Nice and Quiet - Missoula, Montana

“Silence is a good friend, I repeat, as if saying a mantra. It allows for the natural progression of things. 

Still, I remain nervous, anxious to fill the void as I used to with interesting questions, chit chat, sweet nothings that nice girls like me were taught to utter. ...Now what takes the place of nice, I wonder?”

-Joan Anderson, in A Year By The Sea, p. 73

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

Following - Missoula, Montana

 “...to follow God does not often mean traveling with certainty about where God will lead us. Rather, following God propels us to be present to the place where we are, for this is the very place where God shows up.”
― Jan L. Richardson, Through the Advent Door: Entering a Contemplative Christmas

(FYI, today's photo is a little hot-summer-day infusion into a snowy week....) 

 

True Christmas Spirit - Missoula, Montana

 My son-in-law LOOOVES Ferrero Rocher truffles (or whatever loveliness they’re classified as). So, of course I thought of him when a few came my way amidst other holiday treats. Then I texted these snaps to him, with a little pause in between. Yes, Virginia, the Christmas spirit is alive and well in Montana.  (And yes, I ate  it.)  

Humble Clarity - Greenough Oark, Missoula, Montana

“That inner voice has both gentleness and clarity. So to get to authenticity, you really keep going down to the bone, to the honesty, and the inevitability of something.” - Meredith Monk

Restful Moving - Greenough Park, Missoula, Montana

“What makes a river so restful to people is that it doesn't have any doubt—it is sure to get where it is going, and it doesn't want to go anywhere else.” -Hal Boyle (1911-1974)

 (Despite floating through this blog several times before, this quote still provokes timely thoughts. Maybe even deep thoughts....)

Faerie Cottage, Perhaps... - Greenough Park, Missoula, Montana

“ You and I who still enjoy fairy tales have less reason to wish actual childhood back. We have kept its pleasures and added some grown-up ones as well.” -C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)

Whigmaleerie Stump - Greenough Park, Missoula, Montana

Today’s splendid found word, courtesy of C.S Lewis: whigmaleerie: 

2. A whim, fanciful notion, a crotchet, fad, vagary (Source: Dictionary of the Scots Language)

“...I’m talking of science, not of Butler and Bergson and Shaw and all those whigmaleeries.”

-p. 49, The Dark Tower story fragment by C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)