November In Fuji Light

The Matchbook | 12.12.25

I’ve lost all understanding about time and the speed at which it races past.

I say this with an honest and quiet emotion that feels just a bit like soft sorrow, the realization that we’ve no control over how quickly all this passes us by. If not for this little Fuji camera I carry everywhere I go, so much would seem as though it never occured, so much as though I imagined it.

Here now, is the November that was, through the lens that’s become attached at my hip. My images of a month, a life simply lived, my snapshots that represent a sampling of what I did, saw, and who I did this with. I hope you love them.

Also, please don’t forget, I still have copies of the extraordinarily beautiful 2026 Chasers of the Light Calendar for sale! They are a years worth of Fuji photographs, new poetry, and a bit of analog joy. They are on sale in the shop. Should you want one, click the button below.

Anyhow, on with the show my friends!

Click on the first and it’ll let you see them bigger and scroll through each one :)

November kicked off with a gunshot, but this one from a starter gun at Henry’s collegiate cross country championship race in Bozeman, MT. So weird seeing him run in his college uniform and not high school, but stranger still, the colors are the precise same as they were. He rocked it and qualified for regional championships in Utah, where he also ran an unbelievable race. More autumnal walks with Lady G, watching the last of the leaves turn, watching Halloween get slowly dismantled. We then wandered over to the high school, where Addie had her final cross country banquet ever. Taking images of the football field filled me with the most bizarre nostalgia, as I remembered the first day I stood there, for a homecoming bonfire my freshman year of high school. I still remember the flames. Sarah then made one hell of an apple crumble, just because, and dammit, life is too short to not eat that kinda thing.

November, without wedding travel, settled us into a warm routine of Sarah baking, us taking Gilly for walks, and the annual Fall Art Walk downtown before her birthday on the 8th. Helena is a sleepy town, but it’s strange how cozy it becomes as Winter slowly ushers itself in. Shadows are lower, light is more fleeting, and the lights glow just a bit brighter.

Sarah’s birthday arrived, and though she insisted on making her own cake, we had family up to help celebrate. She wanted quiet and low-key this time around, so we made it so. Her cake was a stunner, everyone demolished it in no time at all, and we even go to spend time with her brother’s new puppy. Capped things off of her birthday week with a hike behind the house in some of the most beautiful Autumn sunset light of all time. Still though, warmth remained and Winter was mostly held at bay. Strange how the years shift and we never know the weather that comes, strange how we wait to see how it transforms things.

I wonder sometimes how many times we’ve walked the same paths with each other, with Gilly. My feet memorized them years and years ago, now it’s just muscle memory, each stone, each dip and rise and bit of grass. Eyes closed I’d know the way. Sarah kept baking, and her little micro-bakery, Riff Raff Baked Goods doesn’t feel so micro when she’s got big bake days where she’s doing dough all day and I am doing dishes. There is meditation in this, however. I’ve grown to love it I think. I surprised her by putting on the Christmas lights early this year, everyone needs a bit more shine, and in response, the snow geese came and for a few straight days serenaded us, white specs in clouds of grey.

Thanksgiving bookended the month, and though I’ve always loathed that holiday more than any other, it was nice to celebrate with Sarah’s family and friends, then spend time with my own family as my sister and her crew made the trek over two mountain passes to be here. All 3 dogs together again, siblings still bonded, and Sarah and I put our tree up the day after the holiday ended. Then came the snow, the first big blizzard since October. Though it’s melted now, it lit up the world in white, Gilly adored it, and all things fell quiet.

December now, and I’ve already snapped more photos than I know what to do with. I cannot wait to share another month with you, little glimpses of this simple life. I hope you like them.

I love you all. Be good.