Fading Treetop Frost - East Missoula, Montana

“We followed a trail into the hills on the eastern edge of the wide valley, our view dominated by the backdrop of mountains dark with the hazy purple-blue of distant conifers.“

 -Thunder Voice, Sam Keaton Series by Sigmund Brouwer, p. 95

Knapweed Frost Blooms- East Missoula, Montana

slumbering knapweed 

a mimic of summer self

at Frost’s brush edits

-c hull

Best People Watching- Fans On the Field, FCS Semi Final - Missoula, Montana

University of Montana Griz fans defy being crammed into any stereotypical box. So a hometown football game provides ample people watching delight. You see Fifth-Avenue-attired city folk next to a bona fide rancher sporting Carhartt coveralls, a Stetson hat with fleece ear flaps, and an impressive greying walrus handlebar mustache. Little kids with their parents and too-cool teenage siblings in the same row as octogenarians in original booster club winter parkas. And of course the make-it-epic fans in full length furry coats - including bear-face hood and clawed paws that drop from the sleeve cuffs. Oh, and we can’t forget Section 104’s beguiling Twinkie tossing man. (What does it MEAN??! & how DOES he smuggle them all past security?!)  Think of any “group” and you’ll see them on game day in Missoula, Montana’s Washington-Grizzly Stadium. 

And the unifying factor among them all: They love the Griz - for whatever reason - enough to show up and yell themselves hoarse in concert-level 95+ dB roars. 

IF I were in an especially schmaltzy mood, I’d end with: And in them all beats the heart of a Grizzly. 
But I’m not, so: Go Griz - all the way in Frisco!!!

Game Day - FCS Semi Finals -Washington-Grizzly Stadium, Missoula, Montana

And the U of Montana Griz Fans are out in full force! Next stop: Finals in Frisco, TX! !?!  Go Griz! 

Go Griz!…to FCS Semi-Finals - Missoula, Montana

Mount Sentinel’s iconic M will be lit again for Saturday’s  FCS Semi-Final playoff game. Go Griz!

Last Night’s Last Fans - University of Montana, Missoula, Montana

Giant snowflakes didn’t dissuade dedicated fans like these two from cheering the U of Montana Griz to last night’s playoff win that advanced them to the FCS quarterfinal round on December 7, 2023, back at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

Autumn Sunshine Apolied - Missoula, Montana

“I try to apply colors like words that shape poems, like notes that shape music.” - Joan Miro, painter, sculptor, ceramicist

Wee Beautiful Snail - Flathead River below SKQ Dam, Polson Montana

“To do the useful thing, to say the courageous thing, to contemplate the beautiful thing: that is enough for one man’s life.”​
― T.S. Eliot, The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism​  (Thanks to the ever-actively-curious Tim Ferris for this great quote share.)