Plain Intimacy - Near Shelby, Montana

"There was a sense of intimacy 

and exclusion about 

the vast, open plains 

that always 

made her feel at home."

- from The Spider's Web by Margaret Coel, page 218

(By the way, today's oil painting effect is courtesy of PicsArt.)

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.

Hi-Line Freight Trains - Shelby, Montana

"Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him."
 - Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969)

Poured Poetry, Shelby, Montana

"We are not all poets

But God pours poetry
In, above, around us
In everything we see"

 - from "We Are Not All Poets" by Janet Martin

Visit Janet at Another Porch and dive into more lyrical sunshine - or any other strain of thoughtful word weavings she has on offer.

NorthBound, Shelby, Montana

vernal by joanna dibble
i hear the cranes again
riding the thermals upward
this warming morning
calling and circling, they
fall into the long v shape
an arrow swiftly northbound

Read more from joanna dibble at her Hello Poetry site.

High, Wide and Handsome, Shelby, Montana

The grandeur of ‘high, wide, and handsome’ is ever present in Montana’s skies - it could be a daily photo series all on its own. Rolling grasslands outside of Shelby, Montana
, bring their own reflection of vastness beneath the spreading skies. Zoom in to just above the horizon and you’ll better see the far mountains that we wind through to finally arrive home.

Fenceline, Shelby, Montana

"Three long days of dust behind him, 
at least that many more to go. 
His job it is to ride the fences, 

to bend the wire and mend the posts...

Another sunrise finds him mounted 
ready to begin the day. For now the sun 
is at his back, no wind or rain to cloud 

their way. 

He loses count of what he mended on his 
journey east to west. He knows the 
corner post will greet him; three more 

lines until they rest."

From  "Riding Fences" by Alexander Beebe