Light Wind Water Stones - Bitterroot River, Blodgett Rotary Park, Hamilton, Montana

“... I take what is: 

The light beats on the stones, 

the wind over water shines 

Like long grass through the trees...”

- from “The Words” by David Wagoner (1926-2021)

Bitterroot River Dusk - Blodgett Rotary Park, Hamilton, Montana

Yesterday evening's Bitterroot River ramble conjured fond thoughts of Ratty and Mole.

"Then they got out their boat from the boat-house, sculled down the river home, and at a very late hour sat down to supper in their own cosy riverside parlour, to the Rat's great joy and contentment." - The Wind in the Willows, Ch 2, 

by Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932)

Connections - Railway Trestle, Bonner, Montana

“Books are bridges, my father had said to me when I was a child. They show how we’re connected.”

-Jessie “Kit” Carson (1876-1959) in Miss Morgan's Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles, p. 41 (LT edition)

Riverbank Path At Maclay Flats, Bitterroot River - Missoula, Montana

“... By the side of the river he trotted as one trots, when very small, by the side of a man who holds one spellbound by exciting stories; and when tired at last, he sat on the bank, while the river still chattered on to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea.” —Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932), The Wind in the Willows)

Focus Further - Kootenai Creek, Stevensville, Montana

“It is never quite safe to think we have done with life. When we imagine we have finished our story, fate has a trick of turning the page and showing us yet another chapter.” - L. M. Montgomery (1874-1942), Rainbow Valley, chapter 13

Neurosis At Bay, For Today - Greenough Park, Missoula, Montana

“I think it was Thomas Merton who said that the easiest way to rid yourself of neurosis is to surround yourself with nature, or more specifically trees.

"You can't be neurotic in front of a bunch of trees," he claimed; nor, I hasten to add, in front of dunes or sea or humble scrub pine. 

Standing here at the edge of the world shows me how exaggerated my own emotions seem to be. 

This, strong, silent place interrupts confusion, rage, and depression, and just now I feel more at home with the landscape than with people.”

-Joan Anderson, in A Year By The Sea, p.13

Infinite Flow - Missoula, Montana

Best book dedication I’ve read lately:
“Dear Grandma, 
Because you lived as is there was no finish line.
May we all learn to live such an infinite life.
Love,
Simon
- Simon Sinek, from The Infinite Game

Autumn Edges - Rattlesnake Creek, Missoula, Montana

“Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges.”   -Herman Melville (1819-1891)

 

A Good Day For Fishing - Bitterroot River, Hamilton, Montana

(Look close for the two fisher-persons, a bit left of the bend on the grassy right bank...)

"He told us about Christ's disciples being fisherman, and we were left to assume...that all great fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were fly fisherman and that John, the favorite, was a dry-fly fisherman."   -Norman Maclean (1902-1990), in A River Runs Through It

Lighted Pathway - Clark Fork River, East Missoula, Montana

Almost as if there are soft cloud lanterns lighting a quieter path for evening strolling water sprites...

Poured Out Autumn Palette - Missoula, Montana

“One should be a painter.

As a writer, I feel the beauty,

 which is almost entirely colour,

 very subtle, very changeable,

 running over my pen,

 as if you poured a large jug of champagne over a hairpin.”

-Virginia Woolf (1882-1941),

  from The Letters of Virginia Woolf: Volume Six, 1936-1941

Early Spring Shoreline - Kookoosint Fishing Access Near Plains, Montana

“There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.”

- Steven Wright

 (Full disclosure: This view was from a few weeks ago, ahead of the extreme high water we're seeing now across the State of Montana.) 
 

Bitterroot Valley Haze - Hamilton, Montana

Trees on the opposite bank of the Bitterroot River are gauzy with wildfire smoke drifting down from nearby fires. 

A bit of a breeze allows for better air quality along the water, so it was nice to get outside for a bit of a ramble.