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Deeply rooted in Christian tradition, the period of Advent marks four weeks of spiritual preparation for the commemoration of the birth of Jesus. Centuries later, the count-down calendars have spawned a myriad of plants that wander far from those religious roots. Since the four weeks of Advent is a long stretch of time for young children to visualize, creative parents found simple ways to help their children count off the days. Chalking marks on a door or wall was popular in nineteenth century...
SEELEY LAKE – Richard Manning is no stranger to Seeley Lake or to Alpine Artisans' literary events. Former journalist and author of 11 books, he has written about environmental issues, the American prairie, agriculture, poverty and collaborated with a Harvard medical professional to write about a healthier lifestyle based on a better understanding of our DNA. When he came to Open Book Club on Nov. 13 to present his latest book, "If It Sounds Good, It Is Good," he brought his guitar. Manning a...
SEELEY LAKE - At the Seeley Lake Veterans Day Ceremony Nov. 11, President of the Veterans and Families of Seeley Lake Barb Knopp spoke of the men and women who fought and continue to fight so we can maintain our democracy, our very way of life. She also talked about the meaning of the poppies. Because of its blood red color, the red poppy became a symbol to memorialize the soldiers who fought and died in World War I and subsequent wars and conflicts. They are traditionally sold as a fundraiser...
SEELEY LAKE – Two weeks after graduation from high school-that's when Rockey Kennedy said his real education began. Kennedy grew up in Lone Pine, California, a little town tucked away in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In 1958 he celebrated his 18th birthday in San Diego, in Navy boot camp. His dad, a World War II veteran who served under General Douglas MacArthur, had to sign a waiver so his son could join the U. S. Navy even though he hadn't quite turned 18. Kennedy said, "Being raised in a s...
On a hike in Montana's forests, only a fool would dispute the advice to keep your eyes peeled for bears. But peeling one's eyes sounds painful. Where did that expression come from? One proffered origin links the phrase to Robert Peel. As Chief Secretary for Ireland, Peel established the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1814. Constables, i.e., those Peel appointed to keep the King's peace, picked up the nickname "peelers." Presumably the name referred to Peel's directive that they were to keep their...
Interaction between the speakers and the audience at the Roads and Trails program presented Aug. 7 by the Upper Swan Valley Historical Society generated additional tales worth sharing. These short stories wrap up the eight-week series. Dances Someone from the audience asked Leita Andersen, to "tell that story about the time you were going to a dance and the car broke down on the road and the weather was like forty degrees below and you had on silk stockings..." Leita obliged. "At that time,"...
Interaction between the speakers and the audience at the Roads and Trails program presented Aug. 7 by the Upper Swan Valley Historical Society generated additional tales worth sharing. These short stories will be shared for the next two weeks to wrap up the series. Drinking stories The old roads had their challenges, but they never kept the folks in the valley from having fun. Gene Miller's memory that the road from Condon to Swan Lake was virtually impassable during winter prompted someone...
The fifth in the series covering the Roads and Trails program presented Aug. 7 by the Upper Swan Valley Historical Society (USVHS). CONDON – Upper Swan Valley Historical Society President Steve Lamar introduced Dennis Jette as one of the local residents who worked in road construction when the highway and power lines were being installed. Jette said his grandfather homesteaded on Kraft Creek in 1912, though his family didn't move to the valley until 1951. He was in the eighth grade at the t...
A parent looking at a child's poor report card might say, "You'd better keep your nose to the grindstone next semester and get those grades up!" Is this parent suggesting painful disfigurement will make the child smarter? No, the parent simply wants the child to focus more time, effort and attention on school studies. But how do the nose and grindstone enter in? One theory relates to the milling process. In an earlier age, grains were transformed into flour by using two large millstones, one...
SEELEY LAKE – The rows of chairs set up in the Double Arrow Homestead Pavilion quickly filled with people. An overflow crowd clustered around the sides of the pavilion in chairs they brought from home. Another group set their home-brought chairs in the shade of a line of trees. They had no real hope of seeing the guest author but trusted the large loudspeakers would at least carry his words to them. Who was the man able to draw this crowd of more than 180 people? On Sept. 5, under the a...
The fourth in the series covering the Roads and Trails program presented Aug. 7 by the Upper Swan Valley Historical Society (USVHS). CONDON – For his part in the Upper Swan Valley Historical Society's Roads and Trails program, Gene Miller talked about the earliest bridges in the area. Miller moved with his family to the Upper Swan Valley region in the late 1930s. According to Miller, "When you came from Swan Lake there were only two bridges - one across Cold Creek and one across Lion Creek. T...
SEELEY LAKE – Jodi Stierwalt never shied away from big tasks-or big vehicles. An equipment operator in the United States Navy Reserve, her attitude when asked if she could operate a specific piece of machinery was, "I don't know. Let me try." A self-described Navy brat, Stierwalt is proud of her father who was a World War II Veteran. He survived the Japanese attack at Subic Bay in the Philippines, which occurred shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Stierwalt's tangential connection with t...
The fourth in the series covering the Roads and Trails program presented Aug. 7 by the Upper Swan Valley Historical Society (USVHS). CONDON – Dixie Meyer shared her memories of the roads and trails of the Upper Swan Valley in the early forties and fifties. She said her dad brought in a team of horses and some saddle horses by way of the Piper Crow Creek trail. The earliest car she remembered her family having was a Model A pickup. She and her two sisters rode in the back on an old oilcloth s...
SEELEY LAKE – After a year of epidemic-inflicted hiatus, Montana Shakespeare in the Parks (MSIP) greeted a large audience of eager playgoers on the grounds of the Double Arrow Lodge Aug. 16. The traveling troupe performed "Cymbeline," one of Shakespeare's lesser-known plays. It is also considered one of the playwright's most ambitious and complicated plays, with multiple plots and subplots. Sometimes classified as a romance, the play portrays the trials of two lovers, King Cymbeline's d...
The third in the series covering the Roads and Trails program presented Aug. 7 by the Upper Swan Valley Historical Society (USVHS). CONDON – Upper Swan Valley Historical Society President Steve Lamar introduced speaker Leita Anderson by first explaining that in 1894 Charley Young, along with five other men, forged a route into the Upper Swan Valley extending from Ovando to Lion Creek. In 1917 a rough road was built between Lion Creek and Swan Lake. Eighty-nine-year-old Leita Anderson provided s...
This is the second in the series covering the Roads and Trails Program presented Aug. 7 by the Upper Swan Valley Historical Society (USVHS). CONDON – Salish Kootenai College Professor and Specialist in Culture and Language Tim Ryan discussed the trails which Native American tribes used when traveling through the region that later became known as the Upper Swan Valley. For the Native people, travel on those trails was intricately woven into the circle of their lives. Before he began teaching at t...
If Jack gave Jill a stock market tip that caused her to lose rather than gain money, Jill might tell Jack at their next meeting, “Hey, you gave me a bum steer!” Did Jack give her a lame castrated male cow? Or a male cow that was lazy or just down on his luck? If Jack laughs instead of being sympathetic, might Jill use a stronger mule-related epithet to describe him? Though the origin of the phrase “bum steer” is uncertain, dictionaries and phrase finders generally agree the “steer” in question is not the noun referring to a castrated b...
CONDON – Old timers dredged up old memories Saturday, Aug. 7 as the Upper Swan Valley Historical Society (USVHS) held its combined summer fundraiser and history program at its museum location. The topic this year was Roads and Trails of the Upper Swan Valley. USVHS President Steve Lamar introduced the topic by noting that although Native Americans had been coming through the area for eons, the Upper Swan Valley was one of the later places settled and developed by homesteaders. The main h...
SEELEY LAKE – Ron Talcott joined the military with a clear understanding of what that decision entailed. He had the experience of his grandfather, who served in the United States Army, and his father, who served during World War II, to draw on. When he applied to and received an appointment to the Air Force Academy, his goals were to receive a good education and retire with skills that would translate into a civilian career. Understanding that military life would require his family to move many...
Half of the year is gone and far more than half the people whose New Year’s resolution was to get in shape have long since put away the dumbbells and let their bodies go to pot. Which brings up the questions, why are exercise weights called “dumbbells”? And just what “pot” did their body go into? Dumbbell—the exercise equipment, not the name siblings throw at one another—traces its origin back to church bell ringers. Church bells are heavy, about 400 to 7,000 pounds heavy. So while the thought of youthful bellringers being pulled off their fee...
SEELEY LAKE – Each year the Montana Newspaper Association (MNA), a consortium of 83 news publications throughout the state, sponsors the Better Newspaper Contest. The goal of the contest is to encourage member newspapers to continually strive for excellence in their publications. Participants enter what they consider their best candidates in categories focused on writing, photography and advertising throughout the previous year. Seeley Swan Pathfinder won a gratifying number of awards in the 2...
SEELEY LAKE – The American flag is the preeminent symbol displayed at Fourth of July celebrations throughout the United States. Unlike the flags of other nations which once established maintain a static design through the generations, the American flag is a dynamic entity reflecting the growth of the nation it represents. The most obvious evidence of growth is the need to rearrange the configuration of the stars in the blue square canton whenever a new state is admitted to the union. Other flag deviations provide a graphic depiction of the c...
Still ebullient from the previous day's meeting of the Continental Congress – the Congress that had just approved a formal resolution to break from the rule of King George and establish an independent government – John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail: "The Second Day of July 1776 will be the most memorable Epoch in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Delive...
SEELEY LAKE – Seeley Lake resident Jesse Chadwick was a card-carrying, flag-waving, all-in American when he joined the United States Army in 2000. By the time his military stint was over in 2003, he had combat PTSD and was completely disillusioned with the avowed American values of "liberty" and "justice for all." Chadwick began with positive feelings about the military. His high school education had taken a side turn to the Montana National Guard Youth Challenge Program (now Montana Youth C...
"Die Hard" probably conjures up images of Bruce Willis jumping from an airplane or crawling through an air vent or walking barefoot through broken glass. But the phrase pre-dates the movie series by at least 200 years. In 18th century England, before gallows platforms were built with trapdoors, the body of a hanged person twitched and jerked until the victim strangled to death. Sometimes condemned people arranged to have someone hang onto their legs to make their death quicker. The invention of...
