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wacha tonaya
May 23, 2014

We cross the creek several times every day. We get to notice every change, every ebb. It’s such a gift.

We see the creek frozen and slow twist into a creek that swells up over its confines, flooding and raging through the green green forest. We see geese and then their goslings swimming in a spontaneous lake in the middle of the woods.

Tufts of white fluff dance lazy and sparkly from the Cottonwood trees. I can’t get over the fragrance. I think it’s my favorite. Certainly my love is influences by the scent’s transience. It comes and goes so fast, the only way to get it back is to wait a year. And even then, things will be different. The temperature, my age, my lens, the height of the trees and direction of the wind.

Hills around us bust open with balsamroot, penstemmon, lupine, prairie smoke and clematis. Bucks with furry antler stumps look like babies standing in our path. Rusty tails of hawks stamped against the bluest sky float over grass that grows by the daily inch and literally moves with bugs.

And our feet move over the dirt trail, over the bridge, over the creek.

Ruby sits on my bike handlebars and squeals,

Mama! The river is still wachatonheya! Heya heya!

It’s a song she sings with her preschool class. One I’ve loved learning from her. The words seem big and powerful coming from her tiny, powerful body.

I did a little bit of research and discovered it is a Creek water blessing. Ruby sings the first three lines softly like a low, meandering creek. She moves carefully and quietly. She sings the last three forcefully like a high, thunderous creek. She leaps and stomps.

Wichita do ya do ya do ya
Wichita do ya do ya heh
Wichita do ya do ya do ya
Wacha tonaya hey ya hey ya
Wacha tonaya hey ya hey
Wacha tonaya hey ya hey ya

I found a handful of recordings on youtube which have become favorites around here. This one is particular:

I know the creek will move through this phase and into the lazy pace of summer. We will walk across the shallows. The shallows will even become dry and we will walk all the way across the creek. Water will lower and expose rocks that bake hot in the sun before they ice over.

Wichita do ya

I know these things will change and change again. I appreciate the simplicity of this blessing  — it celebrates the high and the low. The fast and the slow. The loud and the quiet.

There’s no preferred way; there is only the way it is.

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16 Comments


Angela
May 23, 2014 at 7:22 AM

Your photos are so beautiful! Do you have new chickens this year? You should give us a chicken/garden tour! I’d love to see what you have going on. I’m crazy for gardening and we LOVE our chickens.



Sadhbh @ Where Wishes come From
May 23, 2014 at 8:26 AM

My goodness – you live in THE most beautiful place. And you take the most beautiful pictures of it too. Gorgeous post. x



Amy
May 23, 2014 at 8:37 AM

All of these pictures. Spectacular.



Jenny
May 23, 2014 at 9:56 AM

The picture of you carrying Ruby up the hill reminds me so much of The Sound of Music!



Kelli
May 23, 2014 at 12:01 PM

I swear if I hadn’t seen this all in person, I’d think this life was a movie. One about the perfect childhoods, full of creativity and exploration and just getting to be a kid.

Bravo, Nici!



Johanna Stewart
May 23, 2014 at 1:25 PM

We just moved from the Rattlesnake almost a year ago and even though I know this is the right place for us now, I long to cross that river again! I was just wondering how the river looked with the spring flow, so thanks for sharing. I love to see that beautiful place and hear about the beautiful people who live there!!



Lisa
May 23, 2014 at 1:45 PM

Our local creek is raging , swollen from heavy rain -Wacha tonaya hey ya hey ya ,snow is forecast this weekend , if it comes it will be our first for the winter. I love the change in seasons ,though your great photos make me wish again for summer and school holidays – it all looks so lush and green. Happy weekending.



Laura Kyle
May 23, 2014 at 8:05 PM

I’m convinced you live in a place very close to heaven. And I love the pictures you paint with words. 🙂 That’s a cool song. I like it.



Nicolette
May 23, 2014 at 8:32 PM

Oh you guys are the most beautiful.

As always: so much love!



Jessa
May 23, 2014 at 9:19 PM

Beautiful sentiment and depiction. This is our speed, our pulse. How great it would be to adventure together. Cheers… Jessa (shewillshine)



Donna
May 24, 2014 at 9:27 PM

Wow! I live in the some town as you but you have to have the sweetest spot with all that open space. So lovely. You are creating amazing memories for those girls.



Annie Flavin
May 25, 2014 at 9:51 PM

Love that song. Love your thoughts.



Jen Mann
May 27, 2014 at 10:44 PM

Your words and photos make me want to slow our life down, so very much. I am going to work on it. Also, that photo of Margot standing on the swing depicts what a summer day should look like. I love it.



Ali
June 1, 2014 at 8:37 AM

girlfriend. i sit here with my morning tea and thought “i want to catch up on nici’s blog” and i read this post and cried. and then i read the one before it about how you hadn’t felt like writing. wow… talk about ebb and flow – always trust it’ll come back with a bang. this post is so so powerful. and then the poems about your girls… chills chills. you are such an incredible mama and such an inspiration to me. <3



hana tawathie
June 1, 2014 at 7:55 PM

Love your words, as always, and glad to see that Spring has come to the Rattlesnake. Thanks for sharing some of the strength and joy of your ‘right now’ life with us.



Stacey
June 19, 2014 at 6:53 AM

As we watch our river here swell and recede with the seasons, I often think of our ancestors whose lives were so entwined with and dependent on those waters. There is so much history in a creek bed, and I just love that. Thank you for sharing this beautiful song.



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    I’m Nici (pronounced like Nikki) and I live in western Montana where I raise kids, vegetables and the roof.

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