We’re feeling rich on everything right now, fat on life, wealthy with time.
With the end of the fire season, we rolled out of the Methow Valley of Washington and moved back to Idaho for the winter! We arrived at the strawbale house two days ago with the Airstream and raft in tow.
The house itself is nearly unpacked, it feels huge to me. Our bedroom up in the loft boasts more square footage than the entire Airstream. This is a one room house and only about 800 square feet or so but the spaciousness is luxurious! Mostly, I like that we don’t feel a need to fill it up. The scant amount of furniture we had in the Airstream is now the furniture we have in the house. We bought a couple of tables from a thrift store to use in what will be my studio work space. But besides that, the house feels like the inside of a drum into which a few seeds have fallen — it’s so easy for us to shake and bounce around. I like how the space holds a touch of an echo. I’d like to keep it that way. The way the light flows through, in and then out again, feels clean, resonant and sacred.
It’s amazing what I grew accustomed to this summer. You know, it was basically a communal living situation for us on base. We had the Airstream (which is still unfinished and the further completion of it will be attended to this winter in a serious way) but we shared a public bathroom and mess hall with everyone who lived on base. I should add, sometimes there were people OTHER than smokejumpers living on base. Sometimes I woke up in the middle of the night or arrived home late from the studio to find a handful of crews sleeping on the lawn in front of my Airstream or behind it, or beside it — they too, used the facilities as I did. I got used to a lot of things this summer and some of those life details I liked and some of those life details I tolerated, but I learned about myself and others and friendship and humanity. It was a great time.
Here, at the strawbale house, it is a heavenly novelty to have a kitchen of my own, pots and pans of my own, a full pantry for food storage instead of a single kitchen cupboard and a shelf in a walk-in fridge. It’s a novelty to not have to carry a basket of shower implements across a football field length of dewy grass to a public washroom on the other side of the base every morning. I don’t share laundry machines with anyone. I don’t keep my towel in a locker. I can walk around in my undies all day long if I want and how about having my own WIFI connection in my living space so I can actually sit down, any time of day, not just while I am at the studio, and answer the emails that have been rolling in (and mostly unanswered) since the start of August.
How about that?!!
I am slowly righting this ship of life and it’s nice to see things so orderly again…which isn’t saying much because I am generally a very untidy and disorderly person and many of you would be driven fairly insane by the delicious wake of glorious chaos I leave most everywhere I go. All this is to say, I loved living on base with Robbie in our Airstream this summer. Now, I’m thrilled to have a place of my own again.
The studio is almost set up. I’m already romanced dumb by the pounding of the whitewater on the river below the house. It has been sunny and hot and I’ve grown some new freckles on my nose. I’ll keep setting life in order here and in the meanwhile, we are packing and preparing for my elk hunt which will commence in a handful of days in the very wildly beating heart of Idaho.
I love this life of ours.
I hope this season you are making your way through is rich as the red leaves on the trees.
so much awesomeness in the roll of photos.
so….i shall just simply say this ::
wow.
wow.
and more wow.
and tater and his tongue. that DEFINITELY is worth mentioning.
Xx
I can’t wait to see all the pictures of Idaho as you settle in! It must feel so good to be back again.
Are those mushrooms Jack O’Lanterns? My littles and I have jumped into the wonderful world of nature journaling as part of their homeschooling, and we are learning all sorts of wonderful things as we go. It is so fun trying to identify everything around us.
Enjoy your glorious days!!
🙂
Mmmmm …. Elk Sausage or Elk Meatballs…delish. Elk Medallions? So many choices!
Hello Jillian,
It so lovely to see your photos, to read about your journey to your straw bale home. Thanks for taking us along on the ride.
Life is good, is ‘t it.
Sending sweet hugs to you.
Xo
Dagmar
this is such a beautiful post, crisp and colorful as our october days.
it makes me happy to see you happy, to see you embracing the change that life brings to you and finding the good in all of it.
i wish you a peaceful season in the strawbale house on that pounding river in the state you love best.
xoxo
Oh my goodness. Your photography just keeps getting better and better!! The sparkling tops of those trees! The saturation of color and variation–I love. And Tater of course. Gosh I love to see that dog smile 🙂
I have never been to America but oh how I want to seeing all your wonderful pictures. Enjoy the new home. x
Beautiful, beautiful posts – like always. Where is your Bison shirt from?
“Catching Up” with The Plume is always fun. Your photos are sublime- always. I’m glad you’re settling in and getting ready for your favorite, cold season!
Glorious photos make me smile so much – taking in the wideness of the west and the hugeness of the space. Joy Joy Joy to be back in the straw bale house for a fabulous winter. The best of best times to you and Robert. Thank you for sharing your wonderful life. 🙂
Look forward to catching up soon lady!
<3
GAH!!! SWOOOOOOOOOOOOON! XOXO
Oh Jillian!
What beauty!
My Goodness!!
I have missed ~this~ part of your life!
You inspire me!!
Thank You!
X~X~X
Kris in WA
Your photos tell such a beautiful story! Am I understanding that you have a tiny home of some kind? Trying to find it on your blog 🙂
I was wondering why is it so fabulous every time she writes a post and puts (gorgeous as usual) pictures…why is this blog/website (don’t know what to call it) so…fabulous?? I think I found it! It is like reading a great classic north american novel, like we don’t read anymore because few people write about this kind of life, this blog/website is a jewel, a fabulous one…thank you for being such a good writer, such a good photographer and such a good story teller, let alone such a good jewelery maker!!!
Wishing you both a happy time in this house….you seem to be happy both of you to be back in Idaho. Merci, merci, merci!!!!
Beyond perfect, and there truly is no place like home!
Oh, I am so happy for you. Xoxo
These photos make me swoon and bring me joy! Well done!
Quick question: where did you get those awesome hiking boots in the photo of you in the airstream?
They are DANNER!!! USA made, out of Portland. Go get a pair. XX
I love your words…they show your spunk and your beautiful heart. I enjoy your photos just as much. But your words…
I am artistic in many other ways, but not with words. Your life is beautiful, thanks for sharing it with us. I recently found a clip from one of your blog posts saved on my phone that resonated with me. I had forgotten to write down where I had found it, but when I got to the end, I knew it was from your blog. It was wild and beautiful! I am thankful for you expressing the wild beauty you experience in ways that I am not good at. I just say “YES!”