The sun is shining. I have view of Mount Sentinel which sits east of Missoula just up from the University of Montana. A few years ago, I would have been able to see the “M” which is about 3/4 of the way up the mountain. Residents and visitors alike enjoy hiking the zigzag trail for exercise with the grand view of Missoula valley as the reward once you reach the “M”. However, growth is blocking that view today. Stockman’s Bank built a six story building in 2015 obscuring many views in Missoula. I don’t know what the height restrictions are in this city. I began to research and there is much to read, so I’ll continue that later. Missoula is growing and it saddens me. The rising cost of housing, increased traffic and the slick expensive boutiques that sell a a polished cosmopolitan look are taking away some of the Missoula magic that I discovered back in the eighties when I first moved here. But I still love it and it is where I feel most at home, always have.
Mount Sentinel jutes up and serves as a guard, one I have often looked to for grounding, helping me find my way, even as I run errands and need to know what direction I am going. On clear warm days, hang gliders, that look like fairies, fly off the mountain, floating through the air. It’s that kind of day and just spotted the first one of the day.
Some of the folks sitting in the same room as I are getting their chemo. I am here to get an iron transfusion. My ferritin levels continue to be low. That explains lack of energy. Some days I physically don’t feel like lifting a pen to paper or click at the keyboard. When you wake up after a ten, sometimes twelve hours sleep and your tired, something is off.
Why are my ferritin levels low? That is the unknown. My hematologist would like me to get a colonoscopy sooner than later to rule out the dreaded but she said it so it’s somewhere in the back of brain sometimes, colon cancer. Yea I don’t want to go there, but I will get it checked out. The gastro doctors are backed up so the appointment to consult with the gastro doc isn’t until the end of May, then schedule the colonoscopy.
For today, I’ll sit back and enjoy the view, feel the protection of Mount Sentinel and delight in the fairies flying off of it.
Fscottwrites 
Thinking of you, sweet Frances. Glad you’re back in Montana world! xo
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❤ so much love….and prayers that the tests are allllllll clear!
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Thank you Trish, me too. Love ya
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Oh Frances, the magical friendliness of Missoula in the 90s also (when I first moved here)…street musicians, famous odd street characters, people smiling and saying hello to strangers is gone. Replaced by cellphones, expensive boutiques run by dyed blond rich girls (who buys this stuff?!?) and enormous banks, indeed. What is with these massisve banks? I read an article recently by a Montanan who says they’re popping up in every large town. Whose big money is that?
But yes, the earth that is Missoula and was this place before people and certainly before white people is still mystical and magic in a very special way. The reason I live here too. People will come and go, but the mountains and the rivers will be here long after. love and hugs, Ruth
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Here’s to the mountains and rivers that remain our stayhold.
Was it Alexis, is that right, who always hung out at the Top Hot? She was a character. And Greg/Gloria Hemingway, yes Ernest Hemingway’s son,was often offering up color on the streets of downtown Missoula. BTW, are you watching the Hemingway special on PBS? I’m enjoying it.
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