Fall Colors

Photo by Ken W. Hall

Ken just sent me this photo he took on our drive a few days ago.  The colors are even more vivid now.  The leaves are falling fast.

The weather is amazingly warm and perfect.  Temperatures are in the forties and fifties at night and the seventies and eighties in the daytime.

I am loving the sunshine and gentle breezes.  The sunrise and sunset colors this time of year are vivid and spectacular.

Morning Blessing

Photo by Ken W. Hall, title: "Morning Blessing"

 

 Ken just sent me this photo he took this glorious morning.  It sums up the beauty of this warm, calm sun shinny day.  Here are his own words:

"We arose to the majesty of another Montana sunrise…soft light filtering through the fur trees in the back yard.  In quiet reverence the hollyhocks stood next to the back fence and opened widely, excited to the new day. Here in this moment they were bathed in the soft transparent caress of love."

I took this lesson with me after the shoot, "No matter what the day brings in the hours to come, I have had this moment of being touched by the Creator!"

                                                                                            - Ken W. Hall

Ken Catches His First Artctic Grayling

Ken went fishing last week in the Ruby Valley with his friend C. G. Feldman.  Ken caught his first Arctic Grayling and C.G. recorded the event with these photos.  The weather was spectacular that day.

Here in the Madison Valley it was cloudy and windy.  Today we woke to forty degrees and late this afternoon it was seventy.

It looks as if we are in for a week of fabulous weather as we ease into fall.  The leaves are turning and some are falling.  Summer passed way to fast.

Harvest Time

Last Friday I had the pleasure of helping out with our new Farm to Fork program.  Our forth and fifth grade students planted a garden in May and Friday morning they harvested their corn, squash and potatoes.

As you can tell it was cool after the rain the night before.  In spite of the mud the kids eagerly dug up potatoes, plucked and shucked corn and picked pumpkins.

We cooked the corn so they could taste the fruits of their labor.  I have never seen so many happy faces.  They were talking about how it was the best corn they ever ate and how much fun they were having.

Tomorrow morning Janet and I will take their corn husks into the class room to share with them the Native American legend of why the corn husk doll has no features.  Then we will teach them how to use the husks to make corn husk dolls.

Today it is a bit breezy and in the high sixties.  Yesterday it was seventy-three degrees and almost no wind.  I enjoyed walking and getting some sun and fresh air.

Fallen Boulder

Ken just sent me these photos from our trip last week to view the damage from the fallen boulder.  You can see how much lower the lake and river levels are while they work to repair the damage.

Today the weather is awesome.  It is about seventy-one degrees and the sun is shining.  Earlier in the week we had rain, clouds and wind.  Temperatures barely rose above sixty.

A few minutes ago I had the pleasure of watching an osprey catch a fish from the river at Lion's Park.  They will soon be migrating for winter. 

The moisture this past week dumped a fair amount of snow on the mountains.  I heard the elk are coming down.  Summer was so short this year I am not ready for winter but it is sure to arrive.

No Boats On Ennis Lake Today

Ken and I have been busy with the Fly Fishing Festival.  Rainy weather moved in early last week but cleared for the two days of the event.

It was well attended and we met so many wonderful people who stopped by our booth.  For the first time an Ennis resident won the boat the Madison River Foundation raffles off for the event.

Today it was sixty-five degrees when we took a drive to Ennis Lake.  Last Monday a boulder fell damaging the dam below Ennis Lake.  The water level was lowered by four feet making it possible to walk on foot out to Diamond Rock.

You can read more about the dam at http://www.madisoniannews.com.