So, its Fall and like everyone else I love Fall and all that goes with it. The changing colors, cooler weather, hot drinks, Autumnal scents, a warm fire to curl up next to, and comfort food to help get the ball rolling as I prepare to pack on my winter weight.
In Montana, like summer, Fall is brief but treasured. We (the royal “we”) have spent the past couple of weeks cutting and gathering firewood, and I think I speak for most women when I say there is something very attractive about watching your man chainsawing a tree and splitting wood that will be your family’s source of heat for the winter.
That’s right, this mama likes a manly man. Of course, he also fancies a quality ink pen and spent weeks selecting the perfect straight razor, so the outdoor ruggedness is nicely balanced with other pursuits I tease him about.
I don’t know if this is a cultural aspect of living in Montana, but I always get tickled at how excited people get about firewood. This is not gender specific. I had a girlfriend drop by last week, and the first thing she said was, “Wow, you guys have a lot of great looking Larch out here.”
I feel confident in my assumption that not many women can identify a tree from the rounds sitting in the yard. Montana women always make me smile with their dichotomy of femininity and mountain wildness. I am Southern born and raised, but after living in Montana for almost 1/3 of my life, I have succumbed to the excitement over good firewood. We have our wood stacked right outside our kitchen window, and I find myself just looking at and smiling while I’m doing dishes.
For your viewing pleasure 🙂
Wood Cutting Day
We seriously fell behind on cutting firewood this year. First, we were enjoying summer too much to care, then there were fire restrictions, then it was fall and we started to panic?. But, to be honest, I don’t mind at all that we are just now getting to it.
The weather is perfect and the colors are breathtaking. I may have dropped a one zillion pound round of Larch on my foot?, and my back is sassing me?, but spending time in the woods with my husband while my kids have a picnic in the back of the vehicle, is not a bad way to spend the day.
