I found my first rock in July/August of 2020. It was simple, gold and had a sweet saying on it. On the back it said keep or rehide, post pic on Facebook – Great Falls Rocks. SO a week went by and I finally went on the site it talked about and then I got hooked.
Such a simple thing made me smile, I thought – I could do the same thing and that one rock could possibly create thousands of smiles. Because that one rock has lead to me (and my kiddos) creating over 100 rocks, and those hopefully have lead to more people creating these rocks to make even more smiles.
Painting rocks has created more adventures! We have seriously gone to more places just because of painting rocks – so we can hide them. Or we see that rocks have been hidden in certain places, so we go to that park to see if we can find them, and if we do, we will hide ours.
Some of the posts that have been done when people find the rocks, “My baby found this rock today, he loved it so he took it home” “So excited to find our first rock at Gibson Park” “Just found this Gem – THANK YOU!” This rock community is so full of fun, inspiration, and kind words!
We aren’t artists, we found some paint pens and some acrylic spray and now the kids and I have fun snowy day art projects when we are bored! They are also a fun cheap gift for kids to be able to give artwork to their teachers/grandparents/friends that they are proud of! And they are so excited when they find them!
So I wanted to thank everyone who painted rocks that we have gotten to find! I hope one day we can all get together and paint!
Early on a September morning as I was preparing my palette to begin the day, I saw a handsome bull ease out of the timber. He slowly moved into the clearing and presented himself broadside. Then, as if on queue, he elegantly turned his gaze in my direction. In that moment I knew I going to pain him “In His Prime.”
Have you ever seen art on the wall and thought to yourself, is that a photograph or a painting? A key factor that makes art realistic is not only the detail that’s provided with a brush, but an understanding of your topic. To paint at the professional level, it takes more than natural talent, it’s taking the time to learn the details that is expected at this level. When an artist actually lives the experience of what they are painting, the bar gets set even higher. Or the art becomes truly amazing to look at. Even to the point that you start asking how much for the painting. Mary Wood Western Artist is a name to remember if you enjoy Western themed paintings and best of all, Mary creates her paintings right from her back porch. Here’s an example……
Right off her back porch stands this magnificent 6×6 bull elk. At first glance this bull just radiates confidence, possibly looking back to see if his harem is secure. There is no doubt this bull is “In His Prime” that is exactly what Mary titled this painting. All through the rut Mary was able to watch and study his behavior up close. Think of it as a figurative study except you are painting a naked bull elk instead of naked human. While writing this, out of curiosity I completed a search of elk paintings and I came across this….
Believe it or not, this painting costs $8,400.00 and it was created by a well known artist. The title of the painting claims this is a deer. It goes to show that you shouldn’t paint what you don’t know.
I reached out to Mary and asked if she could provide a quick bio for this post and here is the reply, I got back……
“I only paint subjects and country that are intimately familiar to me: horses, cowboying, ranch life and the wildlife I have tracked and studied since early childhood”
“My passion to draw and paint has been a part of my life from my earliest memories, always with the objective of being as accurate and true to my subjects as possible and at the same time capturing the atmosphere, the colors, the emotion of a split second in time that hopefully transports the viewer into the painting as if they were there.“
~Mary Wood
As a great resource for both the artist and the naturalist in me, there is a bison range relatively nearby. I love going there and spending the day observing, sketching and taking pictures. This big, handsome bull is a composite of several bulls I have seen on my trips to the range. I have been very near, perhaps too close at times when a bull explodes charging another bull. I guarantee you it will stop your heart and blow your hair back. That is exactly the sensation I want you to feel as I painted “TATANKA!” charging straight out of the canvas.
To see more of Mary’s art, please visit her site by clicking THIS LINK.
Ah, it’s that time of the year. The leaves are turning red, the air is starting to cool, the sun is starting to set earlier. Autumn fast approaches, and with it, season specific food. Thats right, it’s tamale time!
Now, if your’e anything like me, then you love tamales. And who doesn’t love a variety of meats and spices wrapped in maze, covered in a corn husk and steamed to perfection? I know a lot about tamales, how to eat them, how to serve them, how to enjoy them, but not how to make them. Fortunately, I’m on the internet.
-10 hours later-
Alright, now I know more about tamales then I’ll ever need to know, and now I am going to make that YOUR problem. Earlier I said “if your’e anything like me, then you love tamales”, but don’t fool yourself. You are nothing like me. For you see, I really love tamales.
Between my tamale obsession and my laziness, I simply can’t make enough tamales by hand to keep me satisfied. So I think it’s time I get a helping hand. Or a lot of helping hands. Like, hundreds of tiny helping hands. And before you ask, I’m not talking about using child labor in a sweatshop next to my storage unit, I’m talking about nanobots! The sweatshop is unrelated, just forget I brought it up.
If you clicked on this thinking it would be a tutorial on how to make tamales, but after seeing that last paragraph are starting to second guess yourself, don’t worry, this is a tamale tutorial. But not your run of the mill tamale tutorial, no, I’m going to teach you how to make tamales like the Demiurge you were always meant to be.
Step 1: making the nanobots
Making nanobots is one of those fun activities you do in an afternoon, ideally with your father or son, depending on what roll you are. Go into the garage and pull out your Kirkland Signature matter fabricator. Program it to make a robot that will make a smaller robot that will make a smaller robot and have this continue until a small robot, approximately the size of a needle, produces a nanobot half the size of a blood cell. Now that that is done, we have just completed the toughest step.
Step 2: from 1 to 2 to goo!
Program that nanobot with 3 instructions. 1, make 4 copies of yourself using any non-tamale matter. 2, download the 3 preprogrammed instructions into the newly fabricated nanobots. 3, convert all non-nanobot matter into tamales. Now you just sit back, relax, and wait as those piles of corn and meat and whatever else magically assembles into tamales before your eyes.
Step 3: realize you made a mistake.
So… we forgot to program the nanobots not to turn ourselves into tamales. And I guess that ought to extend to our friends and family too. But not the neighbor’s dog. By this point, poor snuffles has already had his matter converted into tamale ingredients. Assuming that the nanobots are still on the tamales, lets just avoid eating that batch for now. Besides, we have more important things to do…
Step 4: get out of town!
Because you were so eager to consume delicious tamales, you set the duplication to 4, so we have very little time left. At this point, just go to NASA or SpaceX and steal yourself a rocket. That’s right, we’re leaving Earth. Assuming the nanobots won’t be able to leave Earth on their own, and we know we didn’t program them to be aware enough to realize the entire universe is made out of matter, we should be able to safely establish the first Mars tamale colony! You did follow the instructions, right?
Step 5: take one last look.
Step 6: enough looking, get on the rocket!
Step 7: lift off
By this point, you should be asking yourself, was it worth it? The answer is, yes. Of course it was worth it. But this is also your fault and you should be ashamed. I mean, look at what you did! This, this is Earth right now! This is all your fault. What were you thinking? What, that you would just look up an article online about making tamales, following along without first reading through the entire article? THERE WEREN’T EVEN INGREDIENTS LISTED!
Step 8: remorse
You forgot to grab cattle. Meat doesn’t grow in the ground, corn does. This is your fault, not mine. And you didn’t grab corn seeds. No, Mars dirt can’t be used to make tamales. You don’t even have water to steam your non-tamale dirt tamales. This is why we can’t have nice things, because of people like you.
I hope you found this tamale tutorial useful! Next week, throwing your cat in a nuclear reactor. Federal authorities call it a serious offense and a radiological hazard, but you kids will absolutely love having a glow-in-the-dark kitty cat!
Sit back, grab some popcorn, and get ready to see the Land of the Shining Mountains on the big screen
Author: Shane Cox
*All movie art credit belongs to IMDB
5. What Dreams May Come (1998)
There is an easy way and a hard way to see Heaven. The easy way is to live in Montana.
Led by legendary actor and comedian Robin Williams, this movie showed us the true meaning of the word “soulmate”. In this romantic fantasy, William’s character travels through Heaven and Hell to rescue the soul of the woman he loves. Along the way, he will reunite with his old dog Katie and his children who tragically died in a car accident and no I’m not crying I’m just SWEATING THROUGH MY EYES OK!!! (Seriously, it is a great movie, but have a box of tissues on hand)
Some of the most beautiful shots in the movie were filmed in Glacier National Park. While shooting, Williams decided to take a break and tour the area. (Traylor, 2014) He later said:
“If it isn’t God’s backyard, He certainly lives nearby.”
RIP Robin. There will never be another like you
4. Forrest Gump (1994)
Movies and Montana goes together like peas and carrots…
Montana makes a brief yet beautiful cameo in this legendary picture. During the running sequence, the shot of Forrest running though a field of golden wheat was taken just outside Cut Bank, MT. The scene then cuts to him jogging across a stone bridge at the St. Mary Entrance to Glacier National Park. (Movie-Locations: Forrest Gump, 2020)
Though Big Sky Country is only onscreen for few seconds, it was almost left out of the movie entirely! The studio, worried that the project was going too far over budget, threatened to pull the plug in the middle of production. Hanks and Director Robert Zemeckis decided to cover the cost of shooting the iconic running scene and save what is now one of the most beloved movies of all time. (Ashton, 2020)
As if we needed another reason to love Tom Hanks
3. The Untouchables (1987)
That’s the Montana way…
Chicago is great. But when you want your protagonists to charge the bad guys guns blazing while on horseback you pack up production and go to the Treasure State.
Based on real events, the movie follows Elliot Ness as he forms a team of special agents to take down the infamous gangster Al Capone. The movie’s (arguably) best scene takes place at Hardy Bridge just outside of Great Falls. (Movie-Locations: Untouchables, 2020)
This film is criminally underrated. In fact, you should stop reading this list right now and go watch it. Go ahead, I’ll wait…
2. The Revenant (2015)
The movie that FINALLY gave poor Leo his Oscar
While the movie is set in Montana and South Dakota, most of it was filmed in Canada. However, one of the film’s most pulse pounding scenes was shot in the rapids of Kootenai Falls, just downstream from Libby. In this scene Hugh Glass (played by DiCaprio) uses the waterfall to escape from a party of pursuing Arikara hunters. (Movie-Locations: Revenant, 2020)
I just gotta say…y’all know that scene where Leo eats a raw bison liver? Yeah, that wasn’t special effects. Real Liver. Real Reaction. He also actually crawled inside of a dead horse. All I’m saying is that if DiCaprio wanted to live in Montana he would fit in around here just fine. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Honorable Mention: Return to Lonesome Dove (1993)
A Cowboy’s Odyssey
This 4-part mini-series, while technically not a movie, deserves a place on this list. The sequel to the epic adventure Lonesome Dove follows Captain Woodrow F. Call’s return from Texas to his ranch in Montana.
This series is the perfect binge watch for fans of John Wayne and Clint Eastwood movies. The filming locations span across the state and include Butte, Cardwell, Virginia and Nevada City, Laurel, and Billings. (Return to Lonesome Dove: Filming and Production, 2020)
Fun Fact:My Dad worked on the Set #2 of this movie while he was in college. He was paid $100 a day to pick up and hide barb wire fences so they were not caught on camera. He and his coworker would spend their free time hunting rattlesnakes to turn into boots and hatbands to sell to the California crew.
I’m sorry, but my Dad is cooler than your dad. 🙂
1. A River Runs Through It (1992)
I’ll never leave Montana, Brother
There is no other way to end this list than with the most iconic Montana movie of all time. While most of these entries only take advantage of the state’s amazing scenery, Montana provides the heart and soul of this beautiful story.
While the film was set in Missoula and by the Blackstone river, the scenes in town were filmed in Livingston, MT. Likewise, the fishing scenes were captured in Paradise Valley on the Yellowstone River, the Gallatin River south of Bozeman, and the Boulder River by Big Timber. (Movie-Locations: River Runs Through It, 2020)
So many elements of this movie make it special. Norman Maclean’s story was adapted by Richard Friedenberg and brought to life by director Robert Redford. The entire cast is amazing, with now legendary actor Brad Pitt standing out among the crowd.
If you were born under the Big Sky…you need to watch this movie. If you have, you know why I can’t put the feeling into words. This film reminds us where we come from. It reminds us of Home.
References
Ashton, W. (2020, January 2). Forrest Gump: 10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The Classic Tom Hanks Movie. Retrieved from Cinema Blend: https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2487844/forrest-gump-10-behind-the-scenes-facts-about-the-classic-tom-hanks-movie
Movie-Locations: Forrest Gump. (2020). Retrieved from Movie-Locations: https://www.movie-locations.com/movies/f/Forrest-Gump.php
Movie-Locations: Revenant. (2020). Retrieved from Movie-Locations: http://movie-locations.com/movies/r/Revenant.php
Movie-Locations: River Runs Through It. (2020). Retrieved from Movie-Locations: http://movie-locations.com/movies/r/River-Runs-Through-It.php
Movie-Locations: Untouchables. (2020). Retrieved from Movie-Locations: http://movie-locations.com/movies/u/Untouchables.php
Return to Lonesome Dove: Filming and Production. (2020). Retrieved from IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106112/locations?ref_=tt_ql_dt_5
Traylor, A. (2014, August 11). Remembering Robin Williams in Montana: His Visit to Glacier National Park. Retrieved from 107.5 Zoo FM: https://1075zoofm.com/robin-williams-montana/#:~:text=Remembering%20Robin%20Williams%20in%20Montana%3A%20His%20Visit%20to%20Glacier%20National%20Park&text=Scenes%20from%20the%20film%20’What,was%20directed%20by%20Vincent%20Ward
I picked up bullet journaling my freshman year of college as a way to keep all my assignments, test dates, and personal reminders together in one place. I pretty much immediately got sucked into a hundred Pinterest pages about all the things people use their bullet journals for and now, two years later, I’ve completely filled my 200-page bullet journal! What started out as a way to get my shit together turned into a creative outlet that allowed me to track my school schedule, person schedule, birthdays, books I want to read, movies I want to watch, and even my mood. My bullet journal is a planner that I am actually committed to keeping up with because not only does it have everything I need all in one place, but I also enjoy doing it. So, if you are looking to start a bullet journal, need some page ideas, or are just curious, here are a couple of my favorite pages:
I start the year with a year in review:
I start every month with a “cover page” that has the month name and a quick view calendar. Here are some of my favorite cover pages:
I then schedule out my weeks of the month. Here a couple pages that I like:
To organize my school stuff I first draw out my schedule, then I write out all the assignments and class info:
These are some random things that I also like to track or that just make me happy:
