February 7, 2009

It's Saturday, and we've planned our snowmobiling for tomorrow -- Sunday morning. We have a Mardi Gras party (benefit for Boys and Girls Club) tonight, and we couldn't get back in time if we went up to Columbia Falls today. And we're going in the afternoon, so we don't have to be on the road before dawn. Jane is declining as she still has some broken ribs from working one of her young horses in the indoor arena.

The day is glorious -- the sun is out, the sky is blue. It is still cold in Montana, about mid-20's, but unlike everyone keeps warning me, it is wonderful outside. I was in Ohio at Christmas when it was mid-20's and it felt much, much colder than I've felt in Montana. So "pooh pooh" to those of you who think it is too cold to live in Montana in the winter.

So on this beautiful, sunny day, we drove the eastern side of Flathead Lake to Bigfork, MT. It's a beautiful little town with cute stores. And I have found in many of these little Montana towns, there is always something unique -- and we pulled up right in front of it. It was the 7th Annual Spam O Rama -- its a cooking and carving contest held at the local bar (seems fitting that you would need to be drunk to enjoy this). It really was too funny, since the night before, NBC news ran a piece on the Evening News with Brian Williams on how busy the Spam plants were. With the economic downturn, Spam has become very popular because of its inexpensive price. And Bigfork has been having these contest for 7 years -- apparently they are the trend setters in Spam.

Big sales in the stores -- some had 70% off. And with this big discount, all Delores and I could find to buy were some earrings. But we had fun shopping and found a cute little french bistro for lunch. Also took a drive down the Swan River (very beautiful) and found some wonderful homes along the river, blanketed in snow.

As I mentioned above, we have tickets to the Mardi Gras party. Many people were dressed for the occasion with sparkly dresses and masks. They had a silent auction as well as a live auction -- this was a benefit for the Boys and Girls Clubs. Jane is a serious auction person, and did win several of the silent auction items.

Now.....I am certainly no slave to fashion -- my wardrobe these days is jeans, jeans, and oh yes, jeans. But to say there were some fashion fau paux was an understatement. One lady had on a bright green sparkly (and clingy) dress, and she had a figure like an over stuffed barrel. As Kate said, it took guts for her to wear that dress. There were also several single women on the dance floor -- you would have sworn they thought they were on a TV reality show about America's greatest dancers they way they were putting everything into their dance.

But you know.....they were all having a great time, donating money for a worthy cause, so what the heck!!!