Thank you coming up

Åfter rehab in Ruidoso, NW playing 18 holes of golf for two days, eating great food at Cornerstone Bakery (359 Sudderth Drive, in Ruidoso) several times. The food is wonderful but the pies are to die for. The crust! Out of the world.

Okay, back to my train of thought.

The more I think about it our tour would not be complete without a "Thank You" to and our hosts and the nameless helpers that gave us places to sleep, eat, shower (yes, that was a wonderful experience when it happened) and meals to go.

Might even throw in a few other thanks.

I'm in the process, be it ever so slow, of going back and putting a Thank You together for and to them.

Hope you are are rested, happy and our health is great.

Coming soon.

"Thank You"

John Madden

Lueve

My Waterloo.

After the Eiffel Tower I had mixed feelings about the Lueve.

Would it be the attack of junk hawkers like the tower or the cultural, artistic, historical museum I had always heard about?

As the bus entered an underground parking place my mind hoped it would be the later.

No junk hawkers anywhere in sight, but we still had to exit the bus. Our long walk up stairs (have I mentioned I have developed at hate for stairs?), walking along an ancient wall and into an area of modern I felt a relaxation and an additional wonder.



Modern in the Lueve?

It was only a passage of shops reaching out to tickle your interest so as to dig into your credit card.

Suddenly you're in a room with an upside down pyramid. It's beautiful!



So many times during our tour we were struck with awe, beauty, amazement, surprise, mouth-dropping sights, and more historical reality than we had ever seen.

We were about to take that step again. Into the Lueve. History awaits us.



I'm an artist. Many people don't look at photography as an art form, but it is. If I had penny, no make that a nickel, for every time someone has looked at my work, asked about the price and then said "I have a camera, I can do that." I'd be a lot closer to being rich.

I smile and say something like, great or good and let it go at that. Sometimes I'm asked "How long did it take you to take that photo?" and I say "All my life."

When pushed into a probing conversation, I tell them to go find that place, wait for that scene, capture that moment, frame it before you take it, composition is vital, remember the rule of thirds, lighting, background, depth of field, horiznal vs vertical, see what no one else sees, lead the viewer into the piece, take more photos and then take more than that, travel to as many places as possible knowing you're probably not going to make any money on most trips, expenses will be greater than income for years, and spend your life developing your eye.

Somewhere, very early in the conversation, I lost them cause they have a camera and can take that picture.

So going to the Lueve was high on my "yes, list."

The herd moved forward. We had our tickets, went through security, and milled around tilled it was decided to divide into three groups of twenty.

Volley number one.



My new - good friend (whom I will talk about in my last update called "Thoughts" Doc and his grandson Lance) stood ready like a race horse to fill his mind with the Lueve.



Unknown to me this photo was very important. Why?

I'm in the Lueve, art is everywhere, it's an artistic Christmas, an artists holiday and my camera battery says "Sorry dude but no more go juice." What, this can't be, I'm at the Lueve and photos are allowed and my battery is dead!

Then I remember I didn't have a chance to recharge my battery last night. Surely this can't be happening. I look and it has captured 894 photos and apparently that was over my time limit.

Volley number two.

Okay, no problem, not the best choice but I have my iPhone and it has a camera. Drawing it out like an old west gunfighter I raise it as I frame a photo.

Click. No picture. You guessed it dead battery. Again my speedy brilliant mind puts two and two together that it if I didn't get to charge my camera battery I also didn't get to charge my iPhone.

Volley number three.

As these frustrations flood me they are joined by the responsibility of trying to herd a group of 20 plus, an interpreter that was hard to understand, from point A to point B in a given time frame.

Much like trying to push a rope uphill or herd cats.

Volley number four.

As our guide moved us through the Lueve our group began to spread out like spilt
milk and as interested as staying together as the two warring armies. No they were not warring, just tired, wanting to find a place to sit (note: chairs and or places to sit in the Lueve are far and few between). They wanted to find some air conditioning and just have time that was theirs to do what they wanted.

Volley number five.

I talked to our guide and agreed to one more exhibit. The Mona Lisa.

Of course, why not after all I didn't have a camera to capture one of the most
historical pieces of art work in the world. Let's go and see it.

The crowd around it was akin to bystanders watching something you could only see from the eye in the sky. It's breathtaking, small, and awesome.

Some of my small herd try to part the crowd and get a few photos. Finally I get our guide to take us back to the upside down pyramid. We have some time before the whole herd gathers so our small herd gets time to do what ever they want.

Billie, Malinda and I grab a bite to eat, something to drink (there were THREE pieces of ice in my diet-coke: ICE!) and find a table to rest our bones. Slowly the herd begins to gather and before to long we start the journey back to our bus.

Walking down more stairs (I hate stairs) my left knee pops like a gun being shot.

Volley number six.

Helped back to the bus I focus on "tonight we're at the Radisson--a hotel, bed, shower and time to recoup."

Neal offers to gather my luggage train of three, backpack, and get them to my assigned room. We find it and he offers to come get them in the morning so I can board the bus to the airport and home.

He tells me "John, you've made it this far, you can do it." I smiled, thanked him for his help (did I tell you Neal was always watching and helping anyone at anytime and I don't remember hearing anyone asking or telling him to do so). This young man has been raised in a very good way.

As an adult - an elder aren't I suppose to be giving him a pep talk and encouraging him?

I spend the evening recovering, repacking, showering, not leaving the room so I wouldn't risk any more knee surprises and sleep.

In the morning my knee is better. I make it downstairs with my repacked luggage train, find a chair and focus on two bus rides, three airports, two planes and home.



As we ride to the airport we see history.



We arrive at the airport.



After we unload from the bus we begin what we know and do so well. Wait, move luggage, wait and move luggage.





The Lueve was my Waterloo, but I was still in the game.

These are the last of my 4,500 plus photos of our tour. We danced before 6,291 people, sharing our dances, talent of our dancers, support of our adults, prayers from parents, family and friends at home, made new friends, saw things, places and sites most people will never see, while being part of a chosen family.

My last post will be a combination of thoughts and other worthless things. Hope you stay with me to the end.

As before I invite anyone wanting an outstanding performance by outstanding Boy and Girl Scout to contact Charles at Kwahadi.com.

John Madden

We left yesterday -- in two weeks!

Times racing by. As if this writing we, the Kwahadi Dancers, left yesterday ( in two weeks, thanks for reminding me Charles - I was just getting in the mood and my mind didn't stop to check what I wrote), Sunday, July 19th at 1 PM from Amarillo headed towards the Redbird Armory in Dallas. We will have spent the night, had a healthy breakfast at McDonalds, near DFW, check in at Continental Airlines and leave on flight 1136 ( Boeing 737-500 is the bottom photo ) at 12:45 PM for Newark, NJ.

A mere 3 hours - 45 minutes and 1,372 miles later we'll land at Newark. Wonder what the movie will be? Wait, what about the meal? What will it be?

At 7:25 PM we board Continental flight 24 ( Boeing 757-200 is the top photo ), depart Newark and head for Shannon Airport in Ireland. Do you know it takes 6 hours - 35 minutes to fly that 3,096 miles? So a movie, a sleep over and we're there? Well kind of.

Okay, check you watch and move it FORWARD 6 hours.

Finding food at the airport will be our first European adventure. This will be important!

Nine AM finds us boarding Marshall Coach Company and departing for Galway. On the way we'll visit the Cliffs of Moher (and another test of finding food), depart to see The Burren before arriving at the Renmore Scout Den in Renmore, Galway. Our host is Eamon Hartley.

After an evening meal we'll perform our first show at the Scout Den.

This is going to be such a blast, so much fun, work, opportunity to meet new friends, see so much of the beauty of Ireland, Scotland, UK and Paris.

How can you not join us for a tour?

Come on aboard the Kwahadi Dancers European Tour 09.

John Madden

Waiting to dance

Howdy. That's a West Texas greeting. I'm John Madden, proud associate advisor for the Kwahadi Dancers. My dress (we call it regalia) is a Straight Dancer.

The Straight Dance, sometimes referred to as Southern Traditional, is the formal and original dance of most of the Oklahoma tribes, including the Ponca, Osage, Kiowa, Comanche, Kaw, and many others. It is a dignified style, where the men who dance it keep a steady, flowing pace that is not interrupted with fancy moves or extra footwork. Because of its slow place, some people believe that it is an old man's dance, but this is not the case. There are many fine Straight Dancers in the Oklahoma area, ranging in age from ten to eighty. Some of the best places for Straight Dancers to go include the Ponca Hethuska and the Kiowa Tia-piah Society's Dance. The Ponca Hethuska is held twice a year in the town of White Eagle, Oklahoma, once in April and once in October. It is a formal war dance, meaning that it follows the old ways, and has many strict rules that must be adhered to. There, every dancer is required to dance every dance for the duration of the war dance, which is very tiring. The Kiowa Tia Piah Society holds their annual dance at Carnegie, OK over the Fourth of July. This dance is also excellent place to see Gourd Dancing.

I'm also a Gourd Dancer and will tell you about that later.

I'm Cheokee, adpoted into the Comanche, Tewa and Lakota, plus Scots/Irish.

Come see the Kwahadi Dancers. You'll have a great time, get to take once-in-a-lifetime photos, see outstanding dancing and meet extremely wonderful young men and young women.

The KWAHADI DANCERS.

Thank you,

John Madden

The Burren in County Clarke, Ireland

What a trip, we'll visit The Burren in County Clarke, Ireland.

The name Burren is from the Irish - bhoireann meaning a stony place. Its formation has lain unspoiled since the ice-age and is composed of karstic limestone, the largest area of such in western Europe.

It is a place of surprise and delight to botanists, archaeologists and ecologists alike and occupies an area of approximately 300 sq. kilometres. The area itself is very bleak in appearance with glacial soil loss at a maximum. However is does have sufficient soil to grow a wide variety of the most unusual and rarest of plants, many of them strange bedfellows.

This area has some of the finest archaeological megalithic tombs in Ireland, if not in Western Europe. There are relics of human habitation dating back almost 6000 years and the most famous is the vortal tomb, or portal dolman, at Poulnabrone. In this area alone there are more than 60 wedge tombs and the densest concentration in Ireland. There are also numerous examples of raths (earthen ring forts) and stone cashels. This area is also rich in historical ecclesiastical sites

Come along and travel with us, see what we see, go where we go, do what we do, see how kids, Boy and Girl Scouts, from West Texas and The Panhandle of Texas represent the area, region, State of Texas, family, Scouting and themselves. You'll be PROUD!

Cliffs-Moher

The cliffs of Moher are located just south of the Village of Doolin in Co Clare Ireland. Rising slowly from Doolin they ascend to over 700 feet (213 metres) stretching south for nearly five miles (8km) to Hags head. Make a stop at the Cliffs of Moher part of your Ireland Tour.

We visit the cliffs Tuesday, July 21. Check out the site (http://www.cliffs-moher.com/index.php), see what we have to look forward to and hop on the blog to follow us.

http://www.john.maddenphotography.com

Welcome!

Welcome to our Kwahadi Indian Dancers European Tour 2009 Photo Blog.

Here you'll find photos and information concerning our upcoming summer tour.

We'll put on seventeen performances in our 23 day tour. There will be sixty-three people going on the tour which includes dancers, drummers, singers, and show assistants. We will travel by plane, bus, train and ferry. It will truly be a experience and opportunity of a life time.

Hop on the blog, travel with us, see what we see through "My Eyes" and enjoy sharing the adventure with us.

John Madden