Just Ducky, Missoula, Montana

The Clark Fork River runs right through downtown Missoula, Montana, and provides for interesting diversions from the typical small city sights.  If you're paying any attention at all, it's not unusual to see ducks such as these, or Canadian geese, beavers, trout, or even a great blue heron.

Glasslight and Shadow, Downtown Missoula, Montana

More evening walking in Missoula's colourful and historic downtown district! Tonight being First Friday, we're off to take in the exhibits and imbibe some local culture, and enjoy a delectable fish taco.

Reflective Perspective, Downtown Missoula, Montana

The endless intrigue of structural lines and form, in this case intersecting with the free flowing lines of bare branches against a backdrop of that famous Montana blue sky....
Missoula's downtown buildings are a mult-generational mix of historic and modern  in-fill additions built in later decades. The downtown walking tour probably takes you past samples of architecture from most noted styles of the last 150 years. (Well, perhaps excepting expressionism and deconstructivism, which are not prevalent in this region, despite the high cool factor.)

Nesting Instinct, Missoula, Montana

When you think about them, even the most prosaic of bird nests are pretty amazing. I mean, fluffy little birds twitter and flitter and pluck and stuff random twigs and bits of string and whatyagot. And the outcome is a resilient structure that shelters their delicate eggs and subsequent offspring from whatever the weather dishes out, and this creation often survives a year or more after the chicks have grown and flown. It's good for the soul to consider the common and remember to be amazed.

Long-Term Parking, Hamilton, Montana

If I had a buck for every time I drove past this old truck with an admiring glance, I'd be rich. 
(Sing with me in your best Tevye voice: "If I were a rich man!..." Go ahead - flail your arms! You shouldn't resist.) Well, maybe I'd be rich if I,d invested those bucks in a mutual fund boasting a reasonable 12% long-range return. (See how Dave Ramsey's class can colour even random thoughts? But it's a good thing.)
Anyway, this old truck graces the roadside yard of a local engine shop in Hamilton, Montana.
On a weekend when available time and clement weather collided, I finally stopped to take pictures. Item #137 checked off my list.

Early BLooms, Missoula, Montana

If states were regarded as having a gender, Montana could be considered feminine if only because of the phrase, "It's a woman's prerogative to change her mind."  Last week, my viewfinder framed snow on my neighbor's rooftop. This week, spring has sprung full bore and toes in the flip-flops are no longer blue-hued! (It also means my forest hiking is limited until a super hot spell assures me the ticks are far away. Sigh. It's tough to be a wuss.)

Easter Wings, Missoula, Montana

Easter Wings

By George Herbert 1593–1633

Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store,

      Though foolishly he lost the same,

            Decaying more and more,

                  Till he became

                        Most poore:

                        With thee

                  O let me rise

            As larks, harmoniously,

      And sing this day thy victories:

Then shall the fall further the flight in me.

My tender age in sorrow did beginne

      And still with sicknesses and shame.

            Thou didst so punish sinne,

                  That I became

                        Most thinne.

                        With thee

                  Let me combine,

            And feel thy victorie:

         For, if I imp my wing on thine,

Affliction shall advance the flight in me.

(Note: Be sure to read the archaic definition of "imp", as relates to falconry.
And check out the cool old manuscripts and discussion at the link in the poem title.)