Some creative and some academic work so far this week

Sunday, June 21, 2026

We walk through the camp to wake up. Brrrr. It's cold in the mornings. In the afternoons, we sit near the Lodge for wi-fi.

We love meeting with God's Family at Columbia Falls Canvas Church. Pastor Josh and his team lead a warm and welcoming time.

After, we try elk and buffalo burgers for the price of a used refrigerator in Bandung. Things aren't cheap here. I cook most of our meals.

In the evening, I have 3 hours of meetings with mentors and friends. They remind me of what's important and how to live well. The backdrop is so beautiful that they ask if it's fake. Nope, real Montana.

Monday
We join camp devotions at 8AM. The 30+ seniors keep the camp running. Some volunteers are retired ranchers and builders with practical skills. Camp supervisor Cal keeps the grounds in top-notch condition with their help. Their work allows the camp to host groups for a reasonable fee.

Donna's peonies start to open. Oh my!

We walk into the village for breakfast. The propeller seeds are forming overhead. 

Some of the trees snapped off in last month's windstorm but new leaves and branches are emerging.

We want some huckleberry pancakes. "We're not yet serving breakfast because we haven't got the staff." Most shops and restaurants depend on seasonal help. We pop into another shop, where W poses with a stuffed brown bear.

There's a lot full of wood sculptures. A fairly plain bench costs $1000 and the little bear is $225. No thanks.

I make pancakes in the cabin.

W and I connect with a few friends online and make a video for Mom. Sitting outside the cabin is relaxing. The air is fresh and warm by afternoon.

In the evening, W and I volunteer in the camp kitchen. A new group of campers (fairly tidy and organized) comes in tonight. We stand by the scraping station where dishes are returned to the kitchen.

This bucket "WARNING!" labels makes me shake my head. Most rules are in response to a transgression or danger. Did a baby drown in a similar pail? After a meal, campers empty ice and drinks into the 5-gallon bucket before tossing the cups into the garbage. 

Tuesday
It's been a rough night so I stay in bed while W heads to the camp devotional. We go to a thrift store 35 miles away. The roads are empty and the views are spectacular.

The signs at the checkout say items are weighed and cost $1.50/lb. We get two saucepans, work clothes, and tall mugs for tea.

At the main thrift store yesterday, I spotted a rug for $42 (with a seniors 50% discount). It matches our cabin colors. I took a photo to look at it in our cabin.

We go back today to see if it's still there. Yup - outside the cabin, we kick out the dirt before W vacuums it. 

Shall we use it in the kitchen? It would take up most of the floor.

I measure the living room and think about how I want to lay it out - sideways or lengthwise?

We lay it crosswise so it lights up the center of the room. I've come to terms with this: I always have ideas for sprucing up a space or concept. BUT each time I make a major change, it takes a few days to get used to it. It doesn't seem to matter whether a shift is theoretical, ideological, or practical.

I make homemade sauce: grilled onions, cabbage, tomatoes, and ground beef. We have pasta with a side salad and corn-on-the-cobb. I put most of mine back in the serving bowl before I touch it. It's a case of eyes being bigger than the stomach.

The mastermind meets online. Again, time with wise, honest, and transparent leaders refreshes my soul. The sun has gone behind the mountains by the time we're done. We're taking deep breaths of clean mountain air to clean for our city-polluted lungs. Despite DEET, the mosquitoes start to attack. It's time to walk back to the cabin at 7:30PM.

At the summer solstice, it won't be completely dark until 11PM. The pre-dawn light appears after 4AM. It's a short night, but the quiet is healing. Long passenger and freight trains pass by on the other side of the river, the clicking tracks and woo-whoo of the whistle piercing the night a few times.

Wednesday
I'm late getting out the door, but the wildflowers are as beautiful as ever.

A camp volunteer is picking up random branches and leaves. Someone picked up the tree trimmings from our yard before W could get to them! I say thank you to the voluneer - and notice a chainsaw in the back of his pickup. He trims the birch stumps to the ground before I get back to the cabin. THANK YOU, kind neighbor.

The streets are wide but empty. Our cabin is a refuge and a blessing. Friends arrange to join us for a few days on the weekend. I can't wait. They usually close the cabin for us at the end of summer, so enjoying it together without the workload is a treat all around.

Carolyn and I have a nice chat while I'm walking past her cabin. W and I have known some campers for 30 years.

Several peonies at Donna's are lying on the ground so I clip them with a scissor and arrange them at the cabin. With some weight lifted, other blooms push upwards from the grass.

I'm getting used to the rug. Ok, it's a keeper.

The "comfy chair" near the front door is the first destination for guests. We found it at a garage sale: solid, heavy, ugly, and perfect for long conversations. There's orange in the new rug to match it.

I take the battery-powered candles out of the dining chandelier. We found the lamp decades ago at a Whitefish clearance. We need brighter light = real candles. I trim the wicks, pre-light them, and blow them out so they're ready for the next evening with friends.

In the late afternoon, we chat with Bill about what he feels God is asking him to do. It's a privilege to pray together. Then I hop on Zoom to meet 9 doctoral students from across Asia. Tonight, we go through assignments and the syllabus so they're ready for the conference class in July. It will be an intense week of lectures, student presentations, and class interactions. I look forward to what the students prepare since they lead various organizations in diverse cultures.

My live ZOOM backdrop includes the burbling fountain in the park. 

Read more:
* Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid. Good people obtain favor from the Lord, but he condemns those who devise wicked schemes. No one can be established through wickedness, but the righteous cannot be uprooted. Proverbs 12:1-3

* Our God is a God of salvation, and to God, the Lord, belongs escape from death. Psalm 68:20

* And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. 1 Corinthians 6:14

Moravian Prayer: Lord, we know that you have the ultimate power over life and death. Be with us as we face our own mortality. Help us process the loss of loved ones. Strengthen us so we always feel your love and power around us. Amen.

Starting to feel the quiet

Thursday, June 18, 2026
What a peaceful awakening in Montana. W is out the door at morning devotions by the time I rouse myself.

Our room offers the perfect place for quiet reflection. This summer, I'm reading a thought-provoking classic: Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Life Together. He gives a timeless call for followers of Jesus to live in Christian community because of Jesus and only for that reason.

He reminds us that we don't gather because we like or dislike each other, or when we agree or disagree with others' theology. Jesus is the center and the reason we exist in community. There is no life outside of the forgiveness of our salvation or the centering wisdom of Christ's Body, the Church. In a fragmented, opinionated world, Bonhoeffer is a startling read.

I emerge into the upstairs sitting room, designed for our kids when they were youngsters. Now the next generation enjoys hanging out there. The huge Costco dog sofa wasn't purchased for dogs but as the perfect sprawl space for our kids (and now the grandkids).

Remember the Blockbuster video stores of the 1990s? When they closed, we bought a rack of shelves to house books and toys, including a leather-bound collection of Louis L'Amour Westerns. Our friend Mel loved L'Amour books. Since his kids use the cabin, I hope their families enjoy the stories that their dad and grandpa relished reading.

We placed a long dresser beside the stairwell to prevent guests from toppling into the opening. Someone gave us an expensive hutch. It was great for linen storage, though the front and sides looked uninspiring. In a creative mood one day, I cut and pasted Mac-Tac shelf liner into a more campy "birch" vibe.

The house is full of family memories. My "best uncle" Erich's vintage portable typewriter became an end table in one of the bedrooms.

The day's bonus is greeting Joanna Weaver, a friend and companion in faith. She and her mama have made a 2-hour trip to inspect the family cabin built by her daughter and son-in-law. It's beautiful and almost complete.

Friday - Will's birthday

My youngest brother is in his 60s. He rides his bicycle to work with our son this morning, taking a "short-cut" through the mountains on the German-Swiss border. Hills all the way buti it's "harder on the way home," he remarks. Happy birthday! Love ya.

W and I walk along the Flathead River, picking up a shed snakeskin on the bank. I say it's for the grandkids but really? I enjoy such things as much or more than they do.

These recent tracks don't look very friendly: bear? It is bear country.

The water is still high with spring run-off. We waded across one August with experienced guides. Now I marvel at our adventures, that one with two of us hanging on to our youngsters so they weren't swept away as we crossed the deeper flowing sections of the summer level. What were we thinking? (Were we thinking?)

We used to kayak down the river years ago, too.

We admire the old firetruck that waters the dusty roads into submission. The "shop guys" have modified it with PVC pipes to sprinkle water as it drives up and down the streets.

Another classic can be used for fighting fires.

The wildflowers are bright in the morning light.

There are yellows, purples, pinks, whites, and blues. Over the course of a summer, when the kids and I spent late-June through August here, we admired the parade of wild beauties.

Wild roses smell so sweet! Each time I notice a shrub, I stop to smell the honey-rose scent.

I have had an allergy since we got here. I've only been allergic twice before: once on a trip to Disney World (Florida) 35 years ago (same drip), and with my last penicillin shot (body-wide rash). Today my eyes drain, nose runs, and I am tired. We pick up a generic Claritin allergy med ($6 instead $20 for more tablets). Taking 1-pill-a-day should help.

After breakfast, I hang a curtain, using a scarf from Indonesia. Safety pins create a hem so it can be threaded on a curtain rod under the sink. It's tidier than an open shelf where the garbage, the underside of the sink, and a storage box rest. I rearrange baskets and storage jars on the shelves, washing items that have become dusty.

The sun is high in the sky. The slim balcony overhead shades the entry. Sunshine reaches half of the hanging plants so we turn the pot twice a week. I clip a few long vines and put them in water to root. 

W uses the big scythe to cut the weeds near the birch stumps. I weed grass and dandelions, gathering the cuttings into a heap.

I have barely enough energy to do a load of laundry and wash inside the entry windows before I fall into bed, fast asleep for a few hours. "Could the meds be making you so tired?" W asks.

W helps camp volunteers turn the accommodations around after the teen camp wraps up. New campers arriving this weekend. The volunteers clean, including sanitizing bedding and surfaces.

Just before supper,  I check emails and write the blog post using camp wi-fi. My eyes start streaming again. At least my nose is drier than yesterday.

I pause my walk at the cross and benches along the river.

Some years ago, aging campers started buying golf carts to get around. Now there are over 100 on site.

Supper is fresh and refreshing.

Saturday
Every day feels like the weekend here. The sweet fragrance of Donna's peonies stops me in my tracks. "Help yourself to flowers if you want a bouquet," she says. Really? (That's more exciting than offering a steak to one of our dogs.)

There are several kinds of hydrangeas and mop-heads. I just can't get enough of summer flowers.

I cook our meals, go for long walks, and keep washing dust off items in the cabin. We're almost there ... 

W finds me partway through the campground; we stop to chat with people. This field, complete with benches and river view, is empty until the next group comes.

Rifling through storage, I come across a pad of paper labeled 2000. It's covered with drawings and words explaining games our youngest son created as a pre-teen. He still loves gaming, but now he's mostly online (or playing board games with friends when they meet.)

Back in Bandung, 85 show up for Saturday English lessons at the Project. We are thrilled to serve the community in this way. Devoted leaders and volunteers serve with grace, whether we're there or not.

After a late lunch, we walk within range of the camp wi-fi to write and read emails. Our perch is quiet, shaded by 80' pines, alders, and birches.

It takes us a few days to relax. A few decades ago, with 4 kids to cook for and get to bed, it used to take me 3 weeks at camp to unwind from the hustle and bustle of city life. We don't have that luxury of time this year, so we're hurrying to slow down. Ummm. Is that even a thing?

Read more:
* [4 proverbs or wise sayings] 

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

The tongue of the wise adorns knowledge, but the mouth of the fool gushes folly.

The eyes of the Lord are everywhere, keeping watch on the wicked and the good.

The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit. Proverbs 15:1-4

* I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One. Isaiah 60:16

* We have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. 1 Timothy 4:10

* The one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them. 1 John 5:18

Moravian Prayer:  We are so glad, Lord, that you are strong. You give us the strength we need to work wonders. May we remember to let you work through us and to not do everything on our own. Help us look to you for all we need to serve you and others. 

You are a mighty fortress, Lord. We thank you for your protection over us. We know that you will always be with us when the world challenges us. Thank you. Amen.