A special "Sky lantern" they are lit, fill with hot air and it floats off. The pic on the left is them taking the colors.
I am exhausted. My Native friend who took my under her wing and shared her grandchildren with me, invited me to a memorial service for a friend who lost her son three years ago in Iraq. That means I get up early and go to my friends house and spend three hours frying bread for everyone that was planned to be there. Then we shower because you smell like grease and change and drive down to the grave site. Unlike in Oregon, North Dakotans bury their dead on their property. It was a beautiful, quiet place in the country.
They had guest speakers and members from each military service there. They had traditional food. I have had great experiences when it comes to traditional foods. First, when you go to a Native's house you are given food and something to drink. You cannot turn it down because it would be an insult. They believe that giving food and drink to their guests is to give them good health. SO I learned real early not to eat if I am going to a traditional Natives house. SO if they offer you native dishes you have to eat them. That said, I have eaten buffalo tongue, buffalo kidney, wonderful soups made with chunks of dried meat and squash, and today I had snipe soup. Snipe is cow stomach. YUCK, it does not look to bad and the taste is kinda okay. (Side bar to those who don't know I love sushi and sushimi. My favorite is raw tuna and raw halibut). But the texture and the chewiness is terrible.
They had guest speakers and members from each military service there. They had traditional food. I have had great experiences when it comes to traditional foods. First, when you go to a Native's house you are given food and something to drink. You cannot turn it down because it would be an insult. They believe that giving food and drink to their guests is to give them good health. SO I learned real early not to eat if I am going to a traditional Natives house. SO if they offer you native dishes you have to eat them. That said, I have eaten buffalo tongue, buffalo kidney, wonderful soups made with chunks of dried meat and squash, and today I had snipe soup. Snipe is cow stomach. YUCK, it does not look to bad and the taste is kinda okay. (Side bar to those who don't know I love sushi and sushimi. My favorite is raw tuna and raw halibut). But the texture and the chewiness is terrible.
Oh how they laugh at me. I try to be real polite with all these natives watching me and not make a face or gag as I eat what it placed before me. I have learned to make good fry bread though. If I keep going to traditional meals with Native Americans I am going to loose a lot of weight. At least the peppermint tea was good and the deserts were worth the snipe.
Now for the part that really ticks me off. There is a radical and I repeat radical Baptist church that is going around picketing the funerals and memorials of soldiers. I think they are protesting the war but I am not sure. They have been banned from the reservation so we have been saved the heartache. There is also a motorcycle club that escort families and block protesters from access of the funerals in North Dakota. The motor cycle club was there at our memorial, they had ridden up to ensure there was no problems since we were on the edge of the reservation.
As most of you know, my oldest son served as a Marine and I am extremely proud of his service. I am also a major patriot. My son and those who have served in the arm forces laid down all they had for the freedom that the people of this country enjoy and sometimes take for granted. There is a time and a place for everything and the time to protest the war is not at a fallen warriors funeral. Enough said I am now stepping off my soap box.
