Faithful Seedling Starts - Cosmos and Zinnias - Missoula, Montana

"Faithfulness springs forth from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.

The Lord will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest." - Psalm 85:11,12

(BTW, cosmos seed starts were especially gratifying, startlingly sprouting above the soil in 24 hours!) 

Sagebrush Glow - Missoula, Montana

Years ago, when I worked in an industry tied to real estate and homebuilding in Montana's Bitterroot Valley, I questioned what then seemed the ludicrous insistence of a homeowner that every sagebrush disturbed during construction of her home be replanted. It's not like they're scarce or endangered - sagebrush literally cover vast sections of hill- and mountainsides in this region. And they're scrubby and stunted and not much to look at, for the most part. But when the gloaming light illuminated these trailside specimens seemingly from within, highlighting their beautiful structural lines and bloom-tipped branches, I had a better understanding of why someone might love the ubiquitous sagebrush enough to ensure that they regained their place in the sun.

Christmas Terrarium - Corvallis, Montana

So fitting for Boxing Day: a wee bit o' fairyland 'boxed' up in glass - an enchanting living room reminder of magical viewpoints we can choose.

"There is such a place as fairyland - but only children can find the way to it...Only a few, who remain children at heart, can ever find that fair, lost path again; and blessed are they above mortals. They... can bring us tidings from that dear country where we once sojourned... The world calls them its singers and poets and artists and story-tellers; but they are just people who have never forgotten the way to fairyland." - L. M. Montgomery (1874-1942), The Story Girl

Last On The Summer Vine - Livingston, Montana

On a recent jaunt to Livingston, Montana, Big Sister #2 happened to be on weekend farm chore rotation at Montessori Island School, where she works. (Clarification: It is not on an island, but it does have a smattering of farm critters.) Thus, after Sunday morning church, we zipped across town to tend to the needs of the sheep (singular), goat, chickens, and varied vigorous vegetables. Actually, 'we' didn't tend to anything - I watched and took pictures while Sis did all the work. It was rather fascinating to see this former city girl in her element in a wee farmyard. Amazing what happens to people when they fall in love and move to live under the Big Sky. I've heard tell that even a short visit can forever change your views.

Seed Shine - Missoula, Montana

It's official: my hiking season is closed until the first summer heat wave.

Why, you ask? Particularly since nature daily beckons with all her springly wiles, "Come closer!"??

Well, The Best Husband Ever - who does not traipse about in nature - found a tick on his person.

If that doesn't give you the heebie-jeebies, you've a stronger constitution than I, my friend. Or you've never had this brand of sneaky little creature tickle your neck a couple of days after you were last in their terrain. (Shudder!) And you haven't seen the giant tick at the Ravalli County Museum's historical display of Rocky Mountain Tick Fever research.

On the bright side, I suppose this qualifies as is a sure sign of spring.  Which I will happily enjoy from the safe distance of concreted city streets, and a few select treeless, grassless hilltop trails. After I vacuum the house (and husband) one more time.

Frosted Foliage - Missoula, Montana

“A touch of cold in the Autumn night -

I walked abroad,

And saw…”

- From “Autumn” by T. E. Hulme (1883–1917)

Click here to continue reading this poem which raised the thought in my mind, 'What lovely imagery of settings we've all seen!'.

Reed Shadows At Dusk, Charlo, Montana

Do you ever favour something so much that you want to save it - the best for last, in a sense? Perhaps the magazine you must read entirely before anyone else paws through it? Or a best-loved book that you hoped could be your own special copy?
 
As a kid, I did this regularly with food on my plate - mashed potatoes and gravy at family dinners, partly because I‘d scooped out a little moat and filled it with Mum‘s great gravy. And French fries when we ate out, guarded against sneaky sibling thievery - still my weakness; the French fries, I mean . (No comment on what this quirk might say about me.)

This photo was taken during an earlier fall drive up the Flathead Valley. Ninepipes Reservoir's shining waters beckoned me to stop and see what there was to see, which included a mystically shifting sunset, for starters (and dessert). I first walked out on the little pier in the fishing pond next to the parking lot. Trout were rising, leaving concentric rings to ripple a different surface section every few minutes. The dusk-shaded depths of the water were intense, with the last of the fish rings fading on the edges. It was so pervasively peaceful. 
So, I savoured this favourite photo, keeping it all to myself for a few weeks. 
But today is a good day to share. 
Happy Friday. 

(But the French fries are still all mine - unless you've got a bite of something else good to trade!)

Share your very own personal favourites (pretty please with a cherry on top!) or fill in the blank:  "Don't even think about sharing my ________________!" in the comments below. 
Enquiring minds want to know. 

(Time-Saving Hint: If you're in a hurry & want to avoid log-in rigamarole, submit comments as "Anonymous"; you can type your name at the end of your comments.)

Dreamy, Missoula, Montana

“The object isn't to make art, it's to be in that wonderful state which makes art inevitable." - Robert Henri


May we renew our aspirations toward valiant dreaminess! 
(& I have to say that it quite delights me how the upper flowers seem to be mid-reach to link petals, perhaps enacting floral solidarity of dreamy purpose.) 

Green is for Gratidude, Missoula, Montana

"Plants cry their gratitude for the sun in green joy." ~Terri Guillemets

Nursery Dreams of Flowers, Missoula, Montana

When some people dream of nurseries, they envision soft paint colours and snuggly stuffed animals. But a whole other sub-cultural obsession exists with nurseries of the plant variety - you may resemble that remark, and know of what I speak. The other day, we stopped to buy some essentials at the one-stop chain store in our neighborhood.  Before we even got to the front doors, I was totally waylaid  by mesmerizing row upon row of glorious flowers, herbs, shrubs.... a soft wind carried their siren song : "Only stop to look at us, please...". Oh, the lush promise in a plastic four-pack!
Thanks to my husbands' task-oriented focus, I made it safely through without crashing on the rocks of landscaping love (or is it lust?).

Small Green Brook , Victor, Montana

Breathtaking scenes can come in small packages.  Bend your knees and get close to a small inlet brook. Watch the play of luminescent light on water plants splayed forward in the current, green jewels undulating to catch the sunlight.
Remember what it is to be a child absorbed in what is simply in front of you, to be fully present.