Southwest Wyoming Pics

 On the way home from Rock Springs we took the scenic route so we could stop by my in-law's place near Bondurant for a day. From there we headed north through Jackson and then Yellowstone Park to make our way home. These are just a few of the photos from those days.


To the left is Silky Phacelia. Doesn't that sound like it should be a name for a stripper?

 Green gentians are huge plants with beautiful flowers that are easily overlooked because of their color.

Mission bells (right) are members of the lily family.

 Tree swallows have taken up nest on the barn.

 If anyone knows what this bird is, please tell me. The beak says sparrow or maybe finch family but I am at a loss as to the identity.

The ground squirrels are plentiful this year.

 Chipmunks love the wood pile.

Sleeping Indian is still sleeping!

Passions

Like most people, I am passionate about my human family, my animal family and my friends. Beyond that, I don't think it would surprise most people, even those blog readers who have never met me in person, that my passions are for fabric art, photography and the environment - not necessarily in that order on any given day. One of the many ways I express the latter is by serving on the Board of Wyoming Outdoor Council (WOC). This weekend was the date for one of the group's quarterly meetings so Ken and I got in the car and drove to Rock Springs. WOC has designated certain parts of the state as "heritage landscapes".  These are areas of particular environmental concern in which we feel protections are necessary to ensure the lands are preserved for wildlife or wildland habitat for future generations. We are making an effort to hold our meetings in the areas of these special places so that board members from all over the state can get a sense of the incredible values they contain.

As we headed south last Friday morning it was sunny and a wonderful 84 degrees. Then just past Cody we saw a large, dark storm cloud moving in and all of a sudden we found ourselves in the most violent hail storm I have ever witnessed! The hail was only about dime sized but it was relentless and plentiful. Driving was not an option so we pulled off the side of the road as did the vehicles behind us. The temperature dropped instantly to 40 degrees and the land became white. After about 20 minutes things calmed down and we went slowly on our way until the hail melted and the day brightened once again.

Meetings were held on Saturday but Sunday was a time for exploring the amazing lands slightly west and south of Rock Springs, in particular the area around Little Mountain.

We were able to take a great group hike of several hours to a lookout point that gave us a vista of vast lands of incredible scenic and wildlife value.

The flower to the left is sulfur paintbrush.

 The pronghorn were plentiful and we enjoyed watching one newborn race circles around and around its mother at dizzying speed.

The view from the lookout was vast and breathtaking.

Fledged!

We looked out the window this morning and saw the ravens hopping around on the ground. For a minute we wondered what was going on and then it dawned on us that there were three birds in the group. The baby has fledged!
I could not get a family portrait but mama and papa are still both on the ground in the area encouraging junior to spread his wings.

 Actually, spreading his wings does not seem to be a problem. Getting off the ground, on the other hand, is proving to be a scarier concept. He keeps running to the top of the sandstone rock, flapping like crazy and running back down again. I am sure it is only a matter of time before he has the flight thing mastered.

 In the third photo you can see a closer shot of the youngster. Like all baby birds he has a beak that seems too big for his growing body.

I am including a shot of Heart Mountain taken last night from Cody. It looks backwards to me since I am used to looking south at the big rock and this is the view looking north.

Evening Primrose

Several years ago I created a quilt titled "A Week in May" that chronicled 7 days in the life of an evening primrose plant. It showed the cluster of green leaves on day one and evolved through the formation of buds, blooms and wilted flowers, all accomplished within the time period specified. This year I would be forced to change the name of the quilt - not because the cycle time is any different but rather because, for the first time I can remember, the evening primrose did not bloom until mid-June. Photos of these beautiful blooms must be taken early in the morning as they turn pink and wilt with the sun.

The common variety on our place is the "Gumbo Evening Primrose" which grows directly from the sandstone in tight clusters with short stemmed blossoms.

 Besides changes in timing the other result of a spring of mega moisture and cooler temperatures is that we are seeing plants we have never seen before. I can only assume the seeds have been dormant for decades awaiting the perfect combination of weather events to suddenly burst forth and make their presence known! One such plant is another variety of evening primrose - the Prairie Evening Primrose shown below. It is not nearly as pretty as the Gumbo, in my opinion, but it seems to be a little more tolerant of the sun as the blooms stay visible all day.

As I walked out his morning to take these shots I was joined by a cottontail who seemed much more concerned about getting his fill of cheat grass than he was about me or my companion, Frank the cat.

Beautifully Bitter

One of the plants that shows its beautiful face for a very short time in late spring is bitterroot. The plant is actually there for several weeks but until the flower blooms it is easily overlooked. The first photo shows the leaves at their best.




As the flowers develop the leaves seem to shrivel and disappear and the plant is truly near invisible on the rocky ground. Then - overnight, it seems - the flowers unfurl and there are beautiful pink blossoms everywhere!

NQA Show

 Today I am posting just a few photos from the NQA Annual Show in Columbus, Ohio. I look forward all year to attending this event. Great quilts, wonderful friends, inspiring classes and fun-filled events: what's not to love?

One of my favorite events of the show each year is the Little Quilt Auction. Several hundred people donate quilts that are auctioned off either in the daily silent auctions or in the rowdier Friday night live auction.  I have participated by donating a quilt for the last two years and purchasing quilts for the last three. I was delighted when my entry - "Shooting Stars" - went for more than $200 this year. And I was even more excited to bring home the beautiful piece above, "Cabins and Roses" by the very talented Fran Kordek.  

 I could not resist signing up for a class by Esterita Austin on adding depth to your quilt. Esterita provided the pattern and guided us on using our fabrics to emphasize light and shadow. I was especially pleased to use my own snow-dyed fabric, along with a small piece of batik, to create the still life above. A small amount of paint was added to bring out the high and low lights of the fabric patterning.

Another highlight of the show was winning a ribbon for the second year in a row in the Sew Batik Challenge. There were about 70 entries this year. This is a terrible photo of my entry. Terrible because I took it face on and the whole thing with this piece is that it is 3-D. The theme was log-cabin and I created 49 houses 2.5" x 2.5" x 3.5" high. The sides are all log cabin blocks and the base of each building is Timtex. I think I can honestly say that this "quilt" generated more interest than any I have made. Every time I went by there was a crowd gathered discussing how it was constructed. I don't think anyone thought it was a beautiful piece - they were just enthralled by the "how" of the creation! Once "Seven Billion and Counting" makes its way home I will post another photo from the side showing the 3-D nature of the piece.

The last photo for today is a shot of the entire length of 21 quilts in the "Sky-Lines" exhibit. These are quilts created by members of TAGY out of Cody, Wyoming and WAV based in Billings, Montana. One of the advantages of helping to hang the show is that I was able to get a shot of the exhibit with no people around and before the name tags were hung. I received lots of good feedback from viewers about this exhibit which will now go on to show at Quilt Wyoming before finally making its way back to the artists.

Contest Results and More

I returned home yesterday evening from a week in Columbus, Ohio at the NQA Annual Quilt Show. It was an amazing, exciting, creative, exhausting time! Who would believe quilting could involve so much hard work? I will post some images from the show in the days to come but today I wanted to follow up on the contest I presented before I left. If you remember, the challenge was to come up with a more imaginative name for the flower pictured than its official handle of "Golden Weed".  
I received five entries with alternative suggestions. Because of the small number and because I really like them all better than the current name, I have decided to award the prize - a three pack of Light in the Valley greeting cards - to all five. Please send your mailing address to me at kathylich@yahoo.com and I will put your prize in the mail.
The five entries were:
Honeydrops by Janice PD
Sunnyside Ups by Sylvia Weir
Sun Spots by Lera Cavanaugh
Prairie Paddle Star by Linda Mac
Sun Wheels by Karen M
Thank you all for participating!

Meanwhile...some things never change. Shortly after I arrived home I looked out the window to see the two adult ravens harassing the golden eagle. I cannot believe the eagle chose his perch on top of the blooming evening primrose! Too bad there wasn't better lighting but I really appreciate the eagle's attempt at composition!

Contest!

I have decided to post my first ever blog contest - but you have to work to win a prize!

Some wildflowers have wonderfully creative names that allow a listener to envision the plant without ever having seen it. Gayfeather, Elephanthead and Miner's Candle (pictured left) are just a few of my favorites. Then there are those poor flowers that suffer from the ego of their discoverer: the delicately purple, very feminine Douglasia comes to mind.

But worst of all are those flowers whose names display a distinct lack of imagination. The lovely plants below grow in abundance on our place in late spring. Their name - Golden Weed. Really? That was the best they could do?

The contest is to come up with a better name for these flowers. Perhaps something that signifies their sunny nature. The person who comes up with the best alternative - as determined by me and a few of my friends - will win a three pack of my Light in the Valley greeting cards. I leave tonight for the National Quilting Association Convention in Columbus, Ohio and will be away from my blog for the entire next week. That means you have 10 days to come up with the perfect moniker and save this plant from further disgrace! The winner will be announced upon my return on June 20.
To submit your entry just leave a comment on this post or send an email to kathylich@yahoo.com with your name, your suggestion and the words flower contest in the subject line.

Since I will be gone for a while I wanted to provide an update on the raven babies. I have been trying to leave them alone and give them time to gather strength. I figured with the crazy weather - 65 mph winds, torrential rains and record breaking cold for this time of year, they probably had enough stress to deal with. I keep thinking I can hear two distinct baby bird voices at feeding time but I can only absolutely verify one chick alive, well and hungry as of yesterday.

Rock Stars

I love living in the middle of a giant rock garden! It is inevitable that some of the formations are eventually given names depending on their appearance. We have both big and small outcroppings that have earned that honor. 

The two biggest identifiable rocks are Vertebrae (above) and Tower (below). The first is about 30' high and 200' long. Not only does it sit in approximately the center of our land - like a backbone - it actually looks like a spinal column. 

Tower Rock can be seen from quite a distance and is often the first thing people comment on when they visit because of its relative isolation from other large formations. It is about 100' high.

Almost all our rock is sandstone which means it changes over time. Especially with the amount of rain we have had this year.

 My favorite smaller rock formation is the three spinsters to the right. Can't you see their faces and each unique bonnet they are wearing?

Ken calls the rock below the Snowman. I always think it looks like one of the statues from Easter Island. I can't imagine his hat is going to survive for too many more years before toppling.

And the last rock in this group is Rooster. He even has a lichen colored comb!

Where's the Beach?

I always get a kick out of seeing shore birds in Wyoming. Maybe it is because I grew up on an island but I always expect things like herons and pelicans to be hanging out on the coast - not the prairie!

This spotted sandpiper on the left seemed to be perfectly happy digging around in a puddle off the Green River. I saw several of the birds on my morning hike.

 Killdeer seem to be at home in many environments but they always look like they should be on a sandy beach somewhere.  

One of the treats I had on my hike along the river was the opportunity to see four different types of swallows: Barn, Cliff, Bank and Violet-Green! 

More Birds of Green River

Two of the birds I saw in Green River that I am unlikely to see at home were the Bullock's Oriole and the Catbird. The first is a strikingly beautiful bird that stands out like a beacon in the brush.

The catbird, on the other hand, has a more subtle beauty. Unless you look closely you might not notice the black mohawk or the reddish butt. Understated elegance!

Bird Break

To get to Green River from here you have to go up and over South Pass. As you climb the steady incline to almost 8000' where you eventually cross the Continental Divide, there is a view to the west of which I never tire.
It almost looks like I have the camera at an angle but if you focus on the Wind River Mountains in the background you will see it is the earth that is tilted, not the photographer!

 For some reason Green River seems to be the perfect environment for the Wyoming Ground Squirrel. These surprisingly cute rodents always seem willing to pose for the camera!