Rural Routes, Blog Version

Montana 1978

Thirty-nine years ago, my husband and I drove through northern Montana on our honeymoon, spending nights in Havre and East Glacier Park.

Along the way we stopped at Malta and did some shopping in a western wear shop. My husband bought himself a lined denim jacket that he wore for the next twenty-five years. By the time it was finally retired, that jacket was faded and mended and didn’t quite make it around his middle. He would have kept it longer if he could.

When we returned from our one-week honeymoon, one of the first things we did was open our wedding gifts.

In addition to a homemade comforter, my Amma had given us something from the trunk in her bedroom. It was a treasure trunk of sorts, filled with items she had purchased for future giving, as well as things she had herself been given and later passed along.

Her gift to us was a decorator cushion. In the winter of 1951-52, my dad, his older brother and two friends made a road trip around the United States. My uncle had given Amma this pillow as a souvenir.

It was more than a little gaudy, hearts and flowers on a red background with the word “MOTHER” written diagonally across its front.

In the lower right hand corner, however, were the words “Malta Montana”.

Amma could not have known we would be there during our trip. We ourselves had no idea we would be stopping there.

But it was a coincidence that I could not ignore. I never used the cushion, but I still have it.

Montana 2017

Thirty-nine years later, we had a chance to return to Montana for a second time. Although the purpose of our visit took us to the southern part of the state, we made a point of allowing extra time on the return drive to retrace a small portion of that honeymoon trip.

From Billings we drove up to Malta, which we were told has decreased in population over recent years. The western wear shop was long gone.

From there we drove west to Havre, which has grown in size since 1978. There we found Norman’s Ranch and Sports Wear, a business that has been in the family since the 1950s. The current owner said he took over the business from his father in 1982.

And yes, my husband did buy a new denim jacket there.

WHAT I’VE BEEN READING

“Saving Thunder the Great – the true story of a gerbil’s rescue from the Fort McMurray wildfire” – by Leanne Shirtliffe, illustrations by Georgie Graham, Boulder Publications, Calgary, 2016. This is the story of oilfield worker July Beth Lodge, who faced wildfire, traffic gridlock, an empty gas tank and other challenges to save her son’s gerbil and get to safety. A children’s book, it was an entry in the 2017 High Plains Book Awards.

Embryo Words: Margaret Laurence’s Early Writings, edited by Nora Foster Stovel, illustrations by Anne Cote and Jodie Sinnema, Juvenilia Press, Edmonton, 1997. Where else would I find this but at Margaret Laurence Home in Neepawa? A collection of Laurence’s earliest known stories and poems taken from the Neepawa Collegiate school paper, the United College literary magazine and the University of Manitoba literary journal, the book showcases the themes and vision that would in time characterize her adult work.

“Ordeal”, by Jorn Lier Horst, translated by Anne Bruce, Minotaur Books, New York, 2017. This is the fifth of Jorn Lier Horst’s ten books to be translated into English. The books feature William Wisting, a career policeman in Norway and Horst draws on his own experience as a policeman in that country. I find his books similar to those of Henning Mankell’s with their spare language, although Wisting does not share Wallander’s dark melancholy.