Ramblin' RET

Sunday, March 3, 2019

Night of the White Buffalo

Front cover of hard back book.

When I learned that my mother was reading this book, Night of the White Buffalo, I was intrigued. It is one of a series of mystery novels by Margaret Coel set on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. Fortunately, I was able to borrow a copy from the local public library.

It turned out to be a real page turner. I couldn't stop reading. It was structured similarly to the Nancy Drew mystery stories: like a textual movie serial. You just have to keep reading to find out what happens chapter after chapter.

The author's website-linked above-is really good and contains a lot of interesting information about the book and the reservation and the Arapaho Indians.

The main characters are a Jesuit priest, Fr. John O'Malley, and an divorced Arapaho lawyer, Vicky Holden. There is murder (and more), missing persons, and the birth of a rare, white buffalo (a sacred sign in Native American religions).

The book was published in 2014 by Berkley Prime Crime/Penguin Books of New York City. (printed in the USA!). 290 pages and no pictures or illustrations. Fiction.

Although the mystery was exciting (but not too hard), the amount of violence was surprising (especially when one is used to Nancy Drew). Of interest, especially today, is the relationship between the Indians on the reservation and the (white) people living in nearby towns. Also, the struggle to find a balance between heritage and modernity.

And then there is the sacred aspect. The Christianity of the Jesuit is presented simply and straight forward but not too strong. There is no preaching or pushing Christianity. Rather, there is the contrast between the Roman Catholicism of the mission and the spiritual heritage of the Indians.

The white buffalo is considered a blessing and a symbol that the Creator is always with us. Think "Lamb of God". I "heard" lots of echos of Christianity. It probably helped me as a reader to have a Roman Catholic background but the religious aspects were not an impediment to the mystery.

-----------------------------------------

Links:

http://www.margaretcoel.com/novels-night-of-white-buffalo.php

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_River_Indian_Reservationhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_buffalo
-----------------------------------------
Written Saturday 9 March 2019

Sunday, January 27, 2019

Model Train Show

Program and wrist band

Those were the days...Seems like old times.

Saturday Richard and I returned to the Big E to see the annual Amherst Railway Society Railroad Hobby Show (aka Model Train Show). We used to go to this show every year. It is huge (see the floor layout below). It is billed as the"largest railroad hobby show in the country!" There were 410 exhibitors in just over 400,000 square feet (or 9.3 acres) spread out over four (4) buildings.

Floor plans

Although we didn't buy anything, we enjoyed a quick walk-through looking at all the vendors and especially the train layouts. Fabulous. It seems like every model train club in the area had a setup and some were gigantic (look carefully at the map above). The Lego train layout was impressive (see pic below). Richard has a bunch of these. I remember building a Santa Fe locomotive with him.

Lego Train layout

Since all our trains are in storage, I wasn't looking to buy anything....except I would have been extremely tempted if I found a K-Line Black Cat Candy freight car (in memory of my cat Robie).