Not Earned - Echinacea / Coneflower - Missoula, Montana

"Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action."

-—Dallas Willard (1935-2013), Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1984, 1993, 1999), 194.

Gold-Fuzzed Bee and Rose - Missoula, Montana,

"It became a game that I took to with immense gusto: to see how much I could remember about dandelions themselves, ... or searching out the smell of the gold-fuzzed bees that hung around our back porch grape arbor. Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they don't they should, for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers."

– Ray Bradbury, from Just This Side of Byzantium,

An Introduction [to some editions of Dandelion Wine], Summer 1974

(I suppose this quote merited my crouching patiently next to any dandelion bloom peppering the backyard... but this little flier conveniently buzzed at shoulder height, so there you have it. I will pencil in crouching for another day.)

Smoky Sunrise Bloom - Big Arm, Montana

“But I believe if you tell a story, it's like sending a nightingale into the air with the hope that its song will never be forgotten .”

-from This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger, page 443

Wild Rose Bloom - Lee Metcalf Wildlife Refuge, Stevensville, Montana

“In every good tale there is a seed of truth, and from that seed a lovely story grows. Some of what I've told you is true and some ... well , let's just call it the bloom on the rosebush.”

-from This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger, page 444

Lilies Blooming Where Transplanted - Missoula, Montana

In the last several years before my mum died, she shared lily and fritillaria bulbs to plant in the garden at my little Hamilton town cottage, where they still bloom gloriously and faithfully. After my move full-time to Missoula, Montana, several years back, I transplanted some of those bulbs to our Missoula yard, and then watched nervously each subsequent spring to see if they survived.  Yesterday, we were delighted to see the first lily blooms since the replanting. (Well, at least I was delighted; The Best Husband Ever was intent on washing our cars; his key observation was, "You better finish taking pictures now and move, or you're going to get wet.") 
This August marks ten years since my mum was herself transplanted, shall we say, to enjoy the beauties in Heaven's gardens. My heart is happy to again see in my front yard these living, blooming reminders of her gracious and giving nature. 

Wild Rose Blooming - Missoula, Montana

"Wild roses are fairest, 
and nature a better gardener than art." 

- Louisa May Alcott, A Long Fatal Love Chase

Memorable Blossoming - Missoula,Montana

"...And there are other places which,
although we did not stay for long,
stick in the mind and call us back—
a valley visited one spring
where walking through an apple orchard
we breathed its blossom with the air.
Return seems like a sacrament...."

- from "Places to Return” by Dana Gioia

Still Blooming - California Poppy - Missoula, Montana

"Thy satin vesture richer is than looms 
Of Orient weave for raiment of her kings..."

- from Copa de Oro by Ina D. Coolbrith (1841-1928)

Echinacea Honey - Missoula, Montana

"The careful insect 'midst his works I view, 

Now from the flowers exhaust the fragrant dew, 

With golden treasures load his little thighs, 

And steer his distant journey through the skies." - John Gay (1685-1732)

Pink Dahlia - Missoula, Montana

"My advice to the women of America is to raise more hell and fewer dahlias."

-- William Allen White, author, editor, Progressive leader (1868-1944)

While I don’t consider the two presented options as mutually exclusive, I gather that William Allen White was a rather feisty, twinkle-eyed fellow who probably livened up any gathering he attended.

Life Song - Missoula, Montana

"A bird does not sing because it has an answer. 
It sings because it has a song." - Chinese Proverb

May you 'sing' what you were created to, and relax in the vibrant joy of simply being.

More Primrose - Missoula, Montana

“…Wood-sorrel, and the varnish'd buttercup;
And primrose in its purfled green swathed up, ...
O cistern deep of that harmonious rillet,
And these fair juicy stems that climb and throng
The vernal world, and unexhausted seas
Of flowing life, and soul that asks to fill it,
Each and all of these,--and more, and more than these!”
- From ‘In A Spring Grove’ by William Allingham (1824-1889)

Primrose - Missoula, Montana

 

"Ring-ting! I wish I were a primrose,

A bright yellow primrose blowing in the spring!

The stooping boughs above me,

The wandering bee to love me,

The fern and moss to creep across,

And the elm-tree for our king!"

- William Allingham (1824-1889)

April Snow - Missoula, Montana

Ahh, spring in Montana!
Just as blossoms lull to thinking it's really time to put away the winter hats, we wake to an April skiff of snow.
Always a surprise, ever a delight.

Rosy, Lolo, Montana

This wild rose was blooming last week in Montana’s mountains- a fitting farewell to Wild Rose Country, as I cross the southern border after a lovely week in Alberta.

Wild Rose, Missoula, Montana

“The Wild Rose” – by Wendell Berry
Sometimes, hidden from me in daily custom and in ritual
I live by you unaware, as if by the beating of my heart.
Suddenly you flare again in my sight
A wild rose at the edge of the thicket where yesterday there was only shade
And I am blessed and choose again,
That which I chose before.

Planting Hope, Hamilton, Montana

Hot tip for any plant-loving procrastinators - er, rather, busy people putting the last minute to effective use: Lowe’s still has spring bulbs for sale. 
Even better: they’re ON sale at fifty percent off.
 
I bought six bags - after putting back three bags, thanks to a wee self-chat about realistic expectations.
 
I’m a little excited. 

Come Saturday - after coffee, of course- , you'll find me bundled up and tenderly placing papery-swathed bulbs of promise: grape hyacinths, alliums, daffodils, fragrant hyacinths, and tulips. 
These will stand out nicely amidst the foliage of the later-blooming lilies and fritillaria I tucked in last weekend. 

Only 124 days until spring!

Reduced Circumstances, Missoula, Montana

Reduced from the verdant transport of Upland Cress to a dry-bones back alley. But maybe this box will get scooped up for another chance to be something else in its lifetime - like a sculpture or even a building!

Dive In, Missoula, Montana

'Tis the season to enjoy fleeting summer glories
Already, twilight dims earlier, and dawn delays. Before we know it, autumn will blaze forth her own astonishments. So, carpe diem
, without delay.
For me, today, this means imbibing in the outdoor luxury of a hammock whilst simultaneously savoring a book and the complex flavours of
Chicken and Waffles potato chips. (How could you NOT want to try them?!) Some things just are not the same when you’re bulked up in cold-weather clothes, so I‘m seizing this day, hazy sky and all.

Bloom to the Sky, Missoula, Montana

During the Montana winter, there's the challenging Race to the Sky.
In the spring, you can observe the somewhat less daunting 'bloom to the sky', right in your own backyard.
Peonies inspire me to live with generosity, eyes and arms wide open, hands high to the sky, reaching to invite the sunshine - or weathersome clouds, or come what may - to be, fully present.
Here are the last of these blowsy blossoms for this year - at least from me; you can always amble about your neighborhood to spy some more.