boulder 2600 Fire burned thousands of acres a few miles south of our house. Chalk that one up to arson; they’ve since caught the guy who started it.

And this year, a fire has erupted across the lake, near the tiny town of Elmo. We can easily see the plume of smoke from our house.

Within a couple of days, it’s exploded into a 20,000-acre blaze with little containment. Firefighters have determined it was “human-caused”; whether that means arson or just carelessness remains to be seen.

It seems like the West gets its share of fires, but it’s disconcerting to have them so near our house every year…

Although I’m still not convinced these white flowers aren’t weeds, they sure look nice in the lawn. Here’s a patch of them beside our front porch.

“I’ll put this shelving together,” I thought. “It’ll just take 10 minutes.”

Two hours later, our entire garage has been reorganized. (Notice the new shelving on the far wall, though.)

I feel like this is how my days sort of slip away…

Just under two years ago we climbed to the top of Mount Aeneas, a well-known local hike. Today’s weather looked great: a little cool (50’s at the trailhead) and a cloudless sky. We donned our trail runners and headed up the path.

The trail basically goes up non-stop for three miles. It’s not terribly steep until the top, and with the effort it’s nice to see progress as you’re ticking off the steps. There are great views of the Flathead Valley:

That’s Echo Lake on the right, Mud Lake (unfortunate name) on the left, and of course the massive Flathead Lake in the distance.

As Pepper and Kyra were complaining about how tired their legs were, we crested the ridge that provides a view of the peak in the distance. It’s always more motivating when you can see your goal on a hike, so we continued upward with renewed vigor.

The view from the top is spectacular. Here’s a shot looking southwest at the lake (that’s not my pack– it just seemed to go well with the picture).

And here are the ladies looking east toward (barely visible) Hungry Horse Reservoir.

From the peak you can see much of the Jewel Basin area, Glacier National Park in the distance, the Swan Valley, and tons of lakes all around. It was cool but comfortable at the top, so we had a nice lunch and just enjoyed the view and the sun for a while.

This was our second summit here, and I feel like it’s going to become an annual tradition. It’s a great hike and a great experience.

Since moving here, we’ve heard about the old Spanish mission in St. Ignatius. It’s basically an impressive brick church, built in the 1890’s, with a few outbuildings. Anyone is welcome to wander the grounds, so today we did.

As with many churches of that era, the inside is covered in murals.

Here’s an artistic shot of a set of stained-glass windows:

It was interesting to tour it, and now we can check it off our List of Montana Places to See. (And frankly, we don’t feel a strong need to return…)

This evening we were driving past Swan Lake after the sun had set, and I couldn’t pass this up:

This was taken with my phone, so it’s not great. Trust me, the colors were even better than this!