Another Leaf (not turned over) - Missoula, Montana

"The snow crystals . . . come to us not only to reveal the wondrous beauty of the minute in Nature, but to teach us that all earthly beauty is transient and must soon fade way. 

But though the beauty of the snow is evanescent, like the beauties of the autumn, as of the evening sky, it fades but to come again.”

 - Wilson A. "Snowflake" Bentley (1865-1931)

Open Leaf - Missoula, Montana

"Matisse draws what I call 
 the essence of the plants. 
He leaves a shape open. 
He'll do a leaf 
 and not close it. 
Everybody used to say,
 oh, I got it all from Matisse,
 and I said,
 'Not really.'"

-Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015)

Matisse draws what I call the essence of the plants. He leaves a shape open. He'll do a leaf and not close it. Everybody used to say, oh, I got it all from Matisse, and I said, 'Not really.'
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/ellsworth_kelly_605885

Matisse draws what I call the essence of the plants. He leaves a shape open. He'll do a leaf and not close it. Everybody used to say, oh, I got it all from Matisse, and I said, 'Not really.'
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/ellsworth_kelly_605885

Matisse draws what I call the essence of the plants. He leaves a shape open. He'll do a leaf and not close it. Everybody used to say, oh, I got it all from Matisse, and I said, 'Not really.'
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/ellsworth_kelly_605885

Matisse draws what I call the essence of the plants. He leaves a shape open. He'll do a leaf and not close it. Everybody used to say, oh, I got it all from Matisse, and I said, 'Not really.'
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/ellsworth_kelly_605885

Crystallized - Missoula, Montana

"The object of art
 is to crystallize
 emotion
 into thought, and then
 fix it in form."

 - Francois Delsarte (1811-1871)

On Discovery - Missoula, Montana

"I believe it is worthwhile trying to discover more about the world, even if this only teaches us how little we know. 
It might do us good to remember from time to time that, while differing widely in the various little bits we know, in our infinite ignorance we are all equal."

- Karl Popper (1902-1994), Quoted in Ch. 44 Heading of The Last Days Of Night by Graham Moore

Snow Like Kindness - Missoula, Montana

"Kindness is like snow...
  it beautifies everything it covers."

- Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931)

Nature At Work - Bitterroot Valley, Montana

"Nature is ever at work 
 building and pulling down, 
 creating and destroying,
keeping everything
 whirling and flowing,
allowing
 no rest
but in rhythmical motion,
 chasing everything
in endless song
 out of one 
beautiful form 
into another."

- John Muir (1838-1914)

Uncomplicated Cottonwoods - Bitterroot Valley, Montana

"All the complicated details 
of the attiring and
the disattiring are completed!...."

-From  Winter Trees by William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)

Winter Wanderlust - Bitterroot Valley, Montana

"...My feet tug at the floor
And my head sways to my shoulder
Sometimes when I watch trees sway...

...I shall make the reckless choice
Some day when they are in voice
And tossing so as to scare
The white clouds over them on.
I shall have less to say,
But I shall be gone...."

-From The Sound of the Trees by  Robert Frost (1874-1963)