Snow Limbed - Missoula, Montana

"the years pile up gently
as snow upon snow pile up
on snow laden ground.
you wake up one morning
still with sleepy eyes
to see the view from your window
still the same
yet somewhat changed..."

- from "On Your Birthday" by Romeo Balingcongan

Freight Train Into Fog - Missoula, Montana

"....Well every time I fell behind, I could not get ahead.
I wish someone would pull the lever and give me a little sand.
 
And every time I slip behind, even further back,
I wish some switch man would come out of the fog and change my track..."
 
- From "Freight Train" by Alan Jackson

Wintry Walking Bridge Over Rattlesnake Creek - Missoula, Montana

With a variety of national forest trailheads within 15 - or less - minutes drive, I find myself trekking yet again on a select few nearer paths that have become dearly familiar. Sometimes, a bossy little inner voice with ringlets provokes me to venture out further and higher - but there are times I tell her, hush, today requires the comfort of a well-known route. Henry D. Thoreau understood and voiced this feeling well: “Give me the old familiar walk, post office and all, with this ever new self, with this infinite expectation and faith, which does not know when it is beaten.… I will take another walk to the Cliff, another row on the river, another skate on the meadow, be out in the first snow, and associate with the winter birds. Here I am at home. In the bare and bleached crust of the earth I recognize my friend.“ -Journal, 1 November 1858

Winter Swale - Missoula, Montana

"With windy haste and wild halloo 
 the sheeting snow comes down
And drives itself through bush and swale
 and leagues of stubble brown...."
- From  "Snow-Storm", in the collection "Wind and Weather" by Liberty Hyde Bailey

Snowfall Over Rattlesnake Creek - Missoula, Montana

"...In tiny spherule traced with lines

Of Nature’s geometric signs,

In starry flake, and pellicle,

All day the hoary meteor fell;..."

 

- from "Snow-Bound: A Winter Idyl" by John Greenleaf Whittier 

 

Some of my best winter memories are bounded by snow days. Pity the forever warm-clime dwellers who know no such frosty delight!

Berry Brights - Missoula, Montana

Like so many clustered Christmas bulbs, lingering bright.

Leaf Impressions - Hamilton, Montana

"On a sunny day with temperatures at 28 degrees, a leaf lands on the ice. The dark leaf conducts heat, so much so that by day's end, the leaf has worked its way through several inches of ice. Sure, it may be covered again, but as long as the leaf remains in the ice, it will forever conduct heat, creating pockets in the ice."

This illustration is from an article about Bill Bevis, the instigator of Missoula’s outdoor ice rink at Rattlesnake School, underscoring the critical importance for an outdoor rink to have a white base that will reflect, not absorb,the sun's rays. 

Nature informs all variety of science; & what a perfectly timed read for my little leaf photo!

We've had some steady cold ; here's hoping for a good skating day.

Organization Inspiration - Missoula, Montana

In case your New Year resolution includes tackling that chaotic hall cupboard, here’s a little  organizational inspiration to prime the pump.