This Evening

Haven't written much the last few days, caught me one of them bad chest colds I used to get. Goin to have to remember that I'm not the spring chicken that I used to be back when I used to spend all day running all over this mountain. Might not write too much for the next few days, I have to knock this croup out before it takes aholt of me. Good thing I still remember how to make mustard plasters and my grandma's chicken soup. Bye for now.

February 15th, 2002

Today

Not feeling too much better today, but I'm hoping to get better soon. Sure is lonely here all alone. It's depressing when you get under the weather and can't get down the mountain to see another face. But I've been talking to the Creator and I know this sickness is gonna break soon and he'll have me up and about. I'll try to write again soon.

February 19th, 2002

Tonight

Finally feeling a little bit better tonight. Thank God for family and friends. About the time I was really starting to despair, here comes my Aunt Nellie with the boys. She hadn't seen hide nor hair of me for awhile and she heard that nobody else had either. She come to see what was wrong. She brought them boys with her to do some of my work and they chopped me a whole bunch of wood and carried in buckets of fresh water from the spring. The cabin had not been real warm because I hadn't burnt a lot of wood in case I could not get out to chop more; it is quite toasty in here now. Then they cleaned out the chicken house and fed my stock, carried me in a bunch of collards and cleaned them up too. Next thing they had me out a this bed and sitting wrapped in a quilt in front of the fireplace while they fixed me a new bed. Aunt Nellie shooed them boys out and then put me in a steaming tub. Then she rubbed me down with something that smells like horse linament and hand fed me some cornbread and chicken soup. Sure is nice to be loved. Well she had to get back to her own place, but now that the words out that I'm under the weather, I can count on all the mountain folk to come and see what they can do. This mountains just like one big family. We all look out for each other, it's always been that away. Aunt Nellie left me with a little warm surprise that's soon goin'to have me off to sleep soon (one of her special hot toddies) so I guess I better say my prayers and give my thanks to the Creator. I know tomorrow will be a better day.

February 20th, 2002

This Morning

Today I awoke feeling a little better than I had for awhile, but I'm not going to push it too quick. Wasn't long after sunup that one of Mrs. Anderson's girls was here to clean up the cabin. Mrs. Anderson sent her over to help me through the day. What a blessing. She has just about cleaned this cabin from top to bottom in just a few hours. We just had some tea and now she's putting on some beans and getting some cornbread ready to bake. The way this smells I think I'll be eating good tonight. Bye for now.

This Evening

Well I've sure had a lot of company today. After lunch it seemed like everybody on the mountain decided to come visiting and check on me. Everybody was so nice. It really makes me appreciate what it is like here on the mountain. No wonder I came back here. I've got plenty of foodstores now so I won't have to worry about that. I think I have enough wood chopped to get me through till the end of next winter, all the menfolk came and chopped more wood. Secretly I think they wanted to see who could outdo the other one in chopping before he gave out, but to me, it's a blessing. I'm pretty tired out now, it's been a long day, so I'm off to sleep. Probably won't write for a few days while I try to get well. See you later Journal.

March 10th, 2002

This Evening

Sorry I missed so many days in my journal entries, but things have been hectic around here since I was sick. Had a lot of people to go and visit and say thanks to for helping me in my time of need. I'm back to my old self now with no signs of the croup and I'm feeling pretty good. We had a spell of bad weather while I was sick but now it seems almost like spring has sprung. The weather has continued to be so nice that I thought that I would finish some outside projects and enjoy the unusual sunshine for this time of year. Yesterday I decided that I would continue my work around the spring house so that when the first burst of spring really appears the mountain wildflowers will have a nice clean area to start sprouting. I spent most of the day moving dead timbers, twigs and leaves and was that a whopper of a job. Raking is a hard job, but it does give a person an opportunity to reminisce about pleasant thoughts from yesteryear. When my family lived here, there were four of us and being the oldest child, it was my job everyday to carry in at least six (6) five gallon buckets of water from the spring every night. This meant that I would have to take two buckets, one in each hand, and cross the creek on a footlog to reach the spring on the other side of the stream. One snowy early evening after I got home from school, I went on my first trip to the spring and all the while thinking "I do not want to do this, I am too tired and cold". The mind does play tricks on us sometimes and my thoughts were to figure out a way not to have to carry in the water. As a child of 9 years, I reckoned had a good idea. I went to the barn to get my father's hammer, but being unable to find it I started to return to the spring, all the while thinking. On the way from the barn I found a good size rock and I figured it would do to hit the buckets with til there were very deep dents in the sides and not the ideal container to carry water or anything else in. Well, after tearing those first two up pretty good, I figured I'd best head on back to the cabin to collect the other four. When I got my hands on those four I went to beating them up pretty good too. Now keep in mind that night is quickly falling and it is getting much colder and we didn't have no outside lights. When I did not return home in a timely manner my mother began to call for me because there was no water inside. Well, I didn't answer so then my father came to find me. With my father's gentle Cherokee nature, I believed that he would understand why it was impossible to carry all of that water in those rock-bent buckets. Boy, was I wrong! No matter what the circumstances were my father was a gentle soul and always looked for the right way to address these kinds of problems, because it was important to him to teach his children lessons when they did something wrong. After giving him all of the excuses that I could possibly think of as to why there was no water in the house, I told him that the buckets had been in an accident and couldn't hold the water. So he handed me his lantern and he told me to go to the house and have something to drink and make sure I had on some very warm clothes and then come back to the spring house. It was real dark and cold on that walk all alone back up to the cabin. Later, when I returned just as he told me to, we had a talk. He told me that he really didn't believe that I wanted the family to be without water all during the night and that he would help me figure out a way to make the buckets suitable containers again and he began to show me how I could hit the buckets from the inside and remove the dent. Now about this time it is really getting late and much colder and it started to snow again. Away up on the mountain I could hear a wolf howling and in the large walnut tree close to the springhouse there was an owl that was hooting at me and the world. It was not a good feeling. Then, my father said to me that if I fixed the buckets fairly quick he would leave the lantern so I could see and then he left. There I was, already in tears as I proceeded to beat on the inside of the buckets to staighten them, getting colder, hungrier, and more scared by the minute and feeling so alone. I can't say how long it took me, but I fixed all the buckets, filled them one at a time; because now I had to carry the lantern in one hand and a water bucket in the other. Instead of making the usual 3 trips, that night I had to make six. They were difficult trips, because I was frightened of some rustling noise coming from over at the tree. The incident was never mentioned again and I had promised myself that I would never shirk my duties again, because it only leads to trouble. Years later I found out that the rustling noise coming from the tree was my father, watching out for my safety as he was moving around to try to keep warm. The moral of this story? Responsibilities are best tended to right from the beginning, because if you try to shirk them they will only cause you more problems down the road. Since I had finished my reminiscing and my raking, I decided to go in and fix some supper. After that I needed to speak to Creator again to thank him for giving me my wonderful family, for although my folks are gone now I'll never forget them. A few days may pass before I write again, depending on the weather, if so, I will try to remember another story while I work, to share with you next time.

March 17th, 2002

This Morning

Well today dawned early and cold and along with it God had decided to give the mountain a shower. Looks like today I'll be staying in out of the rain. I sure don't want to get down with that croup again. I've done real good with my outside chores the last few days so I can afford a day to do inside things for a change. I think it is time for another pot of beans and I will bake some sweetbread for the Anderson family. I think tomorrow I'll take the day off and go a visiting on the mountain. That is if it's not still raining. First I'll go to the Anderson's with the sweetbread, the children really love it and Mrs. Anderson and I can visit a little while since I haven't seen her since I was sick. I also want to see if I can purchase some of that sugar cured ham from Mrs. Anderson. It is hard to get to the store, and it is always nice when your neighbors can earn a little extra money by selling some of their produce or meat, and it helps me too. Then, I'll have to go spend a little time sitting with Aunt Nellie. Haven't seen her either since I was sick and I know she misses me a lot. I'm going to have to start getting over there a little more often. The Clayton's live down the road from Aunt Nellie and I'll drop in on them last on my way back up the mountain. Used to go to school with Sally Clayton and we've got a lot of girltalk to catch up on. I'll want to go home the long way again cause I still haven't seen any of the wolves yet on the mountain and that sure is strange. I wonder whats happened to them. Well I've got a lot of work to get done for my journey tomorrow so I've got to go now.

March 18th, 2002

Today

I had a wonderful day. It felt so good to be off on the mountain without a care in the world. It was unusually warm again today and the rain yesterday washed everything clean and new. I saw wildflowers and wild bulbs springing up all along the mountain already. I sure hope we don't get another spell of cold weather to ruin them. They are so beautiful and I'm ready for spring. Had me a good visit with everybody. They are all fine and everybody was glad to see me. Got a whole ham from the Anderson's and we had the best tea with honey in it. I just love herbal teas, and mountain folk can brew some of the best. Sally Clayton and I sat and worked some on her quilt and it was fun. Hadn't worked on a quilt with anyone else for many a year. She says now that I'm back we're going to have to make a regular time of it to sit and stitch and jaw with one another. That Sally always did know how to make me laugh. Well I headed home before dusk fell, but still didn't see any sign of my wolves. I'm gonna have to get into town soon and do some investigating. Some things are just not right. Thank you Creator for another blessed day.

March 19th, 2002

This Morning

Old rooster must have started crowing as early as 4 a.m. and try as I may, I just could not drift back off to sleep. I tossed and turned and watched the day break without a lot of sunshine dancing on the window. Instead, it seemed as though a misty veil of blues and purples had gathered around all of the trees and created a beautiful canopy over this corner of the world. As the day grew lighter I could see sunbeams peeking through the veil adding a sprinkle of gold to the canopy. I'm off down the mountain to the library to do some research on my family history paper. I think I'll stop off at the store and pick up a few items I'm about out of before I head back.

This evening

While I was walking down the mountain, I saw a butterfly and it reminded me of a story that I had read pertaining to The Papago, a Southwestern tribe closely related to the Pima. It's a story about the creation of "Butterflies" known also to some as "Flutterbies" and I would like to share it with you. It is one of my favorite stories............................. Now wasn't that a wonderful story. On that note I'll say my prayers to the Creator and Mother Earth and head to bed.

My Second Book of Journal Entries

Many Trails of Tears

Kateri's Cabin

Journal Book 2

 

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