Poe-ish Crows - Missoula, Montana

You could also title this post "Fun With Filters"...the stark contrast of images in my crow photo from a couple days back worked rather well (in a shuddery sense) with a moody noir filter. 

But if your crow thoughts trend more to that shiny object collector, Poe the Crow of Sterling North's lovely book, "Rascal", you can sprinkle on some glitter and mischief to lighten the mood. (Or you can just tell yourself they are cooing doves out on a Friday night date....)

Premium Seats To Spring - Missoula, Montana

I hope these aren't the same crow pair from last spring who dive-bombed me whenever their fledgling was lolling about the lawn next to my lunchtime walking route!

Spring Marches In - East Missoula, Montana

"Tossing his mane of snows in wildest eddies and tangles,
Lion-like March cometh in, hoarse, with tempestuous breath...."

- from Earliest Spring by William Dean Howell (1837-1920) 

Read the full text here to immerse yourself in an early spring storm - and a bit of introspection!

Tempting Sunbeams - Missoula, Montana

“Most people would like to be delivered from temptation but would like it to keep in touch.”  Robert Orben


(I'm lately tempted by glimmers of sunshine glimpsed through the sliver of window near my workspace - or backlighting miniature, mossy worlds, as pictured here. 
Definitely want this temptation to stay in touch.)

Songs Of Ascent - St. Patrick's Hospital, Missoula, Montana

Words to lift the heart, writ large on the stairwell landing walls at St. Patrick's hospital, here in Missoula, Montana, where I spent a bit of waiting time earlier this week whilst The Best Husband Ever was in for outpatient surgery.  
Astonishing how these well-placed thoughts transformed not only the climb up an otherwise pallid, utilitarian stairwell, but also the rest of my interactions that day. A very literal example that kind words can make all the difference. (Plus they made a slight impact on my, er, bottom line, as I continued up a few extra flights just to see what was around the next bend.)

(By the way, all went well & TBHE is doing great - thanks for asking! After all the repairs he's undergone the past several years, I could market him as The New & Improved Best Husband Ever!)

Waiting Winter Dock - Polson, Montana

“If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever.” 

-Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1274)

(Unless he lived in snowy climes....but let's stick with the bigger idea & imagine a sunny and romantic southern port!)

Passing View - Near Lakeside, Montana

“Outside the window, there slides past that unimaginable and deserted vastness where night is coming on… across, it would seem, half a continent, where live only bears and shooting stars and the wolves who lap congealing ice from water that holds within it the entire sky. 

All white with snow as if under dustsheets, as if laid away eternally as soon as brought back from the shop, never to be used or touched.“

― from Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter