I am traveling throughout Spain, Morocco, & Italy and have been doing one sentence/day. My favorite was my first and I will shyly share it here: Traveling has made me dizzy- like traversing into a 4th dimension with the realization of how many now’s are happening all at once all over the universe
I’m enchanted by “a curiosity of friends” and “a glory of turkey vultures”. My thanks again for expanding the wonderful world of words, offering observations with which to ponder.
Hi Chris, I am so impressed with your persistence in the face of long paved roads and with your ability to dialogue with groups of people you've not met before. ki ta ta mi in for knowing who you are. Like the crusted snow you hold promise for the greening of Spring and new growth. Nia
These one-sentence windows into your life always land like poetry whispered through a cracked window—brief, but alive with wind and weight. “Every word a thorn pulled out, then pushed back in again” stopped me cold. And yes, that gyre of “I shoulds” is a familiar undertow—I think a lot of us live in that low tide of self-expectation and recovery. Thanks for naming it. And for continuing to show up, even when it’s hard. These dispatches matter.
The Swan is the place for me. I passed through there many times each year as the preferred route from Bozeman to my mother's house in Kalispell. Since the 90's, I've been stopping in at Greg Morley's canoe shop - I went to school w/ one of Greg's sons in Oregon - to have a chat and drool over boats I can't afford. Like most beautiful places in the West, the Swan has been "discovered". But it still rides comfortably close to the Bob and all its for-now-protected glory. Cheers to the Swan and the Bob. Thanks for the memory jog. P.S. One spring trip where we found ourselves scooting through at dusk on the way to a lax tourney in Kalispell, I had my then high school son count the number of deer in the road (not on the side - only on blacktop) between Seeley and Swan lakes. It was around 100+. We often travel fast on 83, but that evening, we slowed the roll a bit. So many deer.
Also, I will make my way to the High Desert museum in Bend w/ my wife. Bend is a lovely spot - one of those that blew up w/ development in the 90’s & aughts. But it’s well developed in some ways. (In other ways it lives up to its name as the western-most point of the Pattagucci Triangle: Bend, Bozeman, and Boulder:) Anyhow, I hope I have an opportunity to say hello and of course would sport an after-event beverage if you have absolutely nothing else to do and are fired up and rarin’ to go. (IOW, only, ONLY if you really feel like it.)
I love "a sentence a day." Aside from doing a clause a day, the practice would bring the kernels to the surface. I host an informal writer's group in Hamilton twice a month and will send this out as our prompt for the next meeting. I spent a year creating a few lines every morning not using the verb "to be." Totally perked up my writing. On the moccasin trail? Keep breathing, it's the most important part. Grateful.
Just been reading about Humanities Montana losing funding. Hope it doesn't impact you too much. (My son still talks about meeting you in Butte last December, an event HM facilitated. The idea they'd take opportunities like this from kids - and from you of course - is infuriating.)
2025_0325: Minor outrage at the feline relative with the nerve to follow me to my door gives way to true regret at not putting out an offering of thanks for the protection or message they may have emerged to deliver in the 30 minutes they stood watch on my front steps facing the street, like a tiny black guardian.
(Also 2025_0403: Rapid appreciation for managing to swallow my sip of coffee before reading and laughing out loud at a friend's recall of a Dakota elder's comment at a March conference.
Also, as far as names to say out loud go, Ekalaka is unbeaten.)
Yes! All my days are about tackling my shoulds and trying not to buckle under the weight of unfinished tasks, but reading your work, of respecting roadside hawks and fallen trees on walks alleviates all that for awhile.
April 1: I suppose I should be thankful for this time-machine side trip away from current politics and back to the murder of JFK, and the aftermath, the dozens of characters and threats and mysterious deaths and startling connections, the names Sam Giancana, Judith Exner and Frank Sinatra floating across my computer screen like a flashing red-light warning... Gaping Rabbit Hole Ahead!
I am traveling throughout Spain, Morocco, & Italy and have been doing one sentence/day. My favorite was my first and I will shyly share it here: Traveling has made me dizzy- like traversing into a 4th dimension with the realization of how many now’s are happening all at once all over the universe
I love that line. You captured the disconnect perfectly!
I’m enchanted by “a curiosity of friends” and “a glory of turkey vultures”. My thanks again for expanding the wonderful world of words, offering observations with which to ponder.
Miigwech!
BLS audiobook is available on the Libby app.
Ebook and audio are also on the Hoopla app.
Hi Chris, I am so impressed with your persistence in the face of long paved roads and with your ability to dialogue with groups of people you've not met before. ki ta ta mi in for knowing who you are. Like the crusted snow you hold promise for the greening of Spring and new growth. Nia
Miigwech! While I prefer dirt roads (which I got 20+ miles of on the way to Ekalaka!) the long paved ones aren't so bad either.
03/15 Yes, meadowlark song makes it all worthwhile!
💚
Tehachapi. Tuolumne. Great Barrington. I think those are my favorite ones to say.
I've been to one of those places!
Titicaca is another good one. ;)
😂
These one-sentence windows into your life always land like poetry whispered through a cracked window—brief, but alive with wind and weight. “Every word a thorn pulled out, then pushed back in again” stopped me cold. And yes, that gyre of “I shoulds” is a familiar undertow—I think a lot of us live in that low tide of self-expectation and recovery. Thanks for naming it. And for continuing to show up, even when it’s hard. These dispatches matter.
Miigwech, Anton!
The Swan is the place for me. I passed through there many times each year as the preferred route from Bozeman to my mother's house in Kalispell. Since the 90's, I've been stopping in at Greg Morley's canoe shop - I went to school w/ one of Greg's sons in Oregon - to have a chat and drool over boats I can't afford. Like most beautiful places in the West, the Swan has been "discovered". But it still rides comfortably close to the Bob and all its for-now-protected glory. Cheers to the Swan and the Bob. Thanks for the memory jog. P.S. One spring trip where we found ourselves scooting through at dusk on the way to a lax tourney in Kalispell, I had my then high school son count the number of deer in the road (not on the side - only on blacktop) between Seeley and Swan lakes. It was around 100+. We often travel fast on 83, but that evening, we slowed the roll a bit. So many deer.
And the occasional moose or bear....
Turkeys! (Closer to K-spell).
Also, I will make my way to the High Desert museum in Bend w/ my wife. Bend is a lovely spot - one of those that blew up w/ development in the 90’s & aughts. But it’s well developed in some ways. (In other ways it lives up to its name as the western-most point of the Pattagucci Triangle: Bend, Bozeman, and Boulder:) Anyhow, I hope I have an opportunity to say hello and of course would sport an after-event beverage if you have absolutely nothing else to do and are fired up and rarin’ to go. (IOW, only, ONLY if you really feel like it.)
Peaceful travels to you.
I loved the one on camaraderie being hopeful and “smelling illusory”- absolutely.
I love "a sentence a day." Aside from doing a clause a day, the practice would bring the kernels to the surface. I host an informal writer's group in Hamilton twice a month and will send this out as our prompt for the next meeting. I spent a year creating a few lines every morning not using the verb "to be." Totally perked up my writing. On the moccasin trail? Keep breathing, it's the most important part. Grateful.
Miigwech!
Just been reading about Humanities Montana losing funding. Hope it doesn't impact you too much. (My son still talks about meeting you in Butte last December, an event HM facilitated. The idea they'd take opportunities like this from kids - and from you of course - is infuriating.)
It has a huge impact but I'm not going to let it stop me either.
2025_0325: Minor outrage at the feline relative with the nerve to follow me to my door gives way to true regret at not putting out an offering of thanks for the protection or message they may have emerged to deliver in the 30 minutes they stood watch on my front steps facing the street, like a tiny black guardian.
(Also 2025_0403: Rapid appreciation for managing to swallow my sip of coffee before reading and laughing out loud at a friend's recall of a Dakota elder's comment at a March conference.
Also, as far as names to say out loud go, Ekalaka is unbeaten.)
Cats. 🤷🏾♂️
Yes! All my days are about tackling my shoulds and trying not to buckle under the weight of unfinished tasks, but reading your work, of respecting roadside hawks and fallen trees on walks alleviates all that for awhile.
Happy to hear that. The shame spiral SUCKS.
April 1: I suppose I should be thankful for this time-machine side trip away from current politics and back to the murder of JFK, and the aftermath, the dozens of characters and threats and mysterious deaths and startling connections, the names Sam Giancana, Judith Exner and Frank Sinatra floating across my computer screen like a flashing red-light warning... Gaping Rabbit Hole Ahead!
your sentence relating the pace of life to the quality of life and how slowness enhances both rings true.
I think about that often.
Verklempt. A new word for something I experience as I age. I have given myself permission to feel so deeply.
One of my favorite words. In fact, if there was a town with that name, "Ekalaka" would have competition.