Radial Pine Patterns - Greenough Park, Missoula, Montana

The radial twist of these deadfall limbs was more apparent when it was right in front of me, but contrast patterns still abound betwixt sun, snow and shadows.

Holdover - Missoula, Montana

This mysterious clinging when mass others give way
Is not as uncommon as the ubiquitous ‘they’

Would have us construe.

-ch

Winter Red - Missoula, Montana

“Incomparable beauty, the snow

If only it could wait until the autumn leaves fall”

-From English translations of Waka Poems by Minosuke Noguchi (1875-1972).

Noguchi immigrated from Japan to the U.S. in 1898; for 42 years, he farmed in northeast Colorado, then moved in 1948 with his wife to upstate New York.

 

Click here to read more of his calm thoughts, plus a bit more about this poetry form.

Unexpected Greens - Missoula, Montana

“The real enemies of our life are the 'oughts' and the 'ifs.'

They pull us backward into the unalterable past and forward into the unpredictable future.

But real life takes place in the here and now." - Henri Nouwen (1932-1996)

Streaming Tree Shadows - Missoula, Montana

"A closed heart can't greet
a winter sky…

...Winter trees....

reach for the sky to offer praise –

stark, hard praise, born from all

those rooted years of bearing

the sky's weight….

..My sister, when she was younger,
awoke in winter to hold her arms

up to the sky, shiver in the wholeness
of it, let shadows of winter trees
dance sunlight across her face..."

-    - From “In Praise of Winter Trees” by Bill Brown

(OhPleaseOhPlease click here to be absorbed by the full text of this very lovely poem. 

It's hard to pass up a writer who lives with his wife "and a tribe of cats".)

Indomitable Spirit - UM Grizzly Marching Band - Missoula, Montana

Sadly, the University of Montana Grizzlies' football season is over after Saturday's loss at Eastern Washington University. But it has to be some kind of consolation to have a dedicated marching band cheering you on. Case in point: today's blizzard pic of the UM band during halftime of last weekend's game against San Diego. After playing two songs for the stalwart crowd at our end of the stadium, they marched to the other end and played some more! "Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, not gloom of night ..." - go Griz!

18 Days to Christmas...Missoula, Montana

"Meanwhile, back at the ranch...." 

Just wanted to share  a bit of Montana-styled Christmas decor to stir a little nostalgia for happy days on a ranch or farm.