Beartooth Mountains beauty -- Beauty for all seasons -- and the birthday girl is falling head over heels for the wonder of the Beartooths

Cattle graze contentedly during a thunder storm earlier in the week.  The Beartooths frame the scene.

CONSTRUCTION CHAOS IS GETTING UNDER CONTROL, WING IS HEALING AND WILD LIFE'S FANTASTIC UNDER THE BIG SKY

Berry and currant bushes flower in spring then ripen for fall, ready for the bears and birdies.

Hawks are on the watch for food year round, particularly in fall. 

STORY By CHRISTENE MEYERS

PHOTOS By BRUCE KELLER

"The Carpe Diem Kids"

Cookie and Keller load up on Park City, Montana, corn.

THERE'S SOMETHING GLORIOUS about the seasons of Beartooth Mountains beauty.

Spring brings buds, birds and bears. Summer means barbecues and visitors. In autumn, mornings are crisp, mid-day is sunny, leaves begin to turn and evening is time to layer up! Winter with its glorious and much needed snow brings moisture and the hope of renewal.

Beartooth Mountains Beauty attracts global audience

Rising along Montana's southern border, the Beartooth Mountains are a spectacular destination for travelers seeking rugged wilderness, dramatic mountain scenery and authentic outdoor adventure. We love summer in the Beartooths and wait for Park City corn. When it's ready, we're among hundreds to cart home bags! Chokecherries and huckleberries attract bears and birds meaning fun photos.

We begin to see snow in the high mountains!

While Labor Day signals the end of summer, winter can come anytime.  For in Montana, as my grandmother remarked, "We have nine months of winter and three months of company."

Pansies love the cooler weather. Beartooth temperatures cover a vast range.

High Chaparral -- above the remodeling project -- is green and inviting with a mountain backdrop.

All four seasons have their advantages. Spring is prime time for many, summer for others. Ski buffs come from around the country for our winter snow. Each season seems too brief here in the northern Rockies.

Bruce Keller's grand construction project, a new solarium, is at the window framing stage.

Seasons can linger and present multitudes of wonder. Despite a melancholy mood as fall days grow shorter,  daisies, roses and hollyhocks are still gorgeous, the hay is mostly in, wildlife is abundant and the birds and bees are making whoopee while the squirrels salt away seeds and nuts for winter. Bears cruise the neighborhood to fatten up.

IT HAS BEEN a glorious, productive time here at High Chaparral in Stillwater County. An exciting, four-room addition begun July 1 is rounding the bend toward completion.

Still, I must complain. Briefly.

For years, I've begun my birthday celebration on the first day of the month of my birth.  So August 1 has signaled "day number one" of Cookie's natal celebration.

Bighorn sheep are about to begin mating, here cavorting above Stillwater Mine.

Cookie sits down at the piano, beginning a birthday which includes a half-dozen or more parties!

The revels continue through Labor Day, but this year I'm short-changed!  Labor Day falls on Sept. 1, giving me only a month of celebrating.  Normally, I get a month and several days.

SO I'M MAKING the most of it. Please forgive the kvetching.

The exercise girls threw me a party, and I turned it around a bit, creating a "very, merry unbirthday" party for them, a la the Mad Hatter's song in "Alice in Wonderland."

I'm booked to play piano at Montana Jack's Aug. 22 and Aug. 31.

And I've begun plans for a family reunion a year from now, if you're out there, family and friends.

Tuscany awaits -- coming soon to whereiscookie.com

COMING UP:  A swing through Tuscany in northern Italy, beautiful any time of year but particularly gorgeous as September approaches.  Then our look at California's enticing coastal hotels -- all dog friendly -- plus travel by train and a delightful, all-female "Two Gentlemen of Verona" at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. That's what we're up to. We're committed to making our travels fun, and passing along that enjoyment with tips and useful pointers. We hope you'll enjoy, learn and live and tune us in weekly for a fresh spin on travel, performance, nature, family and more at:

www.whereiscookie.com