with bated breath!!!

ahhhh the summer was long and the days were HOT - it seems like a blur really, with focused moments here and there - i wonder if you know what i mean? i mean like you're scanning a crowd for the face of the one you love - THERE? no, that's not....no THERE? nope again wrong face...okay, but i digress - AGAIN

this last weekend, labor day weekend, was FINALLY our trip to wellpinit...we loaded up our van (his name is Chaz), Beaver (our travel companion, you might think he's stuffed, but DANG he's busy!) was prepared with his medicine bag and snippy remarks. We kissed Rocky and Sandy (yes, KISSED THEM) good bye and asked them to watch the house (they are SO impatient when we do this, they're like "what do you think we DO all the time? like, do you think we're busy playing DOG scrabble and leave the house to chance? NOOOOOO, that's what we DO with our lives is watch the BLINGBLANGY HOUSE!" so we kissed them again, apologized for offending them and off we drove!

when i'm happy or excited i have a tendency to be somewhat chatty...i began discussing different moments of brightness and before we knew it the trip had dissolved into miles and miles of laughing over the silliness and fol-de-rol (ohhhhh how i LOVE that i used that word!). Beaver gave us a "tsk tsk" from time to time but truth be told he was pretty chuckly himself over some of our nonsense.

Stickgame songs rang out from our van, who knows how loud we were or who we may have disturbed, i think the sheer joy of singing at the top of our lungs was enough in itself.

as we drove into the evening anticipation was palpable in the air - from time to time i really just had to laugh out loud with the absolute excitement of our trip - finally WELLPINIT...the stickgame of the summer...and not only the joy of the game but the beauty and artistry of Creator continued to bring smiles to our spirits.

We arrived at Wellpinit and there it was, the cloud of dust you can see from a mile off even in the dark - people milling about preparing for their category of dance or still making camp, some of them just going around greeting old friends and hugging family still, the rapid drumbeat of the stickgame arena could be heard echoing through the grounds with the deeper steady beat of the pow wow drums in the background. Pow wow food aromas wafted through intertwined with campfire smoke and different medicines being burned in preparation and/or celebration.

we're HERE...we set up our camp quickly, grabbed our chairs and I grabbed my bell rattle - off we went to the stickgames! How refreshing to hear these songs again - it's like the first headlong plunge into the deepest coolest mountain lake at the beginning of summer - the shock awakens you to the depth of your being and before you know it you're singing along - even if you DON'T know the song! We played for a time and then went to bed all tired, dusty and happy.

day two (Saturday) awakened to a cool mountain breeze, i woke up and sat in my chair just watching the grounds until Brother woke up. it was awesome to watch - different ones brewing camp coffee and cooking sausages on campfire stoves, but today we also had a plan:-)

we drove to Spokane where the first order of business was finding this little out of the way restaurant we'd discovered a year or so ago - named "dolly's" after the owners little dog...can't think of the breed but they're little and cute...anyway, the atmosphere of this restaurant along with the utter homey-ness of the food made it worth finding again...we had our breakfast then headed off to have our showers at the flying j truckstop...we had PLANNED on doing some "old ladying" (thrift store shopping) but somehow the gambling itch of last night's stickgame stuck and we found ourselves heading over to the casino in Spokane...where we gambled our asses off but fortunately my brother is wise enough to hold on to some stickgame money...

we returned to Wellpinit - singing more songs at the top of our lungs - laughing about even MORE deep silliness...enjoying every single SECOND of this break from the world...got back to the grounds a little after dark...set up our new little cookstove, built a fire and ate the most delicious delectable hot dogs you've ever tasted - in our language these are called "may may" (pronounced my my). went back to the stickgames and played in several games - lost but didn't care...finally across the arena we saw our dear sisters jacky jim and beebas! YAY!!!!! ran over to hug and talk and ended up playing a couple more games with them

we were TIIIIIIRRRREEEED and would you believe it? it started RAINING during our game and none of us had even noticed! we headed back to our little camp tired, voices raspy and although we'd lost, we were FULL of songs and fun...brother says "i'm done...are you done? let's pack up and head out!" i agreed, we'd consumed about all the rich songs and hearty friendships topped with sprinkles of joy and seasoned with loud bursts of laughter that we could, it was time to waddle on home and flop down on our couch! we broke camp in the rain (by the way, our blankets were soaked anyway) and i wondered aloud if perhaps we might get a room on our way...yes, we might! yay! a warm soft room! we hopped into the car after breaking camp when brother exclaimed "Get the Y&*^&*% out!!! do you see what TIME it is?????" i blink and look at the clock- by cracky it's 5:effin30!!!!! WHAT????? no hotel for us! it's just off and home!

we drove part way...napped....drove some more...napped...drove for awhile and got some really sad news that one of our beloved grandmas - a stickgame player no less, had a stroke and had been life-flighted to portland...we sang for her, napped one more time and HOME!!!! it was early afternoon when we got home and ahhhh how amazing that couch felt...we awaited news of our beloved grandma and rested.

you probably don't know this, but the sound of the sun setting over wheat fields in late summer? like a crystal bell...the smell of coolness after a hot late summer day? like rich rooty medicine when you have a sore throat! home is so good.