No Place Like Home - Missoula, Montana Valley Aerial View

Home again, home again, jiggitty jig!

Much has changed in the almost three weeks I was away.

Mountaintop tamaracks have morphed to stand in sharp golden relief from their still-green coniferous counterparts.

Mornings stay dark until almost 8:00 AM.

But afternoon sunlight lingers a couple hours after work and inspires me to rake final fallen maple and lilac leaves in our yard.

Montana’s brisk autumn is pretty much opposite of Sri Lanka’s 6:00 AM coastal sunrises fit for shorts and T-shirt at 80 degree F and 85% humidity. But I am home, and glad to be here - even though I’m struggling in the wardrobe adjustment to required multiple layers. (Must wear gloves! And a scarf comes in handy to stave off the shivery breeze!)

And hooray for almost-normal sleep patterns. On the first two days I was back at work, I woke at 2:30 AM and 3:30 AM (progress!) respectively - and could not get back to sleep. It was with great relief this morning that I woke to find I had slipped back to slumber after my third brief wake up, resting until a decent time just before my alarm setting.

The team continues in Sri Lanka, holding eye clinics in areas of need.

Click here to see their latest stops in the journey. 

And open your eyes wide to take joy on the journey that awaits your very next step.

Wandering Montana Heart

For today's (whatever day that may be) international view through Montana eyes, click here.

They say home is where your heart is, and my heart is still in Montana, even though I'm currently travelling in Sri Lanka.

To be realistic in view of our full schedule, I'm electing to take a break from regular Montana1aDay posts until I'm back in the USA at October's end.

BUT I'm posting our travel updates at JourneysWithGod.com, so click the text links and see where these wandering Montana feet are traveling.

Snow-Capped - Missoula, Montana

Same view as yesterday, but snow-capped overnight - hooray! 
Stopping at the grocery store on my way home from work, I spotted a young-ish fellow sporting long basketball shorts and flip-flops with a bulky pullover  hoodie (flashback: remember when we called them thongs and kangaroo jackets?!), despite the biting wind and just-freezing temperature. These are not uncommon  Montana wardrobe options for this time of year. But today, he best layer up his toes and beware the ides of March!

Lingering Ice - Clark Fork River, Missoula, Montana

The ice you see along the riverbank is not from my 'I wish it were still visibly winter' photo stash; this was one beautiful view yesterday during my stroll beside the Clark Fork River. The outside temperature, per my car, registered 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Egad! As you can see, mountaintops are bereft of snow. BUT, on my weather app, a little digital snowflake marks every hour of today. So, I have expectation. We will see what remains to be seen.

Speaking of seeing, check out basic eye clinic stats in yesterday's update post  at JourneysWithGod.com .)

Technically Winter Still - Clark Fork River, Missoula, Montana

I have to confess: I've been posting mostly snowy photos the past couple of weeks not because it's been visible winter out my windows, but because I just want to see more snow. 

Slightly odd, I know, when spring fever rages rampant all around me. 

Perhaps it's because amidst roasting a little bit in Sri Lanka I thought in hope of the cool, quiet winter wonderland I'd flown away from. (Or perhaps the unaccustomed mid-winter heat addled my noodle a bit?! Newly fledging snowbirds, be warned - this could happen to you!) 

Self-depracatory kidding aside, the real reason I crave snow in March is simply that it's too early to be the current 50-plus degrees Fahrenheit in the daytime and We Really NEED More Snow! I love spring as much as the next digger-in-the-garden-dirt, but I do have a small horror of summer wildfires that bleed visible, headache-inducing smoke into every valley's nook and cranny. We need more snow now as a preventative measure. 

The forecast keeps promising the white fluffy stuff a couple days from the ever-shifting today, but so far it's been paltry and high up in the mountains. But Monday could be the day of truth-in-advertising - here's hoping! In the meantime, I'll have to unzip my lightweight hoodie for the second lap around the block.

Soft, Wild - Missoula, Montana

"Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let the pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place."-Iain Thomas

The travelers are home (viva Las Vegas!) at last! Take a browse of their thoughts of the beautiful place of Sri Lanka at JourneysWithGod.com .

Life's Work Sampler - Missoula, Montana

"Sometimes I think life would be simpler if I'd been born a man."

"Oh rubbish. Life is what it is. 

Your life's work, on the other hand - that you might exercise some control over."
 - from Painted Horses by Malcom Brooks 

The Sri Lankan sojourners are homeward bound. See the latest updates at JourneysWithGod.com .)

Savour The Quiet - Missoula, Montana

"There is a privacy about it which no other season gives you...In spring, summer, and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself." - Ruth Stout (1884-1980)

Our Sri Lanka travelers are headed homeward - here's hoping for quiet and a bit of privacy via plenty of seats to stretch out on during the longer flights. See their latest updates at JourneysWithGod.com .

Cloudy With A Chance Of Wisdom - Missoula, Montana

"Thirty-nine years of my life had passed before I understood that clouds were not my enemy; that they were beautiful, and that I needed them. I suppose this, for me, marked the beginning of wisdom. Life is short." - Iimani David

See what wise workings are occurring with the Sri Lanka team at JourneysWithGod.com .

Fresh Perspective - Missoula, Montana

"The snow itself is lonely or, if you prefer, self-sufficient. There is no other time when the whole world seems composed of one thing and one thing only." - Joseph Wood Krutch (1893-1970)

Being a lover of little things, I was delighted to spy the pictured miniature winter forest - in reality, a stand of mid-calf height weeds transformed by fresh snowfall a few weeks back. As a sometime gardener, I typically wouldn't be pleased about weeds, especially en masse. But a fresh perspective will often reach beyond our prejudices. (Not a bad thought for pondering on the bonus day of a leap year.)

See how the Sri Lanka team has been handing out new views at JourneysWithGod.com .

Transforming - Missoula, Montana

"The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found? - J.B. Priestly (1894-1984)

Take a peek at the difference being made in lives in Sri Lanka at JourneysWithGod.com .

Snow Perspective - Missoula, Montana

"Snow isn't just pretty. It also cleanses our world and our senses, not just of the soot and grime of a Fife mining town but also of a kind of weary familiarity, a taken-for-granted quality to which our eyes are all too susceptible." - John Burnside

Check out the Sri Lanka team's ongoing travels - and a different kind of eye-opening! - at JourneysWithGod.com . (But you won't see any snow there.)

Snow By Any Other Name - Missoula, Montana

"The Eskimos had fifty-two names for snow because it was important to them: there ought to be as many for love." -Margaret Atwood

I'm home in Montana at long last (whee!) but there are still more Sri Lanka activity updates and reflections coming up at JourneysWithGod.com .

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 .

Snow, Sun, Big Sky - Missoula, Montana

This winter scene provokes happy Canadian childhood memories of bundling up in snowsuits, scarves, toques, and big boots to play, play, play in the plenteous snow under sunny blue skies.

Let the fort building commence!

(Well, for those of you in snow country, at least. 
See what we're doing without snow in Sri Lanka at JourneysWithGod.com .)

Heading Out - Missoula International Airport

Heading out for two and a half weeks, on the heels of a fair bit of planning and packing. Saturday was  Denver and Las Vegas; tomorrow, San Francisco and Tokyo; Tuesday, Bangkok and Colombo, Sri Lanka. Just typing that was  a little surreal - I'm SOOOO excited!

You can follow our adventures in Sri Lanka at JourneysWithGod.com ; there's also a link in my blog roll on the right sidebar of this page. 

In the meantime, I've stockpiled enough Montana posts to tide you over for the duration, because it's still going to be winter gorgeous here!