a little history on a Monday morning

This will be a wordy photo blog today!  This historical sign is in the park on two of our rivers, the Rocky and the St. Joe.  It is the Rocky you see in the background.  Not mentioned here but just a block away is a very small historical plaque high on the wall of a building that commemorates the founding of Jesuit Mission here in 170l.  The Indians that LaSalle encountered might have included the Miami and the Potawatomi.  

It was the Potawatomi who were removed from this area of southwest Michigan in the 1830's although the Polkagon Band stayed.  They were Roman Catholic and acculturated because of the St. Joseph mission and were protected from removal by treaty. Their name derives from Chief Simon Pokagon, a famous Native American lecturer during the 1850s.  Refused tribal status under the Indian Reorganization Act (1934), their long struggle to gain federal recognition finally succeeded in 1994. With tribal offices located in Dowagiac, Michigan, the Pokagon are in the process of reacquiring a land base.  Their casino in New Buffalo, Four Winds, opened in 2007.

good morning

The sun coming up and bit by bit lighting the fields to the west is a sight for which I must thank Willow who took me tramping through the meadow where the crusted snow, over a foot deep, held us both up for very easy walking and beautiful vistas this morning.  The temp was the upper twenties so not too cold at all.
You are seeing part of the property that belongs to Gilchrist Center, a retreat center of the Fetzer Institute of Kalamazoo.  Their mission is to explore the mind/body relationship and to foster love and forgiveness in our world.  Karen Armstrong's Charter for Compassion, jointly written by religious leaders from all over the world, was supported in part by the Fetzer.
John Fetzer was a broadcaster who once owned the Detroit Tigers.  His statue of Shiva included an arm holding a baseball bat!