What I’ve been up to since my last post:
Friday involved watching the Great British Baking Show with Rebekah, Abigail and their friends. It was Meringue Day – so yummy! That night I enjoyed live music at the Silver Dollar Bar, Cody’s version of the Million Dollar Bar in Jackson, LOL. It was a fun evening, the performers were 2 young women singing lots of covers. It was pretty busy, so I got a seat at the bar and soon after an older couple sat down next to me. She was holding a book so we got chatting about books we were reading and hit it off. Andrea and Kevin are from Alaska originally. After they retired they spent 2 1/2 years traveling in their RV around the country to decide where to settle, and 4 years ago decided on Cody. He works seasonally managing one of the maintenance crews in Yellowstone National Park, which sounds like a fantastic gig. We talked about our kids and found out that their daughter and her partner got married the week after Kieran and Kourtney and live about 15 minutes away from them. What a small world. I also found out that her aunt is Grandma Kitty, a New Yorker who is a HUGE Steph Curry fan. It was great to listen to good music, meet great people and enjoy a decent glass of wine for $7!
The next day we made breakfast and lunch for a group from one of the local churches who were at TAC on a board retreat. I also got to go back to Rawhide Coffee and listen to the live music. I had a great chat with a group of very sweet locals there who had invited me to sit with them. Most of them are originally from Cody and they were telling me how many people move to Cody and can’t stand the wind and winter weather. The Cody wind and winter weather was in evidence on Saturday. The late morning and mid afternoon was quite nice, I think it hit a high of 51 degrees or so by about 2 in the afternoon. After that the weather quickly turned and by 5 o’clock it was snowing, and the wind came on strong. We ended up getting a couple of inches of snow on Saturday night.
On Sunday I slept which was good as we had a busy day hosting a ladies afternoon tea.There were about 40 women and and girls in attendance. We served appetizers, small sandwiches, dessert, and a variety of teas. I got a nice fire going as it was a beautiful, sunny day but quite chilly. The lovely coating of snow, blue, blue sky and lack of wind was just perfect for the tea. Later, I got out for a drive and stopped near the Buffalo Bill Cody Dam and Lake. I can never get over how incredible the green color is of the water there.
Monday was cleanup and my own work. At one point, Earl, who owns a ranch nearby, came with his horse trailer and dropped off his horses to graze on the land at TAC. It gives them variety and a lot more space to move around in. It was amazing seeing those beautiful horses running wild. That evening I went to Rebecca and Rob’s place for dinner with a couple of young women who used to be Workawayers at TAC and now live in Cody permanently. It was a fun evening, Abigail was in heaven because she had been given a whole bunch of dress up clothes, jewelry and a Disney princess suitcase from an older friend, which she just thought was the best thing. She wheeled the suitcase all around the house, over and over and over again, it was adorable.
I’ve started doing a week-long online artist retreat. There’s 4-5 different sessions every day. I’ve been able to do some different kinds of art – watercolors, journaling, movement, even vocalizing! It goes really well with the book I just finished reading, Art Cure, which discusses the scientific research that has been done on the importance of being involved in the arts. The wind picked back up again last night, it’s been really, really windy. My labyrinth walks have been taking my breath away!. Today I went to the Pardners Cafe inside the Cody Library. Pardner’s is run by a nonprofit that helps developmentally disabled folks learn life skills.They have the most delicious food, my favorite is their Tuscan soup. There was an old cowboy strumming his guitar, singing Eagles songs, and 3 tables of older folks playing cards each with their own little side table set up with snacks. I got a little bit of work done, had a look at their books for sale and found a whole stack of Nordstjernen magazines, (the Swedish newspaper of America), that somebody had dropped off at the library. I also checked out the incredible leprechaun traps that local kids had made, very impressive! I remember when my kids made leprechaun traps in preschool, they were nowhere near this fancy.
I’m feeling very, very happy right now enjoying the beauty, the gorgeous, gorgeous scenery here and how it can change so quickly depending on the weather. I think we’ve got some 70 degree days coming up, which is going to be very bizarre, because Sunday morning, it was 5 degrees! While it’s definitely been cold, it’s not the prolonged cold and snow like when I was here last year. Rob and Rebekah have talked to a few people who’ve lived in Cody their whole lives and none of them remember this kind of sustained, really intense wind. I’ve heard that there’s been a decent amount of wind damage, the signs at Dairy Queen and Sinclair Gas got blown out during one of the windstorms. Luckily one of them went flying off into nowhere. The other one went down the main street, but ran into the back of somebody’s truck, luckily, it didn’t hurt anybody. I can only imagine how much work the arborists will have around here.
I’m really glad I’ve come back. This is my third time in Cody now. I would love to come out and see what it’s like in the early fall, maybe in late September, early October next year. While I’d like to see it in the summertime, that’s when all the tourists show up. Right now I can’t get into Yellowstone from the local entrance, I’d have to drive all the way to Montana which takes 3.5 hours with decent weather, but so that’s the only downside this time of the year. But there’s still plenty of wonderful things to do right now. Like tonight – I went back to the library for their Altered Book Club and made a secret storage container that looks like a row of books!
