Dreamy Spring Evening Glow - Missoula, Montana

“…in this old man's vast enjoyment of a simple moment, Stephen felt an easing of the tightness in his chest. He breathed, closed his eyes, and like Meloux lifted his face to the warm sun.

"That is all of life," the old Mide said quietly…”Letting go of the questions. Letting go of the fear that there will be no answers…What we believe we want is like knocking on a closed door.

Better to open ourselves to what we have and what we know. The beauty of this moment." “

-Henry Meloux, in Desolation Mountain, by William Kent Krueger,  p. 61

Late Bloomer Reflections - Missoula, Montana

“To doubt everything
  or to believe everything
  are two equally convenient solutions; 
  both dispense with the necessity of reflection.”
   — Henri Poincaré (1854-1912)

 

On Personal Growth - Missoula, Montana

Perhaps this wee spring bud is thinking deep thoughts along these lines (because you know plants are deep thinkers...which is one reason why we should talk to them...): 

"The best way to prove yourself is to improve yourself."

- Adam Grant, within last few mins of this WorkLife TED podcast "HowTo Love Critcism"

Greening Quietness - At Kookoosint Fishing Access, Near Plains, Montana

"...Drop thy still dews of quietness,
  Till all our strivings cease;
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
  Thy beauty of Thy peace...."

 -From "The Brewing of Soma" by John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-92) and also adapted to hymn "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind"

 (And you can click HERE for a bit more on Kookoosint Fishing Access in Sanders County, MT.)

March Marching On - Missoula, Montana

March in Montana means daffodils strive impatiently to bloom

 while humans still need a toque on lunchtime walks. 

(Well, at least those of us with Tinkerbell haircuts casting faerie ears out into the blustery March winds.)

Peony 1 - Missoula, Montana

"This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready
to break my heart
as the sun rises,
as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers..."

- from Peonies by Mary Oliver (b.1935)

Good Life Waiting - Missoula, Montana

"We must be willing to let go of the life we planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us." 

- Joseph Campbell (1904-1987)

Memorable Blossoming - Missoula,Montana

"...And there are other places which,
although we did not stay for long,
stick in the mind and call us back—
a valley visited one spring
where walking through an apple orchard
we breathed its blossom with the air.
Return seems like a sacrament...."

- from "Places to Return” by Dana Gioia

Springing Closer - Missoula, Montana

"Here and there even in our world, and now and then, even in ourselves, we catch glimpses of a New Creation, which, fleeting as those glimpses are apt to be, give us hope both for this life and for whatever life may await us later on." - Frederick Buechner, Now and Then: A Memoir of Vocation