Slowwwww Internet

The campground has incredibly slow internet and the workers swear internet is slow all through the Flathead Valley.  Strangely enough I am at a Starbucks and their internet is fast.  The slow internet at the Whitefish KOA is the only complaint we have about the place.

Yesterday the Valley got some much needed rain so there were raindrops on roses.

Liz, how do you like these prices?  Should Ladysmith adjust their pricing accordingly?

A good morning is a morning when I start my shopping at Glacier Quilts.  Any quilters who visit the area should visit this shop in Kalispell.  It's huge and the staff are so accommodating.

 

Here are a couple of display quilts that are whimsically Montana.

 

 Christa, you should get down here fast to buy some or all of the amazing PPed patterns for large quilts. The quilts here are just a few of the samples that are made up.  They are hung quite high so it's hard to get decent photos, but they are incredibly awesome.

 I like how simple and lovely this next one is.  A panel, a few blocks, and you end up with an sweet quilt.

I must go back there today to buy some orange batiks to make myself a chicken hanging for the next art quilt challenge.  The ideas are buzzing in my head.

 

That's really all the shopping I did.  I looked at clothing and I love all the plaids that were popular last year and continue to be popular.  However, home ec classes I took in high school have forced me to forego any of the store-bought plaid clothing.  In that class I learned that you should match plaids at seams.  We learned how to match them even when a plaid was uneven and I embraced the challenge of doing so.  Why, oh, why, didn't I keep my perfectly matched plaid elephant pants that I sewed in grade ten?  Trust me, they were perfection.

 

Here's what store-bought plaids look like at the seams.

I CANNOT buy them!  There were plaid costumes in Bigfork's last two performances and they were perfectly matched.  Kudos to the stitchers.

We did shop at the newly opened Krispy Kreme.  Rob & Liz, be very jealous.

I should have put one of their paper caps on Bob, but there are limits to what this highly photogenic model will do for me.

Back at campground two of the donkeys were wandering.  The animals are penned at night, but free range during the day.  No wonder the campground has a five mile per hour speed limit.  It's not to save the lives of all the camping children; it's to make it safe for the petting zoo critters.

One form of entertainment we have every day is reading the police blotter in the local paper.  For a long time Vanessa and I thought the column was a creative writing exercise by some journalism intern, but, no, it's a true report of what police deal with on a daily basis.

We ate at Brannigan's Irish Pub in Kalispell.  I really, really felt I should drink the quilter's beer, but  the waitress said it was the darkest, "most robust" beer they sell.  I settled for the local seasonal which is a "honey infused" beer.  Bob didn't want this heavy drinker (There's a mom joke, Rob & Liz; I hope you didn't miss it.) to be drunk and disorderly at the evening performance of "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers."

 

The shrimp gratin was really good and Bob said his shepherd's pie was the best he's ever eaten and that includes shepherd's pie in Ireland and Scotland ... and also in his wife's kitchen.

We got to Bigfork early so had time for Peaks' ice cream.  Their petunias, which seem to be a shout-out to Canada's 150th, are so profuse they have blocked the final S.  Sweet Peaks used to be a favorite ice cream place as they made small batches of interesting ice creams such as rhubarb and a lemon and dill one.  Now they have opened several shops and have about six standards which I'm guessing they no longer make, but rather buy from some big company.

One last thing before I end this entry.  There's a contest involved, there's a prize involved, and I suspect Barb will be the only one to enter the contest.  It's to see how many diphthongs you can find in this entry.  Yep, that's my contest and it will be judged to the highest of standards.  After all, who wouldn't want to win the prize .... some crap Montana souvenir from the Dollar Tree?

It's time to end this entry as my flat white is getting cold.