MORE AUTUMN...

...a hint of what is to come.

PIECES OF AUTUMN

Truth to tell, fall is not my favorite season.  In fact, I don't really like it.  There is something sad about the stillness, something that I think of as ( Windslow ) Homeresque.  I cannot, though, deny it's beauty. Today, I think is the peak of the peak, golden colors everywhere and a bright, windless sky.  The leaves will hang on until there is a bit of wind or they will just give up and fall to the ground as some have done.  Tomorrow or the day after the cottonwood will again be those forlorn shaggy trees that they are destined to be for the next 8 years but for now, for today anyway, they did basque in golden glory.

PS Beloveds in city canyons and steaming in Singapore, these pictures are especially for you.

ALL DAY FAMILY VISIT

Outside the front door at this moment and as they have been all this day.
What a blessed place to live!

The Original Wyoming Bronc?

In Jackson Today

A WALK WITH GREAT FRIENDS

When paths don't cross often every minute that they do is such a gift!

OLD BILL'S FUN RUN

Saturday morning, before the fire that is threatening the town that you see in these pictures had even started, thousands of people came to the square to run, cheer or support the 16th annual philanthropic event that raises millions - yes millionS - of dollars for the 150 agencies that serve the community.
Jackson Hole Community Foundation is the sponsor of the event wherein individual donor's gift are matched by "Mr. and Mrs. Old Bill" and 45 co-challengers. The community has given to date a total of nearly $4.7 million and, because many people contribute after the event, this amount is likely to reach, as it did last year, over $7 million.
It is such a wonderful event with baby strollers, dogs, participants in costumes, kids and elders walking and running en mass to earn their favorite non profits a share
As I wrote this time last year: we are a community that takes care of it's own. Now, with this massive fire only 1 1/2 from town we seem to have an immediate possible to act on that generosity of spirit. Given the evacuation advisory residents on the east side of Jackson are loading their cars. The elderly and those with livestock are being aided by other Jacksonites. No doubt the intentions of care are matched by action in this very special place.

NOTE: The elderly lady about is Mrs. Deberoux who is 104. She is a resident of The Living Center. She has crossed the finish line pushing her own chair for the past 4 years.

old Bill's Fun Ru

OLD BILL'S FUN RUN

PLAYING FOR MOOSE ( as opposed to money!)

The piano teacher and the moose!

This lady moose is a regular visitor. If you look very closely you will see her baby behind the white rock to her right.

The baby was born here in the wetlands behind the cabin and I have a pretty good suspicion - because we seem to have babies here every spring - that the mama too calls this her birth place.

Moose and ducks have been my audience now for years. Although I do not have a picture of it, there have been years where the ducks line up in rows on the pond behind me. Bizarre, yes I know, but true and oddly flattering!
photo credit: world class illegal duck feeder T. Muller

MISTY MORNING

We had a fine and merciful rain on Saturday night. A further gift was waking to a sweet and very nearly silent fog.

As per habit, I headed straight to Old Pass Road, just barely seeing the road in front of me for my daily walk. When I got there I encountered an odd situation - an empty parking lot. Bears have been spotted there recently so I very much appreciate the presence of others on that trail. I decided retreat to a safer walk and headed to the levee along the Snake.

I so wish I were a poet and had the facility to describe to you the beauty of that long flat walk in fog. The freshness was palpable and there an almost holy silence. Coming along these silent fishermen was beauty enough to make me want to bow in reverence. Instead, of course, I took pictures.