(Mostly) Red Rungs - Missoula, Montana

"Every author really wants to have letters printed in the papers. Unable to make the grade, he drops down a rung of the ladder and writes novels."

- P. G. Wodehouse (1881-1975)

Power Drain - Missoula, Montana

"A fresh mind keeps the body fresh. Take in the ideas of the day, drain off those of yesterday. As to the morrow, time enough to consider it when it becomes today." Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873)

Read where today has brought us in Sri Lanka at JourneysWithGod.com .

Still Treads - Missoula, Montana

"It is wonderful how much time good people spend fighting the devil. If they would only expend the same amount of energy loving their fellow men, the devil would die in his own tracks of ennui." - Helen Keller (1880-1968)

Way to go,Helen, for so concisely (& cleverly!) stating one of my pet peeves! Let's choose to talk about what is true and worthwhile, and focus our efforts that direction. 

See where in Sri Lanka our energy expenditure has taken us at JourneysWithGod.com .

Rooftop Snow Rows - Missoula, Montana

"Just 'cause there's snow on the roof doesn't mean there's not a fire inside." - Bonnie Hunt

Snow Squared - Missoula, Montana

"A round man cannot be expected to fit in a square hole right away. He must have time to modify his shape." - Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Retired - Missoula, Montana

"Maybe [retirees] could do worse than give themselves to the world that needs them as much as they need the world.

This may involve things like volunteer work at the hospital or delivering meals on wheels or heading the library-fund drive, but the place where giving yourself to the world starts is simply paying attention to the world—to the people you've been saying hello to for years without really knowing them, to the elementary-school kids hanging upside down on the jungle gym, to the woman taxi driver with the face of a Boston bull and no teeth to speak of who waits for fares at the bus stop, to the old vets marching down Main Street on Memorial Day." - Frederick Buechner, from Beyond Words

Big Rig Bolts - Missoula, Montana

"A good question is never answered.* It is not a bolt to be tightened into place but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed toward the hope of greening the landscape of idea." - John Ciardi (1916-1986)


(*Note: This theory does not apply to the question, "Do you want to go for ice cream?" That has a definitive answer, which is 'yes'.)

Springy - Missoula, Montana

“A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It's jolted by every pebble on the road.” - Henry Ward Beecher (1813-1887)

Geared Down - Missoula, Montana

If you're gearing up for a romantic Valentine's Day (this Saturday, people), check out the luscious love poetry Janet's posted this week at Another Porch. 

A small sample to whet your appetite: 

"Surge of something sacred and sweet

Stuns her; spills summer-slow, sigh-soft

Whispers wake wellsprings where want wafts

Wild within to a boom-boom beat..."

-  from "Ah, Love" by Janet Martin

Just like chocolate, you'll want more. 

Click here to keep feeding.

Melting Colour, Missoula, Montana

“I then realized that I could never be satisfied again with the mere natural charm of my voice, that I had to constantly paint when singing, melting all the colors, expressing reds and blacks that had to be less primary but bursting with subtly colored combinations.”
-Placido Domingo

Spools, Missoula, Montana

The patterns of these industrial spools make me think simultaneously of seashells ("...silver bells and cockleshells and pretty maids all in a row...") and train car graffiti.

Descent, Missoula, Montana

#17 on list of “Where Not To Eat Your Lunch When You Hear Thunder”

Bucket Brigade, Missoula, Montana

A lone yellow bucket, beaming away amidst the mixed blues and rust.

Is there a story here, I wonder? (Or the beginnings of a children's book... hmmm....)
Was this arrangement on someone's bucket list? (Hahahahahaha! couldn't resist!)
Did it get placed just so to satisfy someone's artistic bent that usually has no outlet in a busy day in the yard?
Or was it just pure chance, mixed with happenstance of my angle of view on a random lunchtime walk?
I have questions. Almost always. Sometimes deeper than these. Or not.

Waffle Iron, Missoula, Montana

Given my attraction to the industrial milieu, it’s pretty perfect that I spend my work day surrounded by the very same. The break room back door overlooks a machine yard, outdoor picnic tables provide views of the train tracks, and a sunny yellow crane is directly opposite today’s shady lunch spot on the south lawn. Weather in the 70s plus mechanical vistas - life is grand! Maybe I'll top it off with waffles for supper. (Now where did that come from?)

Orange You Glad I Said Banana?

I have no idea what this orange industrial tubing does for a day job, but the colour and patterns caught my eye during a bike ride this fall.
If you, dear reader, can enlighten us, please do so with a comment below!