Tied to the Post

As Bob Dylan once wrote . . .

As Bob Dylan once wrote, “The Times They are a Changin’.” And they are surely a changin’ ‘round Bluff. After an exceptionally hot and dry summer – which made us wonder whether there would be any water left to drink when fall arrived and caused some of us to question whether beer might be the only...

When I die

Last week, I was traveling through southern Colorado with its upside-down American flags and Trump Won banners waving in the breeze, when I suddenly got a hankerin’ for country music. I wasn’t looking for the modern stuff that sounds like Britney Spears or the Backstreet Boys with a sinus...

An overdue pilgrimage

It was Wednesday, August 17, 1977, and I was parked at the jeweler’s bench located in the backroom of Blue Mountain Trading Post. Craig, Barry, and I had been trained to make and repair turquoise and silver jewelry, and I was actively engaged in the trade. My workspace had been fitted out with a...

A beautiful changeling

In Navajo culture, there are numerous mythological tales involving individual reinvention, transformation, and rebirth. These missives often include references to Changing Woman, Changing Bear Maiden, the Hero Twins, and Coyote, to name a few. A reawakening of consciousness and understanding is...

Creatures of habit

Like Pearl, the canine Queen of the Post, I am a creature of habit. Every morning I wake at 6 a.m. when the radio clicks on, listen to the news summary on NPR, make the bed, and head downstairs to start the day. Lately, however, there has been no news, just static. I think something has gone...

Inaugural Bluff Blowout is unqualified success

Frances Vander Strappen, Twin Rock Cafe’s general manager, had a great idea: She believed that after the past year and a half dealing with COVID-19 issues, it was time for the greater Bluff community to come together once again. Our slice of Utah, and especially the northern Navajo Nation region...

Ancestor ants

Each day, through scorching heat and freezing rain, Pearl and I walk to work, and each evening we walk back home – no gas-guzzling commute for us. Pearl is a creature of habit, so we start every trip strolling past the Bluff Fort, by the old elementary school where I spent my youth, along 7th...

Ready the family ark

Some time ago I received a telephone call from a man who said he ran an arts and crafts business in the east and wished to learn more about Twin Rocks Trading Post. The gentleman wanted to know who we are, what we do, and what connection we have to local Indigenous tribes. As we talked, I...

Where have all the baskets gone?

As vaccinations have increased and the worldwide pandemic begins to recede, demand for ceremonial baskets has skyrocketed. Many Navajo people have informed us they recently scoured Window Rock, Gallup, Farmington, Shiprock, Teec Nos Pos, Cortez, and every other place they could think of looking...

Lee’s eyes

At 10 a.m., it was already hot. Summer had arrived in Bluff and that, combined with the effects of global warming, had pushed up temperatures. Even the lizards were scared. As I ambled across the porch to Twin Rocks Café in search of my second iced tea of the young morning, he sat stoically at a...