If you have read Home Is Where the Heart Is, you know that Freezeout Lake provides a key scene in the book. DH and I had the opportunity to visit lately (he’d never been). Although most of the birds are there in spring and fall, we saw lots of different species and enjoyed our time … until the gumbo.

More on that later.

The white pelicans were a joy to watch, especially since a group appeared near us. To see a video of them cavorting, go to my Facebook page.

I first visited Freezeout Lake in the 1970s when the white geese migration was taking place. The noise as thousands of white geese left the waters to fly to the nearby stubble of farmer’s fields was defining. It was like watching a white blur. To get an idea of what it’s like, visit this YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B43tb6EW8E4.

Freezeout Lake is also going to appear in the third book of the series, Leaving Home, when artist Dylan Beck goes out to paint it and finds something unexpected on his way back to the ranch.

Both the first book in the series, Home Is Where the Heart Is, and the second, Finding Home, are available now at your favorite online bookstore. They can also be ordered from your favorite brick and mortar bookstore.

Oh, yes, the gumbo. It had just rained the night before and while the roads within the Freezeout area were fine, the one we took to get out was a slick mess of mud, known in Montana as gumbo. I was the pour soul stuck with driving. DH alternated between, “Don’t stop, whatever you do,” and “Do you want me to drive?”

I just shook my head and white-knuckled it out of there!