This X in the sky was over the Mill A Loop Trail in Bend, Oregon. This scenic trail runs along the Deschutes River.
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
cascades of blossoms
delicate and resilient
varnished with spring rain
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 week I’m sharing photos of the Oregon Cascades from above. Most of these pictures were taken with my DJI drone.
The Lens-Artists Photo Challenge prompt this week is “Shot from above.” That sounded like a perfect excuse to take a Sunday drive. We drove north from Bend and turned west near Terrebonne. After driving through Cove Palisades State Park, we headed south towards Sisters, Oregon.
When you’re in dense forests, it’s hard to know what features are in the landscape nearby. I flew up a few hundred feet and got this picture of several of our mountains. The Cascade Range stretches from northern California to central British Columbia. Oregon’s Cascades are 260 miles long and as wide as 90 miles.
I like how trees look from above so I took this picture near Black Butte. I don’t usually include pictures of myself on this blog, but I do appear in this photo. Can you see me? 🙂
After navigating several roads like this, we decided to head to a lower elevation location.
We stopped at the Cascade Flyers field, located halfway between Bend and Sisters. This is where a local remote control aircraft club meets. Even an ordinary scene like this one can look interesting from the sky. I’m in this photo, too. Great self-portrait, right?
This picture shows several iconic peaks of the Oregon Cascades from above. South Sister, Middle Sister, and North Sister fill the frame. South Sister is the most active local volcano. This mountain range is almost entirely volcanic in origin.
This picture shows Black Crater and Mount Washington. From certain angles, Mount Washington has a distinctive teepee-shaped formation on its peak. This volcanic plug formed when hot magma hardened within a vent.
Here’s a closer view of Mount Washington.
The last picture shows Three Fingered Jack, Black Butte, and Mount Jefferson. Bend’s Deschutes Brewery makes a delicious Black Butte porter beer named after this peak.
I’m still learning how to adjust the camera settings on my drone. If you don’t make adjustments, the pictures tend to be overexposed in the Auto setting. That means I will have to actually read instructions or watch videos instead of just “winging” it.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Shoot from above
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
We had a burger dish and a pasta dish recently at The Blacksmith restaurant in Bend. We made sure to leave room for one of their special desserts.
This is a picture of the Blacksmith Burger. The dish includes a 1/2-pound Kobe patty on a brioche bun, topped with tomato, lettuce, red onions, and aioli. You can choose to have the burger with either fries or a side salad. The fries and burger were delicious!
This picture shows the Shrimp Linguine dish. It includes shrimp, cherry tomato, basil, mint, red onion, and garlic. White wine lemon cream sauce, parmesan, and fresh herbs top the linguini pasta. This dish was full of flavor.
The Blacksmith is well known locally for their desserts.
This photo shows their Fostered Bananas Split. This twist on a traditional banana split includes house-made banana bread, vanilla bean ice cream, and sauteed bananas, topped with orange rum caramel sauce and whipped cream. This was a good dessert, but my banana bread was a little dry.
This is a picture of their Brownie dessert. The dish includes a rich brownie sprinkled with sea salt, topped with vanilla bean ice cream, caramel, and toasted walnuts. This was a very tasty dessert, nicely presented.
I’m including a copy of their dessert menu. Yes, they are expensive! The banana split price, in particular, is too high, in my opinion.
You can find the dinner, happy hour, and drink menus on their website.
I enjoyed the food and atmosphere at The Blacksmith restaurant. This building, built in 1923, once housed Pete Pierson Blacksmithing. The owners since then have tried to keep much of the original structure. The building opened as a restaurant in 2003 and its current owners have owned it since 2013.
One of the things I appreciated the most about our meal there was the ability to carry on a conversation. I didn’t need to shout or strain to hear my tablemate speaking. At some restaurants in Bend, the industrial style-design makes talking with your tablemates very difficult.
Three Things Challenge (TTC) – Price
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
Headdresses at High Desert Museum (HDM), Bend, Oregon
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 colorful Neptune’s Taphouse & Eatery mural is unique. It’s painted on slats of wood on a room divider. This restaurant, located in Livingston, Montana, has an ocean theme.
Livingston is a long way from the ocean, but Neptune’s Taphouse serves several dishes that include fish and shellfish. It has an extensive sushi menu. The menu also includes dishes with mussels, clams, scallops, crab, shrimp, tuna, salmon, and cod.
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
While camping at Three Island Crossing State Park in Glenns Ferry, Idaho, I visited the Oregon Trail History & Education Center. Many pioneers traveling on the Oregon Trail crossed the Snake River on their way west at this site. Settlers learned to overcome the emotional and physical obstacles they encountered along the Trail with resilience and perseverance.
Near the center’s entrance, you’ll pass a couple wagons beneath a shelter. A reader board refers to them as “Motor Homes Without Motors.” They had to be lightweight, yet sturdy enough to survive the 2,000-mile journey across the country. The wagons carried many tools and treasures, but more importantly, the hopes and dreams of settlers looking for a better way of life.
This visitor center’s interactive and informative displays impressed me. I liked how it highlighted this area from different perspectives in the past and present.
Crossing here was dangerous, but it was shorter than the South Alternate route. The southern route passed through dry, rocky environments that were difficult to endure. There was also less potable water and feed for livestock along that route.
Though fur trappers and early explorers traveled this route beginning in 1811, most pioneers took this route from 1841 to 1848.
Pioneers used this route until 1869, when Gus Glenn constructed a ferry crossing two miles upstream. This display describes Ferryman Gustavus (Gus) P. Glenn. He was a colorful local, known as a rugged individualist.
Glenn married a Native American woman named Jenny and turned down the possibility of marrying a Euro-American when more settlers moved into the area. He noted, “She was good enough for me then and she’s good enough for me now.”
The original Oregon trail began in Independence, Missouri, and ended in Oregon City, Oregon. This map shows the various routes settlers traveled west after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
Several of the displays featured artifacts related to the lives of Native Americans. One of the first displays shows the hunting and gathering way of life experienced by Indians of the Snake River Plain.
Indigenous people have lived in this area for thousands of years. The local environment is challenging, but they learned how to be resilient.
The figure shown below is of a woman with a digging stick.
Native peoples often dug up and collected camas bulbs.
Bulbs, seeds, and other food items were ground with stone mortars and pestles.
People wove baskets for different purposes. The photograph in this display case shows a tightly woven basket used for carrying water.
People used loosely woven baskets to gather things like roots and berries.
This display shows a spear and net used for catching salmon.
Once horses became available to Native people, hunting and trading practices changed dramatically. Horse ownership became a status symbol, with wealthier people collecting large herds of horses.
I liked this quote from the local Northern Paiute tribe.
This display shows a cutaway view of a teepee and describes the many hardships Native Americans endured on reservations.
Other displays in this center focus on settlers moving west as part of their “Manifest Destiny.” This 19th century belief stated that American settlers were destined by God to claim lands across North America. Its purpose was “to expand its dominion and spread democracy and capitalism across the entire North American continent.”
Unfortunately, that often meant forcing Native Americans off their ancestral lands. Thousands died from starvation and disease after being forcibly marched to distant reservations.
The U.S. population rose dramatically from 5 million people in 1800, to over 23 million by 1850.
Newspapers described an easy route with “no obstruction in the whole route.” Journals of those who traveled the route described a far different situation where “hills ware dreadful steep” and “the desert is very hard on the poor animals.”
I found this packing list interesting. If travelers lost the ox pulling their wagons, they abandoned many items shown on this list beside the road.
Since the oxen used along the route were so valuable, travelers would do anything they could to save them. This scene shows three people trying to pull a downed ox to its feet.
This is a typical covered wagon, shown with the back down as food is prepared.
These two cases show some toys and tools of children traveling the trail. They were expected to help with chores, but also had time to play games, go fishing or target shooting, and to collect wildflowers.
At first, relationships between Natives and settlers were friendly. They traded valuable items. Native peoples helped them along the route. “The Indians helped us a great deal, raking over the carts, swimming the animals, &c …” As more settlers flocked to the area, the relations changed. Native American, Hispanic, and non-European residents suffered greatly during this period of expansion.
These photos are of contemporary residents of Glenns Ferry, Idaho.
Daryl Kirk commented on past competitions between cultures and said we need “to get together and do things together and to forget about the bad part of the past.”
Donna Carnahan remembered how her grandfather, who settled there in 1890, spoke of often playing with the resident Indian children.
Terry Gibson noted how his people comforted the emigrants. The people and their animals were in bad shape after all they had suffered along the trail. He said, “Our people were here to help them, and our children need to learn that. I think with the Crossing here, there’s an opportunity to provide healing for both cultures.”
The Oregon Trail History & Education Center is small, but worth a visit. It has a nice gift store near the entrance.
To learn more about the Oregon Trail, consider visiting the National Historic Oregon Trail Interpretive Center in Baker City, Oregon. After being closed for four years, the Center recently reopened following significant renovations and updates. I posted about this attraction prior to the renovations.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) – Resilience
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 photo, taken in downtown Bend, Oregon, shows a bright future. I used infrared processing to show the light not always visible to the naked eye.
A sign on a lamppost reads, “Shelter, Help, Hope.” It’s from one of the homeless shelters here in town. Sometimes, if people in difficult situations can focus on the light ahead, they can find their way out of the darkness.
Monochrome Madness (MM)
Today I’m sharing some of my 2024 favorite photos. I divided them into four categories: Critters, Cuisine, Cultural attractions, and Countryside.
I’m beginning with the critters category. In case you didn’t know, I love animals and often feature pictures of them.
The first photo shows a curious Long-tailed Weasel emerging from roadside vegetation at Summer Lake in Oregon. It was so cute!
This Pronghorn pranced across a grassy field at Yellowstone National Park. These graceful creatures are one of my absolute favorites.
A Great Blue Heron in a Portland garden walked right up to me in the middle of a rainstorm. What a magical moment!
In this picture, an American Avocet crosses a pond at Summer Lake Wildlife Area. I liked the simplicity of this photo
The next category is cuisine. Did you know blog posts featuring food are some of the most popular?
I begin with an appetizer, of course. This Spicy King Salmon Hwe is from Yoli, a Korean restaurant in Bend, Oregon. We ate a tasty 5-course meal there.
The next photo is of a pizza from Rush’s Squares in Bend. Their Pesto Margherita pizza is delicious!
The next picture is of a fish taco from 10 Barrel Brewing in Bend. There are a lot of places that serve fish tacos, but this particular one’s ingredients make it stand out from the rest.
The last one is of a Mixed Berry Cobbler from the Blue Duck Restaurant at East Lake Resort in Oregon. This generously portioned dessert is great to share with tablemates.
The next category is Cultural Attractions. I did a lot of traveling in the West in 2024.
The first picture is one of several I took at Lan Su Chinese Garden in Portland, Oregon. This type of garden is designed to look beautiful from any angle.
The next picture is of old machinery at The Museum of the American West in Lander, Wyoming. I used black and white processing to highlight the lines and shapes of the machinery and the clouds.
This photo is of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton. It is one of many photos I took at the Museum of the Rockies in Bozeman, Montana.
The next photo is of a rock-covered bridge and building beside a pond. This picture was taken at Petersen Rock Garden and Museum, a unique roadside attraction in Redmond, Oregon.
The last category is Countryside. I include photos of landscapes from the sea to the mountains.
The first picture was taken at Fogarty Creek State Recreation Area in Oregon. The curving shapes formed by the tide were beautiful.
This photo of river reflections was taken along the Columbia River in Oregon. I used cross processing to oversaturate the colors.
I used my new drone to take pictures at Summer Lake in Oregon. This photo shows an art piece created with rocks in the foreground and dust devils spinning over the playa in the background. I wrote a short story about my visit there, featuring other drone photos.
The last photo shows the mountains surrounding the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Bison herds frequently graze peacefully in these grasslands.
Hope you enjoyed seeing some of my 2024 favorite photos. Be sure to check out my recent 2024 Bloopers post to see photos from the last year interpreted with my unique sense of humor. 🙂
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) – Favorite images of 2024
Sunday Stills (SS) – Memorable Moments of 2024
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
Today I’m sharing a couple waterlily paintings and a photo I created. I attempted to paint the waterlily using a traditional Chinese style. Artisans train for years to perfect this type of painting. My first efforts at Chinese brush painting pale in comparison.
In the first painting, I used watercolor paint on a smooth cold press paper. Since I like showing a lot of detail in my artwork, this type of painting, where less is more, was challenging. This was my third attempt at doing this style of painting.
In the second painting, I used acrylic paints on a mixed media slightly grained paper.
I worked from the photo shown below of a waterlily blooming at Petersen Rock Garden and Museum.
Before doing the waterlily paintings, I familiarized myself with the brushes using black ink. The quality of brushes varies, but sets can be purchased online at low costs.
Here are some of the exercises I did with ink using hard and soft brushes. I really enjoyed doing these exercises. When using some of these techniques, you hold the brush straight up and down instead of at an angle. I used The Chinese Brush Painting Bible by Jane Dwight as a guide.
I recently decided to purchase an inkstone and an inkstick. You grind the inksticks on the inkstones with a little water to make ink. In the Chinese period dramas I’ve watched, they frequently feature characters grinding ink. The inkstone I purchased is of a simple design, but some are elaborate works of art.
I bought an inkstick because you can vary the density of color more than you can with traditional bottled ink. To see the ancient method used to create inksticks, watch this FASCINATING video. The oldest Chinese inkstick artifacts date back to the 12th century BC.
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!
Now that the new year has begun, it’s time to post some of my 2024 bloopers. This is where I share pictures that didn’t quite fit into any category or were blurry. I try to add a little humor to them with captions and comments. Hope they entertain you!
“Ah, that’s the spot! Yeah, keep scratching right by my hip joint.”
A radiant smile can be found in the most unexpected of places.
“Did I really spill something on my bill, or are you just trying to make me look all cross-eyed?”
Good fences make good neighbors.
“Okay, I’ll give you three chances to get the focus right. One… two… three, you got it!”
“You say you’re having problems reading the subtitles? I’ll just read them for you, okay?”
Well, here’s one way to remind pool visitors of where to go and not go.
Uh… maybe I should just pay someone else to make sushi for me.
Hope you enjoyed my 2024 bloopers. See more of my funny photos on my photo bloopers tag.
Ragtag Daily Prompt (RDP) – Radiant
Fandango’s One Word Challenge (FOWC) – Joint
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
Beyond the boulders, an Edmonds ferry patiently awaits the next crossing of Puget Sound in Washington state.
The soft flowers and leaves of a rockcress blooming amongst sharp pieces of obsidian at Glass Buttes, Oregon.
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
I saw this Kendall Planetarium ceiling art on a recent trip to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), in Portland, Oregon. I thought these metallic strips hanging from the ceiling would look great in black and white. For this post, I’m showing them with infrared processing.
Monochrome Monday (MM)
Sunday Stills (SS) Monthly Color Challenge – Things that are metallic
A row of colorful lawn chairs lined up in front of a rock-covered building at Petersen Rock Garden and Museum. This unique roadside attraction is part way between Redmond and Bend, Oregon.
Memories of…
Relentless rain falling on a wise heron in a serene scene
Pronghorn pausing beside boulders layered with lichen
Crabs pacing and pirouetting in sun dappled darkness
Dust devils twisting over distant desert playas
Storms soaring past mountain peaks and lingering over large lakes
Waves, drifting and defiant, pummeling sandy shorelines
Wagon wheels carrying settlers to the promised land on treacherous treks
Trash turned into whimsical creatures making nests in restful retreats
Memories of…
Relentless rain falling on graceful dancers in a serene scene
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Last chance
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
Are you in need of some howliday cheer? The holidays can be full of joy, but they can also be stressful. My talented dog, Tesla, would like to bring a smile to your face with some of her beautiful singing.
Here she is standing right in front me singing a short song. Note the wagging tail.
I have never owned a dog who has been quite so vocal before. Here’s Tesla accompanying random notes on a harmonica in a more complex song. She especially loves music with harmonica in it–any type of music. My other dog, Shelby, is her backup dancer in this clip.
Here she is singing in a more relaxed position. If you feel the urge to sing, you have to go for it no matter where you are, right?
Winter officially begins in one week. Try to stay warm and comfortable. Tesla is a pro at that. 😉
Hope this dose of some howliday cheer brightened your day!
Three Things Challenge (TTT) – Vocal
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
Museum of the Rockies (MOR) in Bozeman, Montana, is a place I’ve always wanted to visit. I had known about their impressive dinosaur fossil collection for years. In June 2024, we visited this museum on the Montana State University campus.
A huge Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton sculpture greets you near the entrance. The Big Mike bronze sculpture, created by research Casting International of Ontario, Canada, is based on T. rex bones found in Montana.
MOR features several primary exhibits inside the main building.
The Living History Farm, outside of the entrance, gives glimpses of what farm life was like from 1890 to 1910. Programs on a variety of topics are shown in the Hager Auditorium.
No visit to MOR is complete without viewing the Seibel Dinosaur Complex. It is this museum’s star attraction. The collection is one of the largest in the world and features examples of Triceratops, Tyrannosaurus rex, and Allosaurus.
These and other dinosaurs are on display in the Dinosaurs Under the Big Sky exhibit area.
A generous donation by Thomas and Stacey Siebel tripled the exhibit space.
Jack Horner, paleontologist, and former director of paleontology at the museum, played a pivotal role in the design of this space.
You can observe preparators working on excavating encased fossils in one section.
Prehistoric mammals that once lived in parts of Montana are on display in the Cenozoic Corridor. These include mammoths, rhinos, and bone-crushing dogs.
This section focuses on the lives of American Indians of the Northern Plains and the Rocky Mountain region. Native peoples have lived in this region for thousands of years. When Euro-Americans moved into this part of America, conflicts followed. Despite being forced onto reservations and having much of their culture stripped away, Natives worked hard to maintain many traditions.
Members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1803-1806) were among the first non-native people to explore this area. After their expedition, waves of outsiders flooded the area in search of gold and furs for trade. The Homestead Act brought thousands of settlers there. Limited resources affected the Natives’ way of life.
As more settlers and trappers established themselves in this part of the country, Native culture changed. However, they preserved elements of their culture that have existed for generations.
Since I have a deep appreciation of beadwork, I aimed my camera at several beaded artifacts in this exhibit.
Examples of quillwork were also displayed in this exhibit.
In this hall, the journey from early exploration to the mid-20th century is illustrated. The displays in this hall show elements of cultural and social change.
Murals, photographs, and numerous artifacts pull visitors into this area’s rich history.
I was drawn towards the line of carts and carriages in this section. The shock absorbing parts of these vehicles have always fascinated me.
An original homestead, built in 1889, is at the heart of this exhibit. Visitors are taken back in time to 1890-1910 by a series of buildings, recreated to look authentic. These buildings include a milking barn, blacksmith, root cellar, granary, shed, chicken coop, and outhouse. Gardens of flowers, vegetables, and grains contain examples of heirloom plants. Activities such as barn-raising, sewing circles, and quilting bees were an essential part of the communities.
Another section at the museum is the Welcome to Yellowstone Country exhibit. This exhibit shows parts of the past history of Yellowstone National Park. The work of entrepreneurs Charles A Hamilton and F. Jay Haynes in the park’s tourism industry in the 19th and 20th centuries is described.
The Martin Children’s Discovery Area is an interactive exhibition for kids. Children can visit the Explore Yellowstone and pump a geyser, climb a fire tower, fish from a bridge, set up a campsite, or experience the Old Faithful Inn.
For an additional fee, visitors can go to the Taylor Planetarium. There, you can enjoy regularly scheduled shows on the 40-foot-wide dome screen throughout the day.
During our visit, the MOR changing exhibit was Dragons, Unicorns, and Mermaids: Mythic Creatures. Since I like to include mythical creatures in novels I’m working on for kids, this exhibit was right up my alley.
This exhibition runs from May 24, 2024, to January 5, 2025. For more info on this exhibit, see one of my previous posts. It includes LOTS of pictures.
See operating times and days and admission prices here.
MOR has a large store near the entrance. It includes clothing, games, books, etc.
Here’s the Museum Map, near where you pay admission.
Fandango’s One Word Challenge (FOWC) – Complete
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
Last June, while visiting the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park, I watched this Sandhill Crane family stroll across a meadow in rapt silence. I took these pictures through my spotting scope with my phone.
We saw another Sandhill Crane family at this exact same spot three years ago. It’s right next to a pond. According to All About Birds, “Breeders gravitate toward the edges between wetland and upland habitats.” Yup, a perfect description of this site.
Sandhills perform elaborate courting dances and mate for life. Dances include bowing, jumping, and spreading the wings.
They nest in or near wetlands and construct their nests from nearby vegetation such as cattails. Sandhill Cranes lay 1-3 eggs in their nests. Their young are called “colts” and they stay with their parents until they are 9-10 months old.
Ragtag Daily Prompt (RDP) – Rapt
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 week the Central Oregon Writers Guild (COWG) launched their 2024 literary collection. This 304-page anthology includes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry by published and emerging writers.
There were way more entries this year than in years past. I was honored to have one of my short stories selected for this book. The fictional story, The Lost Forest, is based on an actual place in Central Oregon. I included a few fun facts at the end of the piece about this unique forest.
I’m including a recording of myself reading an excerpt from the story. A few days ago, I was one of seven readers chosen to read their pieces aloud at a local bookstore in Bend.
If you’re looking for a special gift, please consider purchasing a copy of the Central Oregon Writers Guild 2024 Literary Collection. It’s available at Roundabout Books & Cafe in northwestern Bend and at Amazon books.
I suppose I should also mention that a couple pieces of my work are featured in the 2022 edition as well. So please consider buying previous editions of this book.
We appreciate your support!
Siobhan Sullivan
On-line Writer’s Guild (OLWG) – I suppose
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
Winter’s
Ice and snow accumulates
Neutralizing colors
Transforming the ordinary into
Enchanted scenes
Reverberating silence
All photographs in this post were taken at my High Desert home in Bend, Oregon.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) – Winter
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
Today I’m sharing a magpie silkscreen image I created with blue ink. One of the things I like about Black-billed Magpies is their contrasting black and white plumage. There are a lot of birds that are showier than magpies, but their simple markings make them a good subject for art.
Though I’ve only created one magpie silkscreen, I’ve done several paintings and drawings of this bird in the past. Here’s a magpie I painted as part of a mural on my studio/guesthouse.
Here’s a photo of a magpie perched on a fence in Bozeman, Montana. They are year-round residents in much of western and central North America.
Black-billed Magpies are omnivores that feed on a wide variety of plants, insects, birds, and small mammals. They are also opportunistic feeders. Here’s a picture of a couple magpies trying to get a bite of a rabbit a Red-tailed Hawk was feeding on.
The scientific name of Black-billed Magpies is Pica hudsonia. When people have compulsive cravings to eat things with little to no nutritional value, it’s referred to as a ‘pica disorder.’ This temporary disorder is most common among children and pregnant women.
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!
Water pounds down mossy hillsides into heart-shaped ponds
and flows past creations full of fire
It meanders past herons, crafted of bronze,
and ponds bordered by colorful fragments of earth
Traveling through dense forests, it thunders over sheer cliffs,
and settles in creeks, calm and cool
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) – 5 Elements
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
If you’re looking for a special sweet treat while in Bend, Oregon, consider getting this fresh fruit pastry. You can buy this and many other delicious treats at Richard’s Donuts and Pastries, located at 61419 S Hwy 97 Bend, OR 97702.
The phyllo dough pastry is filled with a custard filling and drizzled with icing. The fresh fruit in light syrup rests on top of the pillowy pastry. Since it includes fresh fruit, it’s healthy, right? Well… maybe not.
A word of caution: Between the flaky pastry, custard filling, and chunks of fruit, this delicious treat can be a bit messy to eat. Do not attempt to eat this particular pastry while driving! 😉
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
Colorful cliffs near Red Fleet State Park, Utah
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 backyard buck visited our yard on a cool winter day. Mule deer are frequent visitors on our property. Most of the year, we see does and fawns. The bucks are more common in the fall and winter months.
High Desert wonders
Roam and rest in grassy meadows
Emerge from burrows, full of curiosity
The visitor center at Fossil Butte National Monument may be small, but it’s jam packed with AMAZING fossils, many excavated here or nearby. Fossil Lake once covered this area and the conditions existing at that time preserved fossil remains especially well. Fossil Butte National Monument is in Kemmerer in southwestern Wyoming.
The fossils were discovered in this area in the mid 1800s. One well-known collector, Lee Craig, quarried and prepared fossils for museums and private collectors from 1897 to 1937. When collectors illegally used bulldozers in fossil beds nearby, preservation became a higher priority. The conservation of this site’s unique treasures was ensured in 1972, when it was established as a national monument.
This fossil was huge! It’s from the genus Borelosuchus, neither a true crocodile nor a true alligator. They could grow to a length of 16 feet.
Here are some of the fish fossils on display. Twenty seven species have been found in this area.
As I mentioned in my Fishing for Fossils post, this is one of the best places in the world to find fossils of fish. Since you cannot collect fossils at the monument, we dug fossils at a commercial business just east of Fossil Butte National Monument.
Grateful to visit vast landscapes
where lone bison contemplate the day ahead
And places where Cliff Swallows
flutter around High Desert nests
Grateful to visit coastal aquariums,
where Pacific sea nettles drift together in jubilant dances
And places where dinosaurs,
trilobites, and other creatures’ last moments are forever preserved
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge (LAPC) – Gratitude
Fandango’s One Word Challenge (FOWC) – Jubilant
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 travel along the Columbia River, I usually drive on the Oregon side because it’s faster. Last spring I drove on the Washington side and made a stop at the Columbia Gorge Museum near the small town of Stevenson, Washington. This hidden gem of a museum opened in 1995 and it houses a wide variety of art, historical artifacts, and immersive exhibitions.
Collections at the museum include artifacts from centuries ago to the present. The displays include traditional Indigenous tools, pioneer-era artifacts, and contemporary works of art.
Several styles of baskets used for different purposes are featured in the displays.
The design of this part of the museum really impressed me. Big pieces of columnar basalt framed the display cases.
Nearby, a sculpture of a Native American fishing from a platform towers over visitors. This traditional fishing method is still in use today at places like Cascade Locks, Oregon.
When you see a Turkey Vulture up close and far away, you’ll have much different opinions of them.
Up close, you may not think of them as exactly beautiful. However, their bald face is more likely to stay clean after eating dead animals. Their scientific name, Cathartes aura, means ‘golden purifier’ or ‘purifying breeze.’
You will also see their dark brown feather’s iridescent color if you observe them up close.
From a little farther away, their distinctive profile stands out. The lack of feathers on their head makes it look smaller. When they’re flying, this is even more obvious.
You often see more than one Turkey Vulture at a time since they’re attracted to prey by smell. Compared to other birds, the part of their brain responsible for detecting smells, is much larger.
This bird that’s considered to be ugly up close, is incredibly graceful in flight. They glide on their six-foot wingspan in a distinctive teeter totter flight pattern. I often have the pleasure of seeing Turkey Vultures drifting by in the skies right outside my window.
Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – In the details
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
Here’s the High Desert Voices November 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 historical residents of Central Oregon, one on dragonflies, one on Petersen Rock Garden & Museum, and one on a guided bat walk at the Museum.
Please enjoy the High Desert Voices November 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!
Horse gear of the past at Museum of the American West, Lander, Wyoming
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
Here is a close up view of some Petersen rocks. I took this picture at Petersen Rock Garden and Museum in Redmond, Oregon. This unique roadside attraction has small-scale buildings and landscaping covered with local rocks.
To learn more about this attraction, see my previous post. It includes LOTS of photos!
Bend Branches always appreciates your comments and likes. Comments may not appear right away since they’re screened for spam prior to posting. Thanks!
