Montana, Wyoming

Photos of some of the places and the fish from our trip to Montana and Wyoming this summer. The best thing about the fishing…dry flies, and of course watching the fish swim away after "letting go."  I found myself thinking about some of my favorite writers in the quiet times….  Harry Middleton, and David James Duncan. Both writers have nurtured my desire to listen for the voices of those I have loved and who are no longer here. There were many times when I could not distinguish between the sounds of the water over rocks or the breeze in stream side bushes and sounds of their laughter and voices.

I'm hoping that some new rod crossman paintings will emerge out of the memories of this trip.  It was the first time Jimbo and I had returned to Montana in 20 years.  

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Anybody out there want to go with me?

Roger Zelazny. The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth   One of my favorite short stories from a brilliant writer

Dry Fly….. original acrylic painting by rod crossman

Roger Zelazny. The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth

Handmade books and" Listening to the River"

 

   Stone Street Press is where Malachi  McCormick crafts handmade books.   I just ordered " Listening to the River"  from him , sounds like a book I needed. A family memoir about a young boy and a Father with a passion for dry fly fishing and for words. 

Three Good Books

    Read the water, read the rise, read the wind, and then read these books..... 

   "Rivers Course through my dreams, rivers cold and fast. rivers known and rivers nameless, rivers that seem like ribbons of blue water twisting through wide valleys, narrow rivers folded in layers of darkening shadow, rivers that eroded down deep in a mountain belly, sculpted the land, peeled back the planet's history exposing the texture of time itself."  - Harry Middleton  ,  Rivers of Memory 

 " The Earth is Enough "  by Harry Middleton  

" Under Cottonwoods"   by Stephen Grace  

"The Run to Gitche Gumee"  by  Robert F. Jones