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Saturday, August 14th, 2010

Here’s a photograph from my sister’s camera, which I used in July when my own began having problems. Right after my recent trip to Cody, Jackson Hole, and Red Lodge, I went up to Medora on the East River Road again, through Theodore Roosevelt National Park, and then on a little loop drive from Square Butte to Sentinal Butte. This country pleases me so very much! I am definitely a prairie and badlands country girl. While the mountains, forests, and streams are indeed beautiful, I must say that I was very glad to be back in North Dakota. I thank my lucky stars that this is my home country, and hope that those of us who live here don’t take it for granted. It would be just a wonderful thing if we could make the little prairie towns out here as magnificent as the land that surrounds us!

North Dakota Badlands

North Dakota Landscapes: Part II

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

Well, I’m glad I got out and took some of these landscape photos when I could. Today it’s only 37 degrees, the wind is blowing, and the sunflowers in the front yard are tilting way over; some have lost the battle entirely. October is off to a cool, breezy start, and autumn is underway. Hope we’ll have some warmer, calmer days before November gets here!

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It had rained earlier in the day, and the scoria road was a deeper orange-red color than usual. What a difference from last year, when everything was so dry, and vehicles left a huge cloud of dust trailing behind them on the East River Road. I stopped in at the Burning Coal Vein area briefly, just to see the changes there, too. The road is wider and in better shape, the camping units had their overhead shelters removed, and there was a new water pump. It’s nice to see improvements that will allow people to enjoy this magnificent country even more.

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North Dakota Landscapes: Part 1

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

Here are some of the photos I took on September 12, after I returned from the BAGA art reception in Bismarck. All the way back to Bowman, I thought that the clouds and light were exceptional, so I headed up the East River Road to see what I could see. I feel so fortunate to have such magnificent country so close at hand. The trees were still green, but there was some autumn color in the grasses, which made for an interesting combination. My main objective was to gather material for drawings, so I made sure I got exposures for both the sky and the land wherever I found an interesting composition. That process may make for some intriguing vertical images.

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One of the Twin Buttes just north of Bowman

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Country Road north of Bowman

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Field and Clouds

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The North Dakota Badlands near Amidon

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Badlands Ranch Tour

Friday, August 14th, 2009

On August 4th, my artist friend Marsha Lehmann treated me to a tour of a Badlands ranch west of Rhame. We were accompanied by several members of her family, and it was a lovely afternoon with some wonderful people.

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Creek with Green Grass in August!

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Eagle’s Nest

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The Foundation of an Old-time Ranch Building

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July 14th

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

I received over thirty new iris plants from Pekin, North Dakota over the weekend, and with the help of my sister Gwynne, got them planted in the backyard. They have very intriguing names, such as Chocolate Swirl, Adobe Rose, Purple Pepper, Native Dancer, and Peach Picotee. It will be hard to wait for them to blossom next summer, when they will dazzle us with their beautiful patterns and colors.

Here is another batch of photos from the road trip on July 14th, when we toured Medora and Theodore Roosevelt National Park, then headed back to Bowman via the East River Road.

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Garden near the Bunkhouse Motel

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Billings County Court House Museum

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Old Wagon at the Circle C Shop

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Lyle Glass, Cowboy, Photographer, and Flag Raiser

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Cottonwoods near the Little Missouri

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Prairie Dog

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Badlands Hill in Theodore Roosevelt National Park

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Buffalo with Filters

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Badlands with Filters

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Trail at Buck Hill

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The North Dakota Badlands

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View from the East River Road

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July 12th

Sunday, July 26th, 2009

The past few days have been spent painting the entire patio lime green, after a bucket of that color was spilled on the cement when a strong gust of wind suddenly blew through. The whole place is now extremely bright and cheerful, and I feel like I could be in Mexico somewhere! That project has kept me hopping, but today I took a  break from it, and got back to processing more of my road trip pictures.  Here’s a group from July 12th, when we took a scenic road from Bismarck to the Painted Canyon, Medora, and Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

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Grain Elevators

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Old Farmstead

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Hill and Cloud

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Hill with Coneflowers and Cloud

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(More Coneflowers, Less Cloud)

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Purple Coneflowers

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Painted Canyon

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Theodore Roosevelt National Park

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From Smith Grove to Bismarck

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

Here’s a shot of the countryside on the way back from Smith Grove to Bismarck on July 11th. It was on this stretch of road that we were discovering ticks crawling on everybody, which really livened things up! I’d highly recommend preparing for ticks before walking through Smith Grove!

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North Dakota Summer Countryside

 

Bismarck to Washburn and Smith Grove

Monday, July 20th, 2009

On July 10th, my sister and I did some errands, then met a friend at a neat little shop that had home and garden decor. There was a small resin horse sculpture there that I thought would look great with my horse drawings. It now occupies the Mexican ranch table in my entryway.

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We met our traveling companions, Chad and Rhonda, who live in North  Carolina, at the airport, and did some visiting and sightseeing around Bismarck. The next day, we went to the Double Ditch Indian village site, then to on to Washburn, Fort Mandan, and Smith Grove.

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Pastoral Scenes north of Bismarck

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Pirogue at Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center

At Washburn, we toured the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, which was extremely well done. They had an example of a pirogue carved out of a cottonwood tree, which was amazing. They also had a large collection of work by Karl Bodmer, a Swiss artist who traveled through North Dakota in 1833 with Prince Alexander Maximilian of Weid, Germany.

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We had a pleasant picnic lunch surrounded by wonderful cottonwood trees.

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Cottonwoods with Artistic Filters

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Fort Mandan

After our lunch, we went to Fort Mandan, which is a replica of the one where the Lewis and Clark Expedition wintered in 1804-1805.

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Cottonwood Trees near Fort Mandan

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Cottonwood Tree at Smith Grove

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Our next stop was Smith Grove, which had a marvelous stand of very old, very large cottonwood trees. They were around 250 years old, and some seven feet wide. I’d never seen cottonwoods so huge, and it was truly awe-inspiring. My sister had heard about the place from a friend, and I’m glad she did. It’s located near Hensler, and is managed by North Dakota Game and Fish.

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As we continued along the path at Smith Grove, I experimented with moving my camera during the exposure, and got some interesting results playing with the light. They will be on the next post.