Sound Judgement: Stay Indoors - Near Lakeside, Montana

Here's a thought - from a favourite thinker - with potential to spark vigorous dinner conversation (& has absolutely nothing to do with today's photo): 

“If one’s judgment is unsound, their expert advice is of little use.”
 
- Wendell Berry, from "Damage, stanza 1"

 (& just as a teaser, here's another deep thought from stanza III of the same poem:

"...It accepts the clarification of pain, and concerns itself with healing.  
 It cultivates the scar that is the course of time and nature
over damage: the landmark and mindmark that is the notation
of a limit.

To lose the scar of knowledge is to renew the wound..."

Wintery Missions - St. Ignatius, Montana

Cresting the last rise just south of St. Ignatius, Montana, usually reveals a breath-catching view of the Mission Mountains. This past Saturday, it was just snow clouds down to the valley floor - but the mountain majesty came out of hiding a bit further up the road. 

It snowed and snowed and snowed all weekend in most of western Montana, making for diffused views and a quietly beautiful drive - if you slowed down a bit to take the edge off the road situation.

Wintery Willows - Near St. Ignatius, Montana

I have it on first-person authority that New York City is enjoying 74 degrees F today.
And Montana waits and wishes for a bit of winter mildness, thinking of spring and wispy willowy greenness to come....

“In a world where thrushes sing and willow trees are golden in the spring, boredom should have been included among the seven deadly sins.”

- From The Rosemary Tree by Elizabeth Goudge (1900-1984)

Wildish Sky - Missoula, Montana

A mixture of sunshine and storm in today's lunchtime sky instructs to enjoy the present sunbeams - and prepare for more snow! 
The promise of sunshine on my face (er, what you could see of it behind the scarf pulled high and hat tugged low) drew me out  into the c-c-c-crisp, brrrr-isk air. 
Once out under God's great big sky, I was reminded of this lovely poem snippet from the the delightful mind of Janet Martin:

“…or this; weeping of wind 
Drifting lost; aimlessly

Through winter’s stricken woodlot
Where a leaf-song used to be

Already then I knew

When I was but a child
Something unwritten beckoned
In the air, driving me wild” 

-From Before the Poems... by Janet Martin 

Read and ruminate on the entire poem here at Another Porch Poetry Blog.

Crisp And Clean - Missoula, Montana

"Crisp and clean, no caffeine...!" - and none needed, what with invigorating temps of 17 F (-8 C) to keep one moving at a good clip! 
Winter sunshine amidst crisp, clear air is certainly one of this life's delights. (Can you tell I spent a good portion of my childhood overly-bundled & playing out in the snow?)

Tree Texture - Missoula, Montana

"I search for the realness,
 the real feeling of a subject,
 all the texture around it...

 I always want to see the third dimension of something...

 I want to come alive with the object.” 

-Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009) 

(Click the text link in Wyeth's name - pleasepleaseplease do! - to sip and savour his glorious gift of texture.)

Green Door, Circle Square - Missoula, Montana

In the lore of various cultures, 
doorways are significant, as well as their colours.

When I was a kid, the Polka Dot Door was an important part of my Canadian cultural experience
(along with the Friendly Giant, Mr. Dressup, LambChop, & BatFink!).

Today's portal fixation is a Missoula green door at Circle Square Second Hand's side entrance, mainly because it stands out so brightly against the aged alley brick.
(And what about that retro lantern?!)

Full Moon Mood - Over Missoula, Montana

"I suppose there were moonless nights and dark ones with but a silver shaving and pale stars in the sky, but I remember them all as flooded with the rich indolence of a full moon."

-Willa Cather (1873-1947) “Obscure Destinies - Two Friends”, p.175, U of Nebraska Press