Fall Throwback - Haystacked - W. US Hwy 12 Near Helena, Montana

"People who think it’s so hard to find a needle in a haystack are probably not quilters. Needles find you. Just walk on the haystack for a second. You’ll find the needle." -Jenny Lawson in Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things

New Year Blessing - West of Helena, Montana

"May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back. 

May the sun shine warm upon your face, 

the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again, 

may God hold you in the palm of His hand." - Traditional Irish blessing

Autumn Urban Grasses - Helena, Montana

In front of someone else’s home, it was easy to focus on the fall beauty of these sidewalk invaders on this gorgeous blustery autumn day in Helena, Montana.

Azurous Hung Hills - Near Helena, Montana

• “And the azurous hung hills are his world-wielding shoulder…”
• - Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) from Hurrahing in Harvest
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Harvest Stack - Near Helena, Montana

“Summer ends now; now, barbarous in beauty, the stooks rise

Around; up above, what wind-walks! what lovely behaviour

• Of silk-sack clouds! has wilder, wilful-wavier
• Meal-drift moulded ever and melted across skies?”
• - Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) from Hurrahing in Harvest
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Musical Time - Near Helena, Montana

“Art is how we decorate space, music is how we decorate time.”  -Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)

May your “decorating” on this second spring day be inspired by the Grand Creator of all things bright and beautiful, brave and small.

Weighted Sky - Big Belt Mountains, Near Helena, Montana

“[The Montana sky], it vaulted and one could get crushed under the weight of heaven.”

- Gabriel Du Pré in Specimen Song by Peter Bowen (1945-2020)

Prison Made (Not the Zephyr) - Helena, Montana

The 1948 Lincoln Zephyr's detailed trunk latch is pretty sweet - but just as intriguing is the vintage Prison Made license plate.
Montana issued its first “Prison Made” vehicle license plate in 1928, pulling production from costly out of state makers. 
Check out Sean R. Heavey's colourful plate sampling here in his post from February 3, 2017. 
Even though the “Prison Made” stamp was only a feature from 1939 to 1957, Montana Correctional Enterprises at Deere Lodge state prison continues to manufacture the ever-expanding variety of Montana license plates - and a host of other products that you can view here.

Zephyr Unity Lights - Helena, Montana

Like a siren call, I was drawn back to a few shots of the 1948 Lincoln Zephyr we saw at an estate auction earlier this month, in Helena, Montana, so please bear with me. 

The detail of the chrome engraving is such a thing of fine beauty - it speaks of time when careful attention to detail was more the norm. I like to think it was a more gracious time in general - a distinct contrast to the caterwauling going on in our present-day media and politics, which saddens and annoys me to no end. 

But I realize it was also a harder time for the bulk of people in our countries. Maybe that's what's missing - a drastic decline in hard physical labour and deprivatious conditions allows for.excess foolish and uncivil blather...but I digress, and so leave you to ponder the calming chrome - engraved with the one elegant word: Unity.
(Hmmm...shinier shades of the Lorax, perhaps...?)

Lincoln Zephyr - Helena, Montana

A few days after I returned home from India, The Best Husband Ever had a wild hair to jaunt over to Helena, Montana, and check out an estate auction that included numerous classic cars which had been stored in a barn for decades. 
Jet-lag stupour not-withstanding, of course I said yes! -  partly because I was intrigued as to what could induce a man who shies obsessively away from buying stuff to subject himself to an estate auction! (Turns out, he'd never been to one before....)

A good time was had by all - and we did not bring home a classic car project, or anything else, for that matter ( whew!).
(By the way, the 1948 Lincoln Zephyr V12 went for $42k or thereabouts - a little rich for us.)

Looking Up - I-15 Corridor North of Helena, Montana

“So look up…

Take in your surroundings, 

make the most of today…”

 -from poem “Look Up” by Gary Turk

Side Doorway, Helena, Montana

Side Doorways
No glorious glass glow
Nor grandeur of saints watching
Just entering in
With work-calloused hands
Raised to practical praise
- c.hull

Temple Emanu-el, Helena, Montana

While currently home to offices of the Catholic Diocese of Helena, the cornerstone of this stalwart structure laid in 1890 anchored the first Jewish temple between St. Paul, MN, and Portland, OR.
Despite significant modifications in the 1930s, the Hebrew date 5651 still graces the cornerstone as testament to its legacy. More visible from the sidewalk, a National Register of Historic Places plaque entices the curious passerby to pause and learn.
Click here to read more history of this enduring piece of Montana’s capitol city and view the architectural changes from its original construction.

Sainted Doorkeepers, St. Helena's Cathedral, Helena, Montana

"Be an opener of doors for such as come after thee.”
 - Ralph Waldo Emerson, American Poet, Lecturer and Essayist, 1803-1882

Higher, St. Helena's Cathedral, Helena, Montana

The Cathedral Builders 
by John Ormond

They climbed on sketchy ladders towards God,
with winch and pulley hoisted hewn rock into heaven,
inhabited the sky with hammers,
defied gravity,
deified stone,
took up God's house to meet him,
and came down to their suppers
and small beer...


(Read the entire poem and view historical photos here.)

Invitation, Helena, Montana

“A real conversation always contains an invitation. You are inviting another person to reveal herself or himself to you, to tell you who they are or what they want.” - David Whyte  

Soaring, Helena, Montana

The worries of a glass ceiling gain beneficial perspective during time spent beneath limitless ceilings that soar heavenward.

Chapel a la Faberge, Helena, Montana

Stepping into this smaller side chapel of St. Helena's Cathedral, I immediately thought, “I’m inside a Faberge egg…”, albeit a very hushed and holy egg. 

And if I’d drunk some of Alice’s shrinking beverage, I would be scaled to about the right height to be in an egg. 

Much better than being inside a magical pumpkin, I would imagine.

Side Street View, Helena, Montana

“We say nothing essential about the cathedral when we speak of its stones. We say nothing essential about Man when we seek to define him by the qualities of men.” - Antoine de Saint-Exupery  (author of "The Little Prince")
 
(Hmmmm....chew on that last bit and please Comment with your deep thoughts.)

Elevated Perspective, Helena, Montana

The Cathedral of St. Helena (in Helena, Montana, no less!) is a sensory feast, akin to a lavish North American Thanksgiving spread for the eyes and soul. More tasty helpings in days to come...