Yellowstone Sketches: Glimpses of Yellowstone National Park

My book is ready!  For years I’ve dreamed of doing this book, but it took modern technology for it to become a realistic ambition.  I’ve gathered together favorite sketches, drawings, and words from Dale’s and my many, many trips to Yellowstone.  So far we’ve spent over three years in the park during thirty plus years.  My goal is to capture the essence and best parts of the many journal and sketchbook pages I’ve filled during those years. 

Yellowstone Sketches very much about glimpses of wildlife in the park.    It is not meant to be a tour guide, nor to be a comprehensive book about the park. Rather, the book captures special moments in time: a sandhill crane laying her egg; a black bear taking a bath; wolves howling.   I’m posting a handful of pages from the book to give you a feel for what I mean. .  NOTE that the words look blurry on the blog, but they don’t in the book!  I’ll retype the words beneath each page.

Yellowstone is a place where my heart sings, 
where I feel close to the earth,

and where I breathe deeply and thank my good fortune 
to be on this planet.  

This young grizzly was just kicked off by its mother.  A boar in the area is making the little bear nervous.

He pauses his foraging every minute or two for a quick look around.

Three coyotes sleep on a knoll … and farther back are five black wolves called ‘New Group.’  The coyotes appear to be keeping an eye on the wolves.  The wolves are relaxed.  We hear one harmonious howling session from the wolves and earlier heard coyotes yipping.  Far off, a lone wolf howled in slough Creek. 

The valleys are in the cool shadows of approaching evening.  Low sun paints pale yellow on the mountaintops.  The clear sky and ever-present cold promise an even colder night. 

The ospreys are continuing to build.  The male brought the female a fish – a very stiff fish.  The female osprey has the darkest collar we’ve seen on a female.

Not much activity, and then a third osprey arrives and stoops several times.  All three birds disappear high in the sky.

Over an hour later, only two ospreys return.  This female has a much lighter breast.  We assume she has evicted a younger female.  

Elk have chewed on this aspen sapling.  Old chewing forms black scars.  Recent chewing is tan. 

Now that spring is coming, sap is starting to ooze from the new scars.  Two species of butterflies come to sip sap – mourning cloak and comma.

***

My publisher, Lora Hagen / R. Schneider, Publisher captured just what I wanted when she laid out my book.  The book is informal, colorful, and intended to give you a breath of the treasure that Yellowstone offers. 

Also available from R. Schneider, Publisher:

Hamerstrom Stories /  Elva Paulson, editor – the collection of about my parents , Frederick and Frances Hamerstrom: 336 pages / $29.95

And

Walk When the Moon is Full by Frances Hamerstrom, illustrated by Elva Paulson – This children’s book, written by my mother, stayed in print for 25 years.  I inherited the words, but not the art, so published it again with my illustrations: 40 pages / $8.95

To Order:

Yellowstone Sketches: Glimpses of Yellowstone National Park   $22.95

Hamerstrom Stories, edited by Elva Paulson                                  $29.00

Walk When the Moon is Full                                                               $8.95

5.5% Wisconsin sales tax on Wisconsin orders only

USA Shipping:

$4.00 for the first book.  $1 each for additional copies to the same address.

Orders are shipped USPS Media Mail

Please send check or Credit Card info to:

R. Schneider, Publishers

312 Linwood Avenue

Stevens Point  WI  54481

Any questions?  How to contact me: 

On my blog:  click on ‘view my complete profile.’

On: Facebook:  I’ll remember to check ‘messenger’ for awhile