I loved Mary Bradshaw. She and I met in 1977 when I first arrived in Missoula to attend the University. At that time she and her then partner Linda Blan were living in a tepee among the cottonwoods on their 16-acre Jocko River property. What fun we had out there. Being in Mary’s company opened my eyes to so many things: bird behavior, foraging for medicinal herbs and mushrooms, camping year round in Montana, and so much more. Mary Bradshaw is, without doubt, among the most interesting people I’ve ever known.

The teepee was a bit breezy in winter and hard to heat, so a year or so later Mary upgraded her abode to an 8 by 10 foot shed. What wonderment could be found in that small space. Every nook and cranny was filled with necessities and also beauty things like skins, skulls and feathers of many animals, bundles of drying herbs and flowers, well-used nature guidebooks, and a sit-upon covered with a sheepskin. A few years later Mary and her then partner Diane Harrison built a 16 by 24 foot house partly of found materials. It was lovely.

I moved south in 1983. Mary and I stayed in touch off and on. These photos were taken at my house in Idaho in September 2008. Mary was living in Blain, Washington then. She and Two Dot stayed with me for a couple of weeks while she was on her journey to Florida.