Spring rainfall last night and into this morning punched up the colour vibrancy east of Lincoln, Montana, and made for a gorgeous Montana road trip day. (Now we just need those fruitful clouds to head north and tamp down Alberta’s wildfires and smoky skies, please Lord.)
“Sometimes it is enough to be near something lovely. It doesn't require possession; nothing has to come of it, nothing need be created from it. Let its purpose be to exist solely as a thing of beauty and provide joy.”
-Chi Chi Armandonada in Tony’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani, p. 590 (large type edition)
May you recapture “perspective for these riches“ for today.
“And so it is that most people have no idea how beautiful the world is and how much magnificence is revealed in the tiniest things, in some flower, in a stone, in tree bark, or in a birch leaf. The grown-ups, going about their business and worries, and tormenting themselves with all kinds of details, gradually lose the perspective for these riches that children, when they are attentive and good, soon notice and love with their whole heart…“ - Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), letter to Helmut Westhoff, Nov. 12, 1901 in: Briefe, p. 31
“This is my Father’s world,
And to my list’ning ears
All nature sings, and round me rings
The music of the spheres….”
-Maltbie D. Babcock, (1858-1901), This Is My Father’s World
“Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.” —Martin Luther (1483 - 1546), attributed, The Lutheran Witness, 1935
At a recent “welcome home to Montana” reception held for an antique Hazelton Brothers piano - perhaps Missoula’s first! - that originally graced the 1880 home of Missoula co-founder Francis Lyman Worden, the luscious interweaving layered lines of the soundboard caught my attention. Fortuitously, the piano’s technician/tuner was on hand, noodling through some artsy chords. A gap in group conversation allowed me to ease in the query, “Where do the hammers strike the bass strings?” My key takeaway: The design is truly an opposite-world marvel of musical engineering during the instrument’s era morphing from harpsichord to current upright and grand pianos. You can read more on the history of this piano in the (delightful present-day) Worden family in Cory Walsh’s story here.
Just a little reminder why last frost/safe planting dates in Western Montana are typically late May…
