Vanilla Smell (but don’t taste…) - Ponderosa Pine - Kootenai Creek, Stevensville, Montana

“…a smell … likened to vanilla or butterscotch exudes from the cracks between slabs of bark on the tree, creating a unique type of Rocky Mountain aromatherapy.” - Katherine Court in Field Notes: Ponderosa Pine Bark. (Learn a LOT more from the Montana Natural History Centre!)

Kierkegaard On Walking.... - Missoula, Montana, Mount Sentinel Trail System

“Above all, do not lose your desire to walk:  Every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness; I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it.”  Søren Kierkegaard  (1813-1855), in a letter to Jette, 1947

 

Ponderosa Pine-ing For Good Vanilla - The Teller Trail, Bitterroot River, Corvallis, Montana

 Sister Three did not believe (read: she snorted a laugh) when I declared: "Some ponderosa pines smell like really, really good vanilla." The gauntlet thrown, I immediately spied a turnout near a likely specimen - and converted her by truth evidenced (amidst continued giggling because  other laid-back drivers passed by and we did, indeed, look silly leaning in close to sniff the craggy, russet bark). Hurrah for random weird and happy things worth knowing!

 

Endless Blue Sky - Pattee Canyon Trail, Missoula, Montana

These endless blue-sky summer days present so much opportunity - for The Best Husband Ever to get the house painted! (hee)

 

Big Sky Bluebird House - Pattee Canyon Trail, Missoula, Montana

Bluebird nestboxes, to me, are a happy reminder of my lovely mum, who was a bit of a devotee in her later years (albeit, her enthusiasm extended a tad far with one or two boxes, er, "found" on backroad meanders with Papa...!). She certainly reaped the ensuing enjoyment of these brightly feathered friends as noted in this quote:

“...everyone's first nestbox is the opportunity to attract that first pair of bluebirds. Then, if they know what to do after the birds show up, a potential life-long relationship with nature can begin.”  - Kenny Kleinpeter, LBBS, 2007

(Note: That Big Sky blue sky is un-retouched by any photo editing! Daily amazement just outside the door - and a fabulous valley view, too!)

Another Day's Climb - Waterworks Trail, Missoula, Montana

This hill is bigger than it looks at first glance - kind of like "objects in mirror are closer than they appear". If you zoom in, you can see three tiny hikers framed in the second standing structure. I've climbed up and over this section of Trail from the other side, and it requires a fair stretch of time and determination- best tackled in dogged and optimistic company. But the. views are (of course) gorgeous - one year we saw a sheepherder's camp, vardo, sheepdog, flock and all! We'll definitely save this climb for another day!

Fair To Middlin' - Missoula, Montana

"I've been to the highest of highs and lowest of lows, so one day I'm going to find my middle ground and be happy." - Cheryl Cole 

Patient Wanderers - Missoula, Montana

“It has been said that trees are imperfect men, and seem to bemoan their imprisonment rooted in the ground. But they never seem so to me. I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we do. They go wandering forth in all directions with every wind, going and coming like ourselves, traveling with us around the sun two million miles a day, and through space heaven knows how fast and far!” - John Muir, July 1890

Tamarack, Close - Missoula, Montana

Comparing tamarack branches to those of an adjacent green conifer, I noticed the tamarack's distinct needle bunches. On a sturdy and fortunate tree, annual shedding and regrowth may cycle for hundreds of years. On the Montana, Fish, Wildlife and Parks site, retired Livingston biology teacher Lori Micken chronicles ages of some of these stately trees: "Years ago I felled a larch that had died in a fire that raged through the Swan Valley some time in the early 1900s. I counted 350 rings, putting the tree’s origins back to the time of the Jamestown Settlement in Virginia. The fire-scarred behemoths still living in the Swan Valley must now be nearly 450 years old. Ancient tamaracks estimated at more than 900 years old have been reported in some parts of Washington."

Going Out To See - Missoula, Montana

“[T]he wind beats against the wood and the glass and sends its fleshless pucker against the eaves and sooner or later you have to put down what you were doing and go out and see.
And you can stand on your stoop or in your dooryard at midafternoon and watch the cloud shadows rush across Griffen's pasture and up Schoolyard Hill, light and dark, light and dark, like the shutters of the gods being opened and closed.” ~Stephen King, 'Salem's Lot'

Influencing Scenery, Missoula, Montana

The influence of fine scenery, the presence of mountains, appeases our irritations and elevates our friendships. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Culture, The Conduct of Life, 1860

Sunlight-Shadow - Missoula, Montana

“As you sit on the hillside, or lie prone under the trees of the forest, or sprawl wet-legged by a mountain stream, the great door, that does not look like a door, opens.” – STEPHEN GRAHAM, The Gentle Art of Tramping, 1926

Guest: Pat Richards: Less Travelled - Bitterroot Valley, Montana

My youngest older sister and her husband visited about 6 weeks ago - hard to believe it's been that long ago already.  Gleefully for me, their Montana meanderings yielded some reflective perspectives and worthy views, both of scenery and heart. Thanks for sharing from your good well, Pat.
You can see what Pat & Gary are up to lately at their missions blog, Journeys With God.
 
"Two roads diverged in the middle of my life, I heard a wise man say. And I took the one less traveled by, and that's made the difference, every night and every day."

Larry Norman's introspective adaption of Robert Frost's descriptive poem has often given me pause and provided comfort when weighing life choices.
 
Give a listen here to this lyrical pioneer's song and take a step back into a segment of the '70s. 
Tell me what music of your growing up left a lasting impression.
(Time-Saving Hint: If you're in a hurry, submit comments as "Anonymous"; you can type your name at the end of your comments.)

Pointing West, Missoula, Montana

“…Drink tea and watch the landscape forget itself. Think of your life
in place, not time. Another time, you’re walking home beside the same river.
Evening is crimson
                       along the horizon.
Look, you say to the child, pointing west. It’s over there, too, he says, pointing east. The place has you almost surrounded. And there’s a dragon, he says. (There’s always a dragon.) Wingecarribee Zen…”

- from “
Eclogues” By Mark Tredinnick (b. 1962)
(Please do click the text link and ramble through the lovely language in this poem of everyday.)