LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — More Music, This Time Rosanne Cash
The Good Intent Essays
Unheralded
Unheralded
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Canadian Musicians
The Parting Glass Martin Kerr Curious Heart
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Southwind In April
The other thing I am doing. SOUTHWIND IN APRIL by Paul S. Bliss
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — A Warm January Day
Well, it was warm in my kitchen at Red Oak House. Playtime January 2025
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — While I’m On The Topic Of Music And Musicians
“Battlefield” by Nanci Griffith
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — The Crook Siblings Gather For Meatloaf
(Above) Wayne Thomas, son of Mozelle Ellis Thomas, and Garland Crook, son of Lena Bell Ellis Crook, 8 months old, Friendship, Miss., 1925. Lena Bell and Mozelle were sisters. Garland and Wayne were their first babies. Sarah, Thomas, Lillian and Beckie, January 2025 Golly it was fun to have the four of us together for a meal. Jim tolerated us …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Twenty-Five Years Ago
Twenty-five years ago, it was the beginning of a new millennium. When I thought you read books. When I thought you didn’t watch much television. When I thought you hiked. When I thought you watched the stars. When I thought you liked poetry. When I slept on the ground. Before social media. When I was young. Twenty-five years ago I …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — My Dad’s And Mom’s 8mm Films From The 1950s And 1960s
And that’s all folks, that’s the last of the 8mm films my Dad shot in the 1950s and 1960s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ae3Gu33SQo&t=1s My mother bought the 8mm camera and a projector by saving Green Stamps. Remember those? Here are my mother’s annotations. The film is not in chronological order. I don’t care. Don’t watch if the fact that this stuff is out …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Lay You Down In A Cattail Bed
My friend, Chuck Suchy. Lay You Down In a Cattail Bed
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — May You All Have A Mother As I Did, Part 1
One of the video interviews I did with my Mother in her elder years.
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — El Monte, California, 1958
This is a homage to California. The humble abode in which my parents lived in El Monte in 1958 before they moved the little house trailer to Ellsworth Air Force Base. When they left California, pulling the trailer, with (then) two little kids and another on the way, they headed across the desert, skirting around the mountains, heading in a …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — My Late Mother’s Last Birthday Party
She was so much fun. This was taken at her last birthday party. But I have more.
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Pullin’ Calves
This is an original essay by Lillian Crook, Dickinson State College English seminar writing course required submission for Senior Level Course credit (1981). This had been a bad year, lots of snow and ice and that terrible cold wind. More new calves than ever had died, and if he had to watch one more not pull through, Maggie knew she …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Winter
1977. 1978. Spring Lake ice fishing (southwest of Rhame, N.D.), 1971. Earl and Lena Belle Crook visit the Slope County farm, 1973. El Paso, Texas (Marian, Sarah, Thomas, and The White Cat.) Garland Crook and his son, Thomas, visiting Vaiden, Miss. Garland Crook, back in South Korea for the second time. The Crook kids in El Paso, Texas. Jasper Earl …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Penance Playlist 2025
Penance Playlist 2025 Mother Maybelle Carter. Nanci Griffith (everything she ever wrote and sang and recorded and performed). Sara Watkins. Lucinda Williams. Brandi Carlisle. Gillian Welch. Phoebe Snow. Carly Simon. Tanya Savory. Joni Mitchell. Patty Loveless. Katie Lee. Celeste Krenz. Lucy Kaplansky. Sarah Jarosz. Janis Ian. Tanya Tucker. Billie Holiday. Loretta Lynn. Tish Hinojosa. Iris DeMent. Shawn Colvin. Dolly Parton. …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Lillian’s Swedish Meatballs
Although the Grandma for whom I’m named was Norwegian, I love to make these Swedish meatballs. Swedish Meatballs Meatballs: Two large leeks (the white portion, grated) 2 teaspoons of butter (I use good butter, preferably Irish butter) ⅔ cup of milk 4 to 5 slices of bread, crusts removed (I use a grain bread when I have it on hand.) …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Leeks
On Saurday, I went to a Bismarck grocery store to buy leeks. Nice man from India working in the produce section had not heard of leeks, so I described leeks, and he found leeks under the loose carrots. He asked me how I cook leeks and said he will try that. We both smiled. I found some Greek yogurt. Paid …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Words Are Like Shards Of Glass
“Words are like shards of glass. By themselves they’re worthless, however, when placed together in just the right way, they can become great works of art.” ― Leigh M. Lane
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — ‘The Moon Comes Walking On With Me’ By Paul Southworth Bliss And Other Christmas Memories
“The Moon Comes Walking On with Me,” by Colonel Paul Southworth Bliss,December 21, 1931. Original woodcuts by Harold J. Matthews. From an inscribed copy of “The Arch of Spring.” And some Christmas memories of my own. While I watch the neighborhood kids sledding today in the sunshine, I was taken back to a thousand memories of sledding and skiing and …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — The Journey of the Magi
The Journey of the Magi by T.S. Eliot A cold coming we had of it, Just the worst time of the year For a journey, and such a long journey: The ways deep and the weather sharp, The very dead of winter.’ And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory, Lying down in the melting snow. There were times we regretted The …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Maah Daah Hey National Monument Proposal
My December 2024 Letter to the Editors of North Dakota newspapers Yes, the president can designate a national monument with the stroke of a pen, using the Antiquities Act. Thank you, Theodore Roosevelt, for creating that act. Famously, TR arrived on a train and lived and ranched in the North Dakota Badlands. (Later his wife, Edith, and his sister would …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — A Poem
Enter the North Dakota Librarian by Gary Gildner Paris Review Spring 2002 whose eyes are a fair, spiky green I only see on my hands and knees at spring’s initial offerings, how can she help me? I say I seek the bloom clarity achieves fending off confusion’s weedy waylays upon rich indirection, I hope I won’t be much trouble. Her lips forming …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — ‘Winter Rainbow’
“Winter Rainbow,” by Paul Southworth Bliss, from his book of poetry Cirrus From the West published in 1935. Out of the oakland, Out of the pineland, Near the time of sunset, I came to the un-treed plains. On the frost-struck air There lay two segments Of a mighty wheel, Sunk to the sun-hub In the glistening prairie. The inner ring …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Voting For President My First Time: 44 Years Ago Today
On this date 44 years ago, I cast my first vote for president of the United States. I had eagerly awaited this date, having listened to discussions about civic duties within my own family and extended families, having read newspapers and Life magazines and more while growing up — I was an “early reader” — having listened to my elders …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Red Oak House Autumn Notes And A Zany Codiwample To Eastern North Dakota 2024
After about sixty years of being curious about “Buffalo Alice North Dakota” (thanks L. Ray Wheeler), we wandered into Buffalo, North Dakota and then onto Old Highway Ten. Home with a load of new books to read and autumn chores to complete before snowfall. For further reading see Towns Named Buffalo.
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Lillian’s Variations On Marinara
I use either Lynne Rossetto Kasper’s recipe as a start but sometimes use my Marcella Hazan’s “Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking” recipes from my hardcover copy purchased in 1999. The SECRET is good ingredients, fresh whenever possible, and patience. One must taste a little as one goes along. My SECRET ingredient is cloves (in an amount depending upon one using the patience …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Red Oak House Garden Notes And Badlands Wanderings 2024
TR Birthday Shenanigans: I Wander the Northern Badlands Solo
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Migration
The autumn migration is on here in North Dakota. I also have migrated my writing hobby to another platform as I streamline my life.
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — The Needle And The Thread
During the heat of the Thursday afternoon, I unearthered my late Mother’s needles and embroidery thread and got creative.
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Musings
Some people read. Some people talk about reading. Some people write books. Some people edit books. Some people buy books they never get around to reading. Some people talk about hair. Some people don’t care about hair. Some people get their hair cut now and then. Some people clean. Some people don’t. Some people empty the garbage. Some people recyle. …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Little Missouri River Updated Information
I have written many essays about the Little Missouri River area, including The Crooked Little Missouri River and Its Headwaters. Today I have in mind current sources of information on this sweet river such as gage height and weather forecast. Marmarth https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/06335500 Medora https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/06336000/ Watford City https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/06337000 Also interesting and useful links from NOAA for forecasts & more Marmarth https://water.noaa.gov/gauges/mthn8 Medora https://water.noaa.gov/gauges/mdan8 …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — I Am Reminded
Today I am reminded that I was raised by women who did not have the right to vote!
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Re-reading Willa Cather
“… the certainty of countless miles of empty country and open sky and wind and night on every side of me. It’s the happiest feeling I ever have. And when I am most enjoying the loveliest things the world is full of, it’s then I am most homesick for just that emptiness and that untainted air.” — Willa Cather
JIM FUGLIE: View From The Prairie — Season’s Greetings From Red Oak House
Lillian and I have cut back on our Christmas mailing this year, so we’re using our blogs to send out our 2023 short Christmas letter. Dear Friends and Family, 2023 was a travel year for us. Including last December, when we were away from home the entire month, the states and provinces we’ve been to: Hawaii (2 new national parks). …
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Red Oak House Garden Notes No. 76 And An Interlude In Calgary, British Columbia And Home Via Montana
The vibe, the music, the food and the company was mighty fine. Home to harvest.
LILLIAN CROOK: WildDakotaWoman — Campaigning With Crook Redux
“Campaigning with Crook,” by Capt. Charles King, (excerpts), Harper and Brothers, 1890 “At 2 p.m. we bivouac again, and begin to growl at this will-o’-wisp business. The night, for August (1876), is bitter cold. Ice forms on the shallow pools … and the thermometer was zero at daybreak. “The grandest country in the world for Indian and buffalo now … …
