The Old West

I am a Western fan and I think I have seen every cowboy movie that came out of Hollywood. Many a Saturday morning I would turn on the TV and find the channel with the old spaghetti westerns and watch the white hat hero kiss the horse instead of the girl . . . although time did take care of that as the shy hero became older and wiser.

These pictures are true pictures of the old timers who looked for gold in the Dakotas back in the eighteen hundreds. The three working with the sluice box look like they knew what they were doing as opposed to the poor old miner that only had the round gold pan to use. No matter what they were determined and hard working and for some both small and large fortunes were made.

How do you like the mode of travel. I cannot imagine having to ride in a stage coach and bounce over the dirt roads for miles. It had to be uncomfortable and a very rough ride . . . oh, my back! I can almost feel it as they bounce around.

That is some scene showing a large Indian village. How much we could have and should have learned from them as they were the true keepers of the earth. I was fortunate to be invited to visit an Indian reservation for the Piemsha Festival in Washington State some years back. I wrote a story poem about it.

The tribes gather/from near and far/ to sing and dance/with drums beating fast/ a time to celebrate/and renew the past.

First a dance for the elders/respect and love are shown/as the younger members of the tribe/dressed in feather headbands of old/honor them with a dance/vigorous and bold.

Homes on the reservation /painted white and very small/water hauled up from the well/where rattle snakes abide/ Father is the leader/who invites you inside.

A day of wonder/scents and smells/A day of laughter/All is well.

So today, a bright and beautiful Thursday, get up and go outside and take a walk around the block and take a peek at the flower gardens in your neighborhood. If there are none, then stop in at the grocers and buy yourself a bunch of your favorite flowers and take them home and use that vase that just sits in the dark closet . . . bring it out and fill your room with aliveness and the beauty of nature, then turn on the TV and see if there is an old cowboy movie on, sit back and enjoy. You will increase your attitude a hundred fold. Hugs to all.