Spring Snow Day - Near Livingston, Montana

Ahhh, the glorious vagaries of western Montana springtime! 

Long Sweeping Hwy 12 View - Near Garrison, Montana

 “An old cowboy once told me that memory rides a quiet horse, taking you to the tops of high hills with long sweeping views. Well, this quiet horse would be riding until the day I died, with a view so pretty it would always pain my heart.” - p 299, Sun Dance (Sam Keaton, Legends of Laramie) by Sigmund Brouwer

(Click here to read first-person bits about Garrison, Montana.) 

Rolling Mountain Ranges - Near Missoula, Montana

Spring-clad mountains rolling on up to each next range and on up to the Big Sky…

Rainy Days - Flathead Lake, Montana

They say western Montana’s getting rain this week…here’s hoping…!

 “I loved the rain as a child. I loved the sound of it on the leaves of trees and roofs and windowpanes and umbrellas and the feel of it on my face and bare legs. I loved the hiss of rubber tires on rainy streets and the flip-flop of windshield wipers. I loved the smell of wet grass and raincoats and shaggy coats of dogs. A rainy day was a special day for me in a sense that no other kind of day was—a day when the ordinariness of things was suspended with ragged skies drifting to the color of pearl and dark streets turning to dark rivers of reflected light and even people transformed somehow as the rain drew them closer by giving them something to think about together, to take common shelter from, to complain of and joke about in ways that made them more like friends than it seemed to me they were on ordinary sunny days. But more than anything, I think, I loved rain for the power it had to make indoors seem snugger and safer and a place to find refuge in from everything outdoors that was un-home, unsafe. I loved rain for making home seem home more deeply.“   -Frederick Buechner, The Sacred Journey

Mission Mountains Marsh Melody - Near Ronan, Montana

“The marsh, to him who enters it in a receptive mood, holds, besides mosquitoes and stagnation, melody, the mystery of unknown waters, and the sweetness of Nature undisturbed by man.” - Charles William Beebe (1877-1962), The Log of the Sun

Sheltering Friends - Homeward Mountains, Near Missoula, Montana

“Don't be dismayed at good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.”  -Richard Bach, Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah

Spring Greens - Near St. Regis, Montana

Such gorgeous greeny greens all along today’s drive route to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho ! I don’t know how I’ve never seen this before, but the new needles on tamarack pines (that turn vibrant yellow and lose their needles in fall) spring out in electric bright green. Grateful to be out under the big sky on such a zesty day!

Full On Fall - Bitterroot Valley, Montana

It’s rather amazing how much can change when you go away for a week! Western Montana is definitely into full-on fall!  

Speaking of our week away, photos and thoughts from Sissie #3 are posted at JourneysWithGod.com. We had a great week with amazing people on all sides of the missions equation. 

For something good, both to watch AND invest in, tune in with us tomorrow night to the Dream Center’s 2020 Night of Dreams virtual fundraising gala. It’s sure to be a fun and uplifting time! (And I still want to know how they got Olivia Newton John involved!)

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...

September Wild Daisy - Flathead Lake, Montana

“If the path set before her feet was to be narrow she knew that flowers of quiet happiness would bloom along it... ” - L.M. Montgomery (1874-1942) in Anne of Green Gables

Stormy Sunlight - Mission Mountains, Polson, Montana

Stormy sunlight highlights the Mission Mountains - mm-mmmmm! (And a double dose over Polson Bay!)

Commuting Sky - Missoula, Montana

Sunlight slides in from along the western mountain range to spotlight distant spring-green hillsides (i kid you not - they are palpably green!)... another sample of why it isn't hard to fall in love with Montana's ever-vast and changing sky.

Directional Approach - Bitterroot River, Missoula, Montana

“The best any of us can do is to get more comfortable with feeling uncomfortable.  

Anxiety is energy without a goal. We must adjust our approach.”

-Gary Burnison, (in context of experience swimming with vs against an ocean riptide),

   from KornFerry Insights, April 19, 2020 (Full article here)

Captured Clouds - Missoula, Montana

I liked the echo image
of captured snow beneath wintry clouds
 - bearing more snow!

Stormy Present - Missoula, Montana

“The dogmas of the quiet past 

are inadequate to the stormy present. 

The occasion is piled high with difficulty,

 and we must rise with the occasion. 

As our case is new,

 so we must think anew and act anew.”

-Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), from 1862 Annual Message to Congress

Gratefully Present - Missoula, Montana

“If you must look back, do so

forgivingly. 

If you must look forward, do so 

prayerfully.

However, the wisest thing you can do is 

be present in the present... gratefully.”

- Maya Angelou (1928-2014)