Under the Big M

Looking across the Oval toward Main Hall, University of Montana I'm working on a memoir about the four years I spent as a student at the University of Montana in the 1960s. You can see by glancing at the photo above why I titled it Under the Big M. I hope to capture the tenor …

Homework for National Park Week

Yellowstone Bison along the Firehole River. This year National Park Week begins on Saturday, April 16 and continues through Sunday, April 24. If your plans call for a trip to the world's first national park, Yellowstone, which is officially 150 years old this year, I have some homework suggestions for you. You won't be surprised that …

Revising a 30-Year-Old Manuscript

A crossbred cow with her newborn calf struggling to stand for the first time. Last week I presented this poem to a writers group I belong to. The group liked the poem, so I decided to share a short story that was inspired by the same incident. I wrote the story about 30 years ago …

The Slough on the Ranch Where I Grew Up

Last week I mentioned the slough on the ranch where I grew up in a poem that I shared. My eldest brother sent me the above painting of stream that wandered by about a quarter mile from the back door of our parents' house. That got me thinking about the stream that meant so much …

Book Launch

Request Your Zoom Link Here. I'm getting ready for the official launch of my latest book, Rediscovering Wonderland, that will be at 10 a.m. (MST) on Saturday, February 10. The presentation will be under the auspices of the Gallatin History Museum where I was a volunteer for nearly 20 years. I've moved away from Bozeman …

Rediscovering Wonderland Available Now

I just received advance copies of my next book, Rediscovering Wonderland: The Expedition That Launched Yellowstone National Park. You can order it now at your favorite bookstore bookseller or you can locate a bookstore near you at Indiebound. Also, you can get it from :  Amazon,  Barnes & Noble,  Bookshop.Org,  Books-A-Million, or  Rowman & Littlefield. …

Under the Big M

University of Montana view across the oval at the center of campus. The University of Montana has a very pretty campus. One of its most remarkable features is the view from the west side of the oval with its giant bronze grizzly statue framing Main Hall and the "M" on the side of Mount Sentinel. …

New House, New Place, New Beginning

A photo of our new house (from the realtor listing). Tam and I worked furiously for the last six weeks packing and getting ready to move to the Chicago suburbs where we could be close to our daughter and her family. After the moving van was loaded, we drove four days though freezing weather and …

Blog/Webpage Update

I've been working to refurbish my Blog/Webpage at MMarkmiller.com. It's been hard because my web management skills have atrophied or become obsolete. But after a lot of trial-and-error and creative cursing, I think I have things functioning well and looking good. I know my content needs refinement, but that should be comparatively easy. All I …

A Little Romance and A Lot of Fun

In 1913 L. Louise Elliott publish a book titled Six Weeks on Horseback Through Yellowstone Park. Elliott and her husband toured the park with a touring company that moved its camp from place to place. Most tourist at the time travelled between hotels or permanent camps where tents were put up early in the season and …