I like rainy, gloomy days…for a bit. We have had about 7 rainy, gloomy days in a row! Enough, I said and went looking for a little sunshine.

The photos below are from November 4 - photos that did not make the to see what we could see post . These photos show the shallow end of Echo Lake that is now more puddle than lake. But the mountains bordering Jewell Basin curve around the edge and still make for a pretty scene.

following added 6:30 a.m. this morning

… and a little moonshine - a few breaks in the clouds let a bit of moonshine through this morning. Karl is lying outside the sunroom slider in a narrow moonbeam that is shooting through the trees…

A little sunshine and a little moonshine for this Thursday morning.

Another gray day, making for not much “easy” in the way of photo taking…that, and I’ve been mostly “nose to the grindstone” with my day job…

But as I was working late morning, some movement out the window caught my eye…

And a friend of hers was munching away in the side yard…

Bob kept an eye out…

Karl was with me saying “Please, Mom, I don’t feel like chasing deer”. He generally doesn’t like them close to the house and will convince them to move into the woods where he’ll stand and look threatening until he’s sure they will not venture back. But on occasion, I’ve seen him pointedly ignore them, as if he’s tired of the whole thing. Not the rare bucks, but the does which are abundant, will often not move unless you get seriously close to them. Then they bound effortlessly away. I can understand his frustration.

The golden glow of the ground is not just dying grass… some of the gold is the larch needles that have fallen. The trees are looking a bit sparse, some already bare. There is some color left, but between the sparsely leaved and needled trees, the gray skies and clouded in mountain tops, Karl and I in our hunter orange were as colorful as anything!

Rainy day Monday.

Harry Horn/Wayfarer’s State Park, Bigfork, MT - 11/9/2008

From this morning:

Oh, yeah - THAT’s how I like to see my mountains dressed!

A bleak day… but as always, some beauty to be found. From this morning’s walk at the state park on Flathead Lake:

Below are from an afternoon walk at “home”. I believe Karl would title the first: “My mama dresses me funny”.

It is deer (gun) season. And although the land we walk is private and posted “No Hunting”, it is adjacent to 40 acres of state land which is huntable. I choose to be cautious. My personal vanity prohibits showing my own “hunter orange outfit”…I have a “one size fits all” vest made to go over winter jackets. It has been alternately rainy/snowy so I’ve been wearing raingear over fleece. With the gigantic orange vest I look like the great pumpkin in a cowboy hat. I have a felt, waterproof cowboy hat that has ear flaps that fold down for real cold. The thing keeps water off my face AND neck - my ears warm when it is very cold. I’ve had it a number of years so it has a somewhat odd shape at this point… However, vanity aside, I am warm and dry and both Karl and I are visible - which is the point.