Tansy At Twilight - Maclay Flat, Missoula, Montana

Pack in a lawn chair and sit awhile, cool your dusty, summer-hot feet in the Bitterroot River, maybe even at this same perfect spot on Maclay Flat just south of Missoula, Montana. 

“The mark of a successful man is one that has spent an entire day on the bank of a river without feeling guilty about it. “ — Chinese philosopher

Summer Sunset Leafglow - Missoula, Montana

 “…Evening strains to be time’s vást, ' womb-of-all,    home-of-all, hearse-of-all night.
Her fond yellow hornlight wound to the west….”
  -from Spelt from Sibyl’s Leaves by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889)

Big Sky Glory - Sunset Over Missoula, Montana

Sunday evening’s sky awash with glory…

Takeaway View - Missoula, Montana

Today’s perfect closer: Takeaway supper from Vietnamese Noodle  with this side of smoke-hazed crepuscular rays. In Montana, even a humble parking lot features beautiful views.

US Hwy 135 Sunset - Clark Fork River near Paradise, Montana

 #794 - Things I Love About Montana: 

Even on a no-stops-allowed schedule, Big Sky majesty meets you right along the well-beaten path. 

(Safety first, tho’ - the perfectly placed turnout allowed a quick smell-the-roses stop where maximum sunset reflection mirrored the thankfulness overflow in my heart.)

Offering - Sunset, East Missoula, Montana

“… The writer and the worshipper both draw from one source, the source where sound becomes melody, and melody turns into language, which becomes offering. Both are as open as an open wound. Both live tense and privileged moments. If one may assume that man could not live without literature, which is not so sure, one may equally affirm that neither could he survive without prayer.”
- Elie Wiesel (1928-2016), in 2003 interview with Krista Tippett - you can read / listen here

Open To Imagine - Bitterroot Valley, Corvallis, Montana

“Yet are these things more difficult to accept than that all of existence came out of a single, random moment when cosmic gases exploded? Our eyes perceive so dimly, and our brains are so easily confused. Far better, I believe, to be like children and open ourselves to every beautiful possibility, for there is nothing our hearts can imagine that is not so .”

-from This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger, page 444

(Big thanks to Sissie #3 for this glorious walking scenery shot!)

Going Places - East Missoula, Montana

“Montana, you go fifty-five you never get anywhere. When you do get someplace, it is North Dakota.”

-from The Tumbler, A Gabriel Du Pré Mystery by Peter Bowen (1945-2020), page 4

Light Show - Missoula, Montana

 “... O man, learn to dance, or else the angels in heaven will not know what to do with you.”
- from In Praise Of Dancing by St. Augustine (354-430)

Off-Season Reflections - Polson, Montana

 “... And I'm just a reflection of the love that I've been given 
Everybody wants to be somebody, I wanna be somebody too

If I'm gonna be known for something, I wanna be known for You...”

- from “Be The Moon” by Chris Tomlin

On Sunset And Friendship - Livingston, Montana

“Sweet is the memory of distant friends! Like the mellow rays of the departing sun, it falls tenderly, yet sadly, on the heart.”  
-Washington Irving (1763-1859)

Twilight Reflections - Placid Lake, Montana

 "It seemed to her in her solitude that she had always sat on this step, in this twilight, with this contentment."  -from A Prairie Heritage: The Early Years by Vikki Kestell

Burning Toward Night - Missoula, Montana

"...Then, how the fire ebbs like billows,
    Touching all the grass..."  

   - from The Coming Of Night by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

 

Smoky Golfing - Toward Lolo, Montana

Please pray for the fire situation in the West, which is affecting much more important daily aspects of life than the local golf games. 

(I think I heard a shocked gasp somewhere in cyberspace: More important than golf?) 

Nighttime photos posted by others illustrate more dramatically that this is a dire situation and we crave rain.

Day's End - Creamery Picnic, Stevensville, Montana

Wildfire smoke makes for a dramatic backdrop to last call for award-winning BBQ at the Creamery Picnic's cookoff.

Some Days Sunset - Corvallis, Montana

"Some days clouds drift over the canyon,

horsetails, bits of high cotton.

In the afternoon, then,

the sky quickens, tumbles —

a dark creek crashing down the mountain...."

-From Back Forty: Manifesto by Joe Wilkins 

Big thanks for today's photo to Pat Richards. 

To see more through Pat's eyes, browse around in JourneysWithGod.com.

Clark Fork River Sabbath - Missoula, Montana

"The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope."  

- John Buchan (1875-1940)

Hip Strip Sunset - Missoula, Montana

"...And dusk crept over the sky from the eastern horizon, and darkness crept over the land from the east."

-John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

Smoky Sunset Drive - Missoula, Montana

"...The will is never free - it is always attached to an object, a purpose. 
It is simply the engine in the car - it can't steer."

- Joyce Cary (1888-1957)

Etch-A-Sky - Above Caras Park, Missoula, Montana

"The sky in the east continued to lighten. A wisp of cloud was slowly being etched in pink against the grey background." 

- from page 169, The Sword Bearer by John White