Drums of Summer

Pam and friends joined me to watch an Elementary School presentation that was hosted by the radio.  I took tons of pictures but between being up on the bleachers so far away, the fact that they were dancing, and it getting dark most of my pictures didn't turn out so well.

It was a great event.  The students performed traditional dances for the community.  The Elders showed up to hand out pass along cards, say hello to members, and watch the dances.  I spent part of the night hanging out with other teachers, another part with the Elders, and then another part of the performance I was with Pam.

I Saw a Coyote!

This makes the second coyote I've seen inside teacher housing.  It ran right in front of me in the road, it was SO close to me.  It was a fast runner, by the time my camera was out this was the best shot I could get.

I think its funny that a Navajo would have considered it a bad omen and turned around, but me, I grab my camera and jump out of the car.

New Shed

Pam and I got a storage shed and it has been in the box for weeks now.  Finally last night the neighborhood banded together to get it built.  I compared it to an Amish Barn Raising since it seemed like the whole neighborhood was there.  Other people said it was like Extreme Home Makeover.

Either way I am grateful to have such good neighbors who are also co-workers.

Apache Crown Dancers

This band, Troubadour was the opening act and they sang old fashioned country music.

The red arm bands with the feathers represent their pride in their apache blood.

This dancer in front wears a headdress that is symbolic for the direction West.

The dancer to the far right in the photo wears a headdress that is symbolic for the direction North.

This dancer's headdress is based off of the antlers of a deer, the movements he makes are therefore based on the movements of a deer as well.  If I remember right his headdress also represents the direction of South.  The singer and drummer is half Navajo and half Apache and actually grew up pretty close to Pinon in Rough Rock.  He's been involved with the group since he was six.  All of the dancers in the group are related to him on the Apache side.

The dancer with the white body paint is supposed to symbolize the clown of the group.  Although the drummer was the funny one as far as the crowd was concerned.  The drummer teased this poor dancer, the youngest of the group throughout the entire performance.

The biggest dancer had the biggest headdress, which symbolized the rising sun and the direction of East.

It was a great night.  Apache Crown Dancing is a style of dance.  The dancers begin in a line then circle up, move into another line and then into another circle.  Most of the dances mainly look the same but have enough variation that you don't get bored.  If you have the chance to see this style of dance do it, it's worth it.
The very last number that they did for us was a sacred blessing.  They asked us to turn off all electronic devices and put cameras away.  So I have nothing from that dance.
I am looking forward to this Thursday, it's going to be the Drums of Summer!  Basically the football field is going to become a giant Pow Wow.  The only thing I don't like about it is that it is going to last all night, which means that I am probably not going to sleep.  Why are we doing this on a school night?

Pinon Road Signs

Here are some close up and distance pictures of the only two street signs that I know of on the dirt roads, Big Tree and Stop Sign Tree.
I spent a lot of time making fun of Big Tree when I was in Illinois for the wedding.  "Now these are big trees," I'd say.  I took Pam, Angela, Emma, and Bill Jones to see Big Tree the other week.  It is one of the biggest trees in this area for sure, but for us, it really isn't a big tree.  Bill was pretty funny, "Of course its a big tree, it was spray painted on!  Everything's true if someone spray painted it!" 
Maybe Medium Sized Tree would be a better name.  Either way there is a dirt road behind the tree, which is, of course, Big Tree Road.
Stop Sign Tree also has a road behind it.
These trees have always amused me and I've been planning on posting them for months now.
Finally, I have Big Tree and Stop Sign Tree on my Blog.

Hope the Cat on a Road Trip

On our last trip to Flagstaff together we took Hope to the vet.  He's only .6 pounds but he's really grown since we've got him.  He's five weeks old in these pictures.  The vet showed us what a five week old kitten is supposed to look like, it dwarfed Hope by at least five times.  He's growing though and he's healthy, just tiny.