Letter from a town of 50

Letter from a Town of 50 ~ No. 25

10/22/2025

Winter Prelude

The Winter Prelude goes something like this: The weather gets a little nippy, the leaves begin to change, people bump into friends at the Blackfoot store or the Stray Bullet Cafe or Trixi's Antler Saloon... Conversation turns to next season's plans. Halloween is coming up, the Harvest Dinners, Thanksgiving and Christmasfest. It's a different season and things are shifting. There are plans to be made.

Summer is outtings on the river, fishing, hiking, receiving visitors who want to join outtings on the river, fish, or hike. And then there are the long distance outtings to visit friends and family. The kids are home with activities of their own. Summer is busy. The big events are the Fourth of July Parade, the Block Party hosted by the Challenge, and the constant flow of cyclists from all over the world. Summer is Open House for Ovando, to share its beauties and recreations.

Summer is centrifugal, spinning outward in all directions, Fall begins the centripetal movement when the community does its own local and family celebrations. The flyers begin appearing on the post office bulletin board. Here is one sent out by our Town Crier, now known as Kathy Thurmond, but reliable as ever. Those early conversations produced a brand new Halloween Event to be hosted by Trixi's!

Harvest Dinners are an annual event and an important money-raising time for the Sew & So Club, who are always ready to come to the aid of community members.

As I write this, we are about to Fall Back one hour to return to Standard Time. This is the psychological herald that the dark of Winter is officially here, even if the calendar won't agree until the December 21st Solstice.

Speaking of setting clocks, we have word that "the Earth is speeding too quickly and our clocks aren't keeping up." You can read the article here but I wouldn't lose sleep over it. Eventually, international timekeepers may need to subtract a second, but that's nothing to the hour we lose or gain.

Animals are experiencing this shift too, although luckily for them, they don't wear watches. In January, a huge elk herd was seen moving toward the higher elevations.

There was another rare event last year in Yellowstone Park: the birth of a white buffalo. For the Sioux tribes of today, this is a sacred event that was celebrated with dancing, drumming, singing and the retelling of how a mysterious woman brought a message of reassurance during hard times.

Of even greater antiquity in Montana is the recently discovered prehistoric Sage Wall. This is a world class find, right in our own backyard. It is on private property but can be visited with a pricey entrance fee. You can visit it virtually for free through this video.

Serious snow people are getting out their gear, ready for the first big snowfall, which could come at any time. Down hill skiers, cross country skiers, snow boarders... I admire these people, from the warmth of my fire. I am a Hobbit by nature. It does amaze me the lengths that humans will go to find a higher mountain and a more dangerous slope. These snowboarders have gone to jaw-dropping extremes! You won't believe it. The video is called Aesthetics. I call it Madness. This one's for Gabriel.

I can recommend a more sedate activity, if your horse will cooperate. Have you ever tried making angels in the snow together? Have a look.

If you and some horses are looking for more energetic action, I guarantee you will find it at the Helmville Rodeo. This is such an important local event that the Stray Bullet closes down on Labor Day Weekend so that everyone can attend this uniquely Western event! My friend Howie Fly took remarkable photos AND participated in this event in the 1960s. At his suggestion, we took the best photos and made them into a video, which is a lot of fun! (Be glad you're watching and not riding.)

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Shifting gears and geography, Wall Street Mentalist, Oz Pearlman appears on the The Squawk Box performing a form of magic or mind-reading that really has me stumped and definitely amazed. See if you can figure it out.

Have you figured it out yet? Try this.

For the die-hards (like me) who are still stuck (like me), here is another one. Oz with the Eagles

There are people like Oz who can do exceptional things with the mind, and others who do exceptional things with their hands. Here is a rare and original art that joins with the artistry of nature. Meet Becorns. You will love it.

An under-celebrated human talent is kindness, which is something anyone can do. I always like to look behind the desperate dramas on the main stage to see what "ordinary people" are doing. Here are some that caught my attention and lifted my spirits. First are the people who came to the aid of a bookstore owner in Michigan who had to move her huge inventory to a new location.

Here is what a man on a busy UK street did to bring joy to strangers who passed him.

Or someone lifting the spirits at a Walmart.

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Time for a laugh. And count on a young Woody Allen to provide one in this memorable candid camera sketch.

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For Nature Lovers and students of nature young and old, I want to share an exceptional website. Living Earth Community is a seemingly bottomless resource of books, articles, media and more that is both beautiful and deceptively simple to access. You start digging down from the general into every category of life and preservation of life, and nature lore. So brew up a cup of tea or coffee, find a comfortable chair and be prepared to let time go by as you lose yourself in this living universe.

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The Shuffle Dance has become the rage in China and here you see that an outdoor group shuffle dance is joined by passersby who can't resist joining in. Life is good!

Okay, now let's get local and rev it up a bit. Local is the style--the line dance--not the dancers. Actually, the line dance has been around since the 50s, but the story goes that after the movie Urban Cowboy came out, over a dozen line dances were created for country songs during the 1980s. This one was danced in Rome. (When in Rome, do as the cowboys do.) It's for Bonnie.

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I can't slip away without some latest news from the skies. The next meteor showers are the South and North Taurids, peaking on November 5 and November 9, 2025, respectively. The next major shower after that is the Geminids, which will peak on December 13–14, 2025. But the really big news is the arrival of interstellar objects into our solar system for the first time. Right now we are waiting breathlessly for 3I/Axis to come out from behind the sun in November and come closest to Earth in December. This is believed to be a comet but is irregular in enough ways to keep people guessing until we have a look at it. You can count on every major telescope in the world following it. It will go on to pass Jupiter and then leave us to continue its epic voyage, which scientists gauge at billions of years! And I thought flying from Montana to New York was a long and exhausting trip!

Here is when and how to see it.

Closer to home, "NASA’s Supersonic Jet Finally Takes off for Its First Super Fast, Super Quiet Flight." It is supersonic yet doesn't come with a boom and it is sleek as a needle!

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Time now to come all the way home... Back to Ovando, back to the cozy fire and the Winter Prelude of changing leaves and changing Time. I end, as always on a quiet note.

Wishing you good health and a warm hearth,

Sheri Ritchlin

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Letter from a Town of 50 ~ No. 24

7/14/2024

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Time and Time Again

The theme of this newsletter is time. It just came out that way as you will see. Since the height of Covid in 2020, I have shared our town's events through the seasons.

What I love about living in a town like ours, where people come together to celebrate the season's events, is the sense of timelessness in these cycles.

Harvest season and harvest dinner, Thanksgiving, town-decorating day for Christmas, Christmasfest with Cowboy Claus, the Ovando School Christmas play. Hauling in the wood, chopping the kindling for winter fires. Snow and more snow and cold. We got down to - 40F last winter. Calving season. Town clean-up day in April, sprucing up for visitors. Planting, when weather finally permits. The Ovando School May Day Tea. And maybe in June, surely July, the sounds of lawn mowers, smell of fresh grass, and people out and about greeting each other. The campers, boats, rafts being towed through town to the Blackfoot River or nearby lakes are sure sign that summer is here. We've just had our 4th of July Parade and the town was brimming with happy people. The bicyclists are here! The great Tour Divide racers came through at the end of June. They overnite here in the teepee or the shepherd's wagon or the hoosegow or anywhere they please to pitch their tents.

There is something special coming up. I will let the Town Cryer announce it.

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100 Year Celebration
Come join us for a spectacular event at the Ovando Elementary School Gym!

We are thrilled to celebrate a century of memories, laughter, and learning. This in-person gathering with live entertainment featuring western entertainer Dave Stamey. Whether you're an alumni, a current student, or a friend of the school, this is an event you won't want to miss.

Let's come together to reminisce, catch up with old friends, and create new memories that will last another hundred years.
Mark your calendar and get ready to party like it's 1922! Proceeds from the concert will benefit the Ovando School Arts program.
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Ovando's First School

Ovando School Today

The school has had as few as 8-10 students, K thru 8, and its graduating class averages between 1 and 3. But the town has stepped in to support it, as well as funding outside resources in music, art, and science. Physical education in the winter is cross-country skiing! Students receive an exceptional experience at Ovando's school. I first learned the early history of the town from a 5th grade project in the 1950s to interview the town's old timers. The postmistress loaned me her mimeographed sheets of their reports, which are now more formally available at the museum.

Right now there is a history project on display throughout the town, created by 5th and 6th graders. They made life-sized figures of historical citizens from old photographs and wrote historical information to accompany each one. They are strategically placed around the town. This is how the school often combines social studies, English, history and art in a single project for several grades! They even had cards made of a "self-guided tour" around town, available at the Blackfoot Store. The Museum and Historical Society pitched in to help them. In the picture below, Silas Hessler and Audrey Stevenson stand beside their portrait of Harry Morgan, an early game warden in Ovando. The figures were made out of recycled plywood, painted with outdoor paint, then framed and sealed.

Entertainment for the 100th Anniversary celebration will feature a Montana favorite, Dave Stamey. Here is a sneak preview of this talented Western folk singer.

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From time past to future times, there is already a new telescope in the making! The Euclid Space Telescope. We've been given this preview of the next project.

The long-awaited James Webb telescope has not disappointed! It has opened up vast new horizons and is reshaping the way we see the universe! NASA has just celebrated its 2-year anniversary.

With our knowledge expanding so swiftly, plans are already being made for a future trip to Mars and visionaries like Jeff Bezos are talking about trillions of people living in space. Can you imagine? Well he can!

So we have this capacity to celebrate our past while creating our future through advancing technologies. But here is something amazing, where future (AI) meets past. New techniques are applied to bring to life those fuzzy jerky old films near the turn of the last century. It's a real treat to watch these.

First, here is France in 1896.

Now New York City in 1911.

Next, we go to Boston in 1903.
(And if you are hooked, you can go to Chicago in the 1920s.)

To complete our world tour, the next is not in color but has been similarly enhanced and I find it beautiful and fascinating. It is "Around the World in the 1890s."

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Enhanced or unenhanced, the fact that we can see famous people come alive out of the distant past is a privilege that was never available to humans before the late 19th century. To Ari and Judy, two friends who teach classical ballet, here is some very rare footage of the Asaf Messerer star class at the Bolshoi theater in 1983, including the great Maya Plisetskaya.

Now you are ready to appreciate one of my favorite Lucille Ball sketches: Lucy at the Bar

The ballet
Posted by I Love Lucy Was Never just a title on Tuesday, February 19, 2019

One last dance: A memorable scene from Zorba the Greek, with Anthony Quinn as Zorba.

While we are with great moments in cinema, which can remain with us through the wonder of film, video, and who knows what's next, here are some classic moments with Audrey Hephurn. In this one, she is presented the Cecil B. DeMille award by Gregory Peck at the 1990 Oscars. Regrettably the quality is poor but it's quite a gathering of stars of the time. There is better quality in the following interview with Audrey the same year. She had quite an amazing life.

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It appears that anyone who was ever locked down with Covid has been eagerly, even obsessively, taking to the skies. When I've been in airports recently, I find myself wondering if there is anyone living in houses. All humanity seems to be here. In my TSA line.

Most people are hunting the best deals and going with the low-cost airlines, which charge you for sitting down and taking a breath. It's no frills all the way. Count on Carol Burnett and Tim Conway to make a sketch of this. Here it is.

Time now to check in on Our Best Friend - the most faithful and multitalented of all species. They constantly surprise! Here is another family pet caught on the home nanny (Fido) camera expressing himself. Who knew?

But dogs don't just sing and play the piano, they can also dance. Here is proof of this at the Dog Dancing World Campionship. See what a little extra coaching of your dog can do? This comes after you have taught him how to use the crate.

Dogs can learn amazing things, but they can also teach. This dog is teaching a baby how to swing!

But whatever special talents a dog might have, it is the unique gift of being such a rare and faithful friend to us crazy humans that we most value. Here is a rare and remarkable young man who set out to walk around the world and realized along the way that he needed just such a friend. Meet Tom and Savannah.

In the realm of Amazing Humans, have at look at Ilia Malinin at ISU World Figure Skating Championships Montreal.

My last reflection on time is a single human lifetime across its duration. I have two examples that have inspired me.

My favorite singer back in the 1970s was Nana Mouskouri. She was little known here, but in Europe, she sold more albums than any other singer and I believe that record still holds to this day. She sang in Greek (her native language), French, Spanish German and English and produced albums in each. She had a gift for catching the spirit of each nationality that was uncanny. She was introduced into the US by Harry Belafonte. Here they are together singing a favorite of mine. Sorry the visual is poor.

What brought her to mind to include here was coming upon her recently. I had forgotten her and didn't realize she was still alive! Has that ever happened to you? Time has been kind to Nana Mouskouri and she has been kind to time.

Here she is at age 88 singing Amazing Grace with a choir of 100 voices.

Second is a singer very well-known to American audiences indeed! She is country-western legend Dolly Parton, who has also remained vibrantly active into her 70s. Here she is at the beginning of her career, singing with her sisters, Stella and Cassie in 1970.

Now here is Dolly over 50 years later, (age 77!) in this electric performance of her song World on Fire at last year's ACM awards.

Dolly fans may enjoy this recent CBS interview headlined "from fashion to spirituality."

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The natural world has its own form of longevity. Here, from Time Past--that's over 5 million years--is a cave found in 1986 on the Black Sea coast in Romania in one of the most isolated places on the planet. Around 5.5 million years ago it was sealed off from the rest of the world by thick layers of clay and limestone. In an environment of 100% humidity, a toxic atmosphere and a total lack of sunlight, scientists have identified 53 invertebrate species; 37 of the species are not found anywhere in the world. Ah, the tenacity of life! I am full of admiration for it, in spiders, leeches, and indomitable humans.

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Now, from time past and time future, to timeless things.

If you want to step out of tumultuous waves for a bit, to get "far from the madding crowd" to borrow from Thomas Hardy, I highly recommend this lovely film from National Geographic about a man's relationship to an otter. Here is the trailer to "Billie and Mollie." The full documentary is available on YouTube to watch for free.

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I always like to end on a quiet note, so here is a poetry film of Wendell Berry reading his poem "The Peace of Wild Things." This one's for Wayne, who first introduced me to Wendell Berry.

I wish the peace of wild things for you and yours and cooling summer days.

Sheri Ritchlin

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Letter from a Town of 50 ~ No. 23

11/23/2023

7 Comments

Alive and Well and Thankful

It appears that the Occasional Communiqué I promised has become, more aptly, as rare an event as a Ring of Fire eclipse! But we are all here, alive and well in our town of 50 and preparing for the holidays. We have had our first big snow (end of October) and students from Ovando School spent a morning last week helping to decorate the town. We are now lit for Christmas, and especially for our annual Christmasfest.

Many come from surrounding towns for this unique event. (You might enjoy a video I made of a previous event.) The children love sitting on a saddle in the museum and talking to Cowboy Santa, who arrives by horseback down Route 200.

Our Town Crier, Kathy Schoendoerfer,
is still busy keeping everyone up
on the latest news and events.
(Note: She is also an excellent Photoshop-per.)

Here are a few.

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THE ANNUAL OVANDO HARVEST DINNER
BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE SEW AND SO CLUB
SATURDAY - NOVEMBER 14TH
Ovando School Gym

Doors Open at 5:30
Silent Auction begins at 5:30
Pot Luck Dinner at 6 pm
Please bring a main course, side dish or dessert
The Crazy Live Auction at 7 pm
Donations for Auction are welcomed!

All proceeds go to help our community members in need.

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Join Us for a Back-to-School
Community Workday!

***

Monday August 21, 2023
Ovando School
2-5 p.m.
**
THE OVANDO SCHOOL NEEDS YOU!
Get Ready for a New School Year with Community Unity!

Let's come together to prepare our school for an amazing year ahead!
Our Back-to-School Community Workday is a wonderful opportunity
to make a positive impact on the learning environment
and connect with families new and old.

Ovando school has 23 students this year!

Help us spruce up classrooms, beautify outdoor spaces,
and create an inspiring back to school day.

Supplies and refreshments will be provided.

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Freezing temperatures arrived at the end of October and will be with us from now on. Our entertainment activities make a big shift for the winter. Skis and snowshoes, sleds and snowmobiles... Trucks of logs have been arriving as people fill their woodpiles and clean their chimneys.

Here is an activity you might not have thought of: freezing bubbles!

If this catches your fancy and you'd like to try it, here is a step by step video.

Now for an indoor activity you might not have thought of: paper folding. This woman in Wales sets a very high bar with her remarkable creations. It is an original, family art form.

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I am missing the birds as they leave, although I admire my chickadees and woodpeckers for sticking it out.

Believe it or not, an album called "Songs of Disappearance" rose to the top of the charts in Australia. Soaring past big names like Taylor Swift and Michael Buble, an album featuring 53 of Australia's most endangered birds has flown to No. 3 in the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) album chart since its release on Dec. 3 (2022).

Here is a charming video version of the album.

While on the subject of flight, an experimental all-electric plane took flight from Plattsburg, New York to Bentonville, Arkansas. Keep in mind that this required an electric charging infrastructure to be in place as well. The team celebrated a successful maiden voyage!

I sometimes find it difficult to believe how much has changed in my own lifetime. I was a child of the 50s and it was certainly a different world! I came across this film made in 1949 to help people address their problems within the family. I think it will bring a smile, to those remembering and those glimpsing it for the first time.

Some things, however, never grow old. Dancing is one of them, and it is an indoor activity, perfect for winter, like listening to music. Here, two unlikely things come together: Dancing and Bach. Even more surprising, both are performed by the same person, so you can add a little digital sleight-of-hand. Enjoy!

All right. So you're not going to be tap dancing around your kitchen, especially to Bach. Or you're saying "I'm too old." But as we've said, dancing is timeless. If you don't believe it, just watch this!

But what if it's just you and your dog and you don't ski? Or the power is out. No music for dancing?

No problem!

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My dream of seeing the James Webb Telescope launched has come true and the universe is daily filling with more wonders. I never tire of a stretching of the imagination to take in the nearest planets and the farthest stars. If you are a sky watcher, I should alert you that the rings of Saturn will disappear next year, but don't despair. They will come back in 2025. We will briefly be seeing Saturn edge-on so the rings don't show up, but it's just an illusion. See Saturn's Disappearing Rings.

The American Museum of Natural History brings us this view of "The Known Universe.

That we now have this extraordinary view of ourselves, we owe to the recent generations of scientists whose imaginations have met their abilities to solve technical problems. Carlo Rovelli is a theoretical physicist, philosopher and best-selling author who shares his own experience of becoming a scientist.

My wonderful professor and friend, cosmologist Brian Thomas Swimme, has a new book out called Cosmogenesis: An Unveiling of the Expanding Universe, which also presents a new picture of the role of the scientist. (You can find my review of the book at Amazon or a more complete article in the Journal of Ecozoic Studies.) Swimme has delighted audiences for years with his captivating way of telling the story of the universe, in all of its astonishing detail. Here is his reply when asked about his new approach to writing about this.

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With Thanksgiving, we are officially in the holiday season and that means visiting family and friends. Travel deals are much sought after and cheap flights come with their own "costs." Here is Tim Conway's comic riff on "The No-Frills Section."

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I leave you with my heart-felt gratitude for the gifts of my town, my friends and my family as expressed in a favorite piece that joins the wisdom of Br. David Steindl-Rast with the film artistry of Louie Scwartzberg.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Be well.

Sheri Ritchlin

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Letter from a Town of 50 ~ No. 22

3/26/2022

2 Comments

New Life and New Eyes

At a time when there is so much news of death, from war or coronavirus, new life of any kind is cherished. When I began this letter to you, we still had some subzero temperatures in Ovando but I took heart that the red wing blackbirds arrived at my feeder March 3rd and on March 6th, I watched the scarlet caps of the redpolls flitting in and out of the feeder for the first time. There is something brave and heartening about those bright red flags on head and wings. The photo below is not a local one, but it does capture the moment, so I couldn't resist including it.

But a much larger Spring event is afoot in Ovando. March is calving season and on the ranches all around, cows are giving birth in the wintry landscape. In conversation with Vicki Smith at the Blackfoot Store, I learned that she is one of the people who will pass the cold nights keeping a vigil across Two Creek Ranch, managed by Wayne Slaght and his sons Ben and Grant. “I love it,” she says. “There is something special about being alone in the darkness with these animals around you.” Vicki is a night caller, on duty from 3:30 in the afternoon to 4 am. I asked her to tell me more about what a night caller does.

"As a night caller at Two Creek Ranch, I ride thru 4 pens of cows early on in the 6-8 weeks that I'm here watching cows do their things (mainly calve) and making sure the calf suckles. We use barns only if it is necessary - to pull calves or keep them out of the weather! After the cow has calved and the calf has eaten, I write down the cow number and let the boys know that her baby has eaten. On occasion, I get to help the calves suckle!! (One of my favorite jobs)

There are many things the guys (Wayne, Ben, and Grant) have to do during the day for this herd of 1,040, so to lighten the load I put out mineral and salt when needed, clean the tractor windows and keep the barns clean! And the other highlight is feeding the bums and watching them play if they can!! Bums are calves that don't have a mother for one reason or the other- twin, mom doesn't have enough milk or just didn't want to be a mom?!"

In 2017, Two Creek Ranch won an Environmental Stewardship Award, which I featured in a previous letter. There I shared an excellent video about the ranch. If you missed it, click here!

Other ranchers in the valley have pioneered new approaches to management. The Mannix Family has lived and ranched in the Blackfoot watershed’s Helmville Valley for five (going on six) generations. My downstairs neighbor, the Blackfoot Challenge, recently aired an interview with David, Bryan and Erica Mannix on the history and evolution of their stewardship practices, what it means to ranch sustainably and how they approach managing land and livestock in such a way that both their operation and the ecosystem can flourish. I am grateful to Jean Pocha for her excellent article in the Pathfinder that led me to the video, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I recommend this to anyone interested! Owner Dave Mannix has a remarkable attitude toward ranching and toward life!

Regenerative Ranching in the Blackfoot: An Evening with the Mannix Family Ranch from Blackfoot Challenge on Vimeo.

If you have ever read E.B. White's The Trumpet of the Swan, you will appreciate that March is the month that the Trumpeter Swans return to Freezeout Lake. Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks reports 25,500 white geese and more than 2,700 trumpeter swans were observed at Freezeout Lake, near Choteau, Montana.

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The French writer Marcel Proust (1871-1922) is often quoted as saying “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes but in having new eyes.” He wrote this at the beginning of the twentieth century and since then, there are indeed new landscapes if we include the burst of new architecture in cities, planes in the skies and automobiles, automobiles, automobiles! But he may have been prophetic when it comes to new eyes. From the electron microscope to the Hubble and now the James Webb Telescope, we have remarkable new eyes to see things very distant and very tiny.

Now we can look at a supernova 500 million light-years away. (Technically, that's old news, since it took 500 million years for it to reach us.) You have to look hard to see the bright spot in the lower left corner of the galaxy on the right.

The smallest thing that we can see with a ‘light’ microscope is about 500 nanometers. A nanometer is one-billionth (that’s 1,000,000,000th) of a meter. So the smallest thing that you can see with a light microscope is about 200 times smaller than the width of a hair.

Nature can also give us new eyes, if we have strong legs that is! Here is a world heritage site in China, which can give you a unique and amazing view. And of course there’s Mt. Everest, if you’re in the mood…

(TIP: If the video doesn't appear or there is a message that it can't be viewed, just click on it or do a youtube search by name, in case the address has changed. Some may take some time to load.)

If you want to save your legs, you could try a wingsuit. But this requires something else: madness!

If I had a choice, (and somebody else was driving), I would pick the flying car, which might actually have a future.

Yet with all of our collective genius, nothing can fly with the grace and agility of a bird. I never tire of the sight of the murmurations of starlings. Scientists say that these are for the protection of the birds from predators, but I see them as exquisite aerial ballets.

Birds are wonders in the air and lovely in their infinite variety. And did you know that many of them can dance? I guarantee you will enjoy this fun video of avian performances.

In the recent Winter Olympics, we were treated to the beauty that humans bring to dance as figure skaters. I, for one, never tire of this. In 7-year-old Evelina and 9-year-old Ilya, we see stars of future Olympics being born in this amazing performance of “You Are So Beautiful.” Unless you understand Russian, you might want to skip to 1:30 minutes, where the performance begins.

But bear in mind that you have to begin somewhere as you watch 3-year-old Natasha Frank take to the ice, with a little help from Mom. (I should note that Natasha is older now and entering competitions as a serious figure skater.)

Age is never a barrier to the joy of dancing! Here, two seniors “cut a rug” with such gusto that I was out of breath just watching. This is Nellia & Dietmar dancing Boogie Woogie Rockabilly-Jive. (It's tiring just to say that.)

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In previous letters, I have shared stories of the many ways that music lifted people’s spirits during the dark days of the pandemic and offered a universal language shared across the globe. Here are three short videos in Ukraine of people there offering the solace of their music. First, a cellist in Kharkiv plays Bach among the ruins.

Violinist and teacher Vera Lytovchenko has traded a theatre for a basement and played her violin for fellow Kharkiv residents taking cover from Russian bombing.

Kharkiv has one of Europe’s finest music festivals, which started on March 26 but was interrupted by Russian bombing, but continued in the metro station where people had once again taken refuge.

Kharkiv Music Fest - one of the best international classical music festivals in Ukraine was scheduled to start on March 26. No one could have imagined that instead there would be a concert in the subway. But here we are on the day 31 of the war. pic.twitter.com/1uyzHhGeId
— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) March 26, 2022

Here is a photo I loved that came from the same metro station where people find creative ways to comfort the children.

It isn’t just humans who appreciate music. A wild fox gets equal delight out of listening to the banjo music of Andy Thorn. Thanks to Wayne Tyson for this one!

Now to Our Best Friend. Fearless little Dash is facing down a huge mountain lion who turned up on the patio. He completely ignores his owner’s frightened warnings. Stout-hearted little chap!

This one is for new Dad, Patrick Ripp! Robin Williams gives a spontaneous description of the game of golf.

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As always, I end on a quiet note, with poet David Whyte, filmmaker Andrew Hinton and Irish composer Owen Ó Súilleabháin in their offering of "Blessings." I believe this was filmed in Ireland, so this is for my good friend Anne Mery, with whom I once got to listen in person to David Whyte. My thanks always to the incomparable Maria Popova for her spirit-lifting blog Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings) and to Alejandra Cisneros for pointing me in that direction.

Blessings by David Whyte from Maria Popova on Vimeo.

To everyone, blessings in this new year and gratitude for the valiant spirit of the people of Ukraine, who have given us new eyes and new hearts to appreciate the blessings that we have.

Stay well,
Sheri Ritchlin

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Letter from a Town of 50 ~ No. 21

12/8/2021

5 Comments

Winter Quiet

As I write this, we are receiving our first heavy snow—thick flakes falling softly. The muffled quiet of winter. The magic elves of the Sew and So Club left a gorgeous and fragrant wreath on my porch, (thank you elves!), so Christmas is in the air too. The town has been fully decorated by community volunteers and Santa arrived on horseback the day after Thanksgiving for the annual Christmasfest. The children line up outside the museum to sit on a saddle and recite their Christmas list. (Photos by Kathy Schoendoerfer.)

Local artists and craftspeople display and sell their creations. While adults are busy Christmas shopping or feasting on pulled pork, Jean Pocha is helping children in the fire hall making gingerbread houses.

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It's a great event and draws people from as far away as Missoula. It is also the town's Last Hurrah before winter comes and families draw together for their own celebrations. From now on, we are never sure when roads will be safely passable. The Stray Bullet closes for December (opening again in January). The Blackfoot Angler continues to sell local crafts until December 11th, 9 to 2, and December 17th by appointment. 406-793-0018. Then it closes for the winter.

Winter quiet. Snow white.

Speaking of snow, Pingu the Antarctic penguin seems to have gotten lost. He came ashore near Christchurch, New Zealand. You can see him here looking around and thinking “This place doesn’t look familiar.” He was dehydrated and undernourished so the locals fed him fish smoothies (ick!) and he bounced right back.

(2 youtube tips: If a video here says not available, just clicking on it usually solves the problem. Also, if you are ever watching a long video and don't want to be interrupted by advice about belly fat or other annoying ads, you can load it in view pure and those will be eliminated.) Some videos take a few seconds to load.

Pingu has an Arctic counterpart, Wally the Walrus, who seems to be equally confused about his location. Or else he’s just off on what the Brits call a Ramble. More aptly a Swim. Wally is an Arctic walrus who did a little southern sightseeing on European shores, as far south as Spain. Headlines began to appear asking “Where is Wally Now?” He even stopped off in Wales, perhaps to learn a little Welsh.

Thomas Berry named the Earth era we are entering the Ecozoic, which he described as a period of mutually enhancing relationships with the natural world. We are increasingly seeing examples of this, but one of the most remarkable ones is, literally, a life-saving encounter between a scientist and a humpback whale off Cook Island. It would be easy to dismiss this as impossible, without the actual footage and the fact that Nan Hauser is the Principal Investigator for the Cook Islands Whale Research Project and Director of the Cook Islands Whale & Wildlife Centre. You have to see this to believe it. I found it very moving.

Here is another bit of underwater news, especially for Musa and Ilyas, those ardent lego engineers. Scientists are experimenting with using legos to save SIngapore's coral reefs! Can you imagine? Here is the link to read more and see a short video of the project. Can Lego help save Singapore's Coral Reefs?

Now from deep sea to deep sky and an update on the James Webb telescope. Despite some small glitches, our most awesome instrument for exploring the universe will launch on time, December 22nd. It will be 100 times more powerful than the Hubble Telescope, which should bring some interesting sights into view and even solve a few mysteries. It will be stationed 1.5 million kilometres away in space and will take a month to cruise to its final orbit. It has been designed to last for at least 10 years. You can go here for the latest update

There will be plenty to see this month without a telescope, if the weather gives us some clear skies. Jupiter shines in the south to southwest during evening at the far upper left of bright Venus. Saturn is midway between them. The Geminid meteor shower reaches its peak December 13-14. It is the best meteor shower of the year but cloudy skies could hide it. The sky map below shows you where to look. Start with the familiar 3 stars of Orion's belt, then up left to the two bright stars of Gemini.

The biggest December event may or may not be visible without binoculars. Comet Leonard was just discovered this year and may be visible before sunrise until December 12th and after the 14th, in the evening. Look northeast and find the Big Dipper, then follow the handle.

It won’t take binoculars to see this futuristic hybrid airship that will start taking passengers in 2025. It is basically a flying mansion that will offer a 3-day air cruise for up to 19 people. You may have to sell some stock.

Not every futuristic design, however, makes it into the future. Case in point? Look back at GM’s Future Firebird. Here’s the glitzy promo from 1958. It’s fun!

From the future to the past... It is now official: The Vikings were in America. They occupied a site in Newfoundland, Canada, in 1021 AD. Above, it has been made into a UNESCO World Heritage site, reproducing an original home.

There is an interesting mathematical find in Africa from 25,000 to 30,000 years ago. The Proto-Mathematics of the Ishango Bone. (This one's for Bonnie Spence.)

The Ishango Bone was discovered in 1960 by Jean Heinzelin Braucourt, a Belgian national who was exploring the eastern fringes of the Democratic republic of Congo, then Belgian Congo. The bone was found among the ruins of a human settlement that was located near Lake Edward, an ancient settlement that had been buried by a volcanic eruption.

The bone, which through carbon dating has been estimated to be anywhere between 20,000 to 25,000 years old, is believed to be the second oldest mathematical artefact based on a series of notches etched on it. The notches were made by a quartz crystal attached on one end of the bone. Experts have various theories about these. Some say it could have been used to track the lunar cycles. Others suggest that it was a table of prime numbers. Have a look for yourself and read more.

You might also be interested in an article on the Oldest Lunar Calendars. The Oldest Lunar Calendars | Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (nasa.gov)

Also in Africa, there is the discovery of standing stones in Nabta Playa, located about 800km (500 miles) south of Cairo. The site predates Stonehenge by millennia and was inhabited between 9000 BC and 2800 BC. The site is an early observatory and calendar. Scientists have so far deduced that some of the upright slabs were aligned with stars. The stars include Alpha Centauri, Sirius, Arcturus, Sirius, Dubhe (on Ursa Major), and stars on Orion’s Belt. Curiously, the site was located on the Tropic of Cancer.

The megaliths, 24 in total, were also aligned with the true north-south (which differs by a few degrees from the magnetic north-south many people are familiar with).

You can read more here.

The next piece is for my dancer friends, young and old, and lovers of dance as well as friends from Argentina who can be proud of their native daughter. I have included in several past letters the plight of the arts, which, like so many other businesses, have struggled to survive during the pandemic.

"It has been an oddly fractured year for dance. Repeated lockdowns stifled talent, thwarted new ideas. Online and outdoor offerings provided some release but when theatres reopened in May, dancers emerged as if from hibernation, full of life, anxious to get on with their notoriously short careers." (The Guardian)

This is The Guardian's introduction to an excellent article on Argentine dancer Marianela Núñez, a principle with the Royal Ballet Company.
"She danced the title role in Giselle but also, at other performances, the secondary part of the threatening, ghostly Myrtha. 'I danced Myrtha a lot in the beginning of my career and then as soon as I started to dance the title role, I stopped. Yet Myrtha is so important for the story of the ballet; she establishes that mystical world in the second act and she has to hold the stage for so long.' "

I have always reveled in the dramatic details of my friend Ari Dickinson's productions of classical ballets, from The Nutcracker to Swan Lake. I think she will appreciate this short video on the importance of mime in ballet (3 min) and I hope you will too!

Acting and dance really came together in the lively entertainment of American musicals, our own unique genre. While Broadway first made these famous, Hollywood took them to the big screen. I Love Melvin is a little remembered film from 1953, but Donald O'Conner dancing on roller skates is pretty memorable.

The next is a real treat: A screen test with a young and lovely Audrey Hepburn. No, the person you see below is NOT Audrey Hepburn, but click to watch it. (If it doesn't load, search for Audrey Hepburn screen test on YouTube.)

If you enjoyed the vintage quiz show in my last Letter, here is another one: "What's My Line" from 1965 featuring a young Henry Fonda (mother of Jane), Sean Connery and Ralph Meeker--all budding stars of that era. (Although Ralph Meeker had come to prominence in the 50s with Mr. Roberts and Picnic.)

Both Henry Fonda and Sean Connery were Academy Award Winners, Hollywood's highest honor and most elaborate production. I always feel sorry for the losers at that event who have prepared acceptance speeches they will never get to give. So much work goes into remembering who to thank! Here is John Cleese's version of the Oscar Thankyou Speech.

Before I leave the subject of losers, I would like to offer comfort and a suggestion for those local and visiting hunters who did not succeed in bagging their elk. A lot of energy, preparation and hope goes into those hunting trips. But here is an alternative that requires a lot less energy and allows you to get in a few rounds of golf at the same time.

I have been neglecting Our Best Friend lately and I would like to make up for that. You might recall a Letter or two that featured dogs doing yoga with their owners. This one's for Riggin, Lucy and Dally so listen up, Peggy, Howie and Eloise. You might want to take notes.

The next two are for Trooper, and all of those amazing and caring service dogs who make the lives of humans so much better.

Meet Lily, introduced in the first video, then with Kinley, her blind friend, in the second. You will love her.

@lily_service_pup
##servicedog ##dogsofttiktok
♬ A thousand years - Zeus

@lily_service_pup
##dogsofttiktok ##gogetkinley ##deafdog ##servicedog
♬ original sound - lily_service_pup

This photo, which appears on our town website (ovandomontana.net), beautifully captures the coming season. Trees I can smell right here in my living room, woven into my lovely Christmas wreath.

I still have in my mind images of other beautiful trees I recently met on tree-lined walks with my sister Robin by the Barge Canal in upstate New York, and walks with my friend Sally Mahe among the redwoods of Marin. So my quiet ending this time is dedicated to them, with deep appreciation of the trees we shared. Here is Mary Oliver's "When I am among trees." If it is difficult to catch the words, turn on the CC in the lower right and the words will appear.

I wish you all good health and the blessings of the season.

Sheri Ritchlin

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Letter from a Town of 50 ~ No.21

8/20/2021

2 Comments

A Note to Readers: I was debating whether to continue this letter as normal life resumed and people had less time to read it. It was intended as an uplift during the dark lockdown times. I thank those who encouraged me to continue. I took Anthony Hawkesworth's words to heart. "Just because things are improving doesn't mean that we don't need to be uplifted...." Sue Lapka and others suggested a quarterly letter, but I can never keep track of the months. So it is a Sometimes Communiqué. Thank you all so much for staying tuned to our little town. Here is a summer catch-up.

The Rafts Go By

And the kayaks and the boats and the inner tubes… From trudging through the heavy snow of winter to floating on water, fishing on water, paddling on water. There is a constant stream of traffic through the town headed for the Blackfoot River or the many lakes. Everywhere in the country, summer begins on the 4th of July. We are no different. But how does a town of 50 celebrate the 4th, you ask. Here is how: (A short fun video I made of the event filmed from my window). The theme was Back-to-the-Good Times.

The Stray Bullet is jumping with a fresh, expanded deck and Trixi’s Antler Saloon, the Blackfoot Angler, the Ovando Inn and Blackfoot Commercial Company (Blackfoot Store for short) are all lively.

Something else that comes alive in the summer is our Brand Bar Museum, which was the site of the original Trixi’s Saloon back in the day.

I am very proud of our museum because it was the project of the community, built from the ground up and managed by all volunteers, like our Fire Department. It was the original project of Howie Fly and Hugo Eck who beautifully restored the old building as a museum.

At the entrance, you will be greeted by this short description of the town’s history.

Inside you will find a wall dedicated to the inimitable Trixi, who was both generous and colorful and still fondly remembered by those who knew her. She was originally a bare-back rider who could do rope trips while standing on her horse!

Local artist Angela Bennett produced a beautiful map of the Montana Watershed, which you will find there.

One entire room reproduces a room from the early days of Ovando, including furnishings, table settings, and clothing. Members of the community have donated from their own collections. The treasures in early photographs and accounts of the first settlers are not to be missed. If the museum isn’t open when you come, check with the Blackfoot Store to see if there is someone available to open it for you.

For those seriously interested in the history of this exceptional little town, I have produced a History of Ovando, Part 1, which is available on YouTube. Part 2 is in production. If you haven't seen it, here is "Simon Hoyt's Legacy."

While we are looking back, I have unearthed some fun short clips of early clog dancing. I’m especially fond of this one, filmed in a home in Appalachia that is testimony to the way families enjoyed themselves before screens took us over. We know that similar events that took place in early Ovando.

If you were one of the thousands who took up the study of Welsh during pandemic boredom (as described in that last letter) or, like me, have Welsh roots or simply love clog dancing, this 1959 video is a reminder of the inception of clog dancing. In this small Welsh town, the clogs were made by hand by the shoemaker. It is a short film beautifully done in 1959.

Now fast-forward (we are returning to the computer age), here is the performance that debuted a modern development of an old dance in electrifying fashion with the first appearance of Riverdance. They were not the main attraction but inserted between the main events. That changed. You’ll see why. This one's for everyone. Don't miss it! (I only wish the old Welsh shoemaker and his customers could see it.)

In contrast to the lively foot work, have a look at this next dance in which the woman appears not to be on her feet at all but merely floating in a wedding dance in Kyrgystan. It is amazing to watch. Two other short dances follow. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=560508065123815

In the next pieces, the feet are still but the fingers move. I mean really move! I continue to find very young musicians who astonish me. I could never have imagined a 5-year-old who could play Chopin’s Fantasy Impromptu. How ever did he learn it in the first place, not to mention small fingers playing it? And looking about so casually as he does it! Meet Jonah Ho.

Now here are 40 deft fingers giving Beethoven a new sound on Flamenco Guitar. You have never heard Für Elise sound like this. I know you will enjoy these four superb musicians.

I don't want to forget our very first musicians, the valiant little songsters who surround us. My Comadre sent me this short but delightful video from Mexico. “Feliz Dia con Canto” (Happy Day with Song), which highlights the variety and joy of bird songs. Click on the link.

I often hear a new song from birds, hidden away in the leaves of trees, which I would love to identify! Cornell Labs (ground zero for birdwatchers) has created an app for smartphones to do just that. Here is the link to get it.
Identify Bird Calls Easily with the BirdNET App – TechAcute

The skies seem to have been especially busy this month, including the Pleiades Meteor Shower that just ended. Unfortunately, smoky skies over many areas prevented viewing. But the eyes of telescopes large and small never close and as they improve, bring us ever more news of the universe. In 1990, the Hubble Telescope was the first to be transported into space (347 miles!) to provide us with a vastly more detailed picture of the universe in lovely photographs like this one of the Veiled Nebula.

I can’t wait for the James Webb telescope, which is on schedule to be launched this October and promises to open up new vistas, seeing farther back in time than ever before. It will be awesome! You realize the challenges of the project in this short NASA video.

This summer, two private spacecraft were launched to the edge of space to initiate what could be called space tourism. Richard Branson went aloft in Virgin Galactic's spacecraft and Jeff Besos in Blue Origin. But nothing eclipses the courage and skill of NASA's first astronauts, setting forth on the first journey to the Moon. The Moon landing was an event watched around the world but the unexpected consequence of that event, perhaps its greatest gift to humankind, was our first view of planet Earth: The lovely "blue marble" that is our home. The new experience of that view came to be known as the Overview Effect, described by several astronauts in this short video.

Unfortunately, back on Earth the pandemic is marching on and front line workers are being called upon once again to stretch their super-human energies and compassion. Even Covid-sniffing dogs are being deployed to help detect cases. Meet Buffy in Florida. She does more than detect. She cheers everyone with her fuzzy, friendly personality. Cheer is something badly needed in hospitals now.

Dogs are well known for their heroic deeds, but lesser known are the Hero Rats. For those of you who may have read my piece about the famed Magawa, who was awarded a medal for his work in defusing landmines, the news is that Magawa has retired. But the Hero Rat program continues, helping to free land for agriculture in Cambodia that has been off-limits for years due to left-over landmines from Vietnam and other wars.

As I have commented before, it is amazing to me how individuals confined to their living rooms, found ways to make contributions to the pandemic and honor especially those first responders who put themselves in harm's way to help their fellow citizens.

My favorite visuals from the virtual continent Pandemica are the collages of "people at home" gathering virtually to make music together. The technology behind this boggles the mind. Here is how the leader of the virtual Quarantime Choir describes the project.

"This was recorded in April/May 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Everybody from home with a smartphone and some in their home studio. It was a great experience to unite more than 50 people who would have probably never met in this constellation in 'real life'."

For many of us, these offerings did indeed provide "A Bridge Over Troubled Waters." Here is the Quarantine Choir performing Paul Simon's classic song. in "real life".

While we are aware of the dedicated contributions of the front-line workers, we know little about the equal dedication of scientists behind the scenes who worked around the clock to produce an effective Covid vaccine. Here is a wonderful story of the couple credited with the discovery of the mRNA vaccine now being delivered to millions of people. My thanks go to Alejandra Cisneros in Bali for this!

On the lighter side, here is an old favorite of mine featuring Carol Burnett and Tim Conway in a sketch of Mrs. Wiggins and her boss.

The quiz program Jeopardy has been in the news as it searches for a new host, following the passing of its long-time host Alex Trebek. This reminded me of the entertaining shows of my childhood that we never missed: Pantomime Quiz (later Stump the Stars), I've Got a Secret, Password and What's My Line.

I dug up some of the oldies-but-goodies and was amazed to see that all the great Hollywood actors and other celebrities seemed eager to appear on these programs, which made them doubly entertaining. Everyone from John Wayne to Audrey Hepburn and Bette Davis joined in the fun. Here is just a sampling of these from the archives.

On this What's My Line show, actor Peter Lawford and the most famous ventriloquist of the time Paul Winchell, with (dummy) Jerry Mahoney are guest panelists and Frank Lloyd Wright and Liberace, a popular pianist, appear as "mystery guests."

The next one is for my Comadre. You will see a very young, but everso good-looking Paul Newman, most famous for his later appearance with Robert Redford in the award-winning movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." The guest panelist is David Niven and I should note that regular panelist Bennett Cerf was a well-known writer and head of Random House at the time. If the video doesn't show at first, try clicking on it.

I will add one more to this collection--a Password show that features in this episode Lucille Ball and her entire family at the time: Husband Gary Morton and her two children by Desi Arnaz, Lucy and Desi Jr. (I am enjoying these so much that I plan to make it a regular feature of the Occasional Communique. Great shows ahead.)

The Arnaz children on Password give me a segue into two offerings for children (of all ages!) BBC has a series that is not available here called CBeebies Bedtime stories. Famous actors do the readings, which make them all the more delightful. This one is read by Bridgerton star Regé-Jean page: Rain Before Rainbows.

Some children's stories never grow old. I'm sure there are homes where the Tales of Beatrix Potter are still being read, with their memorable illustrations. Few people know, however, that they even inspired a ballet film for children called, aptly, "The Tales of Beatrix Potter." It is performed by the Royal Ballet and even included renowned choreographer Frederick Ashton as Mrs. Tiggy Winkle. Here is a short clip from the film. (The complete film is available to rent.) Enjoy!

Also in the film category, I was so pleased when "My Octopus Teacher" won an Oscar. I gave you a teaser of this film earlier and it is still available on Netflix. Here, Craig Foster and Pippa Ehrlich are interviewed about the film.

I am bringing Mary Chapin Carpenter back to take us out on a quiet note with this beautiful musical offering.

Until we meet again, wherever you are, stay well.

Sheri Ritchlin

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Letter from a Town of 50 ~ No. 20

4/30/2021

4 Comments

We're Ready!

Looking out the window to gauge what season it is has not proved reliable. 70 degrees one day, snow the next. So I count on the Town Crier for a heads-up. She never disappoints.

You might not think that’s much in a Town of 50, but you’d be wrong. Here is the list!

Museum:
    * raking
    * Cleaning interior Hooscow / Jail
    * Removing xmas lights from Hooswcow
    *  Cleaning/ repairing if necessary picnic table and benches

- Horseshoe Pit Area:
    * Clean sheep wagon
    * Paint interior of sheep wagon [paint to be provided but if you have extra white let me know!]
    * Rake and weed grounds [if you have weed spray we could use it]
    * Fix the horseshoe pit back boards
    * Inspect and fix if necessary picnic tables and benches

- Mini Central Park:
    * Rake
    * Weed
    * Inspect and fix if necessary the bench

- Clean road from Ovando to the The "Dump"

- Rake areas around downtown buildings

- Cemetery clean up
and more!!!!

Another official announcement of Spring is the return of Iris the Osprey and her companion Louis to her Hellgate Canyon nest. Her fans were eagerly awaiting her arrival at the beginning of April. Cornell Labs has had a webcam there for several years. I always ask--WHY, Iris, would you post yourself above the parking lot of Hellgate High School when there are so many better views in the general neighborhood. Then again, with those wide wings, she can reach the river in a jiffy with views we could only dream of.

Here you see them adding sticks to their nest. First Louis makes his delivery, and Iris puts a stick on top.

Rumor has it that Louis is two-timing Iris! He visits another nest on the river so everyone is holding their collective breath to see if Iris can successfully hatch her eggs as a single Mom. A soap opera like any other, just going on higher up. If you would like to tune into the live webcam, here is the link:
Hellgate Ospreys Nest Cam| Cornell Lab | University of Montana - YouTube

Closer to home, this morning a female blackbird landed on top of my feeder with a beak full of small sticks. I think she was just showing off because she couldn't feed with that mouthful. More Spring activities! The evening grosbeaks arrived today too! Definitely a colorful addition to the landscape.

In the last letter, I shared the flawless performance of Nathan Chen at the World Figure Skating Championships in Stockholm this year. I can report that he did take home the Gold! Also, I was captivated by the moving and exquisite performance of Viktoria Sinitsina and Nikita Katsalapov. No surprise that they also took home the Gold for this beautiful ice dance.

Here is another figure skater, outstanding for a different reason and utterly inspiring. At the age of 90, Yvonne Dowlen puts on her skates every day and goes to the local rink. Following a stroke, she found it easier to skate than to walk. In her youth she had a successful career with the Ice Capades and other professional skating venues so, well, she just kept on skating. Skating is who she was.

Okay, I can't resist it. Whenever I watch beautiful dancers, on ice or parquet, I'm taken back to Fred and Ginger. To my mind, they never grow old. So here are Astaire and Rogers in their 1935 dance "Hard to Handle."

The good news is that Covid cases are dropping and things are starting to open up, though carefully! California has invented Drive-in Opera. The San Francisco Opera had their first performance before a live audience with "The Marriage of Figaro."

That's one answer to a pandemic problem. But here is another very inventive one by a man who combined his love of model trains and classical music by creating a train that plays classical music as it strikes 2,840 wine glasses. You'll see that this feat was awarded a place in the Guinness Book of Records for the longest melody played by a train. But really, how many melody-playing trains ARE there?

While we are on the rare subject of musical water glasses, here is just your everyday street musician playing on crystal glasses by hand. It really is beautiful and a little more expressive by hand than by train.

Now for a bit of humor. This is a favorite of mine, discovered on YouTube. It really made me laugh! Two flight attendants in "Flight Announcement." Definitely a classic. This one's for Susie Sweet.

On the subject of bears, Paula Hammett sent me this clip of traffic stopped in both directions (and with remarkable patience), while a mother bear tries to get her cubs across the street. It's something like herding cats or trying to take toddlers on a walk.

If you are a lover of elephants, you will appreciate the efforts of an orphan elephant sanctuary in Kenya to introduce this baby elephant, who has only know human "parents," to adult elephants in the hope that he will be taken into their care and trained properly as an elephant!

The Cubans are back with friends from around the world to give us a lively version of La Bamba. I can't fathom what goes into this technical feat that connects Buenos Aires with Australia, the Congo, Mali... But it's a treat.

I want to end with something I shared near the beginning of these Letters. It was recorded one year ago today to offer musical support for all those suffering from or due to Covid. It is hard to believe that a year has passed in this dark limbo and that we may have something of a true Spring ahead. I want to honor the thousands of my fellow human beings who really stepped up to the plate in generous and amazing ways. Here 300 people from 15 countries join a virtual chorus and orchestra to sing "You'll Never Walk Alone," which has been particularly apt this year.

It is dedicated to the memory of my dear friend Jack Cross--physician, composer, and great soul--whom I think of every year on this day with celebration for the gift of his music and his life.

Stay well and enjoy the Spring!

Sheri Ritchlin

4 Comments

Letter from a Town of 50 ~ No.19

3/30/2021

0 Comments

Unstuck

There is some good news: The giant container ship hopelessly stuck in the Suez Canal is finally moving again. All it took was the Moon. The 220,000-ton vessel carrying up to 20,000 containers has been described as being as long as a skyscraper and as tall. In one rendering it appears in the center of New York’s Central Park to give some idea of its size.

What is Evergreen about it is unclear.

Here you can see the 14 valiant tugboats struggling to move the behemoth. But the Full Moon finally did the trick with rising tides. I’m rather fond of the second photo in which one of those proud tugboats was posed like “The Little Tugboat That Could.” It is actually pulling the newly floated ship on its way.

If you look carefully toward the front of the ship on the right, you may see its actual name in small letters. EVER GIVEN. I have no idea what that means other than no craft has EVER GIVEN such a headache to 300 ships backed up behind it and the loss of billions of dollars to the Panama Canal folks. Thank you Moon!

I begin with this news because it is such a perfect, tangible metaphor for the whole forward motion of global and personal movement coming to a grinding standstill this past year. So many projects backed up behind it. Normal life stalled out. And now, albeit slowly, we are becoming unstuck.

Our less traveled waterway, the Blackfoot River, is also slowly resuming its flow, in a brownish, muddy sort of way. March is the season of mud, with a mixture of snow and rain. A hesitant Spring. One good sign that things are starting to unfreeze: The Blackfoot Angler is opening on weekends and offers this river report.

First river report for 2021: As of March 19 2021.
Warm temps, sun and rain
have started turning the Blackfoot River Spring Brown.
Running 1,200 cfs with normal under 1,000.
And Brown's Lake is still frozen.
As is Salmon Lake.

Winter is indeed slowly losing its grip and hopefully the pandemic is too. You can click here to see a short video taken by an NBC Montana drone of our Blackfoot Valley neighborhood now. Somewhere in there is Ovando.

In contrast to the biggest and slowest vessel on water, here is the highest speed, smaller airplane that has been designed for the future. Hold on to your hat. This is a real plan! A supersonic plane that will fly from New York to London in 3.5 hours. In the reverse direction, you would arrive before you started. Isn’t life confusing enough?
It brought to mind a famous limerick:

TThere was a young lady named Bright
Whose speed was far faster than light;
She set out one day
In a relative way
And returned on the previous night.

Boom Supersonic hopes a full-sized aircraft with room for 44 passengers can be in regular use by as early as 2029. The end goal is the development of its 199-foot-long Overture, its first commercial plane, which would have enough room to ferry between 68 and 88 passengers at any one time while flying at speeds literally double that of standard jets today. 997 mph.

If I HAD to choose between the two, I would travel by cargo ship.

While we are looking into the future, I would like to share with you a video I call the Robots and the Caveman. You will soon see why. Robots Sophia and Han engage in conversation. No ventriloquism or script. Just collossal absorptions of data that allow them to make intelligent responses. During the pauses, their "brains" are scanning the database to compose replies. The video was made in 2018. Sophia is now even more lifelike and is being reproduced in numbers, particularly for service industries where they can be programmed to suit the particular needs. Ben Goetzel, of Hanson Robotics, explains how they were created and the future of AI. If you would like to skip directly to the robot interaction, jump to 4:00 minutes.

Japan now has a robot news anchor who is amazingly lifelike. She was created through the modeling of a real person. While more realistic, she is not of the order of the Hanson robots who can increasingly “think” on their own and respond to a variety of people and situations. It's still uncanny.

Robots, however intelligent and life-like, could never deal with the pandemic with the intelligence, feeling and originality of humans. My hope is that they may challenge us to pay close attention to the things that make us uniquely human. The Guardian carried this recent headline:

A new obsession: the people who learned to play instruments during lockdown
Research from Yamaha shows 75% of Britons have turned to music to beat lockdown blues

A student nurse in Hemel Hempstead has taken up the mountain dulcimer and fits in music lessons from a teacher in the US, which she fits in with her Zoom classes during lockdown. Banjo, celtic harp, kalimba… Anything you can think of! Music definitely wins hands-down as the most comforting activity to watch or participate in through difficult and isolated times.

This gives me an opportunity to share a favorite video. The Ukulele Orchestra in the UK performing "Thank you for the Music" during lockdown from their homes. Notice how unique each one is in looks, voice, personality, humor, home decor... Not one can be mass produced like Sophia. Enjoy us! It's a fun one.

Something you might not have thought of as a pandemic rescue is the learning of a new language, especially if that language is Welsh! The Guardian describes this as another “obsession,” which is truly hard to believe! A language from a country that has towns with names like

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch?

It is a sure sign of Covid desperation that less than two weeks into lockdown in Wales, the National Centre for Learning Welsh launched new free Welsh classes, with 8,300 people signing up. Their target had been 100 learners and suddenly they had 1,300 pure novices “keen to start.” They had to find enough tutors to hold 89 classes.

There are now 1.3 million people learning worldwide after thousands of new users signed up for free classes during lockdown. Learning Welsh just for the fun of it?

This absolutely charmed me because my maternal grandfather was from Wales and I visited there in search of some family, which I found. I learned how to say “town,” “window,” “church” and “Hello” in the language, but that’s about it. Not to mention the difficult pronunciation.

If that warmed my (1/4) Welsh heart, another heart-stopping fact soon followed: Speculation that Stonehenge may have been “Second-hand” with the original circle being in (drumroll) Western Wales!

It has been known for some time that the large bluestones of Stonehenge came from a quarry in the Welsh Pressili Hills. Now it seems that the original monument may have been in Wales, dismantled for some reason and carried 175 miles east as part of a larger migration. 175 miles may not seem far, unless you are carrying gargantuan stones along with you. Researchers are still trying to figure out how the bluestones made the journey. Desperation may have driven some people to study Welsh, but what kind of desperation, or inspiration, drove those early Welsh people to undertake this incredible journey? The discovery was made by archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson, who describes it in this short video.

If you are a lover of Stonehenge, or taking Welsh lessons, you may want to watch the full BBC documentary "Stonehenge: The Lost Circle Revealed."

But it is Russian rather than Welsh that I will have to study to keep up with the young artists I have been following from that country, whose names I can't pronounce but whose talent leaves me breathless. I give you Agafia Korzun, age 7, who took 1st place at the VIII International Open Festival Competition of Young Performers. It is not just what she plays but how she plays it, as you will hear.

In the next short pieces, past and future come together in the present. Peggy Fly forwarded this very moving video to me, taken with an iPhone of a cliff village in China. (Not by Peggy!)

I found another amazing video that shows even more of the feats these villagers accomplished daily. What incredible physical condition they must be in! I don't think Sophia or Han could have done it, do you?

I almost wished I hadn't pressed on with my research into the fate of this village. Here is where they live today. Do you think the little boy is still happily making breakfast for his brother? It is hard to know. Life is certainly easier. Still, the peak of human fitness just declined a notch.

Perhaps the fitness of an entire human community is not as it was, but individuals continue to break records in ways that boggle the mind. Consider Nathan Chen, a winner of the 2021 World Figure Skating Championships. It is not only the physical feats that are impressive but the sheer grace and beauty of his performance.

Now for a bit of humor, I take you back to an early sketch with John Cleese in "The Bookshop." This one is dedicated to those good friends of books Anne Mery, JJ Wilson and Paula Hammett.

If you are an animal lover, you might enjoy this documentary on unusual animal relationships. You can watch as little or as much of it as you like, without losing the idea. But it is well done and interesting. It ends with a particularly unlikely relationship between a kudu and a giraffe. I kid you not.

For me, the ultimate wondrous relationship occurs, in rare moments, between animals and humans. There is nothing artificial or trained about this. It just happens and represents something special. In this clip, watch a beluga whale entranced by a violin.

I end on a quiet note, with a most extraordinary presence: a blue whale, rarely seen in these waters off San Diego or seen at all by humans. Almost 100 feet long (30 meters) and weighing nearly 200 tons (175 tonnes), it is the largest animal ever known to have existed. When I first saw this video, I was sure it had been "photoshopped." It didn't seem possible. But when I investigated the drone videographer, Domenic Biagini, I saw that it was indeed real. He spent the pandemic year of 2020 dedicated to making a full length documentary, premiered as a Christmas gift on December 25th to all of us. I highly recommend A Year in My Life. As a counterpoint to the opening feature on Evergreen, a lifeless leviathan of the waters, I close with this living leviathan that offered a life-changing experience to those who saw him and helped them become "unstuck" in the year of Covid.

Stay well,
Sheri Ritchlin

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Letter from a Town of 50 ~ No.18

2/28/2021

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While Bears Sleep

Both bears and hermits hibernate in winter. I pretty much go inside in November and come out in April. This year winter came early, died down, and then roared back in the monster storm that swept much of the country. Texas suffered bitterly and there were record temps in rare places. Nobody mentions Montana’s stats because, well, it’s just expected here. Mostly what I heard was, “Thank goodness. We really needed the snow.” But this much?

Bonnie Spence took this photo of the Lolo Pass Visitors’ Lodge on February 25th. If you like frosting, this would make a great gingerbread house.

Kathy Schoendoerfer of the Blackfoot Angler is my go-to person for what’s going on in the hinterland and the river. She reported on February 13th that south of Ovando, next to the Blackfoot River, it was 26 below zero. There were wind weather advisories during that period for wind chill temperatures up to -55 in the valley. She posted a brief video clip of the Blackfoot River beneath a quote from a poem by Lillian Smith. (This is just a still photo from that. Visit her website linked above for more.)

A frozen river is a quiet thing,
But underneath, change is taking place.
~ Lillian Smith

Bears may be asleep but the town is wide awake! Trixi’s Antler Saloon is fully open now (10 to 8) and has been serving up take-and-bake pizzas on the weekends. I’m not sure that’s continuing but you can check at 406-793-5611.

Colleen at the Stray Bullet is doing her take-out casseroles, clam chowders and other goodies. She usually posts a menu at the beginning of the week on the Stray Bullet Facebook page.

The Blackfoot Store has generously stayed open through thick and thin and it’s thicker with folks these days. It has always been a town hub. A warm space to gather for a cup of coffee and the latest local news, while stocking up on everything from Hutterite chickens to fruits and vegetables and most anything else you might need. This is no small task during the pandemic and winter snows. The Ovando Inn has even stayed busy with hardy visitors.

Montana has certainly been luckier than other places, which have experienced many losses during the pandemic. Sadly, in the UK our old friend Capt. Tom has passed away from Covid at 100. But NOT so sad really. You would have to call his life a COVID success story, walking his 100 laps with his walker in his garden to raise money for healthcare workers during the pandemic. At 98 years old, he could never have expected the turn his life would take or that he would be knighted by the Queen and have a Hurricane and Spitfire fly over for his 100th. In the end, he raised several million pounds. I’m sure he died with a smile on his face! If you missed my earlier notes on him, you can find his story to date here. Capt. Tom Moore passes at 100

Most Covid stories are not like Sir Tom’s. In addition to the loss of loved ones, so many people have suffered the loneliness of isolation. Here is an animated short created to inspire people who have been afflicted with this during the shutdowns.

Here is a Good News check-in on November’s newborn giant panda at the Washington Zoo, who might better have been named the White Worm during his debut appearance. It’s a wonder his mother could find him. Well he has filled out in these months and looks as a panda cub should.

In the category of Oldies but Goodies, I love looking back at unusual pairings of past stars. This one is bound to lift your spirits and set your foot to tapping. Carol Burnett teams up with Dolly Parton in a lively rendition of “No One Picks Like A Nashville Picker Picks,” supposedly composed by Carol. They look like a couple of teenagers! It really is fun.

Just to keep your feet a'tapping, here is an offering from a clog dancing event; folks doing what they love at Hillbilly Dirty Dancing by Scotty Bilz National Clogging Convention 2013.

Now here is a considerable variation on that theme—dirty dancing Chinese style by farmers in their fields, who find a way to overcome Pandemic Depression. Pretty amazing.

Even more amazing was the big sky event this month: the landing of Perseverance on Mars. It is like sending your Honda Civic 293 million miles (471 million kilometers) on a seven month voyage into space at 24,600 miles per hour (39,000 kmph). Then it has to decelerate to 12,500 mph (20,000 kmph)—that’s 15 minutes from London to New York—to begin its descent; then to land almost precisely in just the right zone where the rocky surface won’t bring it to an untimely end. Inside your Honda is the helicopter, Ingenuity, that will make the first space flight on another planet. It weighs less than a bag of sugar and has a 4 foot wing-span. My oh my!

Here is a very neat reconstruction from the Imax documentary "Roving Mars" from 2006. The mission is the same but the latest rover is larger with more technical equipment on board to gather scientific data.

If you would like to see the current rover, Perseverance, in real time, here is the link to NASA's real-time tracker.

This event brought to mind the first cosmic show in which Mars played a leading role and eyes around the world were on the red planet. You have to remember that for centuries Mars was at the center of popular lore, from myth to science fiction. Ray Bradbury became famous for his Martian Chronicles and Arthur C. Clarke became a household name for novels about Mars. In 1971, the unthinkable was about to happen: an actual space vehicle was about to take off to the actual planet. Stop and think what a shocker that was for Earthlings whose minds had been filled with their own stories and imaginings about the planet. I remember eagerly tuning in with my family to a program that aired on November 12, 1971 called "Mars and the Mind of Man," the day before NASA's Mariner 9 mission reached Mars and became the first spacecraft to orbit another planet. Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Carl Sagan and others were gathered to discuss the implications of Mariner's arrival.

To give you a feel for this momentous event, here is Ray Bradbury reading that evening from a poem he had written in honor of the occasion.

Now here is Arthur C. Clarke, 7 years earlier in 1964, making his own predictions about the future. You will be surprised by his prescience.

Closer to Earth, our February skies 60 years later have had some notable moments of their own. There is the American Airlines pilot who was heard asking an air traffic controller, "Do you have any targets up here? We just had something go right over the top of us. I hate to say this but it looked like a long cylindrical object that almost looked like a cruise missile type of thing moving really fast. It went right over the top of us." American Airlines confirmed the transmission but just said "Go talk to the FBI." Have you ever tried to go talk to the FBI? About a UFO?

A United Airlines pilot had a more serious problem when an engine caught fire and the cowling came off. Miraculously, no one on the ground was hurt by the falling debris.

On the lighter side of events in the Friendly (?) Skies, I found an old video of Bob Newhart's skit as an air traffic controller. Seemed a timely moment to share it.

Now home again, home again to our own time and place in 2021. Another of the positive outcomes of the devastating pandemic is that famous and talented people who have been denied their opportunities to perform for huge audiences in packed venues for sizeable fees are performing for us from their homes for free.

One of those is Mary Chapin Carpenter, whose regular Songs from Home offers a nourishing musical treat. Here is her song for the New Year from her farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains. This one's for my brother Christopher, who first introduced me to her years back.

Now that we have landed back on terra firma, it is good to be reminded of how astonishingly beautiful we are next to the red, bleak and sandy spaces where Perseverance perseveres. Who better to do this for us than Louie Schwartzberg with his eye and lens for exquisite natural things.

As always, I like to end on a quiet note, so here is another extraordinary musical collage of voices--17,572 singers from 129 countries--gathered virtually under the direction of Eric Whitacre to sing his composition Sing Gently. It opens the heart like a flower.

Happy landings and stay well,
Sheri Ritchlin

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Letter from a Town of 50 ~ No.17

1/31/2021

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The Long Winter's Night

2021 arrived like Carl Sandburg’s fog, on little cat feet. The one exception was under Mt. Fuji in Japan, where fireworks burst over deserted streets. They were bought for the cancelled 2020 Summer Olympics and had to be used for safety reasons. I’m sure they brought joy to people watching from their windows and yards. If you are missing the fireworks, enjoy these. It is never to late to wish for a Happier New Year. Thank you to Clara in Pasadena for sharing it.

A clever Italian has summarized our 2020 year with a cartoon short that you will appreciate, even if you don't know Italian, because the images tell the story with humor in "Good-bye 2020."

On the drive to Missoula, I marvel at the sight of ice fishermen keeping their cold vigils over poles fixed over dark holes in the ice. Sometimes they have tents and sometimes not.

I discovered that there are colder spots than Montana for winter. The place that gets the award for “coldest town” is in Siberia. No surprise there. Here an elderly man becomes the fish! A winter dip, where temps can drop to -74 (-59C) is considered important for one’s health. Next to that, what happens if you put your laundry out to dry!

Human resourcefulness and creativity can flourish even in these frigid temperatures. You will be astonished by the sights of the Snow and Ice Sculpture Festival in Harbin China, where a virtual ice town is created on 200 acres.

My one last winter offering, also from Russia, is a beautiful piece by the Igor Moiseyev Ballet called Snowstorm in which humans become the storm itself.

Closer to home, dance groups continue to struggle during the Covid crisis. Confined to their homes, 32 professional ballet dancers from 14 countries perform music from Swan Lake together to raise money for Covid relief. Amazing to watch. This one is for Ari and Judy in South Carolina, who have conducted their own ballet classes online, and for Matilda in Ovando, who loves to dance. Here is "Swans for Relief."

Then there is the spontaneous pas de deux between little Avlina and Ian the postman. Even when stuck indoors, surprising things can happen. This is brief but delightful.

Now to what I call “unlikely instrumentals.” Here is a guitar duo on a single guitar. Yes, that’s Two people. One guitar. It must be a very close relationship!

How to top that? Try a Cello Quartet with One cello and Four cellists. You have to see this to believe it. It's fun. I thank my Comadre for this from Mexico City.

This one from Gary Aitken features an unlikely instrument at Carnegie Hall. You are used to hearing it around a campfire, but here virtuoso harmonica player Buddy Greene plays Bach!

Last but not least of our unusual instrumentals is a remarkable story that I heard about from a couple on an airport shuttle. It's called The Landfill-Harmonic or The Recycled Orchestra and yes, the instruments come from a landfill in Paraguay where the people are poor in circumstances, but rich in what they do with them. It is 13, not 60 minutes (the program) and not to be missed.

And there are still the acts of generosity, like the young boy in Iowa, age 12, who raised thousands of dollars for his community by making and selling nearly 115 baseball bats out of wood brought down by the August Great Derecho storm. Or one man paying for the car behind him in a Dairy Queen drive-thru that resulted in over 900 cars also taking part in the pay-it- forward chain, which lasted two and a half days, to the tune of $10,000.

Speaking of cars, here is a light moment at a gas station that is sure to bring a smile, as it did to the drivers of several cars! I call it Gas Station Karaoke.

This next offering is for those of you who have, or are, a young person studying science or having an interest in becoming a scientist. Or for those (like me) who simply have a layman’s interest. Here is one of America’s greatest physicists and winner of the Nobel Prize, Richard Feynman, speaking about “The Pleasure of Finding Things Out.” His interview with Christopher Sykes appeared on Nova and it was nominated for an Emmy. Excerpts from those interviews appear in this TED talk introduced by his daughter and Christopher Sykes. I found it delightful.

For those of you who admired Our Best Friends doing yoga poses with their owners and wondered how you could get your own Best Friend to do yoga with you, here is a video on "How to Teach Yoga to Your Dogs." Good luck!

The only thing I will miss post-Covid are the lovely musical collages of people performing from their homes. I have loved taking in those individual faces and their living rooms, dens, bedrooms... At once so public and so intimate! So here is the Stay at Home Choir with The King's Singers performing "And So It Goes."

I end with a quiet message I received from a friend on January 1st that is good for the whole year ahead. May it indeed be a better year for us all.

Happy New Year wherever you are and please stay well.

Sheri Ritchlin

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Author

Sheri Ritchlin is a free-lance writer living in Ovando, Montana ~ a town of 50 in the Blackfoot Valley.

Letter from a Town of 50 ~ No. 25

Winter Prelude

Letter from a Town of 50 ~ No. 24

Time and Time Again

Letter from a Town of 50 ~ No. 23

Alive and Well and Thankful

Letter from a Town of 50 ~ No. 22

New Life and New Eyes

Letter from a Town of 50 ~ No. 21

Winter Quiet

Letter from a Town of 50 ~ No.21

The Rafts Go By

Letter from a Town of 50 ~ No. 20

We're Ready!

Letter from a Town of 50 ~ No.19

Unstuck

Letter from a Town of 50 ~ No.18

While Bears Sleep

Letter from a Town of 50 ~ No.17

The Long Winter's Night

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Winter Prelude

Time and Time Again

Alive and Well and Thankful

New Life and New Eyes

Winter Quiet

​The Rafts Go By

We're Ready!

Unstuck

While Bears Sleep

The Long Winter's Night

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The Rafts Go By