SPOTTINGS

My dad sent me these videos filmed via motion-sensor from the fences of our farm(s) and before they even played I recognized our land and trees and grass.





I love deer and venison and look back fondly on avoiding the hunting part. Sort of wish I had that choice right now. Im always wishing for a wolf-ish pet to follow me around. They have a stoic way of being which I could use as some protection. The lure of the coyote call haunted me long ago as I laid in bed at Grandma Jackie's farm. Simultaneous to the howling was mooing from the herd and a hissing wild cat fight beneath my window sometimes. No peace in the real world can compare to all those comforting natural reactions. Its primal out here now, in a different way than I remember. Still looking for a lullaby.

http://bit.ly/cantnavigatethiscrapanymore

complex twitter vernacular and awful image presentation.
i refuse.

but im looking forward to letting go of the internet.
its already happening.
thanks for finally making me feel internet illiterate!
truly many thanks @youknowwhoyouare

"everybody knows a different world, and only part of it." —john beldessari

I CRY

laughing so hard right now at my sister/family

found this on my sis' facebook.

also, my dad began a string of emails between my family, in pursuit of organizing a summer camping trip. originally addressing us as the "former campers in the mist", dad sought to place us in a woodsy hostel, out of the rain. after a round of concerns about the communal sleeping arrangements, he offered a nudist-camp alternative to which my cousin Darren replied



known for his unbearably dry wit, his email address is literally "thebickersons@...com". thankfully, by the time the sun is bright enough to poach my family's sacred skin, i will have moved far away from wherever the bickersons join the "future campers in the nude"

TROUBLED YOUTH

Circa 1997. Imagine this plus 40" wide legged JNCO's. everyday.

WHY WIN?

So it is time to address this poll to the right here. Staying in Minnesota won by a landslide. Now, there is a concern that this electoral collage was rigged, by my parents. Judging by their technical skills, I would say that is near impossible. Either way, I dont think a vote actually clarifies anything. I still have no idea what I am going to do until I am doing it.

This is the same sentiment I will feel when I mail out my ballot. Yes, I get to vote this weekend. I don't expect my vote to really count for much, and I am going to be prepared with a punching bag at my side when the nomination is announced anyway. Four years ago, I was working to get out the vote for change with an organization called Democracy Matters. My friends and I worked tirelessly throughout the city of Duluth. Despite the sad ending, Duluth was acknowledged with having the highest voter turnout out of any city in the country! 91% of our citizens voted! An hour before the polls closed, I literally took the hand of a stoned college student and led him to the poll that was right across the street from his house! No excuses, vote at least to say you did something.

I feel like I am not doing anything.

Wow, for the last few days, by various people here in Minnesota, I have been told I should "be a govy-girl" or move to Government Camp, Mt. Hood Oregon.

I'm not sure if that is flattering or not. Little did they know that I've already lived there and have my fair share of stories to tell. Now, if I wanted to live in a real mountain town, it would have to be Jackson Hole, WY!

...so during my google search to find a similar Wyoming felted piece, I came across other amazing things: 

this book is seriously SO GOOD.



Man, what we need is another Roosevelt Franklin right now. And another decade of classic Sesame Street pumping love and sing-along songs through our veins.



My grandma claims to be from the greatest generation, having gone through the depression. Can you imagine growing up during a time when A POLITICAL LEADER was your hero? The days of American Idols may soon be over...

BLOGS = NARCISSISM?

This last weekend was the first Elhard Famly camping outing in the last 14 years. We went to Wirt, MN and we tried. We were rained out on the first full day. Thankfully, when Mattea and I awoke, we immediately took the opportunity to commence in our favorite activity of canoeing. It started out as a fun game, but we soon became Canoeing Conservationists on Noma Lake. We collected all these vintage cans. Most of them over 20 years old! My favorite is the Hamms can.
It was so sad to leave my family of commedians, conservationsists, and campers for the high and dry roads.
Back to Bemidji...

When we arrived, no joke, Antique Roadshow was airing a segment about vintage can collecting. This first image features the early pop-tops (my Hamm's can has the same top). On my way back to Minneapolis I stopped at this tourist attraction that I had never been to in all my years living in Bemidji. Spectacular collectibles in every corner! I picked up a few new/old touristy tees and browsed the Northern Minnesotan Zine selection on my way out...

forget me nots in full bloom and then some

this weekend was more beautiful than anything i could ever have thought possible with family. celebrating life and being comfortable with loss. truly lovely, to extremes i cannot express...

thank you eldreds, elhards, smilanichs, batinichs, benders, reitans, olsons, sjostroms, andersons, vandenbrinks, boquists. proud bloodlines! forever!

w.w.a.m.d.?

what would auntie marie do?
r.i.p. auntie marie. i cant begin to explain how amazing she is. stay tuned and i will make it proper poetry to remember her by. (100 years of life!)

she can't be beat!!

she was a masterful calligrapher, among many other things.

(she didnt hand craft this, but she could have.)

starting today, i am learning this, slowly. are you? 

TO THE BIG AND LITTLE T'S; tourist terrain

some of the best things in all of northern minnesota.
jeffrey will be here and back at it by the end of this week!!
more down-to-earth sightseeing for our vacay...

big t, little t. tessa and me.

a day in government camp oregon

my favorite place on earth!! june 16, 2007

to the ones who call me "t money"! all sorts of lovey.

charlie's bar! modern.

no, no

JAKE BURTON CARPENTER AND THE SNOWBOARD
a book dedicated to him as the inventor? impossibly ugly.

A history.de Dazzling

30 years of snowboarding.method magazine

features

lumberjack lore!


lumberjack love!

i really miss these guys, the friends, the fam, the farm....(to be continued)

RESPECT

making my bed is always the right thing to do, especially now.
my dear grandmother compiled (salvaged, sewed, refined) this quilt for me last year!
i watched my 100 year old auntie marie stitch the perimeter for 6 hours straight one day. (i made her lunch, of course)
although she didnt inherit the seamstress skills of her mother, who sewed judy garland's childhood waredrobe, my grandma jackie is amazing!

*watch auntie marie and my grandma play cribbage in the videos to the right