A Visit with Good Friend (and La Lair's Maker)

     I said "Au'Voir" to the Idaho Panhandle . . .

. . . . and "Bon Jour" to the northwestern corner of Montana, Lincoln County, where the Cabinet Mountains (still snowy at the top) dominate every view.

     After crossing into Montana, I spent a night at a campground where the Yaak River (click here for map) flows into the Kootenai River. I unloaded my bicycle, locked it to the picnic bench, and covered it with a green rain-fly before falling asleep inside La Lair. In the morning, I removed the rain-fly and surprised a critter (or rather, the critter surprised me). See  the critter? See my helmet inside the right pannier?

Yep! That's nesting material inside my helmet!

     Three other mice scurried away, one went under my bike seat, and two hid under the pannier (on top of the picnic bench seat).

"We're busted!" Micky says to Minnie.

I put their nest (12 hours of hard work) on the picnic table and moved on.

     La Lair's maker, Chef Renauld, lives in the Cabinet Mountains. I'm visiting with him before heading north to Canada. But first, a quicky visit to the Kootenai River Falls; it's a beautiful easy walk (photo above) in the woods and over the railroad tracks (photo below).

     The Kootenai Water Falls are unlike other falls; it's a staircase winding, gently cascading falls over shelves of rocks.  This is the "Swinging Bridge" over the river.

     My good friend Chef Renauld (click here for my first post about him) is the designer and maker of La Lair. With my specifications and lifestyle in mind, he donated about 5,000 hours of his time, home, workshop, numerous skills and tools, and TLC to me and La Lair (click here for La Lair's build page). He's also an excellent chef and connoisseur of home gardens with a special affinity for roses (his grandmother's favorite flower).

Oodles of flowers are planted amongst his veggies.

Chive blossoms (above, very tasty in a salad) and the bees' favorite, the Poppy  (below).

The bees are frenzic about the Poppies!

The Columbine (below) isn't as popular with the bees.

     Chef Renauld introduced me to the wonderful unique taste of squash blossoms. I like them lightly rolled in cornmeal and Cajun seasoning and sautéed quickly till light brown, then eaten instantly. It's a fleeting rare delicacy!

Snow in Summer (groundcover flower below) . . . 

In fact, his garden is too tempting for deer. They busted through his gate and he had to build a new one.

     This week we'll create dishes in the kitchen, debate politics and solve the world's problems (always fun!) and walk the mountain trails with his three doggies. That's one of the dogs in photo below, not a Black bear!

We're keeping a watchful eye on the Robin Family, too.

     Always enjoy Chef Renauld's home-cooking too, especially his garden rhubarb strawberry cheesecake . . . 

. . . and for the road, his oatmeal/cranberry/pecan cookies sprinkled with flaxseed. He'll help me with a slight repair on my bike, too. But there's nothing to be fixed or repaired on La Lair because he customized La Lair so everything would last forever :)