Michael Greyeyes – Native Actor

Bailey here – 

So you already know I’m in love with Michael Spears, the gorgeous Lakota I spoke of in an earlier post. But I have another poster on the wall in my bedroom – of Michael Greyeyes. What is it about those Michaels??? 

I’ll tell you what it is – they’re gorgeous! 

I fell in love with Michael Greyeyes when I saw him in Stolen Women: Captured Hearts. Yeah, it’s a sappy, romantic TV movie, but the scenery is amazing! And it was romantic. I want to be Anna. Oh, yeah, I want to BE Anna. . .

In Stolen Women: Captured Hearts, Michael Greyeyes plays Tokalah, a noble Lakota warrior who’s mysteriously drawn to a white settler named Anna, whom he had seen in a vision when he was a boy. After sparing her life during a wagon fight, he and his tribe return to town and kidnap Anna and her friend and force them to live with the Lakotas. Later, Anna has to decide whether she will stay with Tokalah or return to her own people . . .

The movie is based on a true story and set in 1868 Kansas. A true story. Ah, SO romantic.

Michael Greyeyes is Plains Cree. His father is from the Muskeg Lake First Nation, and his mother is from the Sweetgrass First Nation, both located in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Other movies you can see Michael Greyeyes in are:

• Crazy Horse
• Skinwalkers
• Geronimo
• Smoke Signals
• Big Bear
• Firestorm

Check out more pics of Mr. Greyeyes at http://www.fanpix.net/gallery/michael-greyeyes-pictures.htm.

BUT, be aware that the 4^th pic from the left on the top row is Michael SPEARS, not Michael Greyeyes. Don’t know who made that goof, but I know my Michaels, and the 4^th from the left IS Michael Spears.

So what do you think of my Michaels?

Discover Your Talents and Gifts! Part 2

Bailey here again – 

So we’ve talked about talents and I believe everyone has several to choose from. Some kids at school don’t think they have any talents. I think they just haven’t found them yet.

But let’s talk about gifts. I believe a gift is a power you’re born with, and you don’t have to practice it to be good at it – you just are.

Gifts are things like:

• Charisma
• Animal whispering
• Healing
• Leading
• Organization
• Intuition

We all know people who attract other people like magnets. Everybody likes them, right? Everything they do is cool, even when they’re goofy. We want to be like them, but when we try, we fall flat. Those people have charisma. You can’t obtain or practice charisma. You either have it or you don’t – I don’t.

I’ve heard some people have the gift of healing. Their touch actually causes the human body to physically heal itself. I don’t know anyone with this gift, but I think it’d be way cool! Maybe you can’t heal people with your touch, but do people seem to feel comfortable talking to you? Or are you one of the first to get called when your friends have something exciting to share? Then maybe you can mend souls.

I have a way of sometimes knowing what’s going to happen. Call it intuition or whatever. I don’t know how to control it, stop it, or make it happen. It’s just there. When I get a vibe or a thought, I always try to listen to it because I’ve gotten insight into the future. Might sound weird, but I’ve known about unannounced visitors before they arrived, and I’ve known something bad was headed my way before it happened. I’ve even gotten echoes of the past at times. Anyway, I feel like the intuition is a gift – a power – I was born with.

I believe – as Mrs. Creek does – that every person has talents they can tap into. I don’t know if everyone is born with a gift or not, but I’d like to think so. Anyway, try to discover your talents and find out if you have a gift. It makes life so much more interesting.

Let me know what you find out.

Discover Your Talents and Gifts! Part 1

Bailey here –

So Jazz asked me if there’s a difference between a gift and a talent. I’m certainly no authority, but I told her a talent is a natural ability you’re born with, and a gift is a power (or energy) you’re born with.

Talents are things like:

• Dancing
• Ability to Play Sports / Athleticism
• Singing
• Playing a Musical Instrument
• Artistic Talent like Drawing, Painting, Pottery, etc.
• Writing

When you have a talent, it means you have a natural ability to be good at something. But you still have to practice and hone that ability in order to do it well. Singers and athletes will be the first to admit the long hours of practice it takes to be great. I think I have a talent for dancing. I find it very easy to learn steps and don’t have a problem with getting my body to move the way I want.

Jazz, on the other hand, can’t dance to save her life. Her movements are choppy and stilted no matter how hard she tries. It’s just not her thing. So, I guess if you’re NOT born with a certain talent, you can try and try and still never get good at it. Better to spend time developing your own unique talents, in my opinion.

So Jazz can’t dance, but that girl can write. She spends hours and hours writing and loves it – I just don’t get it. I mean, I can write enough to get by, but to do it for fun? Ugh. Jazz has been writing for years and still thinks she has a ton to learn. So even though she has the talent – and she’s good – she still works very hard to get better.

So how do you find out what your talents are? Take a piece of paper (right now!) and write down all the activities you like to do, or would like to do. Also write down anything else you’re interested in. My short list looks like this:

• Horses
• Basketball
• Track
• Making Jewelry
• Dancing
• River Rafting
• Snow Skiing
• Doing Research
• Uncovering Mysteries
• Native American Traditions
• Finding the Indian of my dreams

So go ahead and make your own list. Let your mind go wild. Don’t stifle it. Be silly.

Then take a look at your list. Pick something you’d like to try and go for it.  Remember you may not be great at it right away. But if it’s fun, feels right, and you’d enjoy spending time on it, you might have found one of your talents. Don’t stop at just one. You have many more.

Let me know how it goes! And I’ll talk about gifts later.

The Gorgeous Colorado Trail

Bailey here –

One of my favorite trails is the Colorado Trail.  I love to hike it or ride my horse, Dakota, on it.  The trail runs 500 miles from Durango to Denver through some of the most gorgeous country I’ve ever seen.  I haven’t hiked the entire trail – not by a long shot.  But the part around Durango is amazing and changes with the seasons.  Some of these pictures were taken in the Spring and some in November, after the leaves had fallen off the trees and before there was much snow. 

The Colorado Trail meanders through the San Juan Mountains, which are part of the Rocky Mountain Range.  There’s lots of wildlife out there.  I’m always careful when I’m hiking or riding because you never know when you’re going to run into a black bear, a cougar, deer, or elk.  Most people worry about the bears and cougars.  But deer aren’t really like Bambi in the real world.  Those hooves can kill a person in nothing flat.  So, lots of respect for the big animals.  There’s also a ton of smaller animals, too, like rabbits, badgers, marmots, porcupine, squirrels, birds of all kinds, and big horn sheep in the higher elevations.  We even have turkeys.  They run around in big groups. 

A really cool place along the trail is Temple Rock.  It’s a big boulder with a flat surface that sits on the side of the creek.  Hundreds of small rocks sit on top of the boulder in neat little stacks.  These are temples built by hikers who pass by.  The rule is, when you build your temple you’re not allowed to knock down anyone else’s.  I don’t know how it all got started, but it’s pretty cool.  I know couples who build a special temple to celebrate their ‘togetherness.’   Hmmm, I wonder how many have been knocked down after the break ups.  Anyway, Temple Rock isn’t very far from the Durango trailhead parking lot, so it’s easy to get to.  You might want to check it out sometime.

I guess I’ll probably never leave Durango.  I love it too much.  With all the lakes, rivers and creeks, along with the gorgeous mountains and trails that run through them – like the Colorado Trail – where else could I go that would be so inspiring?  I can’t think of any place.  But let me know if you have any ideas.

For more info on the Colorado Trail, check out http://www.coloradotrail.org/