Snow-capped Winter Tansy - Missoula, Montana

“It was not for her to criticize the ways of Almighty God;…. if He liked to go to all that trouble over the snowflakes, millions and millions of them, their intricate patterns too small to be seen by human eyes, and melting as soon as made, that was His affair and not hers. All she could do about it was to catch in her window, and save from entire waste, as much of the squandered beauty as she could.” - The Rosemary Tree by Elizabeth Goudge (1900-1984), p. 158

Wintery Willows - Near St. Ignatius, Montana

I have it on first-person authority that New York City is enjoying 74 degrees F today.
And Montana waits and wishes for a bit of winter mildness, thinking of spring and wispy willowy greenness to come....

“In a world where thrushes sing and willow trees are golden in the spring, boredom should have been included among the seven deadly sins.”

- From The Rosemary Tree by Elizabeth Goudge (1900-1984)

Beautiful Frailty - Missoula, Montana

"He did not want to be whitewashed or excused....Whitewash brought no comfort.

The real comfort was to have one's sins and weaknesses not explained away but understood and shared.

...It struck him that it can be as much by our weakness as by our virtue that we can serve each other."

-from The Rosemary Tree by Elizabeth Goudge (1900-1984), page 337

Small Extravagances - Greenough Park, Missoula, Montana

"The way God squandered Himself had always hurt her; and annoyed her too...Well, of all the spendthrifts, she would think and then pull herself up. It was not for her to criticize the ways of Almighty God; if He liked to go to all that trouble over the snowflakes, millions and millions of them, their intricate patterns too small to be seen by human eyes, and melting as soon as made, that was His affair and not hers. All she could do about it was to catch in her window, and save from entire waste, as much of the squandered beauty as she could."

- Elizabeth Goudge (1900-1984), from The Rosemary Tree