Tonight we made it as far as Billings and are comfortably ensconced in a Kelly Inn there. All day through gorgeous country, Gallatin River, Yellowstone River, cloud, sun, rain--seasoned with a few buffalo with calves. I took several hundred fromthecar pictures. I decided to think of raindrops on the windshield as a feature, not a bug!

Storm in the Mountains

Even God can't take the lightning back,

once the old forest wakes in the night and all

the arch of the sky stares aghast at that fall

saved in quiet so long we forgot its attack

that says nothing, nothing till it comes and is over: black

sky again, but cuddled in a snag silent and tall

a fire seed begins a new life, so huddles, so small

that no one looks there till another crack

and its eyelids gleam. Oh, the long tumble! The whole

world on its way home somewhere with us helplessly

clinging to keep our place!--clutching our selfish

bodies that finally crash and ignite the soul

to spark, or maybe to spark, maybe to smoulder

while God reconsiders light and dark over and over

and over.

William Stafford in My Name Is William Tell, Confluence Press, page 55.

Rest well and dream of buffalo grazing a a spring meadow with yellow flowers. Good Night!