A forecast winter storm finally arrived. It snowed heavily most of yesterday and the skies were gray and overcast as they have been for days. But it cleared overnight and the temperature dropped to 9F. The waning half lit the woods through the trees…
…a spot of deep blue sky and the moonlit tops of the mountains sent Karl and I down the road in the Jeep to see what we could see.
Morning moonlight.
It will not be too long until the needles all drop and the larch are bare-boned branches in the Winter sky. The snow will fly and the green-brown-rust landscape will give way to the cool-cold white-green-blue of Winter.
But this morning, the sun lit everything with the brilliant colors of a Fall morning.
This barn sits in one of those places that begs a photo again and again – the valley floor giving way to the Continental Divide.
Nearly all this week, the mountain tops have been shrouded in clouds, mist or squalls, but today, bits of sunshine poked through the overcast lighting the field and the golden larch.
Photo taken 10/24/2009
The steeper the ridgeline
The hotter the sunshine
The sweeter the alpenglow*
It’s a long way over this mountain
A long long way to climbThere’s a song that I must keep singing
It’s a prayer and it moves me through timeThe things that will hurt you
The ones that desert you
They’ll help you more than you’ll ever know*
The steeper the ridgeline
The hotter the sunshine
The sweeter the alpenglowThe more the resistance
The greater the distance
The sweeter the alpenglow*
*Lyrics from “For the weary” written by Allison Sattinger, Sunny Rising Music Allison’s Steady Heart CD
Photos taken 10/24/2009, 6:10-6:30 p.m. Sunset was approximately 6:27.
Karl and I took a run to town for supplies – solo – the man is hunting in Eastern MT…actually – chaperoning a youth group hunt.
On the way for supplies, I stopped at the dump and the road out of the dump provided a bit of Fall flavor.
I’ve shot from here before.
From the same spot, but to the West – a snow squall moves south with a bit of sun showing the golden larch in front of the squall.
That’s what Karl and I saw.