Writing waits until Dishes done.

It is snowing outside, and we, (Dorty
and I), have just finished biking to the Nature Park. It was such a nice day, only a few minutes ago. I am wanting to write this blog but first, I asked Dorty; "Do you want me to help you with the Dishes?". She replied "Well it will get done faster and we can have supper sooner." So this blog will wait for the Dishes. Hehehe... SO NOW DISHES ARE DONE..

This blog is written for Melissa who said she reads everything and like to hear about all the nothings. As I look through the computer for a photo for this blog and find this one of Mellisa, I am told she will say ""FIHTP, Why did you use that picture. Hehehe (the obijway laugh).

Well, as we did the dishes; I turned off the light over the sink so we could look out the kitchen window at the snow in the tree. A native love of nature. As we looked, a Seagull flew by, and I said "I bet that is the big Sh.. on my car..Those damm birds.. I think I am going to buy a BBgun and sit on the pouch and keep them off the hydro line above my car. Well, this is the story that Dorty told me about her life on Bear Island.
"My dad, use to build Bird feeders and put out Seeds for the birds. He hated those big black birds, like crows and black birds. He would sit out there, near the door and watch for them with his Slingshot. To shoot and scare off the big birds... He loved the Chickadees. Even when we moved from the Island to Temagami he would use his BBgun and protect the feeder for the small birds. He would even open the Bedroom window and yell at the big birds or shoot at them." Yes even the natives on the reserve can have a perference of who feeds in his bird feeder.
"There is Don Cherry" dorty saids as the Toronto and Buffalo game is starting. "Babe are you coming to watch this with me?" So this is all the nothings for now... hehehe... But than again I did get the dishes done and I did get that good picture of Melissa posted.. Apaenimohaung (ojibway for "From our hearts" I believe)

Mi- Gweetch Kokomis

Well Dorty is off to North Bay on Friday. Going to help with the first grandchild. so Kokomis finally. (Kokomis is grandmother or old-women in ojibway)
The oldest son of Dorty, Dave always said to his grandmother.. "kua-qua Kokomis". (Hi Grandma) As we grow in the language of Dorty we learn more and more words.
At work, the other night, I was saying to Dorty, as she worked on the other machine; "Qua-qua Kokomis" and she was answering'"qua-qua Shumis" (ojibway for 'Old Man'). with that cute ojibway smile of hers. Hehehe... Photo is the grandfather and grandmother of the APTN children's program "Tipi Tales".

Life Living on an Island

Well, in this Blog I will be telling everyone about my Childhood living on the Island near Temagami, Ont. (Bear Island) that is , which is up in the North country when talking up North I mean about 3 1/2 hrs North of the City of Toronto, Ont.
Yes 3 1/2 hrs. of driving up North is the small town of Temagami , Ont. a town so small that if you blink your eyes going through it you will miss it. That at least is what everyone used to joke about. I would have to say it is a small town of 1,200 population wise. It was a mining town at one time there was a big mine there called Sherman Mine. At that time of the Mine being in Temagami I guess the town was booming then.

But, to get to the access road to go to Bear Island which is on Lake Temagami you have to go about 10 miles south of the Town of Temagami, Ont. and travel up this dirt road to the Landing where all the boats land, this road is called the Mine Access Road, which is a winding road for at least 15 kilometers or more but, for part of that road it is up and down like a roller coaster for a bit at the beginning like coming from the highway I mean
That trip driving down the Mine Road takes all but, at least 20 minutes to get to the Landing then from there you get in a boat and travel across the lake to get to Bear Island which again , the boat ride is about 15 minutes across part of Beautiful Lake Temagami.

I remember coming and Living on the Island, called Bear Island since about Grade 3 , back then living there on the Reserve was like living in the Old days with no running water , no inside washrooms , which meant you had only outhouses then.
That to me was the memory of living on the Island I still have in mind the most of.
Cause, getting up through the night at like 3 am and having to go outside to the Outhouse to go to the Washroom was to me , just not a pleasant memory especially when it was Winter and 35 below zero outdoors.

And you gotta remember the outhouse was not just outside the door we had to walk on a little bit of a path to get there, during Winter was not too bad not too scary I mean. But, during the summer months getting up at that time in the Morning and going to the Outhouse was always to me a little scary as there used to be alot of Bears on the Island , there was always a fear of seeing one on your way to the Toilet.



Another clear memory of Living on the Island is the fact we had no running water and carrying water up the big hill we had in front of our house to get to the Lake was pretty steep I guess in the summer months it was not bad carrying water in a couple of pails up the hill was not too bad but, it was the Winter Months that it was hard because, well first off in the Winter months we had to begin by chopping the hole first in the ice to get it. Then well, at nights you would put a cover on the hole so that it would not freeze up too much overnight to keep the hole open you would put a board over top the hole , but of course if it got very cold at nights then the next morning when you go to get the water again you would usually have to chop the ice away from the hole first , then carry a couple of pails of water up that steep hill to the house.

Once in the house then we had wood stoves back then also so put a pot of water on the wood stove to heat up enough to fill the old bath tub so we could then have a bath.
Yes wood stoves was another memory , there were many days and mornings that I remember we were asked to go outside and split some wood and get a good fire going in that stove to heat the house up on those cold Winter mornings. But, yes all of those good memories of my childhood was part of being an Ojibway Indian. Those memories taught us how we had to work for what we wanted , to me all of those things we had to do growing up there on the Island was to me just good experiences in Life.

Those experiences and lessons My Father, and Mother taught us are now good memories those things teach me to now appreciate everything that Witcha Manitou puts in front of me today.

That to me was just a natural way of living.

Now today you go up on the Island on Lake Temagami and now you will see the difference in living back then to now. On Bear Island now today they have roads all over the Island , It is not like that Island is that huge or anything the size of the Island is 3 square miles. Population wise is probably about 1,000 if that.

They also now today have a Septic system on the Island now and Fire Hydrants also along side of the roads here and there. People on the Island for Transportation they use Four Wheelers to get from Point A to Point B.

Well, that for me is a good start to letting people know of my life growing up the Reserve to which I belong to, good ol' Bear Island on Lake Temagami - Mi- Gweetch Thank-You Merci ... hehehe The little Ojibway laugh at the end.. As my Boyfriend would say. Till later Bye.

Skywalk open for Hualapai Indian

The news has much to do about the way the Hualapai Indian used their reserve on the Edge of the Grand Canyon to show the beauty of their land. With the openning of the long awaited "SkyWalk" yesterday; there was still natives of the Hualapia tribe whom felt that this land was best keep free of the public visit. The Skywalk (see slide show ) opened today and the first person to walk on the Skywalk was Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin whom was the second man to walk on the moon.

This slide show is shown as the way a native reserve poeple can open up the land and sacred places to tourism and live from the land without the need to destroy it. With so many indian reserves being logged, fished and hunted or other ways of destroying the nature; this is a great example of a native poeples insight into tourism.


On a different subject, Dorty and I did a greeting of the day in the woods at 4pm and as we stood on the road and realized that our path was like the road; we were greated by a deer in the middle of the road We had just began to discuss the way our path joined and how we were fighting to follow the path. A turn in the road just a few feet behind us seem to be our past; and the deer, a young of last year, stood in the road to greet us. It seem as if the great spirit was welcoming us up the path we were walking.
We walked to the deer and I was talking (vocal sounds I know deer understand) to him and noticing his reactions. Dorty has quite the force of spirit, as always when I am with her there seems to be something new of nature.

Wonderful Visit Over

Well some poeple are more than luckier than others. Well, for example my Son William and his Girlfriend Samantha were down in Longueuil, Que. visiting with John and I for about 9 Days and when they came down they did not have much in spending money during the time of their stay here but, things went fine.

One day we decided to take the both of them to the Casino in Montreal and I think Witcha Manitou was looking out for them. They were going to be taking the bus home to North Bay, Ont in a couple of days, and they were pretty well out of money.

Well, when we had got there after several levels of parking; and we walked into the Casino; John was telling us to fill out this application to get a Casino card. He said that we could use it to gain free things, while playing at the slots.

John had told William and Sam that it would also give them a Plastic Casion Card as a souvenier to take home with them,
So after we all filled out the applications for the card we then stood in line, my number was 089 and Wiliam was getting his card at nearby service window. Now, to encourage new visitors to sign up for a Casino Card; the Casino have a number from your card, posted up every day, (it is a different number, and when you get to be the lucky player with the number on your card; there is a wheel of MoneyAmounts, that you can spin and have a chance to win Cash.

Well, William was that lucky man that day as he had number 90 on his card. When he got to go up and spin the wheel , he was told he had the chance to win up to 5,000.00. John, Sam and I were standing there watching the wheel go round and round ,as Will had given it a really good spin. It was exciting to see what he was going to get as the amounts were $25 to $250 and a special 10x. If he arrived on the 10x he had a free spin and that amount by 10 times.

Witcha Manitou must have known that they needed some money to spend on there excursion back home to North Bay, Ont. The `10x'passed several times and was coming back for the last time. It passed slowly and stopped immediately after it on $ 150.00.
Such great fortune, at the time when they needed to win they did and we were all very proud of him. Of course, the man in charge of the spin had to yell so everyone could hear. "And we have a big $150 dollar winner."

They were very happy that we had taken them to the Casino cause, therefore if we did not go with that that night they would have not had that chance to win any money at all, so all in all it had turned out to be a good night for William and Samantha.
William did really enjoy being there at the Casino and said he would have liked to stay there a bit longer that evening but, it was a good decision that we did not as they did have spending money on the way back to North Bay, Ont which was good for them to have.

Anyhow William and Samantha are welcome to come back to visit with us anytime they wish to, we would be gald to have them back visiting again not a problem. Mi- Gweetch William and Sam for the Wonderful Visit in Longueuil, Que.

TRUTH "Information or Critizism"

Very often when we read, or hear, something; we apply it to ourselfs. Of course, information is knowledge and we all should learn and change with knowledge. The mistake often made, is in TRUTH,
we learn about our world and ourselves. (photo is the Truth symbol (in which language?) and is interesting information from blogger site http://abc.typepad.com/3blindmice).

But, the difference in learning new a idea;(or information) and being critizism is when we know the writer or speaker. Otherwise, we would just read something (or listen to someone) and apply the information. But by being personal; we don't just read but instead feel the comment is directed toward us. Remember, this blog is just a message board of information and not a "To do List"

Self-Critizism - Too often we critizism ourself; long before anyone else has. We often judge and condemn a fault we have, as the first sign of change. Without seeing our fault we can not move along a path toward being a better person. Self-critizism is bad because we can not get mad at ourselves and defend ourselves from this sort of self evaluation. But, a Anishinabek (good person) is always growning in spirit and the spirit of GOOD tells us that we must change. EVEN WHEN WE ARE VERY HAPPY with WHOM we are.
Recently, two new contributor or writers to this blog are added.It is hoped that they write about their experinences in their seeking the Ojibway path as they too are native Ojibway. (this is a good photo of will and Sam because it is hard to know who is who..(lovers)
But their opinion as youth, and views are to be taken as information and a view. Likewise, with the spirit 'All Mighty' they will not see critizism from fellow writers. Welcome, Will and SAM. Write your way to Anishinabek and a better life.

Morning Prayer And Kitche Manitou

Dorty, today showed me a morning prayer she has started with greeting the day.
Although my teachings to her about the directions and the spirits of our earth; her prayer welcomes the day for the gifts and joys to be received. (Photo is of a drawing by Squidman, a native blogger on http://www.fanart-central.net/pic-69716.html who tells of the story of Kitche Manitou intervention to help Sky women with her loniness)

Dorty has grown in knowledge of Kitche Manitou. (for non-native readers of this blog, Kitche Manitou translates to "Great Creator" and appears in all native cultures using the same words. If you watched the movie "Dance with Wolfs" about the Southern Sioux you would also have heard this name. It is much as Christ appears in all Christian churches)
It was suprising of her first prayer when she first moved down to Quebec. It was a couple of weeks after we arrived and we had looked for her Turtle which was a gift from a friend. I had told her to pray to ask for to find it and although she was slow; a week later it just appeared in front of us. I asked her if she had prayed to Kitche Manitou, and she replied that she had not but just today had asked him to help her find it.
I am amazed at the strenght of her union with HIM because I was one night going to sleep and was in that dream state (between wake and sleep) and talking to Dorty which often happens; and I said things which I had no knowledge about. I realized after I began to analysis the discussion that this dream state communication was a message to me; as Dorty was concern with a recent decision. ( I asked her if she had asked Him for help and she said she had just thougth of it before I started to talk to her from my half-asleep state)
Recalling what had been said and trying to understand the meaning of it and why I sould say those things or even see those images; I realized the decision that was needed and when I told Dorty of the decision she was immediately releived of her worries and sorror. (photo is a color painting called "Dream State" found on http://www.onecloud.nu/Visual/mystique/mystique.html

Kikinowautchi-beegaudae (It shall be written)

The Path of Life

The Path of Life - Today we have three Ojibway visiting Montreal, the land of the Mohawks. It is great to have Sam and William down from the North and so for this blog it will be about the Ojibway "Path of Life"
from Basil Johnston's "Ojibway Ceremonies"
Basil Johnston, Anishnaabe writer, storyteller, language teacher and scholar, was born on the Parry Island Indian Reserves in Ontario, Canada, in 1929. He attended elementary school at the Cape Croker Indian Reserve school until the age of 10, after which he attended St. Peter Claver's Indian Residential School in Spanish, Ontario. He left school for a time before finishing the ninth grade, but soon learned that it would be difficult to support himself without further education. In the meantime, St. Peter Claver's had gained a new Father Superior who reorganized the school as Garnier Residential School for Indian Boys to deliver a secondary school education, instead of as a trade school. In 1950 Johnston graduated valedictorian from Garnier and then attended Loyola College in Montreal where he graduated with honors, earning a B.A. in 1954 (from http://www.hanksville.org/storytellers/BasilJ/)
It was not my intention to make mention of Williams decision to leave school and go to work, which seems to be the path of Mr. Johnston in his earlier years; but his path took him back to school later to become one the most reconized Ojibway authors. (Maybe, Williams path is likewise going to take him back to a educational way.)
Page 134, THE PATH OF LIFE - " Our Ancestors taugh us - and the Midewewin teaches us - that there is a land of souls. In that land there is not sickness, no hunger, no sorrow, no anger and not envy. It is a land of Peace inhabited by men and women of peace. For them there is plenty and confort and joy."
"Our aucestors tell us that only men and women of peace may enter theree. Others will suffer hardship and misfortune and sickness in this life. Or they will be caught in the river that divides the Land of the living from the Land of Souls"
"The Midewewin tells us that we must lead good lives - following the Path of Life. The Path of Life will give us good fortune , good health, and peace of heart in this world; and bring us admission into the Land of Souls"
"And the Midewewin tells us what the Path of Life is. We must honour Kitche Manitou and thank him for life - for the winds, the sun, the waters, and the land we live on."
"We must honour our elders - for they are the recipients of a great gift of long life from Kitche Manitou. If they are slow and febble and sometimes infirm, we must feed them , help them, listen to them and be patient. That is also our destiny. Someday we too wil be old."
"We must honour our elders brothers - the wolf and the bear, the eagle and the robin, the snake and the turtle, the butterfly and the snail, the whitefish and the trout. We must honour the rose and the corn."

To make a comment following this quote from Mr. Johnston's book would be disrespectful, as it is complete and well presented.

Blogs coming out of this..." Midewewin" What is it? Others books of Mr. Johnston (check out http://www.hanksville.org/storytellers/BasilJ/) Balance (rose and corn or eagle and robin)

Mi-gweetch and " Kego gayae" (Watch over us)

Dorty's Stories

During a recent discussion of the early days of living on Bear Island; Dorty discuss the travelling across the lake to school.

It was interesting and I suggested that she write it as a Blog. The previous entry was the result. Ofcourse there is so much to say that Dorty just keep writing and writing.
Walking on Breaking Lake Ice. One of the interesting things which she discussed was crossing the lake to school with her father during the "Ice breakup" or "Ice freezeup". She was talking about crossing the lake with the canoe and walking beside it as the ice was still on the lake but they could easily break through the ice and would then jump into the canoe.
So as Dorty tells it. The canoe had a long poles across the front and back to prevent it from falling through the ice if it broke through.
Each of four kids each walked on each side of the canoe to jump in fast if the ice broke under foot. With her sister and cousins, Dorty walked with her father and his canoe, a 40 minutes walk in freezing spring weather, across the ice to meet the bus on the landing. The native kids did that for their school days (3 or 4 years).

Another interesting thing is the "Ice Road" which is now in place for the past few months; across the lake.
The ice being strong enough to support cars and trucks is cleared by the Island Band's plow. As Dorty tells it. The residence whom travel across the Ice Road during the winter; all know to cross with their windows open in the car or truck. This is because if the ice did break and the car sank into the lake it would be possible to get out the windows. (It appears that under pressure that the windows can not be open) To date Dorty says that there has been no cars lost in the lake even though all the 1000 or more residence use this method of transportation during these three months. (December to March)