Merry Christmas 2019 and Happy New Year, 2020.

Merry Christmas 2019 and a Happy 2020 New Year to all family and friends, far and near.

It's been a while since I've written a Christmas letter, but for some reason it felt right to do it now.  Normally, I would open with either the first photo I took this year, or a photo of some religious scene I had noticed.  This afternoon, however, when I opened my January 1, 2019 photo collection, the image above jumped out at me.  It's a four photo panorama that I took at the National Bison Range, about forty miles east of home.  One of my favorite scenes, the Mission Mountains rise in the background.   This was not taken on January 1st.  I'm not sure how it ended up in the January 1st folder.  One of the joys of Lightroom, no doubt.  These four photos were actually taken on April 25th, 2019.  The image was so striking that I felt it would be a good place to start.  Below you can see the photo that really was the first one I took in 2019.  A view out over the Lower Clark Fork Valley just west of Plains.

Looks a lot more like January 1st, doesn't it.  It was taken in the later afternoon, so that helps to explain the darkness in the scene.

Mid January had things looking a lot more like winter.  This scene, shot out ouf front door on January 16th, gives you an idea of the snow and sun that Winter in Montana can bring.

 On February first, I captured this shot of the old Diehl Ranch which was being sold by the Lawyer's Nursery folk.  The farm is on the west side of Plains and is nestled into a big bend in the Clark Fork River.  The picture to me evokes a pastoral Christmas card feeling.

Judging by my photos, we didn't take any trips during February (other than our bimonthly visits to either Missoula or Kalispell).  Most of my February photos were of flowers here at home, either  orchids like the one above, or hibiscus which seem to bloom year round as long as I keep them warm and indoors.

March also provided a lot of floral photos, but we did some limited traveling.   A drive to Thompspon Falls allowed me to capture this view looking into Bad Rock Canyon between Plains and Thompson.

At the end of the month, I talked Kevin into taking me to Newport, Washington, then north along the Pend Oreille River almost to the Canadian border.  We stopped at the town of Metalline Falls, before turning back south and east to home.  One of the photos I took was this one of the Congregational Church in Ione, Washington.

April brought the first flowers blooming outdoors, the first of my surgeries this year, and the first CouchSurfing guest of the year whom I was pleased to serve as Tour Guide, taking him to Wallace, Idaho, the Center of the Universe, after all, Glacier National Park, and St. Ignatius, Montana, where we met some lovely people who host a monthly brunch potluck.  

Our (East) German guest at the Center of the Universe.  Or, does that sign mean that he's the Center of the Universe.  I'm so confused.

I consider this to be the best photograph I've ever taken in Glacier National Park.  Lake McDonald was so clear and calm.  Fiftenn minutes later, the wind had come up and this photo would have been impossible.  Still with our East German guest.

Early May had us take the back road home from Polson, crossing the Flathead River west of Ronan and driving into Hot Springs on the Little Bitterroot Road where we found this group of very pretty horses (and mules).  Late May brought us another house guest, this time through Warm Showers, and he was riding the route of the great draining of Glacial Lake Missoula.  Of course we had to go tothe Bison Range and see the Lake Missoula signage there.  Not to mention getting the chance to ask "Why did the bison cross the road'?

June brought car show season to Plains, starting with the Rehbein Ford sponsored Plains Day Car Show on June 1st.  I took a raft of photos, but missed a few and had to look up the owners.  One such, who wishes to remain nameless, actually took me for a ride in his hot rod.  In exchange, I gave him a portfolio of photos I took of his car.  What a hoot!

                      

June also gave me the chance to work on my photoshop skills by isolating this gorgeous white iris growing in our garden.  I do love my flowers.

That's enough for now.  You've seen what the first half of 2019 threw at us.  Looking back through the photos, it would appear that we did a lot more than I remember.  Guess that's why I take the photos

Second half the year to come.  Stay tuned.  Don't touch that dial!  (Does anyone today rememger a "dial"?

Love,

Bryan, for Kevin, Rocky, Digger and the Cat.