Montana Crawdad - Missoula, Montana

Double dose of wildlife interaction during last night's riverside walk: 1) a very looong, healthy garter snake zipped across the rock I was about to step down to - causing me to scream like the girl I am, thus opening the door for conversation with a couple other girl walkers who wished they could have seen the speedy snake, too; 2) the huge crawdad in today's photo kept coming back after we spooked him by getting too close. It was a bit fascinating to watch as he tucked tail to hustle backwards away from us into the crashing river surf, and to speculate whether he was put off by the noise or our shadows - or perhaps crawdads can see out of those beady little eyes better than you'd think. 

By the way, when you come to visit, it's a good idea to wear water shoes at the river.

Impending Autumn Leaves - Missoula, Montana

"Never say there is nothing beautiful in the world anymore. There is always something to make you wonder in the shape of a tree, the trembling of a leaf."

 - Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)

Hip Strip Sunset - Missoula, Montana

"...And dusk crept over the sky from the eastern horizon, and darkness crept over the land from the east."

-John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

Smoky Sunset Drive - Missoula, Montana

"...The will is never free - it is always attached to an object, a purpose. 
It is simply the engine in the car - it can't steer."

- Joyce Cary (1888-1957)

Leand(e)r - Downtown Missoula, Montana

"...Vail'd to the ground, veiling her eyelids close; 

And modestly they opened as she rose. 
Thence flew Love's arrow with the golden head; 

And thus Leander was enamoured. 
Stone-still he stood, and evermore he gazed, 

Till with the fire that from his count'nance blazed 

Relenting Hero's gentle heart was strook: 
Such force and virtue hath an amorous look. ..." 

- from Hero And Leander by Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)

Etch-A-Sky - Above Caras Park, Missoula, Montana

"The sky in the east continued to lighten. A wisp of cloud was slowly being etched in pink against the grey background." 

- from page 169, The Sword Bearer by John White