Family Mellmann

We were so busy enjoying the time with our Vermont friends and celebrating a wedding that I forgot to take pictures, but here are a few. The wedding takeaway (instead of rice, birdseed, or Jordan almonds) was a packet of wildflower seeds!  How cool.  I know a six acre piece of land in Absarokee where these seeds can take root. The wedding and reception took place on the top floor of a Des Moines building from which we could see all around the city.  We could watch the sun set out one direction and a salvage yard fire out another. But the real highlight was celebrating the wedding of Paul and Laura.  We have known Laura (and her family) for 25 years, so it was a real treat to be able to join our other Vermont friends for this fabulous occasion.  

  While the bride and groom and their families are off doing wedding things, the Vermont contingent - which we are still considered a part of - enjoyed a morning of walking around town here in Des Moines. We checked out the famous farmer’s market. We went to the botanical garden. And we walked everywhere…miles and miles. It has been a great deal of fun seeing our friends again in this uniquely “vacation” setting (we usually see each other at someone’s home for a holiday celebration) and it has been so fun to catch up on everyone, including a couple kids who were able to join us. The countdown is on; two hours to wedding time.

Patrick, who has a few days off before his first big flight, was able to join us for this weekend's wedding festivities in Des Moines Iowa. He arrived late on Friday evening and we get to catch up with all our old Vermont friends.  Check out our handsome son!

I promise not to make this a habit, but I just had to share these rainbow pictures.  We have visited Livingston several times over the years and nearly every single time we have been treated to at least one rainbow and often a double.  Since May 25th, we have had three storms roll through that resulted in some bit of color arched in the sky.  Here are a few pictures. May 25th - a striking double rainbow with a full arch visible May 29th - an intense color that my camera just can't capture June 3rd - another nice rainbow that followed a rocking good storm; not a lot of rain, but quite the thunder and lightning

At the Trinity Baptist School Christmas concert, there was a bit of a Mrs. Mellmann farewell.  It was announced that the school yearbook, which is dedicated to a teacher or staff person every year, was being dedicated to me. This morning - at 8:30AM Vermont time...which means 6:30AM Montana time! - was the final school assembly and the yearbook reveal.  I was invited to Zoom in to the event so that the students could say their goodbyes and make one final plea for me to return (nothing like a little stroke to the ego).  It was fun to see all those faces of my students.  They were animated and energetic, and all too happy to sit in front of the computer and wave at me. After the event, in an email exchange with an old friend and fellow teacher, I learned a little bit of back story.  When the School Administrator announced to the assembled students that I would be joining them by video call, the auditorium erupted in cheers (now, it is important to remember t...

Now that we are in Livingston and settled for the duration (roughly a year), I have started hunting for a local church to call "home" until we move to Absarokee - and begin this process all over. Today I attended Livingston Bible Church.  It is about two blocks from where we live and has a very friendly, if small, congregation.  Biblically sound, nothing crazy.  I attended a Sunday School class and the service. I met several very friendly people, some local and some in town for the high school graduation.  One young woman overheard me to talking about being from Vermont and asked what part of Vermont.  It turned out that she had attended college in Middlebury (where our rental properties are) and has an uncle who lives there.  What a small world.

After four years of college, thousands of hours of flying and training, and spending the last two months in fairly demanding technical training, Patrick successfully completed his "final" (pilots continue to train throughout their career) check ride.  He is officially a First Officer with Sky West Airlines and will soon be flying with actual passengers (besides his mom and dad). I suppose it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway since it's my website, that we are extremely proud parents.  Patrick has worked hard, studied hard, and now he gets to enjoy the career that he chose as a junior in high school.  Way to go, Kiddo.  We're super proud of you.

Joerg and I were sitting in "my office" catching up on the latest news and stories when one of the neighbors stopped by to say "hi".  Mule deer are very common around here and they are not afraid of us at all.  If the door had been open, this one may have just walked right in.  

Since Patrick is busy learning, studying, and training, I thought I might post a little photographic update of his progress. His uniform arrived.  He was fitted for it at one training location and then received it at the next.  His training has taken place in Texas, Utah, Colorado, and Missouri.  It's amazing that it didn't get sent to the wrong destination...like my luggage did once. 🤪   The only thing he's missing now is the cap...which is ordered. I believe these are the helmets that they wear if they have to fight a fire onboard the aircraft...but don't quote me. The rest of these images are of his various types of flight deck training including procedures and systems...and everything in between.  I'm not sure that they are in proper sequence to his training, I just thought it was interesting how they have varying degrees of detail and likeness to the "real thing". (I'm not certain, but I think I recognize that right arm as a Patrick arm. (below))...