And yes, that’s the same Aunt Joan who improves Monet’s paintings with scrapbooking stickers.
Also, if you happen to pass through the center of North America anytime soon, stop by her farm and see my Uncle Gene’s art installation/performance happening all over their property, consisting of: pantyhose stuffed with human hair hanging from trees, electrified metal plates smeared with peanut butter, strobe lights (some on motorized bases), talk radio broadcast over outdoor amplifiers, and nighttime aerial fireworks shells launched horizontally into the surrounding trees. He doesn’t know it’s art but he calls it, “Stay away you damn deer and stop eating my bushes!”

More from North Dakota and beyond  in my Flickr pages.

Derogatory representations of native peoples always look better when fluorescents are used.

An aside:

One time while talking to an airline phone operator I mentioned I was flying back to Fargo to visit my family.

“Do they live on a reservation?”

“Excuse me?” I said.

“Well you’re from North Dakota, and ‘Jorgensen,’ that’s Native American right?”

“Ah, no. It’s Norwegian. Very Norwegian.”

In the middle of the continent, uploading tweets and low-res pics straight from my phone. This is what North Dakota looks like. It has lots of bars and fried foods. I grew up here so I’m back visiting Mom. The only gay bar closed last week so no crazy stories from there this time.

Poke here to visit Prairie Haunts.

This week, the world’s largest sporting goods store opened in Fargo, North Dakota, the same week I happened to be visiting. Now, understand, sports are huge up here, huge as spectator sports, that is. Actual athleticism isn’t as popular. It’s “sports as leisure,” if you will. Therefore, it makes perfect sense for Fargo’s mega-sporting goods store to feature a Ferris wheel, candy shop, and shooting arcade. A rock-climbing wall would require effort, possibly sweat, and that’s no fun.

A “living statue” has nothing to do with sports but no one seems to care.

You can practice with toy guns in the shooting gallery.

Or aim for your husband with the real thing.

Buckets of candy replenish valuable carbohydrates.

And for no logical reason, Lincoln, and seven other presidents, line the second floor balcony. That’s my Fargo!