Fallen Leaf Fun - Missoula, Montana

"It is glorious fun racing down the Hump, but you can't do it on windy days because then you are not there, but the fallen leaves do it instead of you. 

There is almost nothing that has such a keen sense of fun as a fallen leaf."

- J.M. Barrie, The Little White Bird, page 122

Feeling Septemberish - Missoula, Montana

"I guess I'm just feeling Septemberish," sighed Chester. "It's getting towards autumn now. And it's so pretty up in Connecticut. All the trees change color. The days get very clear―with a little smoke on the horizon from burning leaves. Pumpkins begin to come out."

- from The Cricket in Times Square, by George Selden

Almost Autumn - Missoula, Montana

"WHAT is there sadd'ning in the Autumn leaves?

Have they that "green and yellow melancholy"

That the sweet poet spake of? Had he seen

Our variegated woods, when first the frost

Turns into beauty all October's charms—

...With a bright bow of many colours hung

Upon the forest tops—he had not sigh'd...."

- from The Indian Summer by William Cullen Bryant

Clark Fork River Sabbath - Missoula, Montana

"The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope."  

- John Buchan (1875-1940)

Shadow Study - Missoula, Montana

Similarly interesting shadow thoughts to ponder from two beloved authors (because I couldn't decide on just one!): 

"So don't be frightened, dear friend, if a sadness confronts you larger than any you have ever known, casting its shadow over all you do. You must think that something is happening within you, and remember that life has not forgotten you; it holds you in its hand and will not let you fall. Why would you want to exclude from your life any uneasiness, any pain, any depression, since you don't know what work they are accomplishing within you."

 - Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

"I am quite likely to re-act to the opposite extreme - to feel rapturously that the world is beautiful and mere existence something to thank God for. I suppose our 'blues' are the price we have to pay for our temperament. 'The gods don't allow us to be in their debt.' They give us sensitiveness to beauty in all its forms but the shadow of the gift goes with it."

 - L.M. Montgomery, My Dear Mr. M: Letters to G.B. Macmillan from L.M. Montgomery

End-Of-Summer Dandelion, Missoula, Montana

There‘s been some chit chat lately on Another Porch about the book “Dandelion Wine“, which inspired me to revisit this all-time favourite story. Perhaps this quote will provoke you to check it out from your local library.
  “Lilacs on a bush are better than orchids. And dandelions and devil grass are better! Why? Because they bend you over and turn you away from all the people in the town for a little while and sweat you and get you down where you remember you got a nose again. And when you’re all to yourself that way, you’re really proud of yourself for a little while; you get to thinking things through, alone. Gardening is the handiest excuse for being a philosopher. Nobody guesses, nobody accuses, nobody knows, but there you are, Plato in the peonies, Socrates force-growing his own hemlock. A man toting a sack of blood manure across his lawn is kin to Atlas letting the world spin easy on his shoulder.”
― Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine