“From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭113:3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I met up with one of my favorite Sisters on the Fly last night for dinner. Michelle Michelle Cummings is an amazing woman. She created a business nearly 20 years ago because she couldn’t find a job doing what she loved. She now travels all over the world teaching team building to major corporations. She just returned from Beijing and I was thrilled she had a little time to spend with me while I’m in Colorado.

First, let me say how gorgeous her home is. Michelle is one of the craftiest women I’ve ever known. She turned her garage into a workspace that would make Joanna Gaines green with envy. She lined the walls with corrugated tin from the roof of an old barn than blew down on her parents’ farm in Kansas. She hung windows as well as her grandparents’ front door on the walls. She turned salvaged wood into a trunk to store camping chairs in. She converted an ancient fridge into winter boot storage. There is a place for everything and I’m not kidding when I say everything is in its place.

We sipped on coconut-lime “mocktails” as we nibbled on fabulous green olives she found at Costco. (Maybe she’ll see this and tell us the name of the olive. They weren’t too salty and had a nice, firm texture.) We chatted as she prepared Brussels sprouts and bacon to go with a delightful homemade chicken salad. We carried our meal out into the yard and ate at the white farm table under a string of market lights. Her obvious green thumb was apparent wherever you gazed…from the beautiful rock garden bursting with colorful flowers to the elevated stock tanks holding her vegetable gardens to get them up away from the rabbits. She built a wooden wall and hung another of her grandmother’s windows, a floral wreath, and little shutters made from chippy green painted wood that had been salvaged.

Everything has a story. Every antique, every gift, every piece of wood or sign or windmill fan. Michelle’s Kansas roots are proudly displayed. She has a stack of vintage suitcases, some belonging to her grandmother, on either side of the piano. She keeps Halloween costumes in one. A couple have camping gear. Several hold crafting supplies like beads and yarn. Storage in plain view that is pleasing to the eye and adds to the obvious farmy esthetic.

Our conversation varied from Sisters on the Fly and the inimitable Maizie Morrison, Sister #0, to “The Reel Sisters”, Michelle’s recently published debut novel depicting the lives and friendship of five women fly fishers, to her travels to exotic locales. She regaled me with stories of climbing the Great Wall of China and how the Chinese bring out the grossest foods just to see what your response will be. Michelle was one of the first Sisters on the Fly I met and we became fast friends.

As I finally pulled myself away and headed home, I had to stop at a school parking lot and snap this picture of the sunset. This is what gives Colorado her nickname…”The Colorful State”. It was a lovely evening and I hated for it to end. One week left of this trip…it’s going by too fast. ❤