the smiles of dogs...

you know i'm given to fanciful moments of "let's pretend" as a caveat i ought to say i don't actually BELIEVE that the hills surrounding my home are fancy dancing women wearing glorious shawls of hot sunlit beauty or standing sternly in the winter praying in the wind with snow flurry songs...ohhhhh i don't know:-) maybe i do

don't you just love the smiles of dogs? i do. when the world around me is dark and dismal - politically fraught with games and swords and backstabbing bitches (oh how good that felt to say) i come home and there they are, rocky and sandy...they smile up and me and say such things as "oh i love you are you HOME finally? what are we doing, what's that smell is it yummy? no, that wasn't ME that got in the garbage! i love you i love you i love you let's play!"



happy sigh...so yes, don'tcha just love the smiles of dogs.

dance of the new day...

...you might think it quiet at first light. outside i hear a pheasant calling for Biko (they seem to have connected, and this pheasant actually thinks himself to be in charge of Biko, however Biko is off to Idaho so the calling is in vain today). I hear the last yips of the coyotes as they head to bed after a rough night carousing and drinking the very best hay ale. The Coyotes tried to lure Rocky and Sandy into their bawdy snare but both of the boys asked Mr. Man what the Coyotes were talking about and he told them "that way lies madness." Rocky and Sandy are just young enough to believe him still:-)
I can smell crabby ol' Stinkbug making his way across the meadow out there, don't know who made him mad but SOMEONE must have awakened him on the wrong side of the bed this morning! The angle of his BUTT will tell you the depth of his MAD
If you listen closely the dulcet tones of crystalline purity are beginning to sound as the rays of light begin making their way over the horizon. AHHHHH the morning song!!!!!! I hear that one bird begin to sing in Mr. Sun and as she has started the song they all chime in. So tiny, yet absolutely confident in their rule of the world!
Sandy begins trying to school the mice "now if you'll just stay out HERE, I'll only EAT you, if you go in THERE, you'll be met with all manner of tortures and the Missy Ma'am will SCREAM when she sees you" Sandy, being the brains of the two dogs also tries to reason with the Pheasant family, "if you'll just keep quiet TODAY, I'll let you be as obnoxious as EVER tomorrow!!!!!" The swallows just sit smugly in their mud hatches....they know above all that when they choose to dive-bomb, NO ONE is safe:-)

Aristotle, the resident toad has safely hopped to his new hiding place; the Strange One having hacked down his glorious huge joshua tree (no, there really are no joshua trees in eastern oregon - this one was thus dubbed by Missy Ma'am... a wild abandonment of joyous thistle and purple spikes peeking into the sunlight...this was probably the biggest thistle in the world, at least Aristotle thought so.)

Mr. Sun has greeted the morning, he has shaken hands with Lady Dew and together they begin the dance of the new day.....

You've seen it. Out of this dance springs hope that THIS day WILL BE BETTER!

i'm not nice...

i started this blog two weeks ago and it's been sitting with furtive glances in my "drafts" box...or is it "dafts box" (HAHA) anyway, because it's the truth I will finish it but please dear reader, know that this thought started with an inkling of guilt at LEAST two weeks ago...but is no less weighty at the moment...

you know in the daily wanderings of our lives we hope we're doing the right thing and often we overlook small details of consideration but wave them off casually with a blithe air of "it's okay, i'll be nice tomorrow" in our eyes...

so i'd like to share an epiphany i recently stumbled upon: "niceness is not necessarily displayed as syrupy warm fuzziness, rather, niceness can show itself in blunt honesty given in the interest of maintaining and/or forging a relationship."

along these lines is the truth that in this world there are and will continue to be people who for one reason or another, even perhaps, for NONE, just don't like us. imagine that. we spin our wheels desperately (some of us) in the hopes of being well-liked, even well spoken of but the reality is, if i speak kind and eloquent words about my dog, this does not either raise nor lower his existent characteristics. he remains a dog. conversely, by speaking horrific lies about him he doesn't slink away, a cowering cur, but STILL remains as he has always been - a dog.

you may chuckle to yourself that these are simple truths but i share these with awe for truly, i've finally realized this and so, the revelatory title to this tome: i'm not nice...

but i will always be REAL.

no words

It's a conundrum you know, I don't really TRY to spin the stories in any way but how they happen and yet I sometimes find myself wondering "do they really GET it...what actually took place?"

Sunday, August 2 was Huckleberry Feast

One of our annual celebrations of new foods...

Friday, we food gatherers begin by collecting ourselves at the longhouse dressed in wingdresses and moccasins or tennies. Most of us had some kind of hat or bandana because we knew it would be a hot day and all of us wore shorts or pants under our dresses.


For Huckleberry feast we don't usually have breakfast but my brother Heyuum Asa Ki decided "let's do breakfast this time" so we got there a little early and fixed some yummy eggs, hashbrowns and hamburger...simple fare, really. We sang our song of thanks, ate together and THEN got ourselves divided into vehicles and off we went. The day promised to be hot but beautiful and I had the privilege of riding with Pam, one of the grandmas Lonnie and our little grandma but her name escapes me...Pam and Lonnie visited in the front seat, my little friend fell asleep so I just watched out the window as the world zipped by. It was a sight full of colors and textures and the hot smell of summer.

we got to the place where the lush bountiful huckleberry bushes await...getting out of the car one is first bathed in the pure purpley scent of juicy goodness...mmmm!!! our lead cooks and diggers hand out the huckleberry baskets. i lifted mine to my nose in pure joy for not only was this vessel and old woven basket but it had been handed from grandmas before to THIS grandma! what blessings! off i went in search of THE berry patch humming to myself bits and pieces of longhouse songs...

it's now a whole month later, i just want to say this, the rich beauty and humble thankfulness practiced in these feasts warrants careful consideration and deep respect when contemplating and sharing. this is why it took me a whole month to write this blog...and
ahhhh how i still and always will cherish the smell of wild berries everywhere!!!!

Chain links...

Long ago in a land far far away...I mean REALLY.
I came across this picture and considering where I am and who I am today I now see this as a foreshadowing of the wayyyy distant future. Little did I know that the battles I would face back in the 70's (ahhhh but there were some SERIOUSLY fun times too!) would give me the backbone and the voice for the battles I'd face in my ...uhhhh dare I say it, middle ages. OMG I SAID IT. I am middle aged. I'm no longer young enough to be young, and I'm still too young to be golden.

I love that sound though "golden aged" it makes one think that one has by fiery trials been wrought into beautiful shiny solid gold links of untold strength and beauty...


I want to be golden when I grow up.