Wildflowers attract camera bugs, artists

This is the time of year to go hunting for wildflowers. They make for wonderful photographs, paintings and just make a day better to walk through a bosky dell full of bright yellow bells.

In the Bear Paws it all starts with pussy willows. Those beautiful willows can get their soft tips as early as February but in a year that has stayed cold like this one has, there are still plenty left in the upper reaches of Bear Paw creeks.

Then come the true buttercups. Most people around here call the tall yellow bell type flowers buttercups. That is wrong. Buttercups are bright yellow, almost butter l...