At long last, I have returned to Earthwise and the Alabaster Horse and to the third law of motion. Regular readers of my irregular posts may recall that almost a year ago, in the spring of 2022, I wrote a post regarding how Sir Isaac Newton’s first law of motion and second law of motion appeared in my life. As life goes, there was an interruption(s), and I am now return. For those of my readers who are curious, or would like a reminder, here is information about Sir Isaac Newton. The interruptions were the arrival of two foals last…
Category: Journeys

My Shadow & the Second Law of Motion
Earlier I wrote about Sir Isaac Newton’s first law of motion and how it related to my dog, Rowdy, here. This inspired me to think of how I could present ways the second law of motion appeared in moments in my life. As a quick recap, Sir Isaac Newton (1643 – 1727) was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, author, alchemist and theologian. Most of us can identify Newton as the person who first discovered or described the law of gravity. A concise history of his life can be read here. Translated from Newton’s book, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, or The Mathematical Principles…

My Dog Rowdy & the First Law of Motion
The white schoolhouse with the sage green roof stands on a rise above the almost non-existent town of Cleveland, Montana. Cleveland is my hometown and shelters in the northeastern foothills of the Bear Paw Mountains of north central Montana. It used to have a saloon, dance hall, a few residents and a school house. Today it has the school house, a part time saloon, hunting lodge and the shop building and corrals of a local rancher. The original saloon and dance hall are gone. This is ranch country, and where I grew up. I attended the one roomed Cleveland School…

The Deer
When he rose, maybe 100 feet uphill of me, I was on my knees in the dusty trail. My small hiking journal teetered on my knees as my hand flew across the pages. Scrawled words in fuzzy grey pencil somehow formed into meaning. A truth: words sometimes had to be captured before they escaped. When my hand stilled and my mind returned to the surroundings, I thought it an unusual place for a deer to have lain. I watched as the young buck with his small four point antlers, still in velvet, nosed about. Odd. He did not browse. He…

Impressions ~ Walking II
Vignette \vin-yet\ Etymology (a word’s history) 1) 1751, “decorative design,” originally a design in the form of vine tendrils around the borders of a book page, especially a picture page, from French vignette, from Old French diminutive of vigne “vineyard” (see vine). Since transferred from the border to the picture itself, then (1853) to a type of small photographic portrait with blurred edges very popular mid-19c. Meaning “literary sketch” is first recorded 1880, probably from the photographic sense. https://www.etymonline.com/word/vignette#etymonline_v_7784 2) Definition of vignette (noun) vi·gnette 1a: a picture (such as an engraving or photograph) that shades off gradually into the surrounding…

Impressions ~ Walking I
July 12, 2020 8:53AM. East side of Lone Pine Rd, Crook County, Oregon. On the sidehill of a butte, at the top of a favorite trail. My hair is loose today. I feel witchy. Witches were among the first of the wise women, connected directly to the land. Men and fear turned the word into how it is perceived today. The last quarter of the moon floats high in the southwest sky. A sky-blue and alabaster white translucent pearl. The moon, high in the upper right corner. Almost a forgotten cloud fragment. Above and behind me, the butte is a…