Category: Montana winter

Kind words will unlock an iron door.

–Turkish Proverb

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night

Sailed off in a wooden shoe —

Sailed on a river of crystal light,

Into a sea of dew.

"Where are you going, and what do you wish?"

The old moon asked the three.

"We have come to fish for the herring fish

That live in this beautiful sea;

Nets of silver and gold have we!"

Said Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.

The old moon laughed and sang a song,

As they rocked in the wooden shoe,

And the wind that sped them all night long

Ruffled the waves of dew.

The little stars were the herring fish

That lived in that beautiful sea —

"Now cast your nets wherever you wish —

Never afraid are we";

So cried the stars to the fishermen three:

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.
                --Eugene Field

(This is the first half of the magical nursery rhyme and song.)

Everything that’s lovely is but a brief dreamy kind of delight.

–W.B. Yeats

The voice of beauty speaks softly; it creeps only into the most fully awakened souls.

–Nietzsche

The snow reveals so much activity from the night before, tracks  going here and there, showing the popular places to get water at the river or to cross over a fence.  On my ski along the river I wondered whose are these, so solitary and steady?

Hope can neither be affirmed or denied. Hope is like a path in the countryside: originally there was no path – yet, as people are walking all the time in the same spot, a way appears.

–Lu Xun

This is a wonderful day. I’ve never seen this one before.

–Maya Angelou

The snow has been falling all weekend, peaceful and quiet, blanketing the landscape. The stillness seems magnified during these snows. It calls me out into it, to witness the peacefulness that has been created.

Here is a video from a few winters ago, when Henry the stray barn cat was hanging around.

Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountaintop, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then you shall truly dance. –Kahlil Gibran

My house is on the lane that goes to a fishing access and small campground on the Boulder River. You can walk or ski along the river for a nice stretch and it is always so peaceful! Well…..provided the wind isn’t howling. I had the whole place to myself this morning due to heavy snowfall and the lane not being plowed. It was a gift.

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.

–Albert Einstein

Have any of you had this experience?  You walk outside, look around, and every single thing is covered in tiny crystals – the world is white. Each blade of grass, each tree limb, each fence post. I didn’t know it was called Hoarfrost until I moved to Montana.  I’ve always seen it first thing in the morning, a transformed world where this frost has coated the landscape.  It feels magical! 

I walked out this morning to this very scene – a crystallized silvery white landscape!