Promising Winter Hollyhock - White Sulphur Springs, Montana

“I used to feel sad on New Year's Eve, clinging to the old year, never wanting it to be over. I avoided good-byes for the same reason, clinging to what was, simply because it was known, whereas the future was unknown and therefore to be worried over. How much fear has controlled my life . No longer!

... I pat my firm thighs and promise to banish further negative thinking...I raise my glass to being big, beautiful, feminine, and forever changing, promising to work with my bones and flesh. After all , bones make new bones if they are exercised, skin sheds itself to make room for fresh flesh, muscles untangle and restore their strength. I truly have rejoined the human race.”

  -Joan Anderson, in A Year By The Sea, pages 90-91

Lingering Autumn Dreams - Missoula, Montana

"But frost, like the 
crystallized dreams of autumn, 
began to coat the clearing with its sugar glaze.”
 - Victoria Steele Logue, Redemption


The words "crystalized dreams..." provoke ponderings. 
Some may think it sad that dreams of a past season are frozen, stymied from achieving the first grand plans. 
But my mind harks back (can you tell we've been binging on historical BBC shows on the telly?) to childhood winter morning schoolbus rides spent imagining within the magical iced worlds left by that great and stealthy artist, Jack Frost. 
Crystalized dreams provide opportunity to pause and ponder wonders we may not have seen had they marched as scheduled down the orderly path of accomplishment and must-do.  
And, in the seed world, sometimes a period of freeze and thaw is required to "to break dormancy or to crack their hard coverings".
In this April's lingering limbo 'twixt winter and spring, I'll appreciate the beauty of tenacious autumn dreams, and wait for gentle warming winds to disturb and provoke new action.

Cottonwood Fluff At Rest - Missoula, Montana

In between the spring rain showers, cottonwood fluff is flying furiously, careening crazily on windy gusts, captured in foliage traps to rest and perhaps take root.

Winter Waiting For - Missoula, Montana

"Whatever we are waiting for - peace of mind, contentment, grace, the inner awareness of simple abundance - it will surely come to us, but only when we are ready to receive it with an open and grateful heart." - Sarah Ban Breathnach

Future Forward - Missoula, Montana

“…Please, Aslan! Am I not to know?"

"To know what would have happened, child?" said Aslan. "No. Nobody is ever told that."

"Oh dear," said Lucy.

"But anyone can find out what will happen," said Aslan. "… what will happen? There is only one way of finding out.”

― C.S. Lewis, Prince Caspian, Chapter 10

Dandelion Changling - Missoula, Montana

“Most of the dandelions had changed from suns into moons.”
- Vladimir Nabokov


...sprouting wiry protrusions, like some crazily rigged cartoon bomb, waiting for the slightest air puff trigger to eject spinning, floating, whirling fragments...

Maple Leaf Future, Missoula, Montana

Happy Canada Day!

Surrounded by celebratory reminders - from flapping flags on passing cars to fireworks this evening, - I am especially thankful for this country that still includes “free” in the national anthem.
Not perfect, but still free.
And that means so much.

(Note: This maple leaves and wingnuts photo was taken in Montana, in another beloved country whose song honours freedom.)

SnowFlower, East Missoula, Montana

“My mother always called me an ugly weed, so I never was aware of anything until I was older. 
Plain girls should have someone telling them they are beautiful. Sometimes this works miracles.”
-Hedy Lamarr (1913-2000; Great beauty of MGM’s Golden Age)

Pink Fuzzies, Missoula, Montana

There are warm fuzzies, and there are their lesser known cousins, pink fuzzies.
Warm fuzzies make you smile.
Pink fuzzies (not to be confused with a pink fizz) could make you sneeze, as they appear to be a variety of poplar seed clutch.

Seed Stalk, Crazy Canyon, Missoula, Montana

This picture just made me sigh a medium-sized peaceful sigh. I just want to look at it and think calming thoughts - about new flower seeds, and digging in the dirt, and the sun-gold ripeness of a just-picked tiny pear tomato bursting to life in a single, delectable bite. But all of that will have to wait a few more months.

Onions, Onions - Ha Ha Ha!, Hamilton, Montana

Onion and chive flowers have always pleased my eye for their perfect globular shape, especially when contrasted against darker vertical lines of upright onion stems. Looking closer, you see a world within a world, seeds of tomorrow's harvest hidden in the fading glory of today.

Dandelion Opportunist, Missoula, Montana

“Opportunity dances with those already on the dance floor.” - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.