Mums the Word, Missoula, Montana

"...The bee, his hive, 

Well-honeyed hum,

 And Mother cuts 

 Chrysanthemums.

Like plates washed clean 

With suds, the days

 Are polished with 

A morning haze." 

- from John Updike's 'September'

Mum's the Word, Missoula, Montana

Garden centres, grocery stores, farmers markets, front porches - mums are everywhere, beaming their smiling flower faces into the crisp fall air. I speak of the flower variety, not the parental version; but I suppose they, too, might be beaming about ubiquitously. Especially those mums who decorate seasonally - with mums, of course! (Bah-doomp Chah! That's a drum roll-&-cymbal crash to accentuate cheesy-ness, and to signal my exit stage left, for today.)