Skywatch Friday: Giving Thanks

It's a beautiful world and there is much to be thankful for. Sometimes, simply while walking home to Walkerville from the little college where I teach in Butte, Montana, I stand agape at our Big Sky. Looking south to the Highland Mountains, a colorful sunset begins to develop:

Within minutes, the sun touches the horizon, the colors deepen, and the sky is aflame:

Walking to work in the morning, a full moon sets into the Clark Fork River valley:

After a successful hunting season, MollyTheDog is thankful that we butcher our own meat. Just a year old, she wasn't quite sure what to do with that first massive elk bone:

But soon she was an old hand at it (and our yard began to look like some sort of bone cult had been meeting there):

This cow and calf moose are thankful that hunting season is over and they can lie out in the open and chew their cuds in peace:

We are also thankful for good people. The day after Thanksgiving, a group of friends gathered at Don & Andrea Stierle's cabin at The Moulton just north of Walkerville. The group included Bill Macgregor and his son Alex, so there was of course a bonfire:

We're having a dry winter and there's not enough snow for cross country skiing yet, but until then there's good food, close friends, and the warmth of a big fire:

Skywatch Friday