We learned just a little too late in the month, that November is American Indian Heritage Month. In future years, we will be able to plan for some more comprehensive activities and cultural immersion. I dream of the day we get to witness and be a part of some drum making, drum circles, fire dances and other festivities.

This year, we got some books from the library, and did the best we could. Last night we read about the making of a Totem Pole. Since it was Art Night, I figured we should at least try to come up with a version of some symbolic things that matter to our family for a totem pole. I would really like to spend the time necessary to build a real one. Maybe we could work on it over winter. This sounds like a nice idea for when our woodworking shop is more functional.

With crayons and colored pencil, we started sketching out things that matter to us.

I drew a heart, blobs on a page to represent our little family tree, tomatoes on a vine to represent our garden and all that we are growing, a stack of books, and a jar of pencils and paintbrushes to represent art. The boys drew mini-bikes and several versions of Burt Monro’s bike – The World’s Fastest Indian – their current favorite movie and their World Land Speed Record Breaker Hero.

This is a very impromptu totem pole that we taped to the door frame into the kitchen.

Just to the right, you can see our wedding photos! I love that our totem pole is being built right beside those pictures of the day we started this grand adventure together to build a family.

It’s hard to see the various images, and the one that stands out looks like something it shouldn’t. That was supposed to be green, leafy vegetables growing in our garden. Perhaps as our skills improve, we will use paints or blocks of wood to represent our family’s priorities and build a big one to plant somewhere out on the property.