I went up to the New Mexico mountains Saturday with ten friends.  We drove to the Mescalero Apache reservation to attend the opening of a wonderful exhibition of Apache art.  The paintings and sculpture were breathtaking.  I had an opportunity to talk with my favorite artist, Oliver Enjady, whose name means Big Hunter in Apache.  Oliver's grandfather (or great grandfather??) was one of Geronimo's scouts and his other grandfather was a "big hunter" for the army.  That must have led to some interesting family discussions!  Oliver's personal sign is the buffalo; my friend and her husband bought a beautiful painting of Oliver's depicting an Apache man mounted on a paint horse racing down a buffalo.  We talked a little about hunting and how times have changed. 

The event also included a group of Apache children dancing traditional dances which were followed by a potluck put on for us by their mothers.  The food consisted of beef stew and Indian fry bread.  I couldn't help noticing that some of the children were obese - I believe the term is morbidly obese.  When I got home I looked up the recipe for Indian fry bread; it consists of white flour, salt, baking powder and shortening.  This is such a tragedy.....

Kath