Lay of the Land: A series of essays on the spirit of Montana
It was an evening in late May 1995. Around midnight, I got back to my room at the Northern Hotel in Billings and picked up the phone. I was desperate to talk to my wife, Mary, who was back home in Scotland, where it was 7 in the morning. The conversation went roughly as follows: (more…) Continue Reading →
Lay of the Land
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Saving Earl—A love story
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Lay of the Land: A series of essays on the spirit of Montana
I made the phone call hoping he wouldn’t answer. This was going to be tough conversation and my husband, although great under pressure, would have a hard time making this decision. I was trying to figure out a way to lessen the impact. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Lay of the Land, Bozeman, Carrie Woolston Hook, chickens
The Most Beautiful Lake in Montana
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Lay of the Land: A series of essays on the spirit of Montana
Beauty is only skin deep? In this case, maybe a bit deeper…
I didn’t start out to find the most beautiful lake in Montana. Rather, at 59, I brushed off an old dream of bicycling solo across the United States. But to fit my dream within work, I would bike the country in multiple stretches over several years — a week or so, 3- to 400 miles at a time. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Lay of the Land, Billings, Circle, Glendive, Highway 200, John Petrik, Jordan, Roundup
One Time Boy
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Lay of the Land: A series of essays on the spirit of Montana
I have never been so anxious to meet another kid in my life. My parents have told us for years about the family that is about to come and visit. They have a boy my age. And several years ago, this boy shot and killed his younger brother when they were playing in the family barn. I have been curious about this boy ever since. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Lay of the Land, 'Fifty-Six Counties', 'High and Inside', 'In Open Spaces', 'The Watershed Years', Boston University, Russell Rowland, West High
West Unchained
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Lay of the Land: A series of essays on the spirit of Montana
I was 17, and it was the final summer before adulthood would crest and flood my carefree world. Just writing this sentence now brings a sigh and a long stare out the window. It’s a sigh filled with more layered emotion than can be sorted out here. It’s a sigh Huck Finn might have managed with his old man’s paunch and gray thinning hair; Huck as a married man, with grown children, looking back on his years along that river. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Lay of the Land, Circle, Huck Finn, Rainier, St. Paul, T.D. Mischke, The Mischke Roadshow
The lone Taurus on the Little Bighorn
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Lay of the Land: A series of essays on the spirit of Montana
Like George Armstrong Custer, I too made a bonehead move on the Little Bighorn. But mine didn’t result in a quick death (“…in the time it takes a hungry man to eat his dinner,” one Indian said of Custer’s demise). (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Lay of the Land, Battle of the Little Bighorn, George A. Custer, Hardin, Tom Vandel
Gramma’s Spoon Rest
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Lay of the Land: A series of essays on the spirit of Montana
It is hard to write about my grandmother. She is wonderful beyond words and, of course, that is true of all grandmothers. But I would posit that my grandmother is the best. (more…) Continue Reading →
Filed under: Lay of the Land, Montana, Driftwood Cafe, East Glacier, Glacier National Park, Oak Ridge Boys
That Dynamite Summer
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Lay of the Land: A series of essays on the spirit of Montana
Editor’s Note: Shortly after Last Best News opened for business, we were surprised and honored to receive unsolicited essays from several friends and a few strangers. We were even more surprised to discover that all of them covered similar ground. Whether in the form of memoir, yarn or personal essay, all of them touched on what it means to live in Montana, or to have formed some connection with this state. (more…) Continue Reading →
