I'm from Montana.
Howdy!I live now in Huntington Beach, California and in a lot of respects, I find it to be paradise. Warm weather year 'round, beaches, great food and always something to do.
But I'm forever grateful that I spent 22 years in another type of paradise. I couldn't live there now...too damn cold for my blood and not enough to do...but I'm glad it was a part of my experience.
Oro y Plata is out state motto...gold and silver. There is not enough of those precious metals there for the phrase to make sense, except a metaphorical preciousness. Besides. We're satirists at heart.
The dangers and ravages of nature are beautiful.
Life and death are not more appreciated there than anywhere else...but you are reminded of how close they are more. How thinly divided.
Yes, I'll admit the winters are beautiful too...
...my issue is, they're much more beautiful in a picture than they are when it's -10 degrees and you're nuts deep in the snow while you have to live and work as if you weren't.
And springtime in the Rockies, when it all bursts back green and the snow melts and water coarses over the landscape...nature truly in action...is my favorite.
Some folks don't want this "Last Best Place" discovered by outsiders, and want to keep it to themselves.
I can't say I blame them. "The Treasure State" is a treasure.
And since I was once from there...I can be selfish too.
We can't help it. When you're exposed to this much grandeur of nature...you're constantly reminded just how inconsequential and insignificant you are.
You find your place and worthiness in your sense of humor maybe.
Summer's are beautiful.
The dangers and ravages of nature are beautiful.Life and death are not more appreciated there than anywhere else...but you are reminded of how close they are more. How thinly divided.
Yes, I'll admit the winters are beautiful too...
...my issue is, they're much more beautiful in a picture than they are when it's -10 degrees and you're nuts deep in the snow while you have to live and work as if you weren't.
And springtime in the Rockies, when it all bursts back green and the snow melts and water coarses over the landscape...nature truly in action...is my favorite.
Some folks don't want this "Last Best Place" discovered by outsiders, and want to keep it to themselves.
I can't say I blame them. "The Treasure State" is a treasure.
And since I was once from there...I can be selfish too.
I love your blog today. I have one comment in the contrary. We have lots of gold and silver, but really it is not feasible to mine it. The cost of mining, clean up, leaching, clean up, insurance for the mining, equipment, and clean up make it an unprofitable venture. It is nice to know that about 500 foot under my lovely home town is a vein of silver that the rest of the world will never see. Have a great day.
ReplyDeleteConsider me educated...thanks for the feedback!
ReplyDeleteI'd almost thought that when they discoverd all the copper and zinc (kinda gold and silver colored) someone was mistaken and laid the motto down.
But that's just my skewed Montanan way of looking at things.
Looking at the seal on the flag, I was thinking someone commissioned you to draw it :)
ReplyDeleteMarco...no, I didn't draw it...but many an hour of Kindergarten and 1st grade were spent coloring it. I'll never forgive all those teachers who graded us on "staying inside the lines", that's pretty crappy real life training.
ReplyDelete