Closer Clematis - Missoula, Montana

My blue-blue non-vining clematis (I call her Clemmy...) continues to amaze with the detail of beauty! Observe how the tiny, twisty centre resembles a thick head of hair a la 1980's crimper! Who thinks of these things?! (Hmmmmm...let's sit on the porch awhile and ponder such things...)

 

Kierkegaard On Walking.... - Missoula, Montana, Mount Sentinel Trail System

“Above all, do not lose your desire to walk:  Every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness; I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it.”  Søren Kierkegaard  (1813-1855), in a letter to Jette, 1947

 

Breathe In - Salmon Lake, Montana

 “Man cannot do without beauty, and this is what our era pretends to want to disregard.”  - Albert Camus (1913-1960)

 

One Daisy - Teller Trail at Teller Wildlife Refuge, Corvallis, Montana

"...the infinite wealth of Christ’s infinite heart is thine today as though the sun should shine to light one firefly, or the Amazon flow to water the roots of one daisy."   - F.B. Meyer (1847-1929) from The Love Of Christ, Which Passeth Knowledge

 

 

Ponderosa Pine-ing For Good Vanilla - The Teller Trail, Bitterroot River, Corvallis, Montana

 Sister Three did not believe (read: she snorted a laugh) when I declared: "Some ponderosa pines smell like really, really good vanilla." The gauntlet thrown, I immediately spied a turnout near a likely specimen - and converted her by truth evidenced (amidst continued giggling because  other laid-back drivers passed by and we did, indeed, look silly leaning in close to sniff the craggy, russet bark). Hurrah for random weird and happy things worth knowing!

 

Water Lily Pad Tiles - Placid Lake, Montana

 ...like so many roof tiles overlapping atop a mermaid family's cozy home...

Graceful Change - Non-climbing Clematis, Missoula, Montana

 “All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and change is painful.” -Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964), from The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor

Still Water Lily Pads - Placid Lake, Montana

"....I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water...."

-from The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry

(Listen here - even repeatedly, as I did! - to the author read this dose of utter loveliness and calm. I try not to gush, but Wendell Berry is SO gush-worthy...)