Poppy In Sun - Missoula, Montana

Imagine today's sunshine-loving poppy swaying in a little breeze, humming this snappy silly 1960's surfer song by The Sunrays. 

(You can also hear this ditty at our house - or in our car, or out of doors...- on most any random day the Montana sun breaks through, courtesy of The Best Husband Ever...."Sun, sun, sun, sun...I-aye liiiive... for the suuun...")

Red Leaf, Intensely Small - Missoula, Montana

“… and if people did not lose the capacity for taking pleasure as intensely in a birch leaf or a peacock’s feather or the wing of a hooded crow as in a mighty mountain or a splendid palace. What is small is not small in itself, just as that which is great is not—great.” 

- Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926)

Still Winter - Missoula, Montana

The marmot has spoken (er, observed?): Six more weeks of winter for us on this side of the world. And the snow keeps coming....!

 (Full disclosure: This pic was during our October snowfall, hence the fresh leaves and plump berries...)

Looking Toward Joy - Missoula, Montana

“I read somewhere that the Frenchwoman's role is to please others, but to please herself in the process ! This concept is new for me, that my own joy is my responsibility . Only I can receive it , and, likewise, only I can allow others to take it away. Not this Christmas ! I've had my fill of bleak midwinters and now set my sights on joy.”    
-Joan Anderson, in A Year By The Sea, p. 72

Hand-picked Flathead Cherries - Polson, Montana

"...Every fairy child may keep 

Two ponies and ten sheep; 
All have houses, each his own, 
Built of brick or granite stone; 
They live on cherries, they run wild-- 
I'd love to be a Fairy's child."

- From "I'd Love To Be A Fairy's Child" by Robert Graves (1896-1985)

(FYI for the meanderers: Polson hosts their annual Main Street Flathead Cherry Festival on Saturday July 16 from 9 AM to 6 PM, and Sunday July 17 from 10 AM to 4 PM.
There's a cherry pit-spitting trophy just waiting to have your name engraved on it!)

Red - Missoula, Montana

"...Red, gold and green, the leaves
lie on the ground, or fall,
or hang full of light in the air still..."

- from Grace by Wendell Berry

Autumn Colour - Missoula, Montana

“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”
— Albert Camus (1913-1960)

Berry Berry - Missoula, Montana

“Better than any argument is to rise at dawn and pick dew-wet red berries in a cup.” - Wendell Berry

(I'm not sure if these particular berries are safe for picking, but the quote was pretty perfect. They kind of look like the wolf or goji berries that my oldest sis has been known to harvest from rampant back alley vines. Any expert identification is welcome!)

Special Chrome - Victor, Montana

The Best Husband Ever spent literal hours over Labour Day weekend shining up the chrome wheels - outer AND inner surfaces - on a spiffy used car we just bought.  Good thing for his obsessive self that our rig doesn't sport the abundance of chrome featured on this classic Buick Eight Special, or he'd still be polishing away. From a practical standpoint, sometimes it's okay that they don't make 'em like they used to.

We espied this Buick beauty yesterday on an open haul trailer spanning several parking lot spaces  at Cowboy Troy's in Victor, Montana. Regretfully, I do not have details or a story on this car - our usually chatty group was very hungry and didn't even think of talking with the car's owner until half a pizza had disappeared - and also the car. (Obviously, it was really good pizza.)

So, if you have any insight on what year Buick Special sported these particularly delightful hooded cherry-on-top* headlights, please enlighten us in a comment below - and then you can update the Wikipedia entry.

(*Sorry, in this angled view you can just see the chrome housing of  little round red topper light on the far headlight.)

Almost Ready - Missoula, Montana

"Sonny, true love is the greatest thing in the world - except for a nice MLT - mutton, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, where the mutton is nice and lean and the tomatoes are ripe." - Miracle Max in The Princess Bride

Me & My Shadow - Missoula, Montana

"Like the wallpaper sticks to the wall

Like the seashore clings to the sea

Like you'll never get rid of your shadow

Frank, you'll never get rid of me

Let all the others fight and fuss

Whatever happens, we've got us..." 

- Sammy Davis, Jr., & Frank Sinatra, performing

"Me & My Shadow" written by Billy Rose, Dave Dreyer, Al Jolson

 

Watch these two legends in action here.

Flathead Cherries - Big Fork, Montana

Western Montana's regional June heat wave made for a slightly early cherry harvest at Flathead Lake's many orchards. Goody for me, who had to drive up around the Lake yesterday! Nothing like bite-size summer bliss for a perfect snack on a mini road trip to youth camp.

Thumbelina Tulip - Missoula, Montana

"“It is a beautiful flower,” said the woman, and she kissed the red and golden-colored leaves, and while she did so the flower opened, and she could see that it was a real tulip. Within the flower, upon the green velvet stamens, sat a very delicate and graceful little maiden. She was scarcely half as long as a thumb, and they gave her the name of “Thumbelina,” or Tiny, because she was so small. A walnut-shell, elegantly polished, served her for a cradle; her bed was formed of blue violet-leaves, with a rose-leaf for a counterpane. " - From 'Thumbelina', by Hans Christian Anderson (1805-1875)

Snowfall Over Rattlesnake Creek - Missoula, Montana

"...In tiny spherule traced with lines

Of Nature’s geometric signs,

In starry flake, and pellicle,

All day the hoary meteor fell;..."

 

- from "Snow-Bound: A Winter Idyl" by John Greenleaf Whittier 

 

Some of my best winter memories are bounded by snow days. Pity the forever warm-clime dwellers who know no such frosty delight!

Berry Brights - Missoula, Montana

Like so many clustered Christmas bulbs, lingering bright.

Red - Livingston, Montana

You couldn't tell just from looking, but this is, indeed, a winter scene, and snow blanketed the ground within 20 minutes of driving. A light snowfall just doesn't stand a chance against Livingston's notorious winds.

Holding Fast - Missoula, Montana

"...test everything, and hold fast to what is good..." - Paul the Apostle, from 1 Thessalonians 5:21

Grazing Caterpillar, Polson, Montana

At first glance, I thought the flitting chickadees were foraging on the luscious crop of berries. Then I spied one of these fuzzy grazers hanging from a chickadee beak.
Snacker becomes snackee.
(Perhaps I better take heed and cut back the chip munching.)

Rose Hips Together, Missoula, Montana

“No person ever died that had a family.”
― Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine

Fall Harbinger, Missoula, Montana

The Wild Geese

by Wendell Berry

 from Collected Poems 1957-1982 (North Point Press)

Horseback on Sunday morning,

harvest over, we taste persimmon

and wild grape, sharp sweet

of summer's end. In time's maze

over fall fields, we name names

that went west from here, names

that rest on graves. We open

a persimmon seed to find the tree

that stands in promise,

pale, in the seed's marrow.

Geese appear high over us,

pass, and the sky closes. Abandon,

as in love or sleep, holds

them to their way, clear,

in the ancient faith: what we need

is here. And we pray, not

for new earth or heaven, but to be

quiet in heart, and in eye

clear. What we need is here.