Snowy New York/sunny Wyoming

When I came here, I thought for sure it would be colder and snowier... but today it was in the 60's and in the meantime, a snowstorm at home. They say we may get some snow tomorrow! Go figure.

snowy New York (courtesy of my neighbor Paul)

sunny Wyoming

Road trip to Crazy Woman Canyon

Today four of us went to the Bighorn National Forest to see the high peaks and Crazy Woman Canyon (more on that story later...). The road swung up and up into the mountains, ears popping from the altitude (Jentel is over 4,000 feet and we went up from there) to a view of snow-capped mountain-tops and past rock cliffs that are 3 billion years old. Then down through the canyon on winding one-lane road through beautiful forests, rock formations and fall foliage, with a stop in Buffalo at the Occidental Hotel. It was built in 1880, and has had many famous guests, including Buffalo Bill Cody, Calamity Jane, Butch Cassidy, and the Sundance Kid. Beautifully restored, it has most of the original fixtures and furniture.

approaching the high peaks in Bighorn National Forest

The Occidental Hotel

Hotel lobby

Into the back 1,000

The 1,000 acres behind Jentel has become my new walking territory, and a way to see autumn the Wyoming way. Fall color is much subtler here than in the Northeast, but just as beautiful. We have had extraordinary weather all week, with lots of sun and mild temps during the day, and chilly nights. I know winter is coming, so have been out walking as much as possible before it sets in and snows!

I often see this guy and some of his friends near the house.

Deer watching me from a nearby hilltop

magpie

View from the highest point

sagebrush

lichen on rock

petrified (fossilized) wood

Cowboy culture is alive and well.

Thursday is town day at Jentel, with all of us piled into an old Chevy Suburban for the trip to Sheridan. With some time to pick up supplies and explore a little, I found that the west is very much alive here and ranching is a way of life. Sheridan is a funny mix, with espresso bars sandwiched between western wear stores and saloons.

I spent some time in King's Saddlery, an astonishing place where they make saddles of all kinds, lariat ropes, and anything you can imagine in tooled leather. Behind the shop is a large museum, packed full of old saddles, harnesses, tools, photos, and taxidermied animals. You name it, if it's western or ranch related, you will find it here. It's a fascinating place, and I will return to explore in more detail another time.

The Mint Bar

King's Saddlery

Lariats at King's

hand tooled saddle

Miss Indian America... hmmm, how politically incorrect is this??

The self-help section at the local used bookstore needs a little self help...

The WYO Theater

Greetings from Wyoming!

After leaving New York at 4:00 a.m., 3 flights later I landed in Sheridan, Wyoming for an artist's residency at Jentel Foundation. There are 6 of us (4 visual artists and 2 writers), with shared living space and individual studios nestled in a bend in the creek in the eastern foothills of the Bighorn Mountains. The place is beautiful and the landscape just stunning, with that Big Sky, undulating hills, and snow-capped mountains on the horizon. This is ranch country, where black angus and pickup trucks abound. I've settled in quickly in the house and studio (I'm getting good at this!) and it is going to be a wonderful month. After a trip to town for groceries yesterday, I hiked up into the Snake Hills (no snakes, fortunately) behind Jentel with one of the other artists for a spectacular view of the surrounding landscape. The residency has 1,000 acres, so there will be a lot to explore. Today I launched into studio work, and after international travel where all my work was done on a laptop it is good to be in a place where I could bring physical materials. Looking forward to a productive month!

The house

The main living space

my studio

outside the studio door

Out the back door

Into the back 1,000

Looking west from the Snake Hills towards the Bighorn Mountains, Jentel in the lower right

What is “home”?

What an amazing summer it was! I’ve been back in NY for 2 weeks, trying to read all the stacked-up mail, attend to family and friends, and generally regroup before heading out to Wyoming in mid-October to a residency at Jentel Foundation. After some initial strangeness (Is my kitchen really this big, my garden really this overgrown…?), I’ve settled back in, only to be starting to think about what to pack again.

Somehow I’ve grown adept at “nesting” in a new place and quickly making it feel like home. So what exactly do I need to make that happen (a question I will continue to ponder)? My list so far:

1.     A good bed, a book, and a reading light (Kindle on my laptop works in a pinch until it stops working…)

2.     A laptop and a place to put it with natural light, preferably a window.

3.     a fridge and a kettle

4.     fresh fruit and veggies

5.     Nature

6.     Quiet!

7.     Well, OK, I guess I have to say I do need the internet… short term I could do without it and the laptop, but in the long run….maybe not. Studio work and just communication in general would be a different world. How fast did that happen...

8.   laundry

  

What I don’t need:

1.     Lots of clothes

2.     Lots of stuff

3.     TV

4.     news (still wondering about this one… maybe that makes me a bad citizen? or a recluse-in-the-making? Again, short-term or long-term would make a difference. I did not miss it this summer...)

5.     a phone?

6.     a car?

More thoughts on this as the year progresses…

Next post from Wyoming!