River Rafters, Brennan’s Wave, Missoula, Montana

Sultry summer evenings bring an interesting medley of floatation devices to Missoula’s Clark Fork River - tubes, rafts, stand-up paddle boards, kayaks, surfboards, you name it. While calm stretches of water coddle most floaters, we watched the brave ones continue through Brennan’s Wave, created in 2006 in memory of Brennan Guth, a world-class kayaker from Missoula. Situated next to Caras Park, the Wave has been the host site for championship kayaking competitions, including the annual Best in the West event. Over the years, high and extended spring flows damaged the foundational structure of the Wave. A kayaking colleague explained to me that the structure now creates a green wave, which is better for surfers, instead of the original white wave coveted by kayakers. Long-range repairs are scheduled to continue this fall, and I‘m sure the Wave will again be busy the minute work is completed.

Blue Bells, Missoula, Montana

It turns out that all the intermittent rain that cleared our vacation air wasn’t simultaneously gracing the  Missoula valley. So I was glad to see the garden flowers still thriving. Blue bells are a happy childhood reminder of the delicate wildflower bells found on walks in the forests around our summer campgrounds and at the wooded edges of our home pastures. This garden version is sturdier and a bit more prolific in its flowering.

Little Box of Sunshine, Missoula, Montana

Holiday RePost: 21 December 2011
To tide you over as the daylight hours lessen, here's a little box of sunshine - just what the doctor ordered!
I captured it in my backyard this past summer & saved it for you.... kinda like Bill Cosby's snowball he saved in the freezer for Juniour Barnes... but nicer.

Blodgett Overlook Trail, View to the West, Hamilton, Montana

 

 “Every view from up here was mighty.”
 - “Dancing At the Rascal Fair” by Ivan Doig,  p. 278 

Deer's Eye View, Hamilton, Montana

Holiday RePost: 15 December 2011:
This might be the perspective of a deer as it inclines its neck down to drink the clear water of the Bitterroot River, eyes alert, ears twitching to listen for anything amiss.

Takes A Licking...., East Missoula, Montana

Holiday RePost: 23 January 2013
I’m not sure about this retro clock, but the stove it’s attached to still cooks it up at the East Missoula Fire Hall. This was the epitome of stylish technology back in grandma's day.

Sky Lines of Power, Missoula, Montana

Holiday Repost: 23 May 2013
“Be fit for more than the thing you are now doing. Let everyone know that you have a reserve in yourself; that you have more power than you are now using. If you are not too large for the place you occupy, you are too small for it.”
- James A. Garfield, 20th president of US 1881 (1831 - 1881)

Forsythia on Red Door, Kalispell, Montana

Holiday Repost: 27 April 2012
Forsythia  - which is on my list of "plants to acquire" - adds to the cheery welcome of this red door at Christ Church Episcopal, just down the block from my friend's new home in Kalispell. (Funny enough, even though I took about 20 varied shots, it wasn't until I got home & zoomed in to check photo quality that I clued in that the blooms are silk!)