I decided to take pictures of some of the fruit and flowers in our garden today before they fade away.
Delicate petals of nodding hollyhocks filtered the sun’s light
Snapdragons filled the landscape, exploding in shades of pink
Iceplants with purple punctuations slid towards the pond’s edge
Here’s the High Desert Voices August 2024 newsletter for your reading pleasure. Lots of nice photos as well! This newsletter is published by and for volunteers at the High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon. I’ve been working there as a volunteer since 2013.
Articles this month include one on the Natural History Pub lectures, one on the Lost in Place writing workshop, one on sea otters, and one on the Sensing Sasquatch exhibition at the Museum.
Please enjoy the High Desert Voices August 2024 issue!
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
So, when you think of trees on the westside of Oregon you probably think of evergreens, right? However, trees associated with more tropical locations also grow there. This is a Chinese windmill palm, Trachycarpus fortunei, growing at the Oregon Garden in Silverton.
Windmill palms have been cultivated in China and Japan for thousands of years so their exact natural range is difficult to determine. This hardy palm has been planted throughout the world. The tough leaf fibers of the Chinese windmill palm have been used in making rope, sacks, and coarse cloth.
Wind palm trees reach a height of 10-40 feet. In southern China, these palms grow at elevations as high as 7,874 feet. They tolerate cold temperatures, wind, salt, and drought.
Near the shores of the Willamette River in downtown Portland, you’ll find a small gem of a garden. Lan Su Chinese Garden is the result of a collaboration between Portland, Oregon, and Suzhou, in the Jiangsu province of China.
The Lan Su Chinese Garden mission is to “cultivate an oasis of tranquil beauty and harmony to inspire, and educate our global community in the appreciation of a richly authentic Chinese culture.”
Kuang Zhen designed the 1.03-acre garden with the help of 65 artisans. The garden opened to the public in September 2000.
Over 400 species of plants can be found here. More than 100 plants grow near Lake Zither, a feature created for the garden.
Today I’m sharing a fringed gentian drawing I created from a photo. I used colored pencils for this drawing. Originally, I planned to paint over the drawing with water since I had used watercolor pencils. However, I decided to leave the drawing as is because I liked how the texture of the lines turned out.
Did you know that the fringed gentian, Gentianopsis detonsa, is the official flower of Yellowstone National Park?
If you visit the park in the spring, you’ll see lots of wildflowers in full bloom. We were there in the beginning of June 2024.
I took this picture at Black Sand Basin, just west of the Old Faithful area. As soon as I saw these blooming beside the boardwalk, I knew I wanted to do a fringed gentian drawing to try to capture their beauty.
I previously featured another photograph of fringed gentian and showed how they look with three different photo processing techniques. These flowers look pretty, no matter how they are presented.
Do you have artwork you would like to share? Be sure to include the First Friday Art tag.
First Friday Art (FFA)
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
When I looked at the pictures I’d taken at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, I thought several images were like abstracts adrift.
The northern sea otters rolled themselves up into buoyant balls.
Moon jellies fell like brilliant blue windblown blossoms.
This enormous Sasquatch sculpture is part of the Sensing Sasquatch exhibition currently at the High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon. Sensing Sasquatch considers this mythical creature from a Native American perspective. It will be at the Museum through January 12, 2025.
The Protector was created by Hollyanna CougarTracks DeCoteau (Yakama, Nez Perce, Cayuse, Cree). This work is based on her memories of seeing the shadows of Sasquatch in the forest.
She noted that Indigenous peoples admire Sasquatch because they are “protectors of all living things… if they die so too does everything else.”
The fur-covered Sasquatch sculpture was impressive, but so was the way they separated the sculpture from the rest of the exhibit. Long strands of string hung from curving ceiling tracks, adding to the sense of mystery. I loved the shadows created by the curtains surrounding the artwork.
Seeing pairs of bronze bulls bash together in winter blizzards
and a couple of cascades crashing down craggy cliffs
Seeing two octopi slip and slide over seaside skyscrapers
Last weekend, while attending the Bend Summer Festival, I had this Gulf shrimp po boy sandwich. This is a great event with booths featuring artists, musicians, businesses, and food.
My delicious sandwich was from the Southern Accents food cart, shown below. The cart was at the recent festival, but it’s usually at Silver Moon in downtown Bend.
This food cart features great options with a southern twist. Besides the Gulf shrimp po boy, you can also get things like fried chicken po boys, rice bowls, and fried pickles. Here’s their menu at Silver Moon.
UPDATE: Here are photos of dishes from a recent visit to the Southern Accent food truck at Silver Moon.
This is their Fried Chicken Basket. It includes fried chicken, fries, and Cajun slaw with your choice of sauces for the chicken. This is a big serving of food! The chicken is crunchy outside and tender inside. I opted for the Cajun fries and liked their spicey taste.
The next picture shows the Nashville Chicken Sandwich. It has great flavor and the piece of chicken is so thick, you can barely get it into your mouth.
We also ordered a daily special of Korean Fried Chicken. I really liked the flavor of the sauce.
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
This antlers & horns & skulls chandelier is at the Fishing Bridge Visitor Center and Trailside Museum in Yellowstone National Park. A metal circle is adorned with bighorn sheep and Rocky Mountain elk antlers & horns & skulls. It’s suspended by heavy metal chains.
This museum is small and probably overlooked by many visitors to the park. I recommend stopping by to see its collection of historic bird specimens. If you want to see mounts of many of the park’s birds to help identify them in the field, this is a great resource.
The hot pools of the Lava Hot Spring tourist attraction are in the city of Lava Hot Springs in southeastern Idaho. Four blocks from the hot pools, you’ll find a water park and indoor and outdoor swimming pools, also heated by hot spring waters.
Swooping red sunshades over the hot pools offer visitors shelter from the sun.
The five outdoor pools in the Hot Pool site have water temperatures ranging from 102 to 112 degrees Fahrenheit. Lava Hot Springs uses over 2.5 million gallons of hot spring water per day to heat their pools.
Since the temperature reached 102.4 degrees Fahrenheit at my house yesterday, I thought back to the cool day I saw this otter sculpture in snow. This bronze sculpture titled “Otter” was created by Ann Bannard. It was installed in Riverbend Community Park in 2009.
The Bend Park and Recreation District office is located behind the otter sculpture. To the left of the building, you can see a sculpture of kayaks. It’s one of my favorites here in Bend and I featured a closer view of it in a previous post.
Monochrome Madness – Sculptures
I enjoy using cameras small enough to fit in a pocket. I recently got a new flying lens as a gift.
Here it is. What, can’t you see that it’s a camera?
How about if I unfold it? Yeah, it’s a drone. I still have the lens protector on the front in this photo.
Here’s the controller. I like my new flying lens because it stops itself from crashing into things in 360 degrees of direction. It will also land from where it took off with the touch of a button.
Today I’m sharing a gray squirrel drawing and photo I created. I drew the squirrel with a charcoal pencil.
It’s fun to work with charcoal because you can change its appearance by using different techniques. You can “stump” it by using the side of a charcoal stick, your finger, a chamois cloth, or other materials to spread it. Since it lifts easily from a surface, you can erase or scrape parts of it off. Some artists mix charcoal with water or other liquids .
I’m also sharing a photograph I took of a gray squirrel at Three Island Crossing State Park in Glenns Ferry, Idaho. I like this picture because it looks like the squirrel is giving me a fist bump. The diagonal streams of water from a sprinkler in the background add an interesting detail to the photo.
Here’s a picture I took of a pair of puffins at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. This photo shows them in breeding and nonbreeding plumage.
This bird lives most of its life at sea, but they nest in burrows that can be more than 5 feet deep. A pair of puffins will feed their young tiny fish, which they line up crosswise in their bills. Sometimes they will carry as many as 20 fish at a time to their nests.
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
This chiwen roof decoration is at Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland, Oregon.
These dragons, placed on both ends of roof ridgelines, are thought to protect the inhabitants from fires. Fengshui theory says they also protect against floods and typhoons. Chiwen translates to ‘hornless-dragon mouth.’ This dragon likes to swallow things, including evil influences.
I awaken on the shores of a High Desert playa
Dust devils on the distant shoreline dance across the flats
Dry soil at my feet cracks and crumbles
The funnel of a dust devil hovers over me and carries me a few miles away
I drift over a lake of summer and a ridge of winter
Water meanders its way through marshlands of green
I really liked this Bozeman wall art at the recently remodeled Bozeman Hot Springs. The facility was remodeled with a more modern style. I mention this site briefly in a recent post and will feature it in a more detailed post in the future.
I used Corel PaintShopPro 2021 for different photo processing effects. In the original image I slightly increased the contrast and fill light and cropped the edges. Use the slider to view each effect compared to the original.
This one shows the original photograph and the same picture with a Retro effect. For this image I went to Effects>Photo Effects>Retro Lab>Light cold. I liked how this effect makes the green color stand out. The blurring around the edges focuses your attention on the artwork.
On our recent trip we stopped at several hot springs of the West. Each site was special in its own way.
Hot springs occur when geothermally heated groundwater emerges onto the earth’s surface. In areas like Yellowstone National Park, magma is present at shallow depths below the surface. Temperatures in Yellowstone’s hot springs may reach 198 degrees Fahrenheit. At the developed hot springs of the West we visited on this trip, pool temperatures are constantly monitored and modified with colder water.
Lava Hot Springs is located in the town of Lava Hot Springs, Idaho. In this picture, the scenic Portneuf Range mountains tower in the background. This post gives more details about the site.
Bozeman Hot Springs is in Bozeman, Montana. Remodeled in May 2024, this facility includes 12 indoor and outdoor pools. It’s gorgeous! The stage behind the outdoor pools will host future entertainers. Pieces of columnar basalt serve as seating and landscaping. Here is my description of this facility.
Maple leaves in the rain at Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, Portland, Oregon
Here’s the High Desert Voices June 2024 newsletter for your reading pleasure. Lots of nice photos as well! This newsletter is published by and for volunteers at the High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon, where I volunteer.
Articles this month include one on accommodating visitors with disabilities, one on facts about local wildlife mothers, one on the High Desert Ranger Station, and one on a birding event at the Museum.
Please enjoy this month’s issue!
I had a major magical moment with wildlife while visiting Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden in Portland a few weeks ago. I took a little used side trail and paused briefly in the pouring down rain.
This Great Blue Heron walked right up to me before turning to stand near a pond. I could have reached out and touched the bird. WOW! I stopped snapping pictures when it was really close to me because I didn’t want to scare it.
I’m working on a book where the main character is a girl born with the powers of several animals. One animal is a Great Blue Heron. Was this heron showing its appreciation of my efforts so far on that book?
I had another magical moment with wildlife at Yellowstone National Park this week. We were at the end of the road at Slough Creek and saw a small critter weaving its way through the sagebrush. A badger!
I recently saw this white sturgeon sculpture at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, Oregon. They are the largest freshwater fish in North America.
A couple months later, I watched these white sturgeon swimming around at the Oregon Zoo. These fish were three or four feet long, but this species can reach lengths of over 14 feet and weigh more than 1,500 pounds. Sturgeon can live more than 100 years.
Here in Oregon, white sturgeon live mainly in large freshwater streams and estuaries along the coast. They occasionally travel into the ocean.
Here is a picture of a much younger white sturgeon taken at the High Desert Museum several years ago. I wouldn’t mind having a sturgeon sculpture of this size fish. The other fish pictured are trout.
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
A Jenday conure up close at my house. I sometimes take care of my son’s conure when he goes on vacation. It has beautifully colored feathers and a very LOUD voice.
Here’s a pen and ink drawing I did of a Brown Pelican. Brown Pelicans are big seabirds with a unique appearance.
They capture fish by diving into the water and scooping them up in their stretchy throat pouches.
I saw several Brown Pelicans perched on posts at Seafarer’s Park in Warrenton, Oregon last summer.
Seagulls and cormorants perched and flew nearby. This park is at the mouth of the Columbia River. It’s not far from Fort Stevens State Park, a popular destination for campers.
Do you have artwork you would like to share? Be sure to include the First Friday Art tag.
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
Montpelier ranch under a cloud-filled sky in Idaho
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
This cheerful mural, Family Mural of Flowers & Birds, was created by artist Denae’ Manion of Manion Studios. Manion is a talented mural artist and honorary member of the Wall Dogs, an international mural painters group. Besides murals, her work also includes logos and designs, face painting, hand painted gifts, custom shoes, and she hosts PaintNite events. She also creates “entertainment paintings” live at various events.
Her Family Mural of Flowers & Birds mural is one of 33 murals in The Dalles, Oregon. We visited The Dalles in August of 2022 during their Northwest Mural Fest. It’s a great place to see the work of many mural artists.
Monday Mural
Last weekend, we drove to Brasada Ranch resort in Powell Butte, Oregon for a BBQ and art show event. They have spectacular views of the Cascade volcanoes from their restaurant. These red chairs around a firepit were a nice accent in this scene.
Here’s a closer view of some of the marvellous mountains.
This beautiful resort has received recognition from Condé Nast Traveler, Travel + Leisure, Golfweek, USA Today, and other sources. Since we live close by, we did a staycation in one of their cabins a couple of years ago and it was great!
Seastacks before the storm in Tillamook Bay, Oregon.
This landmark is known locally as The Three Graces.
In early May, I visited the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden in Portland, Oregon.
The 9.5-acre garden contains more that 2,500 types of rhododendrons, azaleas, and companion plants. This site was donated by the Jackson family in 1950.
After paying admission, you’ll enter the garden over this beautiful bridge.
I decided to try kayaking East Lake, at Newberry National Volcanic Monument, on a spring day a couple of years ago.
“It’s spring,” I thought to myself. “The weather will be fine.” See how beautiful it looks in the photo below near the East Lake Campground?
However, the shoreline is at 6,400 feet in elevation and the weather can change fast. Be prepared!
I was captivated by the cliff-lined north shore and set my sights on reaching it. “It’s not that far away,” I thought. Later, I determined it was a 1.25 mile trip across the lake.
Continue reading
black-necked stilts parade
on pink legs, slender yet strong,
in search of magic
hidden beneath the marshlands
in iridescent ripples
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) – Delicate
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
This post shows what they use to make brews at Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon. Last year we went on the Barrel House Tour at this brewery. I highly recommend this tour that focuses on their barrel-aged beers.
While on the tour, I thought some of the sights seen in the factory might look good with black and white processing.
Monochrome processing highlighted all the angles and straight and curved lines of the equipment.
However, I admit, the high alcohol barrel-aged samples consumed on the tour may have made everything they use to make brews look special to my slightly blurry vision. ;D
