Kathleen Clary Miller has written 300+ columns and stories for periodicals both local and national, and has authored three books. She lives in the woods of the Ninemile Valley, thirty miles west of Missoula.

“Are you hibernating today?” my friend from Southern California asked when she called me just after learning the high temperature where I live in Montana was 11 degrees. I wonder when she’ll get the message that these taunts she considers harmless only add fire to my hearth of homesickness?

I didn’t need reminding. As it was, I had just busied myself banging pots and pans in the kitchen to deaden the boast of the USC/UCLA football game announcer when he discussed the weather at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum where the teams were playing. My husband graduated a Bruin and I a Trojan, so every year we engage in heated battle on game day, not unlike the Grizzlies and the Bobcat rivalry here.

Still, I couldn’t get quite fired up enough (or close my eyes in time) to ignore the brilliant sunshine and tee-shirt-clad crowd at the Coliseum.

I distracted and consoled myself by focusing on my friend’s question, and I wondered: Is it more natural that we should hibernate, just as the rest of nature does? Might our bodies and minds be enhanced by a season of sleepy deceleration? It might seem a stretch; rationalization, some would say, but I, for one, do slow down in the snow. I sleep later; hurry less.

There are few areas of the country immune to “real” winter. Are they the fortunate ones or does the fast-paced lifestyle that accompanies their constant easy accessibility to out-and-about not permit for the regeneration that follows a long winter’s nap? There is something to be said for “when the roads won’t cooperate, you cannot go there.” There is nothing so bad about “hunker down.”

And there is another way to look at it: My Missoula friend who also traveled here from California went shopping with me recently at Sotto Voce on Higgins, Montana’s last best-kept secret place for a winning scarf purchase (uh oh, I just let it slip). We were preparing for the Arctic Blast that had been predicted for the weekend. Uncovered, our necks were already stiff enough to make us believers.

“We would be outside right now,” she mused, crossing her arms around her down jacket, even inside, “if we were in California.” Sigh.

“Yes,” I acknowledged, distracting and distancing myself quickly by choosing between six of the loveliest warmest scarves I’d ever laid eyes on (how was I ever going to pick one?) while she dropped her arms to try on four of her own options in front of the mirror. I had to somehow turn us around before we headed down this road of bad weather.

“But we couldn’t wear these!”

Jenna Caplette migrated from California to Montana in the early 1970s, first living on the Crow Indian reservation. A Healing Arts Practitioner, she owns Bozeman BodyTalk & Integrative Healthcare. She says, " Health is resiliency, a zest for the journey. It’s about coming awake to the joy of being alive. As a practitioner, its a privilege to facilitate that healing process, to help weave new patterns of health & well-being. “ And by the way, healthier, happier people help create a healthier, happier world.

Let’s face it. The holiday season can be stressful. Heck, any season in life can be. Editing photos can be a potent de-stressor. Really.

Not the intense photoshop type of editing but the editing provided by the amazing variety of easy-to-use apps available for your iPad or iPhone. Editing with these feels like fun rather than work. They allow you to be almost infinitely creative and are a great antidote to the “fried brain” inherent to overwhelm. They offer an exceptional opportunity to profoundly inhabit the present moment.

Editing photos on an iPad can feel a bit like making magic. Bernard L. De Koven writes in Psychology Today, “Imagination is the home of an infinite toy kit wherein lies, for example, your ultimate paintbox with your own, personal, never-dry-until-you-want-it-to brush of many colors.” Yeah. Exactly.

Editing can be beautifully social and private all at one. Edit on your flight to visit family, and the person in the seat next to you may suddenly be partnering with you on design. Join your family in the living room to watch a holiday movie even if you’re not tremendously interested in the film, and happily edit photos while they watch.

First of course, is the technology that comes right with an iPad or iPhone: Photos. Briana Bell, who teaches “Photos” at Bozeman’s F-11 Photographic Supplies, describes iPad editing as “Super easy, interactive, and fun.”

Sure, you can edit photos on your iPhone, but the screen on your iPad is bigger, allowing you to see a lot more detail— a handy feature when photo editing.

Sometimes you want to turn your photos into real works of printable, framable art. If you don’t have the skills to create art freehand, try out some of these incredible apps and make yourself a masterpiece in minutes. Take one photo and try several different ways.

Here are some favorite apps from the staff at F-11 Photographic Supplies.

• Snapseed. You’ll have so much fun with the variety of effects available here.

• Collage-it with Pic Collage

• Over — Creative Typography, Graphic Design & Photo Editing

• A Beautiful Mess — make and share pretty photos

• Glaze — turn your photos into paintings with your unique style

• Polarr — some advanced editing capabilities for just about every platform you might work in. The culinary add-on could be great fun over the holidays.

Apps allow you to be completely in charge of the feeling of a photograph. It takes some practice to understand what each app can do for you but that’s OK. All apps take practice and this practice is both creative and fun.

When you create something that you really love, SAVE it. Back it up. The best way to save and back up is when it is automatic, so consider iCloud, Drop Box or Box for solutions that just work. F-11 Photo’s Briana Bell says, “iCloud is inexpensive, simple, and an awesome way to share images between devices.”

Ready to print? Using an app like F-11’s “Print and Share” makes that easy too. You can order your photos from the couch in those relaxing moments through the holidays.

Flathead Police Report

8:57 a.m. A McMannamy Draw resident reported that the neighbor’s free range dogs were on the property, threatening the resident rabbits and chickens.

10:28 a.m. A toddler called 911 during a potty training session with his mother.

12:35 p.m. Hundreds of dollars worth of quarters were stolen from the coin-operated laundry machines on Shady Lane.

1:45 p.m. A loose dog on Harbin Hill Road was picked up and hauled off to the shelter.

2:39 p.m. A woman at a local church reported that a strange man carrying a weed-eater was lurking around outside the building. He was a landscaper.

7:24 p.m. A local man reported that his daughter drowned her meatloaf in Western Family brand ketchup and refused to eat it. He was advised that it was within his right to discipline his daughter regarding the dinner infraction.

8:59 p.m. Someone called from the parking lot of the local Asian buffet to report that a man who was also parked there was sitting in his car, drinking beer.

10:04 p.m. A concerned Lakeside resident reported that someone in a black BMW pulled up his driveway and then turned around.

A ski vacation is all about the complete experience, from the moment you wake up and smell the coffee, to the moment you take off your wet boots and warm your toes by the fire. When it comes to skiing in western North America, some resorts in British Columbia, Canada, always receive high praise–think Whistler-Blackcomb (the largest and most visited ski resort in North America) and Revelstoke (the tallest ski area in North America). In order to find out which are the highest-rated ski resorts in the western US, we looked at six “best of” skiing lists from top sources, and eliminated any that were in Canada. Here are the Top 7 US resorts, plus the results of each list we consulted.

MORE>>> Patch of Earth