Powwow

I went to my first big powwow in North Dakota. It was fantastic. The dancers were wonderful and their outfits were spectacular. This gentelman let me take his picture because I had on my t-shirt that says "The few the proud the Marine Moms." He and his wife were selling beautiful handmade jewelry. I bought myself a beautiful tourquise and silver neclace. The tourquoise are carved into bears. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love bears. I toured the little town of New Town and we ate at the casino. I took pictures all over. I saw some of my students there. They did not seem happy to see me. I must be doing something right. I have to be tough for at least the first part of the year and hopefully I can loosen up soon. It did kind of hurt my feelings though. My teacher friend that moved from Vancouver WA the same time I moved from Oregon teaches art for all the grades. All the students said hi to her and were happy to see her. But I understand I can't be a pal right now I have to teach them life skills and they don't like the unfamiliar structures. I can only hope that they reflect on the year in the future and see how much I cared and that they in turn will say hi to me in the halls when they are no longer in my class. It is nice to have a three day weekend and to have had company for a night. My teacher friend and I did not know each other till we met the day before orientation began. We have been fast friends ever since.

In the pictures I have attached here and at flickr, the native outfits are hand made. The bead work is all sewn by hand and they cannot dance until they have completed their outfits. At one point of the dance competition everything came to a halt because an eagle feather fell off a dancer's headdress or fan and was found laying on the ground. No one but an elder who has permission through a ceremony can pick up an eagle feather. So we waited until an elder was found and a short ceremony of the elder picking up the feather very reverently and giving it back to the owner was performed. It was a very serious matter. I found it very interesting.

I am still on the hunt for a pair of moccasins for my grandson. All that was for sale during the Powwow were beautifully beaded but also priced right for the work and above my price range for my grandson to wear. So on I look. I have heard of a couple of other places to go look.

Today (Sunday) as I write this it is sunny, warm with a nice breeze and except for my windchimes it is very quiet. I am told we are in fall. There are a few leaves that have turned, not as colorful as Oregon. We have Elm here and they change to yellow but I have only seen a couple of leaves turned. To me it is a beautiful Indian Summer. Friday night I went to dinner with my neighbor. We ate at a place called Tabacco Gardens. We asked how the place got its name and were told that Lewis and Clark camped there and thought they found tabacco growing so they picked it and smoked it and discovered that it was only a weed they found.

The cafe is in a resort where there is rv and camping spaces, little bunglos and a boat launch. The water is from an inlet from the little Missouri and this is the first year it has been reopened. For several years this inlet and this part of the Little Missouri has been dried up. Along the banks in the water you can see tops of elm trees that had grown up while the inlet was dry and now stand in the water. It looks like the Columbia when it is high and the trees along the islands are standing in water. It is not as big as the Columbia but has the same look where the trees are. My neighbor did not know why this place had been dried out for so many years. It could have been because the Corps of Engineers decided to divert the water to South Dakota or the snow melt in Montana was not enough to feed the tributary.

My brother and his wife will be here soon. Oh another highlight now is I finally will have TV tomorrow. The satelite people will be coming out to hook me up. It will be nice to have a little company via TV to occupy my evenings when I finally get home. I have made it through two weeks with students and this is my first weekend off. I am starting to settle in and love it where I live. I like walking to work but I do find I need to leave town occasionally to get away from the shadow of my work.

One more thing before I sign off. On Thursday, I found a wasp in my spare room. No biggee he probably got in when I walked in. Then when my friend and her daughter came to spend the night after the powwow I had three wasps inside and a milipede. They slept in the living room last night and today I began smashing wasps, I killed six or seven and another millipede. I thought they were getting in through the hole in the wall were the cable for the satelite came through the wall. Then we looked and two of my double hung windows the top of the windows had slid down and of course they were the windows without screens or storm windows. Luckily my friend is tall because I am not. She was able to shut the top and we locked the windows and now no more bugs. I am glad because I lost at least a half hour of sleep last night trying to figure out how I was going to drive 35 miles to Watford City get a bug bomb, bomb the house and air it out before I drove back to Watford City to meet my brother and his wife. Then I remembered that Watford City is closed on Sundays except the gas stations and a couple of restaraunts. Such is life in the boonies.