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Pink Motel in Cherokee, North Carolina (2018) 🎀🧚♀️
Pink Motel, located on the Cherokee reservation, opened in 1953 . 💖 Lois Queen Farthing originally owned/operated the motel and gave it a pink theme. 🌸 The fairy on the motel sign was inspired by Tinkerbell because she was her daughter Lyna’s favorite character. ✨
❤️ Wikimedia Commons
❤️ Wikimedia Commons
Greetings and welcome to my humble corner of the digital realm.
I am Alexander, a 66-year-old liver transplant recipient, currently undergoing chemotherapy for lymphoma. Sounds worse than it is - not planning on going 'tits-up' anytime soon. Residing in the remote stretches of the Cherokee Indian reservation near Scraper, Oklahoma, I am a dedicated naturalist, forager, and amateur botanist. For over fifty years, I have pursued photography, and specialise now in documenting the extraordinary flora and fauna of Northeastern Oklahoma.
A ciitizen of the Choctaw Nation, I live amongst the Cherokee, enriching my life with their profound heritage. My passions extend beyond photography to include drawing, painting, writing, and philosophical musings, though I have seldom shared the deeper contemplations that occupy my mind.
With a fervent interest in botany, native plants, foraging, molecular and evolutionary biology, I cherish the practice of peace, silence, and tranquility. This blog shall serve as a vessel for my reflections, photographs, and thoughts on a myriad of subjects. I aspire to create a space of serenity and intellectual discourse.
Join me on this journey, as we discuss the wonders of nature and the intricacies of the human condition and the beauty of the natural world.
Mingo Falls, Cherokee Reservation, Swain County, North Carolina. 🇺🇸
📸 by Michael P Sweeny
Sacred River
The Cherokees in North Carolina considered the Oconaluftee River sacred. Nowadays its fame is as a fishing river. It is important to my middle reader’s novel, Stone Man and the Trail of Tears.
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North Carolina: first work day!
Today we woke up to a beautiful blue sky and blazing sun with a nice light breeze. My work crew went to STAR Ranch which stands for: Save The Animals Rescue. The owner, Karen Owens rescues hoofed animals and helps them recover before being donated or adopted out. She has rescued 81 horses since beginning 9 years ago. On the ranch she currently has horses, goats, donkeys, cats and dogs. Some of the stories of the horses she told were absolutely amazing. Most of the horses were extremely friendly and wanted us to pet them. We painted the fence and helped move rail road tires to help spruce up the ranch for spring. While painting the fence the horses loved to keep walking up behind and surprise us. The one horse was rescued from a barn fire and suffered really terrible burns, but was nursed back to health. He was super friendly and kept coming over for us to pet him. There was also a blind pony named Jelly Bean who was super adorable but his eyes showed he was clearly blind. Karen was super impressed with our hard work and wants our groups to return every day. We told her the other groups would work just as hard but we really bonded over the day. She told us about the history of the land and the original owners. It was interesting to hear about STAR because they're a nonprofit organization. I kept asking her questions and she said she writes a lot of grants to get their funding. They also have a couple different fundraisers throughout the year like yard sales, parades, and general donations. This year they need to fundraise over $50,000 to cover all of their costs. I would love to talk to her more and explore the opportunities to reach out to larger corporations for help and support. They already get money from the SPCA but I'm sure there are ways they could get the big corporate companies. Some of the horses are donated to therapy facilities to be used as therapy horses and Karen has visitors from all over the country, usually special needs children, to come help on the ranch. She is helping not only the animals but tons of children as well. We returned home and showered before heading back to Living Waters for a cultural immersion night. The members made us Indian Tacos (with fry bread) and talked to us about some of the crafts they make. One lady showed us some pottery and even made on in front of us, and her husband showed us all of the arrow heads he has made and the wood carvings he has done. Pastor Jack told us all about some history of the Cherokee with the tribes and land that is now the reservation. People do not own land, they rent it from the government. Pastor Jack talked about the two roads most of the Indians walk; that of the traditional Indian, and that of the American. Most people partake in the traditional ceremonies, but have no problem going to church on Sunday. It's one of the ways they are slowly assimilating to American culture. However, Living Waters is the exception and most churches don't incorporate traditional elements at all. It's sad that there are so many people still trying to stomp out such a rich culture. At the end of the night Pastor Jack asked us to describe our day and our meal in one word each. Dinner for me was best described as: fry bread- I could live on that stuff if it wasn't so terrible for you. Today was best described as: down n dirty- laying in the grass painting, getting paint on not only the fence but my clothes and skin as well, and walking through all the horse manure, we were covered in dirt by the end of the day. He also asked the church members to describe us and they described us as: fabulous, awesome, great, songbirds, great because we are from Pennsylvania, wonderful, nice, we'll keep them, fun, comparable with our congregation, and friends. We have only known them a short time but we have clearly made an impact already! (And we still have 4 more days to go!!!) Small groups and group meeting are soon to come. I'm so exhausted from the day and am definitely ready for bed. It was a long day in the hot sun, but we did a lot of work and helped a lot! Bring on work day number 2!
Learning Cherokee
Cherokee Morning Song: We n’ de ya ho, We n’ de ya ho, We n’ de ya Ho ho ho ho, He ya ho, He ya ho, Ya ya ya
The Muscogee-Creek Chant: Hal ley lu yan, Hal le lu yan, Hal le ha le lu luyan, Hal ley lu yan, ha le lu yan, ha le hal le luyan
Amazing Grace (verse 1): oo nay hla nah hee oo way gee, ee ga goo yah hey ee, nah gwoo jo sah wee oo low say, ee gah goo yah ho nuh. Amen
Sanctuary: u ne la nv, hi u we tsi, tso sv i na, quu we yu lo se, tsi ya li sga, sdo di na sgi, wu lo sv wv, da tsi lo si; a ya to li, wi ga nv nv, u na da(n) ti, wu ni lo se, u ne la nv, hi tsu wo tlv, hna quo a se, wi tsi ga ti
It’s really neat to drive around the reservation because all of the signs on the reservation are in both English and Cherokee. The elders are really trying to preserve the culture of the Cherokee tribe by making it visible in the community and encouraging children to learn their heritage. At church this morning, a young girl blessed our meal in Cherokee and it was really awesome to hear. I’m not even going to try and replicate what she said, but I hope we get to hear more Cherokee because it’s really quite amazing.
an Herb Shop on entering the cherokee reservation in north carolina (the great smokies)
