Posts from the ‘Front Porch Musings’ category

A day of remembrance

Without the sacrifice of so many, I would not be doing what I am today, in the place I am today. To say “Thank you” to all who paid with their lives, is not enough. Those of us reaping the benefits of their payment can best say “Thank You” by continuing to fight for what they fought for. It is a particularly scary battle at the moment.

Also not forgotten are the families who supported the fallen, who went and go on without them. May they have peace.

Memorial Day – A day of remembrance.

More on light

Tuesday, I took photos in Somers between rain squalls. Dark clouds on the east side of the valley were offset by blue sky and puffy white clouds on the west side. The air was crystal clear. The afternoon sun through the clouds and the clear air with the dark backdrop to the east made the colors of everything their most vivid.

In comments for that post, reader and blog bud Buck (Exile in Portales) asked about the altitude here. It is just under 3000 feet on the valley floor/lake level where the Tuesday photos were taken (per NOAA). My house is about 200 foot higher (per my GPS). Buck lives in New Mexico, home to many artists who comment on the New Mexico light. Buck explained his question with a theory that altitude contributes to an artistic light.

I certainly believe altitude has something to do with quality of light. I think humidity plays a roll as well. On Tuesday and again today with these photos, the clouds also come into play. The sun in today’s photos is again at an angle opposite the dark clouds. There is that light that happens when bright sunlight has dark clouds as a backdrop.

Where is our physics person???

Whatever the explanation, I love light like this. The light, the colors, the clouds rolling, the wind blowing… the uncertainty…intriguing.

Easter candy

Over to the right in “Snippets of Life”, I commented last week that I suddenly had a craving for a chocolate creme egg. I had the wrong name and still not sure of the right name, but when I was a child we always had this rather large chocolate egg, dark chocolate on the outside and a creamier, lighter chocolate with nuts inside. It was very rich and I remember being allowed to have a small slice daily. It was in a box with a cellophane window. That’s my memory – I don’t always get the details :) !

Saturday, running a few errands, I stopped at a drug store that I knew would have a variety of Easter goodies. I don’t know… drugstore lighting, the garish colors – and no “box” as I remembered. Everything I saw just made me think of old, too sugary candy and I was not tempted.

I’m not sure of the exact date, but I think it is approaching a year since “ The Apple Trolley” opened in Bigfork. In a little retail space on the way out of town to the south, a young woman and her mother opened a “gourmet carmel apple” shop.

And it is thriving – Big Time! And at $5 an apple. I am thrilled for them and for Bigfork and for me – delicious treat, nice owners, pleasant little shop – it is fun.

Standing in the drugstore with everything looking unappealing to me, I suddenly thought of “ The Apple Trolley“…

My Easter candy.

**Lest you think they will not make it with $5 caramel apples, they were nearly sold out when I stopped just before noon on Saturday. And they had made extra for Easter, along with special bags and baskets available. Good on them!

We interrupt this regularly scheduled programming…

I have fallen in love with Leesa’s photography and the aura of gentle goodness at her site: Peace of my mind

Today, she posted “My Little Rocky” aka Rocky, the Flying Squirrel

When I was something around pre-teen, my family took care of a flying squirrel. I don’t remember the exact circumstances, but he was “Rocky” naturally (Rocky and Bullwinkle….) …oops, he was “Pocket” because he liked to be in a Pocket (my mother took care of him for a Sunday School student of hers who couldn’t take him when he went off to college. Peter originally got Pocket from camp which was overrun with the squirrels) and my memory is of being locked in the bathroom with him while his cage was being cleaned and of him swooping around the bathroom and eventually climbing up the inside of my pajama leg :) ! It was an incredible experience and wonderful memory. (My mother writes that I screamed….)

I had no idea there were flying squirrels in Montana before seeing Leesa’s photo. Despite squirrels giving Karl fits, I may just have to put a feeder up and check it in the wee, small hours…

The Road Home: Early Spring

The road to my home. My house sits on the far side of the wooded area looking to the Swan Range. Whether I’ve been gone on a quick errand or a months long rv trip, the turn on to my road home is a wonderful thing. I am always grateful that I have the opportunity to be right where I am and have Karl and Bob to share it with.

Photo taken yesterday, April 6, 2009.

Links to prior “Road Home” photos:
May-December Romance
Fall Edition

On impatience

Last evening, after I posted yesterday’s “Just one of those days”, Karl and I went for a walk. I was thinking a blast of fresh “Spring masquerading as Winter” air would banish my doldrums. I almost always enjoy being out once I get out, even if conditions are not wonderful and last evening was no exception. We dawdled around our loop and it felt good but also just a bit more of tiring. Whether Karl was feeling the same or picked up on my feelings, he followed me into the house – a bit unusual as he would normally get a treat and pick a spot in the yard to munch and watch. I took the cue and said, “Let’s just go to bed” and we did! Bob NEVER has objections to going to bed at any time of day. It was 6:45.

I slept well. Bob and Karl were quiet all night so I assume they also slept well. Fresh start on a new day.

I listen to a Jesuit produced podcast called Pray as you go in the morning. The podcasts start with music which varies from Gregorian Chants to contemporary to African Monks chanting with what I call a tribal beat. A verse of scripture is read. The Jesuit group that puts this together is in Britain and most of the readers have a Celtic lilt and accent that seems to put a soft serenity into the readings and the questions that follow. The questions are along the lines of “how did that make you feel” and “what did you notice” but with some specificity to the reading.

Today’s scripture was from Exodus and was a short couple of verses where the Israelites are complaining about the wilderness and its lack of good food, conveniently forgetting that they were, in fact, rescued from persecution. Their take at that moment is more “out of the frying pan and into the fire” and they are pretty blunt with God and Moses about their dissatisfaction and impatience. I believe this was near the beginning of their 40 years in the wilderness so they had a bit to go out there.

But, the “make you think” question in the podcast – the thing that really hit home to me, was “What are you impatient about?”. It made me sit up straight, take notice and think. On the tail of a day where everything seemed “wrong” although nothing really was, it hit me that it was impatience with things of no real importance in the overall scheme of life that was at the root of my out of sortness. As is so often the case, a slight change of perspective changes my outlook and my “in feel” and the world seems right side up once more.

Impatience – it has its plusses and minuses. A certain amount of it has been very good in my life. I don’t wait for conditions to be perfect to try something or do something so I’ve had opportunities for which I am very grateful. It is the impatience with the niggling things that often are beyond my control that causes me grief of my own making.

Today, I am rested and well. I have good work. I live in a place I love. I have friends and family. I have a dog and a cat. I am a beloved child of the great Creator. I have all I need and more. Life is truly good.