Saturday at Rimini (pop 35) was spent taking it fairly easy, with a trip into Helena to buy some outfit to wear in the Rimini town parade and food for the "pot luck picnic" that followed. A walk to Mark's favourite fishing spot on the Little Blackfoot River, where there are always moose proved that the moose had a different idea. However we did spot lots of scat, which Laura is now becoming quite proficient at identifying. Mark also gave her some instruction in track identification, which included deer, probable mountain lion and the elusive moose. Mark described the weather as "like fall" - ie cold and windy.
July 4 was a beautiful, blue, sunny day. Preparations for the Rimini town parade, which Mark had pioneered with 3 others some 7 years ago were well underway. I had decorated the two cabins with the traditional red, white and blue ribbons seen in the movies. Mark retrieved his flag - the leader of the parade. The flag is very special. Its origins related to Vietnam, an Australian submariner, an American submarine. I will leave the rest to your problem solving skills! Bill wore Mark's beaver hat, carried his shotgun (yes - in public, down the main street of town!) and wore a blanket cloak. He absolutely looked the part. Laura was pretty in pink, wearing a pink bling hat and 'drama queen' sash. As quests of honour, they followed Mark and another flag bearer at the head of the parade. This year was a real benchmark, with 3 decorated floats, a squad of about 12 'Rimini Rockettes' (criteria - over 50, never been a cheer leader) and a bunch of old cars. Another little group formed a whistle and drum band, while Mae (the town's matriarch) rode behind Bill and Laura in a "T Ford". The local fire truck brought up the rear.
Along with about 30 others, I nominated myself as 'a bloody Australian spectator' and wore Mark's akubra hat.
It was so much fun! Nothing too formal - it just 'happens' without any real planning.
The picnic afterwards was held in a local lady, Cathy's 'shed' (used to be a helicopter hangar, but now very well set up for such events. The effort she puts in is phenomenal and everyone just brings along a pot of something to share. I have never in my life experienced such friendliness and good spirit from everyone we met, as well as generosity. I think we could have had 20 places to stay.
After a short break watching the end of Grease at Cathy's house, we gathered warm clothes and headed up the mountain for the fireworks display. This is put on by a local rancher, who supplies a 45 minute firework display every year for the local people - free of charge again! An introduction with anthem (we are getting to recognise it now), dancers, a pep talk about Independence Day and then by a little after 10pm when darkness was falling the fireworks started. How Laura laughed! We were sitting across a dam (they call it a lake) - maybe 50m from where they were being set off. She had never been so close to fireworks before!
The display was truly spectacular, accompanied by traditional American music! About 15 minutes into it the weather changed from cold and windy to cold, wet and windy then soon afterwards colder, wetter and windier. Eventually we had tolerated enough and the fireworks were stopped. Feeling like absolute blocks of ice we made our way back to our car, then down the mountain the the cabins, where fires were quickly lit in both cabins.
The warmth of the fire and a hot toddy prepared by Mark (Canadian Whisky, water, cinammon, butter and maple syrup I think), while Loz had a juice and I had a green tea. Soon we felt exhausted, but warm.
It was a truly memorable day for all of us!
No comments:
Post a Comment