Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving Day I give tribute to Squanto of the Pawtuxet nation, his friend Samoset and all the First Americans (especially Chief Massasoit of the Wampanoag nation) who shared their harvest feast celebration with the poorly equipped and starving Pilgrims in 1621.

I'll be singing all these songs while cooking......

Walela "Cherokee Morning Song" sung in rote below:

We n' de ya ho, We n' de ya ho (I am of the Great Spirit)
We n' de ya, We n' de ya, Ho ho ho ho
He ya ho, He ya ho, Ya ya ya




So, now from absolutely lovely Morning Song to heartbreaking and all so familiar.

Ulali - Lyrics by Pura Fe "All Our Relations" below:

As posted on youtube: The music for All My Relations is based on an Irish drinking song from the late 1700's. Gary Owen is actually the American pronunciation of two Gaelic words that roughly translate into Owen's Garden,(and I do mean roughly) which is or was a place in Ireland where people gathered to drink and whatever. It was listed as "Auld Bessy" at a publishing in 1788 and subsequently attributed to "Jackson of Cork" around 1800. It was adopted by the American military during the 1800's as a marching song. It is often referred to as Gary Owen March or Hale in the States. It was often used by the American military as they marched into battle to kill the Native Americans, most notably by Custer at the battle of Little Big Horn as he marched against the Lakota Nation. It continues to this day to be used by the American military. Pura Fe wrote the narrative that Ulali speaks over the music. We use it as the background of the narrative to commemorate and honor all our relations and others who have died throughout the wars.



Tom Russell and Andrew Hardin "Sitting Bull in Venice"

Sitting Bull toured Europe (including Venice) with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show in the late 1880s.



Peter Rowan's classic "Land of the Navajo" performed in 1990.



Land of the Navajo by Michael Martin Murphey

Oh the wind blows cold on the trail of the buffalo
Oh the wind blows cold in the land of the Navajo
In the land of the Navajo

A hundred miles from nowhere out on the desert sand
One-eyed Jack the trader held some turquoise on his hand
And by his side sat Running Elk his longtime Indian friend
He vowed that he would stay by Jack till the bitter end

Jack had gambled everything he owned to lead this wandering life
He might have had a happy home or a tender loving wife
But his hunger was for tradin' trappers' furs for turquoise stones
Anything the Indians had Jack wanted for his own

Oh the wind blows cold...

Said Jack to Running Elk I'd gamble all my precious stones
Before I'd leave my body here among these bleached bones
For now my time is drawin' near and I'm filled with dark regret
My spirit longs to journey as the sun begins to set

We've raped and killed and stole your land we ruled with guns and knives
Fed whiskey to your warriors while we stole away your wives
Said Running Elk what's done is done you white men rule this land
So lay your cards face up and play your last broken hearted hand

Oh the wind blows cold...

When you're dealin' cards of death the joker's wild the ace is high
Jack bet the Mississippi river Running Elk raised him the sky
Jack saw him with the sun and moon and upped him with the stars
Running Elk bet the Rocky Mountains Jupiter and Mars

The sun was sinking in the west when Jack drew the ace of spades
Running Elk just rolled his eyes smiled and pssed away
Jack picked up his turquoise stones and cast them to the sky
Stared into the setting sun and made a mournful cry

Oh the wind blows cold...

Diamond and Edmund Fitzgerald

The Bonny Ship the Diamond (Traditional)

Oh the Diamond is a ship me lads, for the Davis strait she's bound
And the keys they are all garnished wae bonnie lassies round
Captain Thompson gees the orders, to sail the ocean wide
Where the sun it never sets me lads, and darkness dims the sky

And it's cheer up me lads
May your hearts never fail
While the bonnie ship the Diamond
Goes a fishing for a whale

All along the key at Peterhead, the lassies stand around
Wae their shawls aw poo'd aboot them, and their sawt tears runnin' doon
Oh don't you weep my bonnie lass though you be left behind
For the rose will grow on Greenland's ice before we change our mind

And it's cheer up me lads
May your hearts never fail
While the bonnie ship the Diamond
Goes a fishing for a whale

Here's a health to the Resolution and likewise the Eliza Swan
Here's a health to the Battler o' Montrose and the Diamond ship o'fame
We wear the troosers o' the white and the jackets o' the blue
When we return tae Peterhead we'll hae sweethearts anew

And it's cheer up me lads
May your hearts never fail
While the bonnie ship the Diamond
Goes a fishing for a whale

It'll be bricht both the day and nicht when the Greenland lads come hame
Wae a ship that's full of oil me lads and money tae oor name
We'll mak the cradles for tae rock and the blankets for tae tear
And every lass in Peterhead sing 'hushabye my dear'

And it's cheer up me lads
May your hearts never fail
While the bonnie ship the Diamond
Goes a fishing for a whale



The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot

The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee.
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
when the skies of November turn gloomy.
With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more
than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty,
that good ship and crew were a bone to be chewed
when the gales of November came early.

The ship was the pride of the American side
coming back from some mill in Wisconsin.
As the big freighters go, it was bigger than most
with a crew and good captain well seasoned,
concluding some terms with a couple of steel firms
when they left fully loaded for Cleveland.
And later that night when the ship's bell rang,
could it be the north wind they'd been feelin'?

The wind in the wires made a tattle-tale sound
and a wave broke over the railing.
And ev'ry man knew, as the captain did too
'twas the witch of November come stealin'.
The dawn came late and the breakfast had to wait
when the gales of November came slashin'.
When afternoon came it was freezin' rain
in the face of a hurricane west wind.

When suppertime came the old cook came on deck sayin'.
"Fellas, it's too rough t'feed ya."
At seven P.M. a main hatchway caved in; he said,
"Fellas, it's bin good t'know ya!"
The captain wired in he had water comin' in
and the good ship and crew was in peril.
And later that night when 'is lights went outta sight
came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Does any one know where the love of God goes
when the waves turn the minutes to hours?
The searchers all say they'd have made Whitefish Bay
if they'd put fifteen more miles behind 'er.
They might have split up or they might have capsized;
they may have broke deep and took water.
And all that remains is the faces and the names
of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Lake Huron rolls, Superior sings
in the rooms of her ice-water mansion.
Old Michigan steams like a young man's dreams;
the islands and bays are for sportsmen.
And farther below Lake Ontario
takes in what Lake Erie can send her,
And the iron boats go as the mariners all know
with the gales of November remembered.

In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed,
in the Maritime Sailors' Cathedral.
The church bell chimed 'til it rang twenty-nine times
for each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
of the big lake they call Gitche Gumee.
"Superior," they said, "never gives up her dead
when the gales of November come early!"

joy - pride - relief

The pen was a perfect wet marker. It glided smoothly and effortlessly. I wanted to savor the moment, and so I traced my already completed ovals one extra time for good measure. Walking out of the precinct, I felt an emotional wave of hope and happiness spread over my body. Locking eyes for a moment with another voter, I knew he felt it too. It was a sensation I had never felt before in all the years of casting my ballot. I was a part of something momentous - a shift - a current that would put things back on the right track.

Later that night when Ohio, who had been so wrong 4 years ago, gave their voice to change, I knew history was made. And to hear it be called - the election of Barack Obama as our 44th President. Speechless. It was a moment to weep and to be grateful this mutt of a nation pulled together and finally did good. Tears of joy and pride and relief. America is like little pieces of everyone - every race, every religion, every background, every economic status, every anything one can imagine; like those photos that look normal until you zoom way back and discovery it is actually made up up thousands of individual pictures. For us to overwhelmingly agree to put our trust and faith in Barack is beyond words. He has all the qualities to be a great leader and now he has the support of a nation.

I reached to call my Mother to celebrate, but was stopped short when I remembered she was gone. And then a huge smile overtook my sorrow. She always voted absentee ballot, and those were mailed out a long time ago. Perhaps she mailed it back before she fell; I do not remember seeing it in her papers. She was just shy of 91 -had grown into an enlightened human proud to mark her ballot for a black man. What an inspiration and role model!

I am filled with hope not just for my country, but for all the people of the world. This little blue dot is all we've got. There is a lot of work to be done. But now we have the one thing that had been missing - hope. Come January 20th, to crudely paraphrase Shakespeare 'the 8 long winters of our discontent' will be over. The chill will be around for a while but it's season is over. :)

Charlie from Lewis

Just when life seem predictable again, something wonderful happens.
Conversations with my son on Wednesday and Thursday.

That boy we saw by the green van, he's my friend from Scotland.
Excuse me, did you just say that boy is from Scotland?
Ya.
And he's in school with you? And he's your friend?
Ya, he's been here for a couple of weeks. Is going back home soon on Saturday.
Are you kidding me?
No.
Why is he in Chico and why have you not mentioned this before?
His grandmother lives here and she is really sick. (pausing-warning) It's really sad Mom.
Oh dear. Go on.
She's dying. I don't know what it is but she wants to go home while she can. She might have Alzheimer's or something. She wants to go back while she can still remember. So they came to take her.
(sad)What a bittersweet story. (sad) We are all too familiar with grandmas dying. I feel for them.
I know. It's sad. (sigh) He's here with his parents.
Do they have other family here? (Thinking - community everything in Gaelic culture.)
Not sure but I think so.
Good. They have a lot of decisions to make, especially if she has Alzheimers. Where in Scotland is he from?
Well, I am not absoutely sure she has Alzheimers, but she is dying. He's from some island. Has to take a boat. I think they also have a house somewhere else.
Excuse me, an ISLAND! No way! Did he say which one? Skye, Lewis, Harris.....
I don't know. The one with the "funny rocks"
You mean the standing stones? They are sprinkled all over the islands.
He said people came to see them.
He has to mean Callanish. So, he is from the Isle of Lewis. Stornoway's the big town.
I guess Lewis. Didn't say. Had to take a boat.
Ok, yes the C McB ferry. The far north end of Lewis they call the Butt. Way north of them is Iceland.
The Butt???
Yes, kinda funny. Just like we live in Butte County and for fun we call it Butt. You have Butt in common. (smile)
He has a special paper to be allowed to stay here.
Probably some type of Visa. Pretty cool he's going to school.
Lives in a really old house that belonged to his grandmother's grandmother or something.
Did he say a croft house? Has to be.
Don't know. He also speaks a different language.
He speaks Gaelic son. Have I not taught you! What's his name?
He said to call him Charlie.
"Call him" sounds like he might have a Gaelic name he thinks you can't pronounce so just call him Charlie. (thinking: whom do you belong to) How many classes do you have together?
Just 1st period. PE. He's really good with poetry.
Interesting observation. Yes, poetry is much more a part of their culture than ours.
He said it is really crappy here.
(kids are so honest) I am not surprised - he is from a beautiful landscape. It's home here to us and we love it, but to someone from the islands, not so much so. I can show you pictures of Lewis. They have lots of wildlife like deer, sheep, highland cows, lots of birds, and at one time were over run by hedgehogs, and of course lots of fish.
He said we have too many cars and traffic. Where he is from there aren't a lot of people.
He is right about the traffic. Did not used to be this way though. (sigh)
He did say the girls here are very beautiful.
Aw, how sweet. Well, I am sure all the girls absolutely love his accent and have big crushes on him.
Maybe. He says we talk funny. We talk through our noses. Try it (pinches his nose and talks). See, he's right.
Where is he staying? With grandma?
No, they have an apartment over behind the Holiday Inn. He's leaving on Saturday.
This Saturday! Too bad. You could have invited him over. We could have offered help to his family. His parents must have been working very hard the short time they were here. I was so grateful for the neighbors and friends of my Mom's who looked in on her from time to time. And school has to be really different for him, to be mixed in with kids who also look different like the Hmong and Hispanic. Who does he have lunch with? Did everyone make him feel welcomed? Does he have siblings?
Oh yea, it's all good. No worries Mom. He's really nice and he hangs out in my group. His parents told him it would be really different here, but he says it's not so much so. He likes the fact there are a lot of kids here to make friends with. Their aren't a lot of kids where he is from. There was Hmong guy sitting with his eyes closed and Charlie thought it was a dummy.(smile) He doesn't have any brothers or sisters.
(what great kids we have) I am glad he met you as you can understand what he is going through with his sick grandmother. It is not an easy time for him. And he came a very long way.
It was 18 hours on the plane. We are all reading the same book and it's a really long book, so he'll be ok on the plane back.
Did you tell him you were of Scottish descent? From South Uist? Never mind John from Edinburgh side of the family. Just don't say we ARE Scottish, as he might take it literally and think you're crazy. It's frigging special to come from the Hebrides son. And your Mom knows a bunch about his place on this planet!
Ya, told him my Mom's kinda nutty about it and you have a bunch of books and stuff. I could not remember the name of the place. I did say we were MacDonalds. Charlie said "cool" and that his grandmother was a MacDonald.
Grandma's great grandma was from South Uist son. Lewis is at the top, then Harris, then....
I told him I went with my Mom to hear this Scottish guy Dougie something.
Dougie MacLean son. Hmmm, I think he has a house on Lewis too. (breaks into song ...the old man looks out to the island, he says this place is endless thin....) I am really jealous you know son. I would love to have a friend from Lewis.
Ya, ya, ya I know. It's not that big a deal Mom. I play WOW with people from all over the world.
Well it is to me. What an opportunity! Exchanging ideas and such with someone who lives on the other side of the world. How amazing is that! You could go visit someday and vice versa. He did not get a chance to see much of our country. (wistful)
Sure, I'll get his email address.

Charlie was here to witness the election of Obama as our historic next and great president. What a positive memory for him to share with his friends back on Lewis. And the kids at school included him naturally and without thought they were actually ambassadors of this country. Makes me so proud.