Reznjun

been to busy to blog. been at the gathering. it was nice. i enjoyed everything. i met alot of potawatomis that i know and got to visit with them. i took many pictures. i even taped the hand drum contest. got some good footage,  i may post some on my facebook page. we have some talented potawatomis.

the thing with indians is often we can finish each others sentences. we got a common bond.  some are alittle insulated from things though but  for the most part our experiences are the same. we can relate to each other.

i shared a stand with some of my kin. we did alright. i sold a coupla hand drums and a sweat lodge drum. i have a few orders for drums. lotta people looked at my roaches i had. i sold one. a friend wants the big one with 10 inch hair in front.i enjoyed just sitting by the stand and watching people go by. i got to visit with many of them. it was good that so many of our tribe got to put up a stand. the price was very reasonable. it is a bit too steep at our own pow wow for tribesmen to put one up. we have many artists in our tribe, they got to show their crafts to people. again we have many talented people.

i camped out as usual. it is always good to sleep on the ground now and then. that puts you in touch with grandmother earth. since meals were provided we didnt cook much. we did have some friends over for one meal though. on saturday they had a traditional meal. so we came home to fix pumpkin and pugnah. that took all day. i made a fire in our outside fireplace to cook the pumpkin on. the temperature was in the nineties so it was hot getting it ready. we werent the only home folks that cooked for that big meal. many others cooked so our guests could sample some of our traditional foods. it was better than the catered foods available. by far, i always say our women and men are some of the best cooks around.

i like the camp experience. kinda got bummed by a few minor things. some of my relatives just dumped their kids off at our camp. they were left unsupervised. that aint cool, especially having young girls wandering around after dark. i must be just too old fashioned. some  young people are just too inexperienced. i told them to clean up their own mess. they didnt. i got tired of picking up their trash.  i would hate to see their homes. i know my relatives were taught better than that. young people need better guidance than that. it begins with the parent. how the kid is reflects on what kind of parenting they had.

i volunteered many hours at the gathering. i worked all morning registering people one day. i wanted to do that so i could greet people. i made many of them smile. an old couple couldnt put up their tent so i helped do that. there wasnt any golf carts left by the time i got done so i didnt get to drive one. they had many volunteers for that. i gave an invocation at the youth conference.

our desire to go green didnt go over too well. our people made dish bags for our guests to use. they were filled with a dish, cup, utensils and other gifts. many guests left them at the hotels. so they had to use paper plates etc. we were trying to get away from that. indians should be attuned to that kind of effort. we cant trash our home.

i have to help at several ceremonies for the next few days. we started last night. then i have to catch up with chores.