Handsome Pastures - Near Ovando, Montana

"All over the land are vast and handsome pastures, with good grass for cattle, and it strikes me the soil would be very fertile were the country inhabited and improved by reasonable people."

- Alvar N. C. de Vaca (c.1490-c.1557)

Gas Stop On The Hi-Line - Shelby, Montana

"Go back to sleep. The hour is small.

     A freight train between stations

Shook you out of sleep with all

        Its lonely ululations....

The hour is small. Resume your rest. 

        Tomorrow will be kinder. 

Here comes a freight train nosing west, 

        Pulling the dawn behind her."

- From Lullaby Near the Railroad Tracks by A. E. Stallings

Read the full text of this lovely train poem here.

Long Road Home - Near Ovando, Montana

Walking out to the school bus on childhood weekday mornings, our driveway seemed to be at least a mile long.. We moved from the farm when I was 12, and the first time I drove by our old home as an adult, I realized my younger perspective was rather skewed - a mile was extremely far-fetched. Six-year old eyes - and little legs - see a view entirely their own.

Perspective is an interesting thing. When you're in the middle of your own, it's hard to see any other. Rather along the lines of "can't see the forest for the trees". But if we can draw from other experience - even borrowed will do! - and mentally and emotionally step slightly outside our immediate circumstance, we see a bigger picture that is often less dire than we'd first supposed. And this can, in turn, inform our next choices with an entirely different, brighter light. 

Enact, pause, repeat. 

And be reminded how this living and learning requires time and grace!

Big Sky Reflections - Near Browns Lake, Montana

The fishing access sign just up the road announced three miles to Browns Lake, where it's reported by those who know such things that "...Trolling is best done using weighted flies such as Wooly Worms and standard spoons and spinners." But shore anglers can find success with marshmallows and cheese. Bring some graham crackers and chocolate and you'll be set for the campfire, too.