Hot Air Balloon

One morning last week, I stepped outside the back door & realized that there was a hot air balloon travelling from west to east above our neighbor's house. It was so quiet that I didn't realize it was there until I heard it "burn". I took a picture & a video. In the video, it is very quiet--you can hear the birds chirping and the dogs barking. Close to the end of the video, the balloon does a "burn" and the dogs next door realize it is there and start barking like crazy. It was quite an experience to see one so close to the house!

Georgia in March

Thanks to free airline tickets from United Airlines(for taking a "bump" last spring on our trip to New York), we were able to visit Cindy, Nathan & family in Georgia in early March. We had a wonderful time experiencing spring well in advance of spring in Montana. Temperatures were in the 80's for the first few days, then dropped to the mid-40's with 3 days of rain. One highlight was a visit to the UGA Botanical Gardens. Another was attending an Atlanta Thrashers hockey game. Some of us enjoyed a tour of four pre-Civil War homes that have been restored as museums. During the beautiful weather we took walks, worked in the yard, and relearned what it feels like to have warm weather!

A Montana Christmas

A few of the happy memories of time spent with family this Christmas season. The snow was special-ordered to please the grandchildren. . .it must have been, because after they left, we had only light dustings of snow for the next 6 weeks.