Before the wedding,

there was a trip back to Rosebud.

The same 15 hour car ride through the heartland...

Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and South Dakota.

Once there,

there are always things to do to make a difference.

 There are always friendships to be deepened.

 There are programs that deserve our support,

our time and our muscles (such as they are.)

 

Firewood for the Elders project has been a life saving endeavor for the past 5 years.

Since it started

reclaiming dead wood from tribal and private land in the summer,

splitting the wood and distributing it to families 

during harsh SD winters,

not a single person has frozen to death on the reservation.

It's hard for those of us who live in centrally heated and insulated homes 

to imagine how common that occurrence was on the reservation

before this program started.

While much of the wood is split with a gas powered splitter, 

we all got the chance to use a wedge and sledge hammer

like some poor, but stronger, ancestors did in the past.

(The experience, for some of us, was an amusing FAIL of eye/hand coordination

I only posted images of those who were good at it!).

But it wasn't all work.

South Dakota was in full late summer glory -

and we reveled in it.

 

I loved seeing the wild sunflowers growing alongside the cultivated ones

and the reminder that we all bloom at different times.

What you'll notice missing 

are many images from PowWow and the Fair.

It was the same glorious display of culture and history;

the same dazzling array of bead-work, sound and tradition.

After taking a few pictures,

I realized that what I really wanted was to just be present to it all;

to be in the moment and experience it 

without the lens of the camera.

So I put the camera back into my purse and

enjoyed every second of the evening.

Sad truth, 

I THOUGHT I put the camera back in my purse;

I actually must have missed the purse opening 

and the camera must have fallen down onto the ground

right beside my purse.

But, since it was night and the camera was black and small,

I didn't notice it was missing until I got back to the dorm.

Checking the next day with Security and at the pawn shops in town

were unsuccessful.

The camera that accompanied me to Ireland, Spain and Cuba 

and on all my local excursions 

was gone.

Through my own negligence, but upsetting nonetheless.

After stewing for a few hours,

I reconciled myself to buying a replacement when I got home.

And I did.

Just in time to practice with it at the wedding last weekend -

enough to feel confortable taking it with me on my next trip,

next month.

Life marches on,

whether you capture it with a camera or not,

am I right?

God willing, there will be other Pow Wows to capture.

There was a wedding this weekend

It didn't involve anyone famous.

You probably were unaware that it even took place.

But I need you to know that it gave me hope.

In a world in chaos,

seemingly bent on its own destruction,

2 imperfect people thought it was the perfect time

to commit to a future together.

And those of us who love them rejoiced.

So many of my thoughts, observations and feelings 

during the festivities

can be summed up in the poem below

by William Stafford.

There’s a thread you follow. It goes among

things that change. But it doesn’t change.

People wonder about what you are

pursuing.

You have to explain about the thread.

But it is hard for others to see.

 While you hold it you can’t get lost.

 Tragedies happen; people get hurt

or die; and you suffer and get old.

 Nothing you do can stop times unfolding.

You don’t ever let go of the thread.

It's a wonderful reframing of the observation that

so many of us 'are hanging by a thread'.

May you all be so lucky.