Another letter from Keams Canyon.<\/p>\r\n
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\r\n\r\n Sunday night\r\n [added in pencil: 1\/31\/65]\r\n\r\nHello, Hello.\r\n\r\nJust back from lovely day: Went to dances in the morning,\r\nthen returned here for a tea for the new Superintendent of\r\nthe Hopi agency, who is a lovely lovely person and worth\r\nreturning to a tea for; then traveled out to Third Mesa,\r\nmissed the dance there, stopped deleriously at the wonderful\r\nwonderful Hopi crafts shop (managed to get away with\r\nspending only $6. over the budget; next time they'll get a\r\nsubstantial-er portion of the paycheck.) (What the hell did\r\nI come out here for if not to buy beautiful crafts and\r\nsuchlike?) (among other things, Of Course.) then returned to\r\nFirst Mesa (scene of the Morning's dance) for the last dance\r\nof the day, just at dusk, high wind and magnificent rhythm\r\nof drum, chant, dancers. The Hopis are very beautiful people\r\nin every way.\r\n\r\nYesterday Mrs Schmidt (our noble benefactress) took us to\r\nCanyon de Chelly, (look on the map) and the fabulous\r\nGarcia's Trading Post at Chinle. This is the best place to\r\nbuy Navajo rugs in this part of the reservation. Choices are\r\ndifficult: I go for the natural colors, or earth colors as\r\nthey're called: browns, greens, yellows, ochres in\r\nnon-frenzied and xxxxxxxxxxxxx non-representational designs:\r\nNone of the ones like those I like are shown in the postcard\r\nI sent, though some of the ones in the back approach......\r\nanyway, I bought three, two of which they're holding for the\r\nnext paycheck. My own favorite I brought home. One of the\r\nothers is for Gretchen and Louis's wedding present; the\r\nother is for you if you like it. You ought to get it in\r\nabout a month and x see for yourself. I think it's a beauty;\r\none of the finest patterns I've seen; Mrs. Schmidt, who's\r\ncollected these for about 40 years, says the craftsmanship\r\nis superb; the man who runs the rug part of the Trading Post\r\nis a recognized authority on Navajo rugs and says I have\r\ngood taste. So if you don't like it I'll just simply disown\r\nyou or something. (Buying them was most fun: Alice and I\r\neach had a pile of Yes, No, No-but-in-the-price-range;\r\nYes-but-can't-afford-it and Hmmmm. We kept on narrowing down\r\ntill we couldn't part with those we had left. The man who\r\nwas showing xx them kept on throwing things into different\r\npiles and was so happy to find people with a genuine\r\ninterest in his beautiful rugs. Though there are many\r\ncollectors out here; I guess Alice and I were refreshingly\r\nstupid...) Anyway, though I realize you're in no hurry for\r\nthe money, it would make things easier for me if that part\r\nof the $150 (or is it $200?) I owe you could be suspended\r\nfor a while till I catch up with myself. (about $80 for the\r\n3 together)... I also have to consider things like a plane\r\nticket to Phila (as we have about a 4-day vacation from\r\nMarch 27, when the job is over, till registration) and to YS\r\nfrom there and saving $150 for contact lenses and getting to\r\nTucson xxx (over Washingtons birthday) and small increase in\r\nsalary as we are working different hours and night\r\ndifferential is involved and income tax refund, sometime (if\r\nmy W-2 forms ever arrive) and and and and and. What a lovely\r\nmess! it's extremely exciting to juggle money around and\r\nknow that eventually it'll come out all right and I'll\r\nalways be able to pay for food and life is wonderful.\r\n\r\nEnjoyed your package very much. It was waitin' for us when\r\nwe got back from rug-buying and canyon-climbing yesterday.\r\nThe candies are (mostly were) wonderful--I commend your\r\ntaste. And the chocolate chips were most welcome: they're\r\nabout to be made into cookies. The ambodryls and the comics\r\npage were also haertfeltedly appreciated. All in all a most\r\nsatisfying day and return home.\r\n\r\nRegards to all,\r\n\r\nLove, Marcia\r\n<\/pre>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n<\/p>\r\n
Return address on envelope is Keams Canyon Boarding School, Keams Canyon, AZ. Unfortunately, that school was one of the schools where Hopi kids were taken by force in the 1800s<\/a>. I hope that by the time Marcy was there, things were much better, but I don\u2019t know for sure.<\/p>\r\n
Postmarked Keams Canyon, Feb 1 1965. Written on front of envelope: “Rec\u2019d this 2\/3\/65.”<\/p>\r\n
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