Morning Reflections - Victor, Montana

Daisy faces lifted toward

  the morning sun

Air so still 

  the reflections of my heart 

  become clear. 

-P.Richards

(Big thanks to Pat Richards for the guest perspectives - both words and view! Chew on more of her refreshing weekly musings at God's Friday Girl!)

Finding More In Less - Missoula, Montana

“Having taken myself away, I am in a frame of mind to wait and see rather than manipulate and direct. 

Living with nature has taught me the dignity of being without motive...[it] has served to help me find more in less.”

-Joan Anderson, in A Year By The Sea, p. 69

On Joy - Near Simms, Montana

"That we are designed for joy is exhilarating, within reach, now or perhaps later today, after a nap, as long as we do not mistake excitement for joy. 
Joy is good cheer. My partner says joy and curiosity are the same thing. 
Joy is always a surprise, and often a decision.
Joy is portable. Joy is a habit, and these days, it can be a radical act."
-Anne Lamott, p. 70-71 of Almost Everything

Gorgeous Autumn Gold - Grant Creek, Missoula, Montana

In case I didn't mention this recently, we've been having the best kind of gorgeous autumn, as you can plainly see in this sun-gilded shot of Grant Creek right in the middle of Missoula's industrial north-end segement.

Grey Transformed - Rattlesnake Creek, Missoula, Montana

"But soon, he knew. It would come soon enough. And the gray November would be transformed into a bright sparkling wonderland of skiing and skating. Of snowball fights, and snow forts and snowmen, and angels made in snow that had fallen from the heavens."

- from A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny, page 2

Quiet Haunt - Greenough Park, Missoula, Montana

"...But I wish that fate had left me free

To wander these quiet haunts with thee,
Till the eating cares of earth should depart,

And the peace of the scene pass into my heart..."

- from Green River by William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878)

Love-ly Water - Missoula, Montana

"High and fine literature is wine, and mine is only water; but everybody likes water." - Mark Twain

Purling Creek - Missoula, Montana

"The sky was delft blue, the sun strong. Now and then a breeze teased the branches overhead, tapping them gently against one another. To my right the creek purled softly as it coursed over rocks abandoned by glaciers long ago." - Kathy Reichs, "Deadly Decisions", p. 68

Check in on the latest meanderings of the Sri Lanka travelers at JourneysWithGod.com .

Bridge Over Finley Creek - Arlee, Montana

"Oh, here we are at the bridge. I'm going to shut my eyes tight. I’m always afraid going over bridges. I can't help imagining that perhaps, just as we get to the middle, they'll crumple up like a jackknife and nip us. So I shut my eyes. But I always have to open them for all when I think we're getting near the middle. Because, you see, if the bridge did crumple up I'd want to see it crumple. What a jolly rumble it makes! I always like the rumble part of it. Isn't it splendid there are so many things to like in this world? There, we're over. Now I'll look back. Good night, dear Lake of Shining Waters. I always say good night to the things I love, just as I would to people. I think they like it. That water looks as if it was smiling at me." - L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

Another gorgeous site on Z5 Ranch - their very own bridge over Shining Waters. But a bit shallow for a Lady of Shallot reenactment.

Toppled - Missoula, Montana

Monday night's crazy storm in the Missoula and Bitterroot valleys left a lot of cattywampus in its wake, toppling aged trees and power lines. I'm still pondering how it is that the neighbors across the street had essentially uninterrupted power while our side of the street had no power from about 7:00 PM Monday night through well into Tuesday. Ah, well - here's to thankfulness that we still had running water and we don't live in tornado country!

Creek Greens & Sunlight - Missoula, Montana

“Love is like seaweed; even if you have pushed it away, you will not prevent it from coming back." -Nigerian Proverb quotes 

I rather like this mental image - that love keeps wafting our way in the ebb and flow of life's current - which is not always as gentle as this low-water stream!

Spring-Sticky Greens - Missoula, Montana

My gardening-genius sister of the far northern city has been collecting aged horse manure after work - trowel scoop by trowel scoop, into large plastic bags carefully placed in her car trunk. (Yes, with patience being a virtue and all, she’s got a head start toward saintliness of some sort.) Last week, she texted something about metaphorical teaspoons and a photo of a sunset-silhouetted mountain of manure, with her comparatively teeny tiny car in the foreground. Her garden’s really going to be great this year.

Today she texted that our horse-whispering cousin’s new acreage has "singing frogs in the slough, ribbet ribbet",  (insert happy froggy emoticon) which made me think firstly, ’It’s such a Canadian thing to have fond thoughts of a slough.’ And nextly, ‘Surely, there exists a Canadian ode to spring-singing slough frogs?!’

Thoughts such as this are why Google is my Home screen.

I discovered that Lord de Tabley wrote, according to ‘The Living Age, Volume 270’, “…a charming set of interlinked sonnets to the frogs that sing unceasingly from early spring to harvest-time in every lake and pond and secret slough from end to end of Canada.“ Here’s my favourite find; may your very own memory spring to mind.

“Wrinkled oaks and plumy bracken,
Milkwort, skull-cap, sweet gale-bush,

Frog-pipe, more than you can reckon,
Cotton grass and flowering rush…”
- from ‘The Dirge of Day’, Lord de Tabley (1835-1895)

April Island - Missoula, Montana

"Our daydreams rush ahead of feet to picnic’s by the creek...

Of daisy-dappled ditches, wave-washed beaches, grass terrains..." - From 'April' by Janet Martin

(Always a delight to stop by Another Porch!)

Winter Freshet - Missoula, Montana

"Under the bank, close-shadowed from the sun, 
By winter freshets spun, 
Dry tangled wreckage hung above the shallows ..."

- from The Kingfisher by Martin Donisthorpe Armstrong (1882-1974)

Wise Saplings - Missoula, Montana

"All the complicated details

of the attiring and 
the disattiring are completed...

Thus having prepared...

the wise trees 

stand sleeping in the cold."

- from "Winter Trees" by William Carlos Williams

S M R Ducks - Missoula, Montana

This mallard pair paddled fearlessly right up within a few feet of where I stood on the snowy bank of Greenough Park's Rattlesnake Creek. I watched and snapped delightedly for about 15 minutes as they repeatedly ducked under and resurfaced. Apparently, the feeding was too good to be bothered by the likes of me.

Flow - Missoula, Montana

“Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change - this is the rhythm of living. 

Out of our over-confidence, fear; out of our fear, clearer vision, fresh hope. And out of hope, progress.”- Bruce Barton (1886-1967)

Of Fields and Fences - Sealy Lake, Montana

"...Darling, the snow that sweeps the field

And swathes the garden fence

Will soon fall prey to the exchange

Of gold where gray clouds rearrange

The hills that waft above earth’s plains

And the attire of season-strains...." 
 - from Janet Martin's poem "Of Fields and Foolishness" 

Click here to linger amidst Janet's entire thoughtful poem.

Snow Shadows - Missoula, Montana

"Snow's shadow
Borrowing
Sky's blue" 
- Brian Pike @ Paiku


Sunday’s brilliant sunshine married with chilly temps to create a delightful array of snow-laden shapes and shadows. With no wind in Greenough Park's sheltered forest, the sunbeams + cozy layers + and a brisk pace made 16 degrees F temps absolutely bearable.

Winter Corridor - Missoula, Montana

“Now the little rivers go
Muffled safely under snow,
And the winding meadow streams
Murmur in their wintry dreams,
While a tinkling music wells
Faintly from their icy bells,
Telling how their hearts are bold
Though the very sun be cold…”

- From Winter Streams by Bliss William Carman (1861-1929)
(Click on the above text links for more whispery winter words from this
Canadian poet - who apparently was well versed in colder weather!)