This is the full LO for my album. Mary did the beadwork for all the headdresses - 16 in all each year - and we hand made the headdresses during breaks and at night after vespers. We also made all the bone breastplates the guys' costumes, including the "chief's", and moccasins with hard soles for them, except for the war bonnet which we purchased in Tulsa. The third year was a really big deal and the girls looked forward to it hugely!

Journaling reads:

I never dreamed that 2006 would be the last time Mary and I had the privilege of teaching the third year Native American Lore badge program at Sunbeam and Girl Guard Camp. That year life changed dramatically for both of us. I shall always treasure the opportunity to teach these wonderful young women about America’s First People. They learned from the Cherokees in Tahlequah and from the Kosechequetah brothers, direct descendants of the last great Comanche chief, Quanah Parker. They learned how much America’s First People have contributed to who Americans are today and how many things to our culture - like tomatoes and cornbread, yum! - that we love.

Tahlequah is the capital of Cherokee Nation and the perfect place to learn first-hand and from people proud to share their culture and heritage. Mary and I insisted on as much reality and realism as we could in our program. We took as much of Hollywood out of it as possible, although we could not do away with the title of Princess before Ayita and A-Ki-Ko-Kah for our honor campers. It is just too deeply imbedded in the program and the girls rebelled. But for the record - there is no such thing as a Native American Princess. That is a European construct, not a Native American thing