APOLOGIA

Though my original plan was to write one blog, 1,000 words a day no matter what, I find myself less dedicated to sticking to my original plan no matter what (unlike George W. Bush), because there were too many things I wanted to say that didn't necessarily fit together or fit my "constant reader." So I've split into three blogs.

"Prairie Mary" will stick to Blackfeet and place-based subjects: Rockies to Dakotas, Edmonton to Yellowstone.

"Robert Macfie Scriver and Art" will turn to pieces about art of the American West (one can't say "Western Art" because that turns out to be European art) and articles about Bob Scriver's work.

"Merry Scribbler" is philosophical grammar with some parts useful for high school teachers of English. Other continuing threads include matters of language and thought dating back to classes I took from Dean Barnlund at Northwestern in the late Fifties. That's when I discovered the famous Whorf essay about how Hopi grammar concerns itself with verbs rather than nouns. I HAD read Hayakawa in high school and think he is worth rereading.

It's changing to fall here -- the leaves are going yellow, school has started, the custom cutters have come about as far north as they can without a Canadian VISA, and the birds have turned south but not the bats since there are still mosquitoes. Indoors my clothes are huddled masses waiting to be re-sorted into seasons and I've changed the slipcovers and curtains from white to stripes.