Family Mellmann

In more than 20 years of ringing bells in college, a church choir, a community group, and teaching at Trinity, I have never seen more than one handbell group ring together at the same time.  At a special concert in Livingston, we had the opportunity to see 14 bell choirs perform a free concert after a day-long rehearsal. Each choir practiced the music during their own rehearsals and then came together - from all over Montana and Idaho - for a ringing workshop.  It was a real treat, and made me a little homesick for my old Trinity students in the junior and senior high chime choirs.  It was a very nice concert and ringers did an admirable job given the physical distance from the director (reading music means looking down but following the director means looking up).  Next year this gathering and concert will take place in Billings.  

It has been a fairly low-snow winter season this year.  Cold temperatures have come and gone but the snowfall has been starkly absent.  This lack of precipitation has people concerned about the impact this will have on the late summer dry season and the potential for wildfires.  We spent a couple of days completely covered in clouds where all we could see were the hazy outlines of the rolling hills of our back yard.  When the clouds cleared, we were greeted by dusty white mountains.  We are still loving this view.