The first time he received a phone call about a smokejumping job we were in a Korean restaurant in Tucson and he stepped out of the establishment to take the call. When he walked back in, he looked extremely serious, sat down at our table for two, and calmly broke the news that he had been invited to rookie training at the North Cascades Smokejumper Base — a dream come true for him. He had spoken of jumping since our initial meeting in New Zealand when I was 18 and he was 21 so I’m sure you can imagine the span of life that had led up to this moment for us! My reaction was to stomp my boots on the tiled floor, smack my palms down on the table top and emit a howl of joy. In the kitchen, I heard some poor cook drop a stack of dishes in surprise to my rather vociferous response! I was thrilled for Robert, thrilled for us, thrilled to the point of goosebumps like I get when we have a dream become a reality.
Since then, we’ve spent six years straddling the states of Washington and Idaho, moving twice a year to chase the fire season and returning to Idaho for the winter months — some of those summer seasons I spent alone in Idaho when housing in Washington didn’t shake out and those were very lonesome times for us.
All the moving has been too much for me and if I can be completely frank, I didn’t think I had another season in me, at least I didn’t think I could move the studio to Washington again this summer.
It’s one thing to move a home and a family but another thing entirely to pick up a studio space and small business twice a year and shuttle it 16 driving hours down the road, set it up again and find your way back to the work like a drunken homing pigeon.
So when Rob called me from Arkansas in early March to tell me he had been offered a position at the McCall Idaho smokejumper base, my reaction was very similar to that first smokejumping phone call he received six years ago. I stomped my boots on the floor of the strawbale house, slapped a palm down on the kitchen island and screamed aloud.
I WAS THRILLED. I was beyond thrilled, really. And I would like to mention (brag) that Rob’s transfer to McCall is a lateral transfer into a permanent position which everyone thinks is easy to do, but it’s really not easy to do. To take a permanent transfer, a base has to be very sure of the quality of person they are hiring. Once they take that person on, they won’t be able to get rid of them (because that’s how the system works). So with that said, I must offer huge thanks to McCall for taking a chance on my man. They won’t be sorry.
My life has been crazy for so many years now and we have worked hard to make do with less than ideal circumstances every single fire season. There has been the yearly added stress of finding last minute housing or studio space in the Methow Valley which is really totally impossible (think housing crisis due to two consecutive years of the valley, quite literally, burning down). In that moment, when he told me he said yes to the job, I had a sense of STABILITY wash over me. Peace. I said a prayer of gratitude, I lived a prayer of gratitude for days, with all of my heart, feeling almost blissed out by the reality of our lives, and I felt my roots thrust themselves downwards, past the volcanic rock of the Snake River Plain, into the hot core of this state we love.
We are thrilled to be back in the beautiful state of Idaho, full-time. We are delighted to really move forward, full steam, with seeking out and purchasing our working ranch property. We are looking forward to meeting a new branch of fire community in McCall. I’m so happy to no longer be seasonally moving my studio.
In the meanwhile, we’re sorting out life plans for the summer, working out some kinks in the still-unfinished Airstream which we will be living in again, trying to figure out how to get my ’71 Ford down from Winthrop and all the other details that come with a new job and relocation. It’s all a glorious pain in the arse! And I don’t even care!
With all that said, here’s to you, Robbie! You’re the best man I know — the man, the legend. I love you. I am proud of you. Let’s keep on grabbing life by the horns.
[Another typical family portrait for us…milliseconds later, I found myself literally log rolling down this cliff face…thanks for that, babe.]
congratulations to robert!!
and, welcome home to idaho.
xx
Thanks, Pips!!! XXX
Oh girlie I had no idea what your life has been like. You are tough that is for sure. Don’t know if I could’ve done it guess the saying is right ” What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. Good for you both Enjoy your New Life!!
Well, it hasn’t been that horrible but it’s certainly been a bit of a disaster for creative flow and good business! I’m looking forward to pulling “The Noisy Plume” up by her bootstraps!
I knew it! I did. One of those dreams…
Sweet, sweet McCall. Worth every bit of that wait.
Forever Idaho!!!!!!
I have a grin a mile wide!!! Of course you knew it….
XX
Such wonderful news to hear from you! Congratulations to you both… I know how you adore your Idaho. May I make a pre-reservation for yurt space on your female-wilderness-camp? :^) I’m very happy for you.
Thank you for celebrating with us, Karen. As for that ladies hunting and fishing and homesteading camp…well, it’s a long, long way off! But sure, I’ll pen you in!!!
XX
This is such wonderful news for the both of you! On so, so many levels. I hope this means a wee lil person will make their way in next couple years! Hinty hint!
Congratulations to Robert. That is such an amazing accomplishment. I think Idaho wasn’t ready to let either of you go, since you love her so!
Well!!!! That’s quite the hinty hint! 🙂 We’ll just have to wait and see.
I will be sure to pass on your congrats to Robert.
XXX
How wonderful for you both, you really deserve this. I am so very happy to read this wonderful post.
Xo
Dagmar
I don’t know if we deserve it but this is the state for us so it’s good to be back, full-time. Very good.
XX
Golly, I’m thrilled for you both. What wonderful news! I can feel you beaming all the way here in Seattle 😉
…like I’m made of sunshine! XX
This is fabulous, this was your new year dream and it has come true, back to Idaho all year long, I am so happy for both of you, hope you find the house (ranch?) of your dreams..stability… a studio that you won’t have to move ….this is a real real real happy news!!!! You must be sooo happy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bravo!!!
We’ll have all of those things in due time. But this job transfer is a huge step in the right direction for us. Thank you for sharing in our joy!
YAY!! XO
I’m glad Chris and I aren’t the only ones who toss each other lovingly off cliffs. I have the same vest. If you’re ever going to log roll down a cliff- it is the garment of choice.
IT’S THE BEST VEST EVER! Actually, I have a vest from the generation before this vest and it is truly the best down vest ever. It was from before they started trying to make down jackets sleek and un-puffy. I like my puffies PUFFY. Anyway, you can take a girl out of Canada but she won’t stop wearing MEC. HA HA HA!!!
Well, I don’t think Rob meant to toss me off the cliff but he initially pushed me hard enough that he couldn’t recover! Guffaw! Oh well. Nothing the laundry machine can’t fix.
XX
Congratulations to you both! Cant wait to see the blooms from those roots you’re putting down! xoxo
Me too! We’re going to shoot skyward like aloe vera spikes!!!
Jillian! What amazing news! I’ve been following your blog for years, and I know how much this means. And… as an added bonus, maybe, FINALLY, your hankering for a good horse of your own can become reality! I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for you! <3
Thanks for crossing those fingers! I’m hoping for the exact same thing.
Congratulations! I had to look up where McCall is (East Coast girl – not up on my western geography) and it looks like a lovely mix of accessible wilderness and local breweries, two things key for me, at least! Good luck on this next journey!
McCall is really cool (but I am not a beer drinker…). The best thing about town itself is the LAKE!!!!! It’s gorgeous, natural and clean. But the area also is a major gateway into the Frank Church Wilderness and we all know how I feel about that wilderness area. I can’t wait to explore this summer! It’s going to be a lot of fun.
X
Congrats! I follow your blog but never comment (I love your pictures…and art!) I live in Montana and have worked on trails all around Idaho. Such a beautiful place, probably why I am drawn to your blog. Congrats on McCall and thanks to your husband’s work—us trail workers are indebted to firefighters! And to you—for the people that use those beautiful Wilderness trails! It would be a lonely job without the folks that we cross paths with in the woods.
Hannah,
I’ll pass on your thanks to Robbie! Thanks for the work you do, too. I’m a trail user in the summer months and boy do I ever appreciate what you guys do to keep access open.
Have a beautiful summer!
X
they say all roads lead home, and you should know because you’ve pretty much taken all of them and *home* you are!! i am beyond thrilled, first for the rush of relief in knowing that you have the longed-for stability and opportunity to plan with a purpose, and second for the good things that are certain to come from rooting down in your beloved Idaho. this is THE best!! i wish you great joy in moving forward, the deep resounding joy of all the pieces fitting neatly together and seeing the fruition of your dreams manifest.
i’ve often wondered, given my own penchant for rootedness, how you have managed to pull up roots on such a regular basis and make it all look like a grand adventure. perhaps you’ve been a bit too convincing, as when you sold the house and drove away i wasn’t sure that you’d find your way back. you’ve been a brave soul, a supportive spouse, and a determined creative. congratulations to you and Rob– and welcome HOME!!!
It’s true!
They do!
Pulling up roots for the past six years HAS been a grand adventure, but an exhausting one. I think it really would have been very different for me if I simply went back and forth between jobs in Pocatello and Winthrop but to watch “The Noisy Plume” suffer for it and become so stagnant at times has been really hard for me. I love my business and I love to do it well. It’s been SUPER to fire up all the creative cylinders this winter and I’m going to carry that power and momentum through into the summer.
Love ya, baby!
X
FABULOUS!!!! I’m SO happy for you both! Step one in the plan and you’re on your way to wonderful things to come. Studio – Horse – Ranch – Frank Church – and the wild, wild WEST!
YAAAAAA HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
🙂
XXXX
Congrats indeed to both of you…welcome back to IDAHO! x
Thanks, M!
XXXXX
Here is to Love, Resilience, Patience and Faith !!! Oh, how glorious… I had goosebumps and tears and a happy big smile while reading this post. This made my day!
Thank you for being so true, and raw, and for allowing such beautiful, intense-vicarious moments into our lives.
Happy hugs xo
Emmanuelle!
Thank you for celebrating with us!
XXX
Congrats! McCall is so beautiful, we have a lot of friends that have moved or want to move to the area! I couldn’t imagine picking things up every season, kudos to you! Enjoy the chaos for now 🙂
I’m doing that duck thing: calm on the surface while I paddle like hell under the water. HA HA HA!
Thanks for being here!
roots and wings, babe, roots and wings!….xo
HEART HEART HEART!!!
XXX
Yay! Excited for you both!
XX
Oh, that is such wonderful news!! I have been with you since your Arizona days and I am just SO thrilled for you both!! I felt your difficulties when you were in the Methow last summer, through your photos and words. I am so glad you are HOME now!!
Kim,
Ah yes. So many difficulties last summer, of the studio and of the soul. I did a lot of wrestling. And I made it (though with a few less brain cells due to the carbon monoxide poisoning of forest fire smoke). It didn’t kill me, but I was so glad to get out of there at the end of the season. Looking back, I was completely socially brain fried and in need of serious introvert hermit time. 🙂
We’re so thankful that you are celebrating with us. And thank you for being with me since Arizona! That’s amazing!!!
XX
Well let me just say a FUCK YEAH!!! And a HALLELUJAH!!! And a HOOOOAAAAHHHHHH!!!! I’m so thrilled for you! Can’t wait to see what comes next!
GUFFAW!!!
Love you, girl.
Come swimming in McCall with me this summer.
BRING THAT DAMN PUPPY.
XX
Yippee Kiy~Yay!!!
What awesome news! and you may not feel you deserve it but you’ve certainly E.A.R.N.E.D it! A BIG congratulatory hug for Robert & a squeal of joy for you! This road ahead is gonna be grand!
XOX,
N.
We have worked VERY hard and we will continue to work hard. It becomes more clear to us as time passes that big dreams are work all the hard work. Always.
You’re a babe.
XX
J
Congrats and enjoy each step…xoxo!
Thank you, Helen!
Best news of any kind I’ve heard in donkey’s years.
:))))
Welcome home.
:)))!!!
I know.
XXX
That is good news for you guys-we need to arrange a visit to your beloved Idaho for sure-BUT- I have been trying to get in touch with you for six months now Jill-I have something you may be interested in for your studio-please fire me an email or text.
Aunt Shell!
Thanks for leaving this comment! Sometimes Saskatchewan feels very far away!
I’ll shoot you an email this weekend.
LOVE YOU.
X
So many congratulations to you both. I live in Colorado and have been to Montana many times (west side mostly) and have been through Idaho – very lovely. Glad you’re back where you feel you most belong. Hard to believe it’s been 6 years of the shuttling back and forth (wow – that went fast) and hugely relieved all that stress is now over for you. You must let us know the moment you get a ranch – and more importantly a horse!! Hug a dog when you feel overwhelmed – it’ll all come together as it should.
There has been stress but I also feel lucky that I was able to live in the Methow as much as I was — it’s a beautiful place and the North Cascades are a wonderful spot to wander and fish and camp and backpack and trail run. So it was hard, all the moving, but we were going back and forth between beautiful places so I really cannot complain!
I’ll continue to keep you all up to date with our life events! I’ve kept this space for so long, I can’t quit it now!
🙂
Thank you for being here.
X
Congratulations! Such wonderful news. Sending so much love and light your way for what’s ahead.
Thank you, Stephanie!
So happy for you two! And I love that photo!
Thank you Judy!
Such wonderful news for you (and maybe for some us waiting patiently for a piece of noisy plume jewelry 😉 !!!! Congrats to you both!!!
Elisa! I know! I am really looking forward to pulling “The Noisy Plume” up by the bootstraps. I’ve been working very hard on some secret projects that I will unveil soon. 🙂
XX
CONGRATULATIONS!!! I recently found “The Noisy Plume” and was able to purchase one of your necklaces. Now I find that we are both making a new home in McCall! I too work for the Forest Service and am going to be at the McCall Ranger District. It would be fun if our path’s cross.
Safe Travels and Cheers to our new endeavors.
Rebecca
Shut the front door! Well, congrats on YOUR new job — I hope we bump into each other this summer. You know where to email me at: thenoisyplume at gmail dot com.
You’ll have to let me know all about the best trails to gallivant on. 🙂
Here’s to our new location this summer!
X
HOORAY! What a cause for CELEBRATION,EH?
From high desert IDAHO to high elevation IDAHO!{living in the sticks}😀 So so thrilled for your news!!! BEWARE! You will fall MADLY,DEEPLY,HOPELESSLY in love with McCall!one of Idaho’s best for sure! The mountain resort town has much to offer! The ‘LAKE’ you are so right the LAKE…..Smack dab in the middle! For the outdoor enthusiast McCall has it all! The gateway to Frank church is convenient and vast. Really Jillian….you couldn’t have landed anywhere more perfect!
Being interested in ranch life…..the two of you have lots of exploring options, east of McCall is Cascade/Donnelly…..west,New Meadows.Before coming into Cascade and after leaving New Meadows……great meadows,homesteads…..ranches!ALL surrounded by the beauty of the Idaho mountain range!
You are getting closer to me so I am convinced we are destined to cross paths! I am 2 driving hours from my home in the Boise valley to the cabin we stay at there! My friend owns the local yoga studio(Shanti Yoga) in McCall…they hold FAB workshops,classes and a great yoga community if you are interested in that!
My parents owned an acreage(ranchette) outside of Cascade for years and my husband has work history there as well over the years. We have many friends and acquaintances all around that part of Idaho.We love the area and spend as much time recreating there year round as possible.
Again, Big big congrats to both of you on your great news! You will THRIVE there!
If you have/need any crazy little quirky questions answered or need more info……I will do my best to help answer or direct you. I am adventurous too but that doesn’t mean I like waltzing into anything blind if I don’t have too!💃🏼
Looking so forward to your new chapter and hearing/seeing the remarkable experiences and images you are certain to capture! PURE JOY! xx
Robin!
Shoot me a note when you are in McCall this summer, I would love to finally have that cup of coffee with you.
We’ve actually been shopping for ranches in the next valley West of the Payette for about 4 years now. We know right where we want to be.
It’s going to be a fun summer, learning a new place.
Don’t be a stranger!
XX
Long time reader, first time commenter! So happy for you guys to find a permanent home. That was the deep longing/prayer of my heart for a long time and, just when we needed it most, God answered. He is so good!
Jojo,
We’re working on it! Now that we’re in Idaho full time, the next step is to find our ranch! There’s still a lot to do but that cornerstone is in place and we’re deeply thankful for that.
Thank you for being here and for leaving your first comment ever!
XX
WOOHOO! So happy for the two of you. And wow, McCall. You lucky duck! I haven’t been around the blog world lately but always enjoy stopping by. Gotta get my Idaho fix somehow, right? 🙂
We’re always living in such beautiful places!!!
Love seeing you here and always appreciate you taking the time to pop by!
XX
Congratulations on the milestone! I’m raising my glass of home brew Kombucha in toast to yall. Can’t wait to see what you share with us this year in your gorgeous & creative works.
I raise my home brewed glass of kombucha to clink against your own!!! 🙂
XX
Hi Jillian, I’m a reader and a fellow federal employee that is living through the difficulties/rollercoaster of emotions associated with this kind of work and lifestyle. I’m so glad that you are finding your way back to the place that is most special to you and congratulations on your husbands new job: such and huge deal! It is wonderful to have the reminder that all our hard work and struggle in the federal system (even with all is challenges) can lead us to a what we want and need in work, life, love, and place.
p.s. you’ve inspired me to take up fishing this summer–we’ve got some lovely mountain lakes and streams here in central Utah where I’m a BLM archaeologist.
So much luck to you and yours in Idaho!
Am so excited for you and Robert. I grew up on a ranch in the mountains near there, and would give you a heads up about the gloomy fog in N.M. valley west of McCall. McCall is more expensive, but has gorgeous sunshine most of the year, plus tons more social when you are in the mood. Better local markets for your art, too.
A few years ago I had a heart attack followed that same night by a horrific stroke. Took a long time to learn to walk and talk again. Recovered to about 40% of myself the first year, and am perhaps 70% of myself now. Your blog and photos were the only thing that helped me remember who I’d been and why I needed to fight my way back. Last October I took myself camping along with my dog Journey up into Montana in the Crystal Mountain area for six days and nights. Without your inspiration I doubt I’d have ever left the house under my own power again. I’ll be 60 this year. You are opening minds and elevating potentials for all women. Thank you.
Congrats on moving to McCall! I lived there & fought fire on the Payette NF. It’s a place surrounded by wild spaces, moose, Eagles, bear… You will love it! I hope to move back there someday, it’s a special place. Yay for roots finding solid ground! It’s a great feeling.
Hi there! I live in McCall and have followed along with your work and photos for a while now! They are always so inspiring and oh so lovely! A bunch of my friends and roommates work at the base and at the helibase, hopefully we will run into each other in town! Can’t wait to see your photos of McCall 🙂 Big McCall welcome, you’ll love it here!
Whoop wallahoop!
How exciting!! I am so happy for you two special people! XX
I’ll drive the truck! Me me pick me 😘
Oh, how awesome Jillian and Robert. I’m thrilled for you. And I spit my coffee out reading that last line. Had an instant memory of the time I watched my friend Ann who was visiting me log roll down Mt. Jumbo alongside her water bottle, which was basically rolling the exact same way, just a bit faster, and I as laughing so hard I couldn’t even move to do anything to help. Still cracks me up every time I think about it.