Promising Winter Hollyhock - White Sulphur Springs, Montana

“I used to feel sad on New Year's Eve, clinging to the old year, never wanting it to be over. I avoided good-byes for the same reason, clinging to what was, simply because it was known, whereas the future was unknown and therefore to be worried over. How much fear has controlled my life . No longer!

... I pat my firm thighs and promise to banish further negative thinking...I raise my glass to being big, beautiful, feminine, and forever changing, promising to work with my bones and flesh. After all , bones make new bones if they are exercised, skin sheds itself to make room for fresh flesh, muscles untangle and restore their strength. I truly have rejoined the human race.”

  -Joan Anderson, in A Year By The Sea, pages 90-91

Dive In, Missoula, Montana

'Tis the season to enjoy fleeting summer glories
Already, twilight dims earlier, and dawn delays. Before we know it, autumn will blaze forth her own astonishments. So, carpe diem
, without delay.
For me, today, this means imbibing in the outdoor luxury of a hammock whilst simultaneously savoring a book and the complex flavours of
Chicken and Waffles potato chips. (How could you NOT want to try them?!) Some things just are not the same when you’re bulked up in cold-weather clothes, so I‘m seizing this day, hazy sky and all.

Unfurling Toward, Missoula, Montana

As a kid, walking the mile to town - with an older sibling, of course - was a big deal. Apparently, it was not a busy road several decades ago, as I remember dawdling along, skipping stones across lush spring ditches filled with idling water.
In winter, the snow plow threw a huge ridge of snow into the field, parallel to road. Someone invariably ran a skidoo along the top, leaving an elevated walkway perfect for small people bundled in snowsuits with only their eyes showing. (Winter walks were actually more of a waddle into town.) From our lofty height, we surveyed a rolling domain of diamond crusted fields, sparkling in the clear winter sunlight.
Memory images are not like a movie - there’s no plot, no distinct connection of why and where we were going, or how we got home. The actual journey toward is what made an impression - the discovery of along-the-way, the being in the present. And isn’t that what we need a little more of? Our lives get so busy, so scheduled and planned ahead with destinations mapped. Remember to take in the simple joys of the everyday journey - to stop and smell the roses, as it were.

Hollyhock High Hopes, Missoula, Montana

Even the humblest gardens are a wonderful place for inspiration.
This little ant high up (for him) on the tall hollyhock makes me think of the peppy song "High Hopes".
"...Next time you're found, with your chin on the ground
There's a lot to be learned, so look around
Just what makes that little old ant
Think he'll move that rubber tree plant..."

Hollyhock Open Season, Missoula, Montana

Water cooler chit chat in Montana these days often has to do with hunting, as bow season is open. Sometimes, unexpected bonuses come from these conversations -  my work-share buddy & I are now on the jerky list of a hunting co-worker! (If you've never had really good home made jerky, you must expand your circle of friends.)
Bear with me & the hollyhocks through tomorrow - there's just one more in this week's series.

Mystery Solved, Missoula, Montana

Ta-da! In the zoom out from yesterday's close-up, it's clearly a humble hollyhock, a staple of cottage gardens nationwide. (But I still like the small alien angle. Or it could be imspiration for a embellishment on a crochet cap or knitted bag.)

Flower Bower, Missoula, Montana

Hollyhocks frame dappled sunlight in our backyard in Missoula, Montana, as if to invite one to amble down the sideyard for a little lawn chair catnap, while the weather holds.