Alaska and Hawaii are the only two states I haven't visited. You're going to have to go to Hawaii next so I can read your travelog and live vicariously through your travels! ;-)

Best wishes for a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Elizabeth! <img src="/images/emoticons/hello2.gif" alt="hello1">

When I was a kid, I thought everyone had horses, because there were like 4 other riding stables around our horse farm.

...when Donald Trump is not only considered a legitimate candidate for the Presidency, but he's the frontrunner!

A League of Their Own

Ygritte

Ypsilanti

Gettysburg

When I was a kid, and walked through the woods behind our farm, I'd wade through the miniature groves of May Apples covering the forest floor each spring. I believed there was a whole world that existed below the thick canopy, and I worried about stepping on tiny people I couldn't see, hiding below the dense leaves of the May Apples as they brushed past my pant-legs. Then in a few weeks, they'd all be gone, along with the tiny civilization they were concealing.

Glaciers approaching?

Introduction: One of the oldest of the epic myths of the ancient world tells the story of the Sumerian Goddess Inanna, and her strange, deadly  journey down to the Underworld Kur, ruled by her older sister Ereshkigal. This tale has survived through the millennia, told and retold in many languages, but no one has ever known exactly why the Daughter of the Moon undertook this...

Added 13 Aug 2017 | Category Poetry | Votes 2 | Avg Score 5 | Views 276 | 2 Comments

Upon the dewy vale alights The misty morning shroud A rustic shack upon the heights Is cloaked within the cloud   I take a breath to view the sight And pause my weary climb While o'er my head the doves alight To coo a song sublime   The moment grabs my aching heart I wish never to leave But knowing that I must depart I make myself believe   That someday will I come again ...

Added 08 Aug 2017 | Category Poetry | Votes 4 | Avg Score 5 | Views 406 | 4 Comments

The wood-spoked wheels of the old Crow-Elkhart began sinking in the soft mud along the shoulder of Route 9W almost as soon as I stopped the car. I had just pulled off the macadam in a panic, at the sharp command of my father. Aunt Alma protested that she was alright, but she was looking rather pale, from what little I could see of her. A towering stack of luggage, all her worldly...

Added 04 Jul 2017 | Category General | Votes 9 | Avg Score 5 | Views 529 | 7 Comments

Pow-wow The word comes to us from the Algonquin language, most likely from the Narragansett word powwáw, meaning sorcerer, or shaman. It is a gathering together of different tribes and clans for spiritual communion, or often, simply as a contest for Native American dancers. Every pow-wow is different, but there are a few important rituals that are almost always practiced during these...

Added 24 Sep 2015 | Category Musings | Votes 8 | Avg Score 4.5 | Views 446 | 5 Comments

Author’s note: Being half-Native American, I have a foot in both worlds, and though I live in one world, my Cherokee grandmother, whom I lost to cancer two years ago, instilled in me a love of my Native heritage. She shared all our stories and traditions with me when I was growing up, and took me to tribal ceremonies. My perspective is colored by everything she taught me from that world because...

Added 20 Sep 2015 | Category Musings | Votes 5 | Avg Score 4.6 | Views 431 | 2 Comments

The Native American tradition is one of preservation. We are many tribes and many clans, but our stories carry on our history. Some have been nearly lost and forgotten, as the young look to the future and forget the past. But these remembrances of the teachings of my Native American grandmother carry on some of the tales given to us from earlier times. This is our heritage. It is, in fact,...

Added 19 Sep 2015 | Category Musings | Votes 8 | Avg Score 4.38 | Views 598 | 5 Comments