Built To Last - 1901 Cornerstone, Butte, Montana

Strolling downtown Butte, Montana allowed new perspective on this Masonic architectural icon, in perfect conjunction with Monday’s devotional cornerstone analogy. (Thank you, Jennie Allen.)

Also stirs grateful rememberings of turning life corners out of darker trails. (Although I do have a penchant for alley meandering…perhaps more pondering to be had on this one!) 

Somewhere Mountains - Paradise, Montana

"Somewhere in the dark is always mountains,

Years in mountains, mountains silent, standing

Inscrutable, big, rocky, piercing, sheer,

And hills, wrinkled and rippling, calling clear

Across their time, symbolic, real, and branding

Reality as cities boast a downtown....”

--From "Always Somewhere" by David Rothman

Procaffeinator Thought - Downtown Missoula, Montana

Hmmm...deep thoughts via today's photo...are you perhaps in good company (with me, of course!) as a procaffeinator? 
Do tell about your favourite jump start.... the comments link awaits below. 
(Note: The tea contingent is also abundantly represented in our midst.)

(This pseudo vocabulary word brought to you courtesy of Missoula's very own Liquid Planet and a lovely downtown evening stroll.)
 

Riding High - Clark Fork River, Missoula, Montana

Crazy enough, surfers and kayakers are out riding downtown Missoula's Brennan's Wave during the worst spring flooding on the Clark Fork River since 1908. (But they did provide some entertainment during our evening stroll to savour the latest Sweet Peaks flavours - which will ship to your very door!)

Click here to contrast the above scene across the river to the old Milwaukee rail depot with this similar and more typical view in August 2013. The above photo is conspicuously lacking mid-river islands and the shore-hugging rocks shown in the 2013 foreground - which are underneath a good part of this week's perfect wave.

Seriously Spring - Missoula, Montana

A fabulous evening for ice cream at Sweet Peaks! 
(Griz Tracks flavour for me - click here to make your mouth water. Their website indicates ice cream ships every Wednesday to anywhere in the lower 48 United States...just sayin'....)

Next up: a calorie off-setting stroll downtown along the Clark Fork River.

And after that, we finally had supper - legendary Mo Club burgers. 
The Best Husband Ever observed that they are cooking on the same grill as decades ago when his dad ate there as a young man, and the long-time seasoning of the grill contributes to the special taste of their burgers.

A veritable best-of-Missoula evening!

Game Day Sparkle - Missoula, Montana

It's Homecoming at the University of Montana - the downtown streets were packed this morning, and all the parade route storefronts are decked out with a little something extra. Nothing says "Go Griz!" quite like a little extra sparkle in your game day coiffure.  Stop in at Bathing Beauties Beads on the Hip Strip to add a little quirk in your day.

Leand(e)r - Downtown Missoula, Montana

"...Vail'd to the ground, veiling her eyelids close; 

And modestly they opened as she rose. 
Thence flew Love's arrow with the golden head; 

And thus Leander was enamoured. 
Stone-still he stood, and evermore he gazed, 

Till with the fire that from his count'nance blazed 

Relenting Hero's gentle heart was strook: 
Such force and virtue hath an amorous look. ..." 

- from Hero And Leander by Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)

Writing On The Wall - Downtown Alley, Missoula, Montana

"I take literally the statement in the Gospel of John that God loves the world. I believe that the world was created and approved by love, that it subsists, coheres, and endures by love, and that, insofar as it is redeemable, it can be redeemed only by love. I believe that divine love, incarnate and indwelling in the world, summons the world always toward wholeness, which ultimately is reconciliation and atonement with God."

- Wendell Berry, The Art of the Commonplace: The Agrarian Essays

Upper Window View From The Depot - Livingston,Montana

The view from inside one iconic building out to another: the Livingston Depot's stairwell window looks out to The Murray Hotel and sunny downtown Livingston. 

From Memorial Day to Labour Day, the depot is home to the fascinating railroad memorabilia of The Depot Center Museum. We spent the hottest part of Sunday afternoon browsing through the heyday of passenger train traffic through Livingston, which for many years was the hopping-on point for tourist trains to Yellowstone National Park.  
A short trek upstairs brings you to a display of movies shot in or near Livingston, from black-and-white era Westerns to the 2016 drama "Certain Women", with a fair selection of foreign films and comedies in between. Oh, and let's not forget "A River Runs Through It". 
The museum was one highlight in a lovely summer afternoon, and definitely merits a return visit.

Downtown Summer Evening Glow - Missoula, Montana

July stays up fairly late in Montana, the evening's golden beams beckoning to bask a while out in the sun's warming rays. My evening stroll took me past the back of the downtown Post Office, its Indiana limestone and granite blocks gilded with the last of the day's light. Constructed from 1911 to 1913, the building is number 13 on Missoula's historic walking tour. Check out the other stops here - and don't forget to stop for ice cream.

Tasteful Advice - Sweet Peaks, Missoula, Montana

"My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it's on your plate." 

- Thornton Wilder (1897-1975)

(Yes, the taste-full season at Sweet Peaks is again in full swing and fine form. We've already gleefully indulged this summer in Strawberry Fields Forever, all-time fave Orange Cardamom, Coconut Dream, Chocolate-Covered Potato Chip and something, London Fog, DOMO Espresso, several chocolate-laced originals...and a few more...on the generous side of "few"...not counting the multiple new flavours sampled off a taste-testing popsicle stick in search of each visit's perfect flavour. Good thing we now have Pokemon Go to provoke a post-ice cream walk about downtown.

Christmas Lights - Downtown Missoula, Montana

"Moonless darkness stands between.
Past, the Past, no more be seen!
But the Bethlehem-star may lead me
To the sight of Him Who freed me
From the self that I have been...
Now beginning, and alway:
Now begin, on Christmas day."

- from Moonless darkness stands between by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)


Happy Christmas to you, in the truest sense of what Christmas means.

Looking Like Christmas - Downtown Missoula, Montana

"...It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas,
Soon the bells will start,
And the thing that will make them ring is the carol that you sing
Right within your heart..."

- from It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas, lyrics by Meredith Wilson (1902-1984)

Key Lime Pie Fix-All - Missoula, Montana

" 'Flappers,' Mrs. Morse said. 'Our mother would have fainted dead away to see all the leg they're showing.'

Mrs. Styles said, 'Mother would have taken a stick to them. Things were better back then.'

Mrs. Morse said she thought some things were better nowadays, but Mrs. Styles didn't see it...

Mrs. Morse said, 'Well, there's nothing you can do about it so why don't I cut you a nice piece of chocolate cake?' She could fix almost anything with a piece of cake - or pie." - from p.167 of The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant

Today's pictured key-lime cure-all was recently self-administered - strictly as a preventative, immunity-building measure, with no dire scenarios in sight - at Iza Restaurant in downtown Missoula. Verdict: a hands-down recommendation for all that ails you - or doesn't!

Downtown Night Lights - Livingston, Montana

A spectacular sunset faded to moody blues, the perfect contrast to Livingston's night lights. Persisting balmy temps ensured the evening streets were busy with a well-rounded traffic blend - foot, bicycle, and motorized all represented. But no horses parked at the hitching rail.

Downtown Flowers - Missoula, Montana

More evening strolling found me admiring downtown Missoula's most gorgeous flower display. Created in a blah boulevard by the entirely volunteer efforts of a local street vendor, this curbside garden continues to flourish, and has also inspired floral improvements on other corners. Hurrah for such a vibrant reminder that the positive actions of one person can change the view for so many others!

W Is For Wilma - Missoula, Montana

The past few evenings have been so warm and lovely - a far cry from the drastic cooling  and rain forecast last week! The lingering end-of-summer days make it hard to come indoors as the sunset wanes to full-on dark. Thankfully, Missoula's downtown main drag is a great place for an evening walk - and safe, being brightly lit and having lots of people out and about. My habitual jaunt loops up one side of Higgins Avenue to the old train depot and back down the other side to the Wilma Theatre, which is in the throes of restoration and upgrades. The signature W lights mark the turnaround point to head back to my car and to home, and - wistfully - inside. 

Market Melons - Missoula, Montana

Tuesday evening featured perfect weather for meandering between in-season offerings at the farmers market in downtown Missoula. We are the lucky ones who live in the marketing region of the bounteous, beautiful, and  delicious Dixon Melons, vine-ripened in a temperate growing region near Dixon, Montana. 'Tis the season, to be savoured while it lasts!

View Under The Orange Street Bridge - Missoula, Montana

The westward end of Missoula's downtown river walking path winds under the shade of the Orange street bridge, conveniently merging enjoyment of two of my favourite things - architecture and the river. 

Happily, I found a couple appropriate bridge quotes from Bruce Jackson - I couldn't precisely ascertain which Bruce Jackson, but I'm leaning toward the filmmaker  and photographer over the former Military Intelligence Officer.

"Bridges are perhaps the most invisible form of public architecture."

"Bridges become frames for looking at the world around us."

Good Night For Ice Cream - Missoula, Montana

Evening's golden gloaming is the perfect time to walk downtown Missoula's Higgins Avenue toward Sweet Peaks Ice Cream, my fave venue for locally sourced, ever-changing wunderkind flavours. 

Recent samplings included Moscow Mule, Raspberry Beet, Licorice Chocolate Fleck, Orange Cardamom, Rhubarb Swirl, Salty Caramel, Huckleberry, & Orange Juice Sorbet. 

(Full disclosure: While I HAVE been there three times in the past seven days, I did NOT have a scoop of ALL those flavours. Rather, I went with people amenable to  trading a taste, plus added the influential magic words, 'I'm buying!')