Of Men and Mountains

I picked up this book by William Douglas -copyright 1950- and really enjoyed his writing on his explorations & experiences in the pacific northwest mountains.

"I stood in the silence of the gathering night, charting my course by it. Then the words my father had spoken came back: 'If I die it will be glory. If I live it will be grace.'

That was his evening star --a faith in a power greater than man. That was the faith of our fathers --a belief in a God who controlled man and the universe...

Man's age-long effort has been to be free...We can keep our freedom through the increasing crises of history only if we are self-reliant enough to be free. We cannot become self-reliant if our dominant desire is to be safe and secure; under that influence we could never face and overcome the adversities of this competitive age. We will be self-reliant only if we have a real appetite for independence.

Dollars, guns, and all the wondrous products of science and the machine will not be enough...

We need a faith --the faith of our fathers. We need a faith that dedicates us to something bigger and more important than ourselves or our possessions. We need a faith to which we commit our lives. We need a faith for which it would be glory to die. Only if we have such a faith are we free to live."

~Excerpt taken from pg. 329 of Of Men and Mountains

A River Runs Through It

This is a great book and a beautiful movie. I like to put the movie in to play, just to listen to the narration. Lately, I've been thinking about the end of the book and playing the lyrical words over in my mind. Here's my favorite excerpt...enjoy:

(spoken by the father character)...'"It is those we live with and love and should know who elude us."

Now nearly all those I loved and did not understand when I was young are dead, but I still reach out to them.

Of course, now I am too old to be much of a fisherman, and now of course I usually fish the big waters alone, although some friends think I shouldn't. Like many fly fishermen in western Montana where the summer days are almost Arctic in length, I often do not start fishing until the cool of the evening. Then in the Arctic half-light of the canyon, all existence fades to a being with my soul and memories and the sounds of the Big Blackfoot River and a four-count rhythm and the hope that a fish will rise.

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.

I am haunted by waters.'

Good Book

Shopping For Porcupines by Seth Kantner
For anyone who wonders or daydreams about a simpler life, a life more connected to nature and the animals and people around us. The author of this book grew up following traditional Eskimo ways in a sod igloo in the Arctic...what a wonderful way for a little kid to grow up! The story continues as he grapples with the disappearance of the subsistence lifestyle in which he was raised, dramatically impacted by the emergence of modern technology and money into the Arctic land and its people.

Good Book

Why I Came West by Rick Bass

I get irritated by environmental judgmentalists, who get on their self-righteous, popular platform without doing a thorough job of investigating a) the issue and b) the potential solutions.

Anyway, this book is refreshing and inspiring. He talks about logging, fuel dependence, and hunting...and finally, here is someone who can talk about these topics without a massive guilt trip about the 'footprint' that we are leaving behind.