Step Into A New Year - East Missoula, Montana

“…my mother forever tried to tell the other three of us. That the past is a taker, not a giver. It was a warning she felt she had to put out, in that particular tone of voice with punctuation all through it, fairly often in our family. When we could start hearing her commas and capital letters we knew the topic had become Facing Facts, Not Going Around with Our Heads Stuck in Yesterday.” - Jick McCaskill in English Creek by Ivan Doig, pp. 3-4

(BTW, if “Read More Books” made your New Year to-do list, anything by Ivan Doig is a high-yield investment.)

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

Winter Bottled, Missoula, Montana

Honestly not trying to be depressing here. 

Just another shot of patterns and shapes I found to be interesting.
 
Of course, feel free to read into it an inspiring New Year's message - maybe along lines of putting the old year out with the trash. 

Or a reminder that our life is not empty, but can have purpose in recycling what you’ve been through for new and good use to others. 

Perhaps you see a new product idea: freshly bottled crisp Montana air, ready to ship anywhere a breath of the Big Sky is needed.

Any other uplifting ideas?

Leaded - Is There Any Other Kind?, Corvallis, Montana

Today’s pic is dedicated to that redoubtable leaded coffee drinker, Tom Nash (aka The Best Husband Ever).
Thanks for making sure there's always morning coffee, sweetie.
(For a guaranteed Tom Nash sighting, stop in tonight at The Sunrise; he's playing with the other boys in country band 406.)
 
Plenty of downtown Missoula, MT, coffee shops will be open late to host First Night performers and attendees. What else besides good strong coffee is needed to keep you up ‘til midnight and welcome in the New Year? 

Happy 2014!