TIME

Hi! Time has passed. It rained here Christmas day, off and on. cool Saturday was cool, but we did some shopping and came home. Sunday evening we did go to the Native American Church Service. And I found out a few things.

Their leader, a Christian, lives in Plant City, belongs to the Thonotosassa Methodist Church and has given flute lessons, using the old church as his class room. There were several different Native Indians taking the classes and apparently they wanted to have a meeting place. The church lets (or rents, I do not know that) use the church Sunday evenings. There are several different tribes represented, that gather together for this service.



the leader said the service was at 6:30. so we got there about 6:15. Well, this is also a social time. And I talked with a lady and her mother. They had welcomed us back to their service.

They had lived in Anderson. and Pendleton. The mother said her father had worked at Remy. And she wanted to know if it was true that Remy and Guide had been torn down. YEP!



The Service----The leader had a small receptacle that had small animal horns as part of the dish. He put some sage in it, lit it, and then let it smolder. This smoking dish was taken around the room and stopped in front of each person. They wafted the smoke toward them with their hands and then touched their chest, face and forehead. He made a second trip around the room and then took it out. the leader then prayed to the four directions or seasons. E.S.W. and North.



The sermon was about baptism and belief in Jesus. He baptized four people. Then they were ready to do the "drumming" A man got up and said I want to sing a song for (his friend) The friend apparently is in the service and is to leave in two weeks for Afghanistan. So the friend, an older women, 2 other persons stood together. The singer had his small drum and sang. Mostly in Native tongue. And a prayer was said for the mans safety.

And then the drum songs. This time they put the words on the wall so many could sing along. And more got up and danced. The "dancing man" with a head band, necklace and moccasins, was more what I thought of as an Indian dancing. Not really physical, but with more movements and rhythm. I enjoyed this.

Then they had baskets of food that were given away and then a meal. We did not stay for the dinner. It looked good, a usual pot luck. But by then it was almost 9 pm. We old folks were ready to retire. I am sure I left out parts, but that was the general picture.



Saturday night we had a phone call from friends. They were parked at lazy days, about 5 miles from us. so we took off and went to see them. They had thought we were in Indiana. Monday, we met with them, went out to T.G.Fridays for lunch and to Parksdale for dessert. And Parksdale did not have parfaits. Oh, only in the summer. Well, last February was not summer.

The sundaes are just too big. We will have to split one when we go again.

Anyway, we had a good visit with our friends.



Sunday our son called. more news about his bees. he found when cutting down a tree. Will tell more about that another time.



Had calls from our daughter and daughter-in-law. nice. Oh yes, I almost forgot.

WE have new cell phones. And we are trying to get used to them. Basically the same, just a little different. And I have 200 text. Something I have to learn about also.

Talk to you later. jkc