More Adventures at St Labre 1st August

I was up at 7am again this morning. Nicky was already out running. I made tea and climbed the hill behind the trailer. The air was still and cool in the early morning. Lame Deer, lay like a teenager, underneath its duvet of sleepiness. Dogs barked and the odd car crawled along Cheyenne Avenue. I sat a while drinking it all in. Finally I walked down the hill and over to the club.

We went to Ashland in the afternoon and visited the museum , church, replica of the first Missionary School on the site and the modern High School. The wooden log cabin of the last century contrasted starkly with the school that's used today. The school staff were busy preparing the buildings for the return of the students. The smell of floor polish was overwhelming. On the walls were framed photos of the various years graduates, back as far as the 1940/50s. Each face telling a story of hope or expectation- it was looking at a physical expression of Blake's songs of innocence and experience.

News arrived that Deshanda had gone into labour (and I couldn't help remembering leading our first exchange to Lame Deer and meeting Deshanda as a 13 year old) and Emma will be a great grand mother! Emma quipped that all she needed now was a great grandpa!

Emma told me the story of Kino- the fruit machine at the casino. Her grand children would ask where she was going, and she'd tell them she was off to visit Kino. After a while they said to her, "Grandma, we don't like you going out with Kino. Everytime you go out with him, he takes all your money!" They thought Kino was her boyfriend!

The arrow I made was hoisted onto the sundance lodgepole and Emma says that the dancers were really pleased with it.

We didn't see Emma tonight as she was visiting Dee in the hospital. So we cooked nachos and watched "Little Miss Sunshine". I talked to George on the telephone tonight.

Thurs 2nd Aug

I woke up early again thinking of home and the last time I was here. How different everything is this time.

Otis looks like he's been bitten by a Wolf spider and has a large painfully red blotch on his arm. We went over to St Labre again today and I took the opportunity to buy some books. While I was at the shops with Nicky, Kaz rang Cassie and lost the opportunity to speak to her.

As I walked back from the shop a couple of horses meandered across the highway as casual as you like. Everyone is excited and looking forward to going to Rocky Boys Rez in the north of Montana visiting George.