Rock Mushrooms

I found these growing in my back yard. At first (top pic) they looked like rocks. But as they grew (bottom pic) they started to look more like a brain. I think they are puffballs. But I have as of yet been able to definitly identify them!

Monument Valley

In Arizona you find Monument Valley, a place of weird landscape and puzzling erosion.

Purple Loosestrife

This is purple loosestrife growing along a road on the St Regis Mowhawk Indian Reservation, in up state New York. Purple loosestrife is a very pretty plant but considered invasive as it is not natural and will take over wet areas quickly.

A note of interest....the Mowhawk call this area not St Regis, but Akwesasne, where the partridge thumps.

Etowah Mounds

Etowah Mounds, in Etoway, Georgia.
These are thought to be burial mounds....but in the past religious ceremonies were held here above the villiage that surrounded the mounds.

Crazy Horse Memorial

These are the models of what Crazy Horse and his horse will resemble when done. The original sculptor is now dead, but the work is carried on by his wife, son and others.

Crazy Horse Memorial

On a rainy misty day in September we went to the Crazy Horse Memorial. We could barely see it through the mist and rain, but it was still majestic.

Old Cherokee Style House

In Glencoe, Alabama sits this old Cheokee style house.

It is a pass through dwelling. Meaning that there is a center passage down the middle from front to back. There are doors on both inside walls...one leading to the living area, and one leading to the sleeping and storage area.

Cliff Dwellings

These are cliff dwellings in Canyon de Chelley, Arizona.
I was surprised to find them sitting on the canyon floor.

The Seven Pointed Star

This is the seven pointed star at the Tallequah Couthouse in Tallequah, Oklahoma. Each point of the star represents one of the seven Cherokee Clans.

ANI-GI-LO-HI The Long Hair Clan

A-NI-SA-HO-NI The Blue Clan

A-NI-WA-YA The Wolf Clan

A-NI-GO-TE-GE-WI The Wild Potato Clan

A-NI-A-WI The Deer Clan

A-NI-TSI-S-QUA The Bird Clan

AN-I-WO-DI The Paint Clan

Tallequah Courthouse

This is the Tallequah Couthouse, in Tallequah, Oklahoma. It is the seat of the Cherokee Nation in the west.

Sequoya Statue

This is a statue of Sequoya, the Cherokee man credited with single handedly developing the written language of the Cherokee People. This statue rests at his homestead in Oklahoma.

The Cherokee are the only native tribe to have developed their own syllabary and therefore have their language written in its own 'alphabet'. Before the Trail of Tears the Cherokee had published the Bible written in the syllabry, had a newspaper that was written in both English and Cherokee, and had developed a school system for the children.

Sunrise at Mt Blanca, Colorado

A few years back we lived at the foot of Mt Blanca, in the San Louis Valley, of Colorado. We lived at 8,000 ft and Mt Blanca towered over us at 14,000 ft.

East is to the right of this picture, I was facing north to see Mt Blanca.

Mt Blanca is the eastern most moutain of the Sacred Mountains of the Navajo.

Wounded Knee Memorial

This is the entrance to the Wounded Knee memorial in the town of Wounded Knee, on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

This is the place where the massacred peoples were laid to rest