ADVENTURE IN NAVAJOLAND

Here we are waiting for the train to Gallup on the platform at Albuquerque.  I will add pictures and write more as I have time.

Views from the train on the trip west.

We got caught in a torrential downpour at the Gallup train station.  We got off the train and dragged our suitcases through puddles a couple inches deep and found the station locked up tight as a drum.  We took haven under some firestairs while I dragged out one raincoat which I draped over Ana.  She was trying to ring the local taxi service which we found out doesn't run in Gallup on Sundays and I pulled out the umbrella.  We nearly hitched a ride with some local when Mary rang to say she was on her way to pick us up.  We squeezed our luggage and wet selves into her already full van and off we went to El Rancho Hotel, the hotel of the stars.  Wow! what a lobby.  We had a lovely dinner there and waited in the lobby for Mary and Bob who drove to Window Rock to unload and then came back to fetch us.

This is a nice Storm pattern rug hanging from the balcony at El Rancho.

Next morning after a good sleep, lovely breakfast and a meeting with the entire class we headed off on the first field trip to RB Burnham & Co Trading Post in Sanders AZ.  These are the views along the way.  I was really impressed at how green this east side of the Reservation is compared to what we saw last year on the west side.  They have had a lot of rain this season but of course we are also about 5,000 feet above sea level.

I recognize some familiar looking plants.  This one is a Solanum species.

And some unfamiliar ones.

At Burnham's trading post Mary gives us an impromptu talk about Germantown weavings and showed us a few examples of originals as well as some new weavings that are called Germantown revivals.  Germantown rugs were woven after the Navajo Long Walk and internment at Bosque Redondo after 1862.  Germantown yarns spun and dyed in Philadelphia were provided in initially small quantities for the Navajo because their flocks had been destroyed.  The Germantown yarns were bright reds and bright colors that the Navajos had not had before.   This sparked an explosion of new and vibrant designs.

More magnificent scenery on the way back to Window Rock.

Armed with our supplies of Burnham yarns we all get down to the business of weaving.  We had a nice visit from Gilbert Begay and Nathan Harry who are both accomplished weavers at Shiprock.

Here is what our weaving room looks like.  The tables were set up in a big U so we could all weave facing each other feeling like we were in a circle.

I took my coffee and went for an early morning walk into the vacant lot behind the hotel.  I wanted to have a close look at the plants there.  You can see the big rocks that stand alone in the back ground.  I think they call them elephant legs.  I was really surprised to see all the Cleome growing here.  They look just like the ones in my garden except for being a lot smaller.