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

Vast Layers - Mission Mountains, Montana

Random thought on today’s work outfit:

Interesting that structured layers in clothing visually reduce (ie you’ll never know I’m perplexed at sneaky fat regions! Well, except, now you do…), but structured layers in mountain ranges visually reveal an inkling of vastness.

Freshly Snow-Capped - Mission Mountains, Montana

Just as suspected: Clouds from valley rain this weekend kissed the Mission mountaintops with fall snow. First fruits of full winter glory...

Winter Snow and Sunshine - Greenough Park, Missoula, Montana

Winter officially - at last! - and there is plenty of poetic odes to this season.

Click here to immerse in some popular winter poetry, including the full text of Douglas Florian's "Winter Eyes", 
and here to appreciate Janet Martin's thoughtful verse for now or any time of year.

"Look at winter
With winter eyes
As smoke curls from rooftops
To clear cobalt skies.

Breathe in winter
Past winter nose:
The sweet scent of black birch
Where velvet moss grows.
Walk through winter
With winter feet
On crackling ice
Or sloshy wet sleet....."
 - from Winter Eyes by Douglas Florian

Waiting Winter Trees - Corvallis, Montana

"Oh, they are lovely trees that wait

    In the still hall of winter,
    Silent and good where the Good Planter
Fixed the root, wove the branch delicate.

...And here, too, silent by their side
I stand in the woods, listening, upright,

Hearing in the cold of the long pause
    Of the full year
    What trees intend that I should hear…

~ from Trees of Winter by E.B. White

New Growth - Lolo, Montana

After turning onto Highway 12 out of Lolo, Montana, you'll travel through winding miles of standing burned timber set in an understory of scrubby but bright green new growth. I remember a too-long stretch of summer evenings three years ago when we stood on our porch in Missoula looking at the other side of these same mountains backlit with flames coming up from the Lolo side. Night after night, we prayed for rain. And we added to collective prayers for firefighting crews, and for friends of friends who worried about the homes they had to evacuate. 

Montana is an awe-inspiring place, but this butting up against the wilderness engenders a unique variety of concerns.  Getting close to nature is one thing; nature reciprocating can sometimes get a little too close for comfort.

Fence Walk - Missoula, Montana

Fresh snow before I left Montana two-ish weeks ago.  Summery Sri Lankan weather makes that seem a very loooong time ago.

Keep walking along with the Sri Lanka trip at JourneysWithGod.com .

Big Sky Cattle Guard - Livingston, Montana

You know you're in Montana when: the Interstate exit ramp has a cattle guard imbedded just before the stop sign. 

For the unfamiliar, cattle guards are often located at critical roadway junctures amidst wide open grazing lands. 
Click here for slightly more information. 

Please note: Today's photo is not that particular cattle guard - nor is it our Interstate.

Coppertone Chevy - Arlee, Montana

Every real ranch has a rusty old pickup parked somewhere, for back-in-the-day ambiance and reminiscence.

Waiting, East Missoula, Montana

“Never cut a tree down in the wintertime. Never make a negative decision in the low time. Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods. Wait. Be patient. The storm will pass. The spring will come.”
-Robert H. Schuller

SnowClad, Sealy Lake, Montana

“As she crossed the river, a rumour of sunshine stood behind the clouds.” 
- Markus Zusak, from "The Book Thief" , p.472
 
It’s magical, how an outline of new snowfall transforms the commonplace into something entirely serene and worthy of pause-ful contemplation.

Parallels, Sealy Lake, Montana

“Art is a harmony parallel with nature.”
-Paul Cezanne

“The river of time may fork into rivers, in which case you have a parallel reality and so then you can become a time traveler and not have to worry about causing a time paradox.”
-Michio Kaku

Mouses Winter Walk, East Missoula, Montana

“...As he peeked ahead into the great land that stretched before him, the way seemed long. But the sky was bright, and he somehow felt he was headed in the right direction.”
― E.B. White, “Stuart Little”

If Stuart lived where there was more snow, do you think he would have a little vintage  snowmobile? Or a sled pulled by hardy crickets? ("Quit that infernal fiddling and MUSH, I say!")
Okay, not very realistic, I know. But I couldn't think of any creature smaller than a mouse that might actually be out and about in the snow, instead of wisely hibernating. Sigh. 

Blue Shadows, Missoula, Montana

There's a song for everything, if you've been paying attention.
The blue of these shadows provoke - to my mind, at least - "I'm being followed by a moon shadow...". 
I know, I know, we're looking at sun shadows, and the verse lyrics are on the sinister side, but it's a catchy chorus - which I'm sure you'll sing repeatedly, all afternoon, in random snippets, when you're trying to finish something important.
You can thank me in person when you come to visit.

Framed, Missoula, Montana

Walking around a ranch always makes me feel like a kid again, meandering about, never knowing what treasure you might find. Sometimes it was a batch of new kittens, or fresh peas for snacking in the garden, or just the joy of wind blowing your hair and clouds overhead. The open space is full of possibility, if you just take the time to roam a bit.

Hazy Valley, Missoula, MT

The Missoula Valley of western Montana hung under a haze of smoke yesterday, continuing pretty much the same today. But it could have been worse & actually smelled of smoke. Here's hoping for rain.
(Chicken coop courtesy of the rockin'est ranch in Missoula.)