my boys and girls

Mr. C and I went on a 2-week road trip in late July.  First stop was Walla Wall, WA for a visit with daughter Alex and my grandcat, Flower, an amazingly furry and fluffy creature.

We had a splendid time; good weather, a bit of wine tasting, a wonderful dinner at one of our favorite spots, Saffrons, and a good visit.   The downtown was festooned with these beautiful flower baskets, hanging from all the lamp posts along Main Street.  Such a lovely addition.  Here in our town in the valley we have crepe myrtle trees that are also a brilliant blaze of color throughout the downtown.,  No matter which it is, such decoration is a wonderful addition.

Then it was on to Bozeman via Missoula, MT, home of the University of Montana.  It's a fairly quiet town right now with the college on break for the summer.  We arrived at Cait's on Sunday and, has usual, it was absolutely gorgeous ~ cool and lovely during the day, downright chilly at night.  Everyone was in grand spirits, including the two granddogs.  It is always a pleasure to see them!

Huck, the more shy of the two

Zeke, who thinks he's still a puppy

They are a mix of Blue Heeler and Golden Retriever; Zeke is the more "Golden', with lots of hair and feathery legs and tail.  Huck is more sleek and has the silkiest ears ever.

Again, we did the usual; shop downtown at the BEST card shop I've ever been to, got a copy of this year's Sweet Pea Festival poster, went to Ted's for bison meatloaf sandwich (Mr. C), and out to dinner at the Emerson Grill.  We went to the Museum of the Rockies to see a great exhibit on crocodiles, alligators, other prehistoric survivors.  Big Mike was still watching over the museum!

We've done this for so long we could do it blindfolded.

One more flower baskets, this one outside the vet's office where Huck had to see his doc after having some dental surgery.  But he's all better and back on crunchy food after eating pap for a couple of weeks!

The big announcement is that I now have a great granddog!  I figure since Emily is my grand.dot and she now has a dog, Toni is my great granddog!  They live in NYC and, if all goes well, Cait and I will be going for a visit mid-October.  Toni is 2 yrs. old, has one brown eye, one blue (maybe some Aussie sheep dog?) and is, by all accounts, a lovely creature.  So welcome to the family!

Then it was time to go.  Next stop was Burley, Idaho, just short of Twin Falls for the night.  Next, Winemucca so we could have dinner at our favorite Basque restaurant, the Hotel Martin.  Lamb shanks!  Enough so that we have plenty for dinner when we get home.

We had a quick visit (way too quick!) from Andrew and Arielle who were on their way back to SF from a weekend on a houseboat on Lake Shasta.  I think they'll be back again in September on their way to or from somewhere!

I am writing this on my new iMac!  Very fancy but I can't make out how to use the photo program.  Gotta do some research because it has taken me much too long to get this together!