Winter Sleeper - Missoula, Montana

"Gen closed his eyes, leaned forward, and put his head on his knees. 
Sleep was a country for which he could not obtain a visa.
 'Commas,' he said through a yawn, 'pause the sentence and separate ideas.'" 

- Ann Patchett, Bel Canto, p. 210

(Forgive the slight stretch on picture-quote pairing, but I've been sitting on that lovely middle sentence for such a looong time...)
 

Changing Mystery of Now - Grant Creek, Missoula, Montana

"You just have to live, Ave, and let life unfold. Say what you mean.
You can't always think about what you've lost, or what you don't have, or what you didn't get. Because when you do that, you're missing out on the now...
We shouldn't let a day go by when we don't stop and think about what we are to each other and how the best part of that is the part that changes.
That's the mystery.
And that's the part of people that's divine. Accepting the unknown and trusting it."

 -Jack in  Home To Big Stone Gap, A Big Stone Gap Novel, p 162, by Adriana Trigiani

Small Things - Missoula, Montana

"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies."

-Mother Theresa (aka Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, 1910-1997)

Poplars On Ice - Clark Fork River, Missoula, Montana

Amazing how the smallest unexpected graces can bring such delight and refocus thoughts in a positive way - the sparkle of light revealing hidden colours in a winter creek bed, a chatty gathering of glossy green-head ducks, or another driver actually signalling into the traffic circle. 

Be still my heart - hope springs eternal!

Inspired Path - Grant Creek, Missoula, Montana

"I see my path, but I don't know where it leads. 

 Not knowing where I'm going is what inspires me to travel it."

-Rosalia de Castro

From Map of the Heart by Susan Wiggs, Part 6 intro page

Perhaps the Lewis and Clark exploration team felt what this quote expresses....and even looked down a similar water-path! I'm extremely impressed anytime I ponder the tenacity of previous generations who forged ahead in the face of varied physical hindrances - and without all our modern "must-haves". There's something to be said for making your own way - and there are plenty of modern-day pioneers still to admire. For inspiration (or maybe more at "whew, glad that's not me!"), check out the latest posts from the Canadian Renegade(s).

Hopeful - Missoula, Montana

"...I can only imagine the pile of requests languishing on some ignored [Congressional] desk...My army is fading before my eyes. I am holding it together by sheer will and God's grace..."

"With all these trials, what keeps the men here?"

He considered this a moment. 
"Hope. 
 Hope is its own army and carries its own weapons.
 Without it we will surely perish."

-The novelized George & Martha Washington,
   in Washington's Lady by Nancy Moser, p. 290

Moonlight And Mountains - East Missoula, Montana

"...The moon hangs between the mountains like a searchlight, making a path through flimsy clouds. I breathe deeply...The mountains, knit together seamlessly, form a black velvet fortress around me. The dark sky lightens to a shimmer of silver on the mountaintop, like a window shade that can not reach the sash to keep out the light. The details are clean - bare branches with fluttery edges like curls, and strong black veins in the trunks and branches of the mighty pine trees. I am so small here...."

- from Big Cherry Holler by Adriana Trigiani, p. 43

 (BTW, seriously losing track of time in this book series - & I love it when I read something precisely perfect for a recent photo!)

Perspective (Zoomed Out) - Missoula, Montana

“Life is about perspective and how you look at something... ultimately, you have to zoom out.”

-Whitney Wolfe Herd