Frozen - On Grant Creek, Missoula, Montana

Stream ice is mesmerizing.
& crazy in how fast it changes. 
This view is along same stretch of creek as in the previous post, but on the very next day, and looking back toward the bridge.

This daily drastic-change aspect observed during my lunchtime walks is making me think how cool would be a photo flip book of the same view, every day, for a year. Bzzzzzp! - you would traverse four seasons in under 5 seconds, and then do it again - bzzzzzzzzp! - and then again, flipping slower - bzzp-bzzzzzp-bzzzzp-bzzzp... pausing to examine a particularly drastic shift....

Years ago, I checked out from the library a small, hardcover book (but not a flip book) of photos taken by a shopkeeper. For years, he walked out in front of his store and snapped a 35mm photo of the same view directly in front of him. His photos illustrated not only how his neighborhood changed - and didn't change - over time, but also how the culture and country shifted and adapted and was at turns neglected and reinvigorated.
It was mesmerizing. 
And so was his commitment.
I personally find it a bit daunting to consider 365 days all at once...BUT maybe even 30 days would still provide enough flippy shift.....the pondering continues...

7 Degrees Below - On Grant Creek, Missoula, Montana

Nothing like below-freezing temps to brisk up the walking pace! But with the sun beaming bright, illusory warmth, who am I to wimp out on a day like today?
 
BONUS: Today's quick-time stride generated a wee, wint'ry poem, to boot: 

winter walk
at nineteen degrees,
 snow squeaks under sole
(and in Celcius
 that's seven below!)
 -ch

Winter Reds - As Seen In Greenough Park, Missoula, Montana

Over the past couple weeks while my workdays kept a pace as brisk as a Montana December sky, winter settled in firmly - if not yet technically.. But I mostly kept my commitment to a daily lunchtime walk, during which I built a nice little stash of sweet winter snapshots to finally share. So, I'm back in the saddle again, & hoping you are still admiring of Montana's daily and never-ending beauty.

Autumn Beauty Tree - Missoula, Montana

"Beauty is one of the
 rare things that do
 not lead to doubt of God."

-Jean Anouilh (1910-1987)

(A bit of a backward stab in this quote...but it does make one stop and think - of the why behind what one believes, on the phrase "benefit of the doubt", of the surrounding plethora of such varied beauty that leaves doubt  in constant challenge, how we cannot assume to know anyone's story that feeds their fear, and how much room there is to give grace....)

Prospective Perspective - Missoula, Montana

“Happiness and joy are not the same thing. 

 Happiness is based on our current circumstances

   but joy is a product of our perspective.”

-Jason Tonn, on November 11, 2018

Crisp Bright Cold - Missoula, Montana

brisk bright winter air
Darjeeling toque warms with thoughts
of India days

-cjh

Orange You Glad - Missoula, Montana

Such outrageous orangey-ness 
amidst our morning meeting feast!

With US Thanksgiving on the horizon,
 timing is ripe to ponder how you might complete
 the thanks-focused phrase: 
"Orange you glad for ________________________?"

(And the above text link provides a few orangey knock-knock jokes to test how thankful your family is to gather together....)

Poured Out Autumn Palette - Missoula, Montana

“One should be a painter.

As a writer, I feel the beauty,

 which is almost entirely colour,

 very subtle, very changeable,

 running over my pen,

 as if you poured a large jug of champagne over a hairpin.”

-Virginia Woolf (1882-1941),

  from The Letters of Virginia Woolf: Volume Six, 1936-1941