Thistle Be Gorgeous and Moody - Missoula, Montana

"Josie is a Pye," said Marilla sharply, "so she can't help being disagreeable. I suppose people of that kind serve some useful purpose in society, but I must say I don't know what it is any more than I know the use of thistles...."
- from Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery, Ch. 37

Patience Under The Big Sky - Clark Fork Bike Trails, Missoula, Montana

Yes, that is the still-patient (which is not quite the same as ever-patient...) Best Husband Ever, waiting at the top of the hill and under that glorious sky while I climb on a park bench for elevated perspective. 
(I am pleased to report that his patience yesterday ended up with the just reward of Sweet Peaks - plus new ice cream flavours!)

No Place LIke Home - Missoula, Montana

We passed this lovely view midst a meandering Sunday evening bike ride to see what was at the west end of South Avenue. (In case you wonder, it's NOT the one lane bridge envisioned in my brain - THAT is at the west end of North Avenue, and now I can keep this tidbit straight in my brain.) 
Despite the scores of meadow-mountain-sky photos in my snapshot history, I was drawn yet again to the contrasting blue and gold, the tenacious weathered post, the wind visible in varied cloud shapes. The Best Husband Ever stopped and waited - without complaint! - yet again as I snap-snap-snapped away at minutely adjusted angles. (However, his goodwill stopped short of sympathy when my front bike tyre shifted and shimmied to deliver a smack of bike frame against my right knee. But then, there was no blood, so I should be glad he at least didn't guffaw as a sister might in similar circumstance - once she knew you were okay.) 
Truth be told, I almost didn't stop, on grounds that I'd taken and posted enough photos of similar views. 
But then I rebelled at such sad pseudo-logic, instead choosing to unapologetically partake of and mark the beauty of that very moment, which is unique from any other composition of the same elements before and since. 
And so it should be with our days that we describe as, "Not much..." when asked what we've been up to lately. What if we rather say the truth of, "Oh, I've been glorying in the small beauties of weed puffs and random yard art along my lunchtime walking route!" Perhaps we'd spark a small revolution in defense of the daily intricate beauties of home, even if just in the heart of that one person.
As much as I love to travel and engage with new friends and surroundings, I love to be at home, and am always a bit torn at the crossroads of these two yens. So, reading the following quote was akin to the distilling of tension when ending chords of a song resolve. 
I hope you are likewise provoked to relish the beauty in today's ordinary, wherever you are located.

“Why do you go away? 
So that you can come back. 
So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. 
And the people there see you differently, too. 
Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.”
  - Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky

Of Light And Believing - Missoula, Montana

 "When the days were at their darkest, I couldn't imagine believing in light again. 
But as with all natural things, I suppose, my faith is returning, and I find that my heart and my head need to be put to use again."
"I can't imagine being so certain in my belief," Sorrel said. "I'm jealous, I suppose, of yours."...
"Your faith couldn't be much stronger, my little gardener, you just don't give it a name."
-From The Forbidden Garden by Ellen Herrick, p. 271

Hatched - Missoula, Montana

“It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: 
  it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly
   while remaining an egg. 
We are like eggs at present. 
And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. 
We must be hatched or go bad. ” 
- C. S. Lewis, from Mere Christianity, (p. 198-199, or 170-171, depending on edition)

Wide Open - Missoula, Montana

“When the soul throws its windows wide open, letting in the sunshine, and presenting to all who see it the evidence of its gladness, it is not only happy, but it has an unspeakable power of doing good.“

-Orison Swett Marden (1850-1924)

Fleeting Still - Missoula, Montana

“It's a moment that I'm after, a fleeting moment, but not a frozen moment.”

-Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009)

Shadow Kin - Missoula, Montana

"Hard is hard - there is no measuring stick - 
and sadness too often comes right in as
the shadow kin of joy."
-From The Forbidden Garden by Ellen Herrick, page 78