UM Griz Football Famous Fan - Missoula, Montana

All kinds of fans came out of the woods to support the hometown team. Go Griz!

Into The Gap - Jocko Falls, near Arlee, Montana

“There's this gap, Jack. This opening between the story it is and the story I had wanted it to be - that's where the pain is, and that's where God came in and where I now hope transformation can happen.”

“For too long we avoided that gap, didn’t we?”

“Yes. I turned way from it with every preoccupation known to man. But no more.“

Jack donned his tattered grey fisherman’s hat… “Whenever you’d like to talk about it, you know, our friendship is big enough even for the sorrow.”

 

—Patti Callahan in Becoming Mrs. Lewis (the audiobook is quite lovely!)

Sunlight Falling - Rattlesnake Creek, Missoula, Montana

“The second day in Oxford arrived, luminescent, the honey hues of sunlight falling from the leaves to settle on the grass like spilled paint. The air was as clear as glass and soft as cotton.”  - from Becoming Mrs Lewis by Patti Callahan, Chapter 12 

Full-Fed - Big Hole River, Near Wisdom, Montana

“ ….as he meandered aimlessly along, suddenly he stood by the edge of a full-fed river...this sleek, sinuous, full-bodied animal, chasing and chuckling, gripping things with a gurgle and leaving them with a laugh, to fling itself on fresh playmates that shook themselves free, and were caught and held again. All as a-shake and a-shiver—glints and gleams and sparkles, rustle and swirl, chatter and bubble. “  -Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932), The Wind in the Willows
(Thanks again to Sissie 3 for sharing meander views!)

Autumn Ice - Flathead River, Near Kalispell, Montana

“A river is the most human and companionable of all inanimate things. It has a life, a character, a voice of its own, and is as full of good fellowship as a sugar-maple is of sap. It can talk in various tones, loud or low, and of many subjects grave and gay . . . For real company and friendship, there is nothing outside of the animal kingdom that is comparable to a river. “ — Henry van Dyke (1852-1933), Little Rivers: A Book of Essays in Profitable Idleness
(Many thanks to Sissie #3 for sharing this recent ramble pic!)

Tamarack Display - Near St. Ignatius,, Montana

“ THE WISHES on this child’s mouth
Came like snow on marsh cranberries;
The tamarack kept something for her;
The wind is ready to help her shoes.….”
- from Helga by Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)

Snowberries - Greenough Park, Missoula, Montana

Snowberries out in 
full force - luminescent sign:
Next corner, autumn 

-Cyndy Hull

Harvest Path - Near Park City, Montana

“A quiet presence over takes me, and my pulse slows. My hands relax, and my palms open spontaneously as I am reduced to blessed clarity. I feel subtle yearning for adventure, similar to the way I felt last fall. Haven't I been counting on seeing new paths? Don't they abound everywhere, out here?”

-Joan Anderson, in A Year By The Sea, p.97