Preserve your memories...Old old photos of the Yellowstone area, Ekalaka, and Medicine Rocks

By way of explanation then...When my father died in 1987, I inherited a number of old photographs of the Yellowstone area, many undoubtedly shot by my grandfather, Fred Weatherson, whom I never met. Apparently he was quite a photo buff in the 1920s. My dad was born in 1926 and Fred died when my dad was two, so I am assuming these were taken in the 1920s. If I have this wrong, someone who knows better will undoubtedly correct me.

There are also photos of cow camps, real cowboys, cattle, and fishing, as well as shots of daily life along the Stillwater River near Columbus, Montana, where my dad's family farmed, and presumably ranched.

I've had these in a drawer for a long time, unable to figure out how to preserve them. I thought I'd start scanning and filing them digitally. Having made a small beginning, I plan to post more as I have them recorded. They are a treasure, although many are deteriorated from the glue used to stick them into the album from which they were taken. I received them loose, and the majority have nothing written on them to identify exactly where and when they were taken. It's a sweet mystery...

Of course, the ones of Ekalaka and the Medicine Rocks were taken later, in the 1950s I believe. Enjoy, and if anyone has ideas regarding the identity of some of these places, please feel free to post a comment or two.



Ekalaka, Montana in the 1950s (?)

Yellowstone

Medicine Rocks

Mule Team on the farm (Stillwater County, Montana)

Firehole?

Yellowstone Canyon Guide Map

More Montana Pictures

Jeremiah contemplating Lake McDonald

North Fork Country

Bowman Lake

Two Medicine

Trail at Two Medicine

Roots on the route

Just some unadulterated pictures of home. Enjoy!

New and Newish Jewelry

Since very few people read this blog, I feel confident that those who do will forgive the truly bad photography! I am still sighting in my new lens (I think I'll eventually need a real macro), the lighting was inadequate, and the shots were badly planned. Just wanted to show some of my recent work. I am mentoring a girl in jewelry for her senior project so I actually started working again in silver, despite my hand. I rather like the new stuff with all the little leaves, the details of which are lost in these rather dark photos. Thanks for looking.

My workbench this morning.

Silver items in various states of completion, some fired, some not. I guess I'm into leaves now.

...or maybe I always was. More fine silver stuff, some with 24K gold.

Fine Silver Ogham pendants with various Scottish Gaelic words. (Alba, Anam, Eudail, Solas, Math...)

More...sort of Celtic looking on the upper left--my own design, originally a stamp carved out of clay for use in pottery. These are fairly large.

And now my lower back hurts really bad, and I must have dislocated my left shoulder during the night (sleeping can be dangerous!), so all of this is either taking my mind off of the pain in my hand, or making it worse. I can't tell. Getting old sucks, although 56 isn't that old for some people. And tomorrow my 7th period class starts ceramics--I don't know how the heck I'm going to show them how to build a box. Oh well...

Mar sin leat! Tioraidh an drasda!

Experiments From the Mists of Time

Gayle at Glacier Park: St. Mary's Lake...I was so happy then, at three. We'd just moved to Conrad from Glendive. It was 1957. Incredibly (or not) I remember this trip. I loved these mountains. Still do.

My yard with fluffy white autumn clouds.

Punk-ass snowboy built by Jeremiah, Crystal, and friend Ryaan after our Christmas snow. There was a buxom snow-lass too but I didn't get a good picture of her. Her hair looked like a birdnest.

Testing the new lens.

Just some random stuff--not very good either. I still have dust on my sensor and don't want to get it off myself because I did break the old lens and I'd probably break the camera itself if I stuck my finger inside it too. There are no photography shops anywhere near this cultural and shopping backwater, so until I find a place, I won't be doing much picture-taking.

Lights, Camera

Bedroom

Mirror Image

Fabric of Light

Cowgirl Watch

Here are some of various kinds of light, taken without a flash.

Tree dreams

Some rather interesting pictures of the hybrid poplar tree plantations outside of Boardman, Oregon. I took these from the car going at 70 mph and the motion of the fence and grasses as we whizzed by is rather intriguing...They reminded me of your tree paintings, Melis.

These plantations cover ground that was previously completely bare of anything but grass and sagebrush. They receive water and nitrients through drip-irrigation, and are harvested when mature to provide material for moulding trim and paper pulp. They harbor a variety of wildlife, including cougars. I'd hate to get lost in one in the dark! Or even daylight. There are no points of reference once inside. Alex should shoot a film in there.

It's still strange to see these vast artificial forests in the middle of the desert of Eastern Oregon...

 Lake McDonald Lodge

Trees at Lake McDonald

Just a couple of photos for a bit of a change. I've been slamming at work and have meetings every night this week, wishing I could retire someday because I'm old and I'm tired. (can you tell it's near the end of the school year?) I'm sharing a bunch of random thoughts through a haze of exhaustion so forgive me for not being my usual self, whoever that is.

We are now plotting our trajectory into the state of Montana for a week this summer. I think we'll be staying in Coram, provided we aren't too late making reservations. Just wanna be home, where there's peace and silence and mountains. It was necessity, not choice that brought me to Oregon all those years ago. I like my life, but it's not the same sky that the moon sails through.

The Scottish Gaels have a name for this kind of feeling: cianalas. longing, homesickness....

We may visit my son in the Bozone, and my sister in Butte, and perhaps my other sister on the ranch near Willsall between the Bridgers and the Crazies. Or we may do what I want and that's nothing at all, except to follow our hood ornament and go. I'll be doing research for my story (357 pages now).

In other news, we went out to a sheep ranch in the boonies the other evening for a lamb dinner and party. The couple who own the ranch are from Montana. They have about a gazillion sheep, and a cattle ranch near Big Timber. Of course the boonies in Oregon are much different than the boonies in Montana. Here in Oregon nothing's that far away from anything else, except maybe in the south-eastern part of the state in Malheur County. It was enjoyable, the food was good, prepared in foil under hot rocks and a huge pile of dirt by a crew of Peruvian sheepherders that work on the ranch. The company was excellent and we were entertained by some Irish songs (and one Scottish one!) provided by a group called the Irish Singers. A friend of ours sings and plays guitar in this outfit, although the fiddle player was sadly missing that evening: Danny Emmert, a National Fiddle Champion from Pendleton.

The stars when we left the sheep ranch were a bit like the ones in Montana, but not the same. Never the same. Nothing is the same, not the silence, not the sun, not even the air.

I have reverse-altitude sickness. There is such a thing, actually. I grew up at around 3800 feet, so a Montana fix is in the offing. I can't wait to go home. I'd just as soon stay there forever.