Wednesday, July 14, 2010

In the City


Well Coga and I are in Regina, for the next couple of weeks. I am staying close to home to be available with any help people need for Batoch, and my late father's Memorial Fiddling Contest.

For those who are unaware, my father passed away on Jan 1, 2009. My family is sponsoring a Memorial Fiddling Contest to celebrate his life and to honor his memory. Dad was a great and avid fiddle player, so many of my fondest memories include the sounds of a fiddle and guitar in the background.

I can re-count many instances where our family was at a gathering or Pow-wow and my old dad would be sitting at the camp site playing his fiddle. Naturally a crowd would gather and of course Dad would have made more friends!

Anyways I am up for a coffee this week if anyone is interested... Thanks and have a Great Day all!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Back to Reality...

The end of a wonderful and well deserved vacation, this last week was truly a great time…
Wednesday
We took it easy and lazed about swimming and watching television for most of the day, later in the day around 5:30 we went down to the beach and hung out around the ocean. Apparently there was a 5.4 Magnitude Earth Quake, we didn’t feel a thing…
Thursday
More beach and hangin out downtown at Coronado City… Grabbed a picnic lunch and had a meal by the ocean. Rented a double seat Tram bike, however it went bad when Coga had an accident and got his foot caught in the spokes! Lesson Learned: Never try to get off a moving vehicle, and always, always listen to mama! More swimming at the hotel, then relaxed and watched a Shrek 3 movie on the big screen at the Hotel… Lowes is a great kid friendly hotel for anyone who is interested in vacationing with children. Coga was actually wishing to go to the “Kids Club” (babysitting service)!
And while I’m sounding off about Lowes I want to give a shout out to Sam & Jessica at the Market Café who are the friendliest and helpful staff members at the hotel! I truly appreciate the way in which they got to know my son and I, and greeted us for breakfast everyday!
And of course I cannot forget “Cory” our first friend here on vacation! I want to say thanks and when you come to Regina, give us a call and we will show you our Canada, from a 1st perspective!
Friday
Wow! So it all begins with us going for our brekkie at the Market Café and then off with Cory to the Ferry landing. We went on the USS Midway Tour! I didn’t think it was possible but it took the whole day! What a huge ship! Wow! There is so much to see! I will post pics in a slide show when I get home as I have no adapter, (opps)…
Then we went to the ferry landing and got some Taco Bell and had a picnic on the beach. Coga made some friends once again and played in the surf! Then back to the room and back to the pool, then off to bed and fly out in the morning…
Saturday
As I write this we are in the Lowes Lobby waiting for our faithful driver Cory to take us to the airport… Then it’s fly out and off to real life… sigh… at least we’ll always have our memories! Coga want’s to come back next year, and next year we’ll know what to expect!
Ok so now I’m on the plane, landing at Regina, guess I’ll be home in a few minutes back to the soil of Southern Saskatchewan… Missed my friends family and pets… Buddy n Mooch…
It’s good to be home… safe n sound…
Wait is there really a Tornado Watch for today????????????????

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

crazy week

Wow what a hectic week! On Friday July 2, I had a most eventful day.
1. After a whole week of gathering support and building a web site I submitted an appeal for a re-election of our Band’s Chief & Council...
2. Got home and found my bedroom things completely re-located – apparently my lease is up and I am required to move… so my landlady took it upon herself to move all my belongings to my motorhome. Classic scene from any comedy, my landlady is my mom and I’m 41 years old… LOL
3. Then at 5:18 pm a F3 Tornado Raged through my unexpecting little community and devestated nearly all the homes in the Bay at the end of my street. We were fortunate we were unscathed.
4. At 10:18 PM my family fled the impending disaster as we discovered that there were 3 other Tornado’s in the area and an alert was posted, we drove fast to Regina and stayed at my sister’s house.
Saturday July 3 – Regina
On Saturday morning the whole event seemed surreal, I mean you read about disasters abroad or happening to strangers, It never happens to me! So all day I was in a Daze! I ended up meeting my brother’s grandson for the 1st time, he truly is a cutie lil Munroe… I went out and got travel medical insurance, I also got last minute items for my trip… It’s a good thing in my excitement to leave that I was pre-packed what with my room disappearing and the tornado, I would not have had a thing to leave with… hell I couldn’t even find my toothpaste…
Anyways I got to sleep about 10:00 pm and woke up 3 times during the night…
Sunday July 4 – San Diego
We got up at 4:30 am and left the airport at 6:00 am – Got to the Lowes Coronado Resort Spa at 2:00 pm… Long Day, hectic week, we ended up crashing out by 8:00 pm… Not much excitement other than plane turbulence and witnessing Coga’s excitement as the plane took off… He was screaming “Butterflys! Butterflys! Butterflys!” the whole way taking off! When we got to the airport we met Cory a Town car driver who was quite helpful with our adventure! Then when we arrived at the hotel, we hit the pool and then exhausted had a snoring session, completely missing all the Independence Day Celebrations around us…
Monday July 5 – San Diego – Lego Land!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The day my son has been waiting for his entire young life… We set out at 7:00 am. Cory the same driver who picked us up from the airport, drove us to Lego Land and picked us up. The whole park is quite amazing, I think we went on only 4 rides, mostly my son enjoyed interacting and playing with the other kids making structures and building stuff… there was racing, and driving cars and being in a Nerf – blaster house where he shot at other guys (anyone who knows him knows this is right up his alley) then there was the WATER PARK!!!! 3 hours at the water park! Totally the best part of the day! And then some more rides and shopping! Exhausting… but totally worth it!
Tuesday July 6 – Tijuanna Mexico!
We left for the pier at 7:15 am and were ½ hour early, so we waited and just hung out! When the bus got there we met our driver Juan and left… Juan told us many things about the Mexican history of Tijuanna and also of the Culture. We went down town and entered a shopping Market place… very high priced for what I expected… Getting through the border was very intimidating…. The Border Officer we spoke to did a thing where he looked at our Passports, swiped them and then seemed to consider them for about 5 minutes. We provided our Treaty Status Cards and he asked what they were? So I informed him and then he asked my son if he spoke his language, so my son told him yes he did, then finally after much scrutiny he let us pass… too stressful!
When we got back from Tijuanna, we went on the Big Splash – Bus/Boat Tour to visit the seals in the San Diego Bay… we were able to see the Marines base and watch the helecopters fly overhead…
Took a ferry ride home and then a taxi back to the resort… Another exhausting day…
Wednesday July 7 – Today…
Sat here and blogged, my son is playing in the room, we are just chillin, probably go out in a bit for a bite to eat then out to tour some things on our 3 day Go Card…
Should be ok…
I will blog more later…

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Re-election

Yep tis true, I am stirring the pot, something must be done in my community! We tolerate alot, but that must end, it's time for our people to rise up and say NO MORE!

Meetings and Perdiems, Renovations on Band Council Members Homes while our Elders suffer in unlivable conditions!

Has anyone ever visited my auntie Dorothy? She has raw sewage in her basement, it's been like that for a year! Yet one newly elected band councilman has found it in the budget for New Siding on his home!


What about the roads??? Is it too much to ask that we at least have some fresh gravel?


When are they going to care for us? I have been waiting...
I am done waiting...

The watch dog must be on gaurd! Check out the new website at: www.atim-o-chisk.yolasite.com


I hope we can make an effective change! Creator willing!