Sagebrush And Stormclouds - Corvallis, Montana

"Sage-brush is a very fair fuel, but as a vegetable it is a distinguished failure."

- Mark Twain (1835-1910), Roughing It

Good Life Waiting - Missoula, Montana

"We must be willing to let go of the life we planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us." 

- Joseph Campbell (1904-1987)

Ubiquitous Daisy - Missoula, Montana

"...Stoop where thou wilt, thy careless hand

Some random bud will meet;

Thou canst not tread, but thou wilt find

The daisy at thy feet...."

- from Song by Thomas Hood (1799-1845), 
in The Poetical  Works Of Thomas Hood

April Showers Bring Maple Flowers - Missoula, Montana

"There are always flowers for those who want to see them."

- Henri Matisse (1869-1954)

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

Calf And Cow - Hamilton, Montana

"...When the calves come, along with the laughing,

Spanking new, beckoning, Spring, green grass

yearning softly sighs like earth's breath,

pleading with wisps of wind..."

- from When The Calves Come by Tom McBeth

Apple Blossoms - Grantsdale, Montana

"...Green the grass-lawn stretched before them
While the apple blossoms white
Hung in rich profusion o’er them."

- from Apple Blossoms, by Will Carleton (1845-1912)

Tulips: Modest Grace - Missoula, Montana

" I love tulips better than any other spring flower; they are the embodiment of alert cheerfulness and tidy grace, and next to a hyacinth, they look like a wholesome, freshly tubbed young girl beside a stout lady whose every movement weighs down the air with patchouli. Their faint, delicate scent is refinement itself; and is there anything in the world more charming than the sprightly way they hold up their little faces to the sun. I have heard them called bold and flaunting, but to me they seem modest grace itself, only always on the alert to enjoy life as much as they can and not be afraid of looking the sun or anything else above them in the face." 

- Elizabeth von Arnim (1866-1941), Elizabeth and Her German Garden