.jpg "Wolf River Bob copyright by Preston Surface")
More about White Cloud:
Ma Hush Kah Museum at White Cloud, Kansas at Kansas Photography Journal.
Motorcycle Guy at White Cloud Kansas at Kansas Photography Journal.
German Shepherd’s Pickup Truck at Kansas Photography Journal.
.jpg "Four Kansas Buffalo copyright by Preston Surface")
Not far outside Eskridge, KS is a herd of buffalo. We pulled off to the side of the road once we spotted these bison to take a few photos.
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A magnificent image. There are few animals as compelling as buffalo – they’re history on the hoof, if you will. I’ve seen them a few times here in Texas – there’s a rancher west of San Antonio who raises them, and I always look when I’m on that road.
As I’ve learned about the prairies, I’ve discovered what a critical role they played in keeping them healthy. Too bad humans weren’t so caring about the buffalo.
Love the treatment you gave this — exquisite!
Thank you Barbara. Actually the photo was overexposed and I tried messing with it to see if I could fix it. I cropped, colored, painted, layered, and many more things for this image to come about. Some times when I mess with a photo it turns into mess, other times I get lucky.
Thanks for the comment Linda. Humans, animals, and life in general has this circle thing about it, and I believe the animal kingdom as well as the human kingdom, as well as the Kingdom of Kingdoms will continue to go around and around forever and ever. We are lucky enough to be part of it and on for the ride.
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From my yard, springtime flowers—a red rose, a white peony, yellow honeysuckle, and purple sage blossoms in a mason jar.
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There’s nothing better than a cutting garden and Mason jars! Peonies are such favorites of mine. I wish we could grow them here. Crepe myrtles are nice, and wisteria is lovely, but gosh – you’ve got such abundance!
I like the colored better here – I think because there is so much activity in the background, the flowers, etc., the flowers kind of get lost in the b&w. I do enjoy seeing a couple of treatments together!
I love this! I use mason jars, odd and end bottles, etc. for vases. For really short stemmed flowers, I float them in shallow glass bowls, they look really pretty on the kitchen table.
Dear Daughter,
Love this picture of the flowers from your yard. Had a few roses from our bushes this year. Am babying small rose bushes that I had transplanted from several that Paul had planted together. Love roses, and all flowers. Wish I could still paint them.
Love, Mom
Linda, I agree with you: “There’s nothing better than a cutting garden and Mason jars!” The peonies are in full bloom here and their scent is so sweet! Yes, I like the colored better too. With the B&W, I like the transparency feel. I plan to paint this photo soon and post that on the digital art blog. Oh, I love wisteria. Thank you!
Barbara, I love old bottles and glass vases and Mason jars. Isn’t it so pretty to float flowers in shallow glass bowls? I haven’t done that awhile… and well, because of the cats. They would so enjoy it! LOL Thank you!
Hi Mom! My roses bushes are bursting with roses this year… even the oldest. I am amazed. Yes, I wish you could still paint them too. Thank you and Love!
502 South Commercial
Emporia, Kansas 66801
620-342-9217
On this photo shoot at Emporia, Kansas we came across The Dalton Gang’s Antique Mall. We felt like Pickers going through all the stuff at this mall. We found two things we really liked; an old medicine cabinet and a really cool filing type of box with curved drawers for my desk. Just like Pickers, we were allowed to wheel and deal over the price which was a lot of fun. We are in the process of slowly renovating our old farm house and we intend on visiting The Dalton Gang again.
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Great photo — very vivid!! I love places like that — browsing through antiques and old-timey things!
That place looks like a great reason to visit Emporia – to go to that Emporium! 
I love places like that – but I’m avoiding them like the plague these days. I’m trying to get started with a travel fund – that’s more important than all the “stuff” I’d love to have!
[...] of where we live. We now have a delightful antique place we like to go ‘picking’ called Dalton Gang Antique Mall in which is an old trolly station. Fascinating place to explore with much to ahhh over if you are [...]
I guess as we get older we appreciate antiques more and more, I wonder why? Thanks for the comment:)
Ah, to travel and see the sights. Traveling is great as long as it isn’t just back and forth to work.
Also view at our Kansas Photography Journal:
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I love that there’s a photo of the colt leaning against his mama, and this one where mama is nudging the colt. They’d make a wonderful pair of photos on a wall!
You’ve done it again. Love all the horse pictures that you and Preston post. This one is really sweet. Mother and baby. All of your pictures are lovely. Your Uncle Bob would be proud of you, since his hobby was photography. Love seeing all your pictures.
Love, Mom
Hi Linda, aren’t mama and colt precious? I sure enjoyed watching them. Such beautiful horses. Thank you!
Hi Mom 
I do wonder what Uncle Bob would say about the digital age. He gave me my first 35mm. I wonder where we got our love for cameras and photography? Thanks and Love!
by Preston Surface
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OK. There’s a story here, and I intend to find out what it is!
When I took Mom back to Iowa for burial, one reason I went straight up through Kansas was to find the location of the now-disappeared town where my great-great-grandmother’s best friend had landed after they camped together on the prairie near Melissa, Texas.
The friend moved to Poplar Hill, Kansas, now a historical site. There’s no town left. HOWEVER: she was buried at White Cloud cemetery. It’s right between Fort Riley and Minneapolis, very near Manchester.
The cemetery’s out there in the middle of nowhere, with just a handful of graves – including hers. I’ve got pictures, and am putting the story together, bit by bit. I’ve got correspondence between the two women, too.
Now, discovering that there’s a town of White Cloud makes this all more interesting. I’ve been planning to head back up that way for more research and exploration, and was planning for the fall. Maybe we’ll be able to meet up then – wouldn’t that be fun?
I want to step into that photo and sit down to listen to Bob for awhile. Then I want to paw through all the books and papers piled on the shelves and peeking out of the box behind him. Three of my Civil War veterans served out there, one in the 1st Kansas Infantry, one in the 7th Kansas Cavalry, and one in the 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry who spent his whole war on the Missouri-Kansas border (and is the best story of all). I long to make a research trip out there.
Here is a man who looks contented with his life and at peace with the world. Beautifully captured image.
He looks to be quite the colorful character and very interesting indeed!
I googled Wolf River Bob and found out others have met this same fellow over the years and have shared their stories as well. Thanks for the comment Barbara.
Maybe he will share his secret YB…
Don’t know how much ol’ Wolf River Bob knows about the Civil War Gerry, but I bet he knows a thing or two about Lewis and Clark.
That would be great Linda, to meet in the fall. Wish you luck on your research. I do know there are many graves throughout all these prairies in Kansas, might be like looking for a needle in a haystack.