Oh! Sitka!

I sure didn' know much about a place named Sitka until yesterday...oh, and for those of you who think Sitka was the place in the movie 'The Proposal'...it isn't. The movie was filmed in New England. What a bunch of cheaters those movie folks are. But, the real Sitka is even better. It is a small fishing community, really just an island. The only road goes 7 miles one way and then ends...and it goes 7 miles the other way and the ends. But it is BEAUTIFUL. There was so much history there. Russian history, American history and Tclinkit Indian history. I have a new love for totem poles. I've always thought they were kinda dumb, but they are NOT! As you might guess, totem poles tell a history of a village or a family. The one thing I thought was a great idea was one of the four reasons for a Totem...to tell the history of a clan, as a kind of family crest, to tell legends, as a mortuary/memorial, and to display shame. I loved the last one. Imagine this, someone in the community does something awful (to the Tclinkits that would be stealing) anyway, they would put a totem in front of their home until the wrong had been corrected. Can you imagine our society putting a shame totem in front of someone's home until the wrong was corrected? Food for thought!

Internet costs $.75 a minute so I'm outa here for now...I do love the ocean!