East on Shinnecock Bay

     It's a hot, breezy day on Long Island. Partly cloudy, but  brilliantly blue skies and a challenging chop on the water made for a good workout. It's the first time this summer I've spent any time in my own boat, and it felt really good. My form is a little off, and my old instructor would have faulted me on posture and stroke, but I got into rhythm several times and hit a sweet spot a few times where everything just flowed. The Olympic athletes inspired me enough to get out and push it a little, and I'm grateful for the inspiration.

     My route today is probably my favorite paddle -- along the shore of the Shinnecock reservation. If I ignore the big mansions along one side of the bay, it's easy to imagine myself back several centuries because only a few homes on the rez show through the gorgeous shoreline of woods, marsh grasses and a waterside habitat for birds that is remarkable. I watched a pair of osprey hunt the waters of the bay to find fish for their young. I saw majestic and elegant snowy egrets wade the grasses. I disturbed a convention of 25 cormorants bobbing on the water, and they let me know their displeasure as they took off together to avoid my kayak passing nearby.

     Yesterday I visited the Shinnecock Cultural Museum, getting a guided tour of the main exhibits by a board member, Elizabeth "Princess Chee Chee" Haille. Chee Chee proudly and easily talked of the 10,000 year history of her ancestors, especially how complex and adaptive was the way of life developed by the Shinnecock, "people of the shore." It  was her ancestors who taught the Europeans such important things as the technologies needed to become whalers. David Martine, director of the museum, reminded us that the taking of whales so important to Shinnecock and later, English and American peoples was a spiritual act -- part of a vision of life wherein the creatures used by men and women were gratefully received as gifts. All the sustaining gifts of nature, meat, fish and plants, were understood to be of God and meant to be used well and thoughtfully. (Cf.www.shinnecockmuseum.com)

     I sampled some of the delicious oysters cultivated by a current Shinnecock resident, and some of the beans and corn staple, "samp" that sustained people through many hard times. The current members of the tribe are proud of their history and culture. Of special pride to Chee Chee and other leaders is a corps of young tribal members being trained in some of the ancient crafts and skills like wigwam and canoe construction, all in preparation for a demonstration Shinnecock village set to open next year. A friend,  Metauqus Tarrant, is among the teachers of these ancient skills to young people and showed me a throwing stick he crafted, used in hunting, along with some of the long arrows formerly used to bring down game to feed the people.

     All in all, it was a rich and full weekend. My body is pleasantly tired out. My mind is full of powerful and moving moments of connection with some really good people. My heart is grateful.