Quinault Canoe Journey

Quinault Spirit My grandbabies talk about water. They live by the ocean, along the river. Their Quinault ancestors on their grandma’s side travel by canoe along the river highways and along the currents of the Pacific Ocean, so they speak of water as though speaking of their own bodies.4 year old Ke’Olani, touching me above my heart with her hand: “What is this, Grandpa?”Me: “It’s my collarbone.”“What’s that?”“It holds your body up and the muscles pull on the bones to make your body move. It’s covered by skin.”“Like the wall? Where are the bones in the wall?”I found a place where 2x4 were exposed on the rails of the porch. I showed her. “These are in the wall.” “And water too?”“Yes.”“Like the bathroom?”“Yes. And the kitchen.” Looking under the sink. “Yes, like the pipes that bring water from one part of the house to another.”Soon after my participation in protecting the clean water of the Missouri River on which their Dakota ancestors, my people, live and travel, Quoia and Kianna broug