Freshest Blooming - My Neighbour’s Spring Crocus, Missoula, Montana

“And then the light changed, and the vegetation of the ground. It was April and the freshest flowers of the year were blooming under the trees.” - from Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry, p. 351

Fully Present In Spring Garden - Missoula, Montana

“The best way to prepare for what’s ahead is to be present to what is now.” 

- Ann Voskamp, in her post “4 Secrets (in Grad Season), At The End of Seasons, When You’re Not Ready for All the Changes”

Late Grape Hyacinth Beauty - Missoula, Montana

“The beauty of the world is Christ’s tender smile for us, coming through matter.”

-Simone Weil (1909-1943)

New Green - Missoula,Montana

I'm always amazed at fresh green sprouts among the matured purple leaves on one specific tree behind our office.
I'm sure it's a normal condition for this tree variety, but I can't help the delight at such an unexpected contrast - zesty brights of spring appearing long after that season has run its course. It begets the same brand of wonder as Montana snowfall in May or September when the previous day boasted 60 degrees F. 

Unexpected, but enthralling because of the surprise. 

If we pay attention, we see micro-wonders of contrast on a daily basis - the complex geometry of a dandelion puff in the weed jungle of an empty lot, miniature bright-hued gravel gems rimming a puddle at the park, the smell of summer rain bursting through mid-July's oppressive heat canopy...Tell me your favourite eyes-wide-open glimpsed glory.

Violet Breath - Missoula, Montana

"You are the only person who loves me in the world," said Elizabeth. "When you talk to me I smell violets." -  L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Windy Poplars (Anne of Green Gables, #4)

Amethyst Souls - Missoula, Montana

"Do you think amethysts can be the souls of good violets?" - L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables, #1)

May your precious soul be redemptively blessed this Easter Day.

Lilacs For Remembrance - Missoula, Montana

"When lilacs last in the door-yard bloom’d,  
And the great star early droop’d in the western sky in the night,  
I mourn’d—and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring...
  
Comrades mine, and I in the midst, and their memory ever I
   keep—for the dead I loved so well;
For the sweetest, wisest soul of all my days and lands...and this for
   his dear sake;  
Lilac and star and bird, twined with the chant of my soul,  
There in the fragrant pines, and the cedars dusk and dim."

- from "When Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloomed" by Walt Whitman

Findings of The Un-Bored - Missoula, Montana

"I decided a proper lady must be someone with a high tolerance for boredom and that was enough for me. I was a snake-and-polliwog chaser.. And general bog-dweller...I suppose you become what you continue to be without even knowing it...here I am...still pulling things from the ground." 
- Audrey Williams, fictional 1950s archaeologist, in 'Painted Horses' by Malcolm Brooks

Lilacs En Route - Missoula, Montana

“I want to help you to grow as beautiful as God meant you to be when He thought of you first.” - George MacDonald  (1824-1905)

Fuzzy Crocus - Missoula, Montana

"When the winds of March are wakening
the crocuses and crickets,
Did you ever find a fairy
Near some budding little thickets,...
And when she sees you creeping
up to get a closer peek,
She tumbles through the daffodils,
a-playing hide and seek..."- Marjorie Barrows (1892-1983)

Something Old, Something New - Missoula, Montana

“The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” 

- Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time

Fragile Strength C (3 of 3), Missoula, Montana

“Life is strong and fragile. It's a paradox... It's both things, like quantum physics: It's a particle and a wave at the same time. It all exists all together.” -Joan Jett

Fragile Strength B, Missoula, Montana

It is sometimes the most fragile things that have the power to endure and become sources of strength.--May Sarton (May Sarton: Excerpts from a Life)

Fragile Strength, Missoula, Montana

 “Life is more fragile and precious than I can comprehend, but believe me, I'm trying.”- John O'Callaghan

Minty 3 - And That's All, Missoula, Montana

Last - but not necessarily least. 
(Any rankings are left to the viewers' individual preferences.)

I hope you enjoyed these intimate minty views (perhaps inti-minty? snort!), breathed in the violet hues of dusk, and sensed the air cooling slightly as evening softly tiptoed in.

Minty 2, Missoula, Montana

It’s been a while since I’ve indulged in publishing a series of the same basic subject.
But I’m a bit taken with recent multiple shots of fresh streambank mint. 
Plus I’ve been thinking lately about an Ansel Adam's photo exhibit that included several prints of the same leaves, each with slightly different nuance of form or focus. 

So, humour me, please, and may the subtleties entice you, also.

Poppy Plush (Closer), Hamilton, Montana

This could be: A plushy velvet pouf ensconced in a cozy, glowing reading cocoon - perfect for putting feet up, with coffee and an absorbing book at hand. All faerie-sized, of course.

Poppy Close, Hamilton, Montana

“Poppies... Poppies. 
Poppies will put them to sleep.
 Sleeeeep. Now they'll sleeeeep! “
-The Wicked Witch of the West, in :The Wizard of Oz"

Springfall, Missoula, Montana

“I thought I had forgotten,
But it all came back again
To-night with the first spring thunder
In a rush of rain…

Thunder gripping the earth
And lightning scrawled on the sky…”

From “Spring Rain” by Sara Teasdale (1884-1933)
Read more about this author, the entire poem, and more of her poetry
here.

Low Larkspur Landing, Missoula, Montana

Little green bug 
+ relatively big purple flower 
= perfect secondary colour combo