It is the time of the year when the sun ripens.

Whether it is smooth sumac…

… sedums storing sunlight during the day to eat it at night …

… wild gooseberry ripening its leaves with the same energy that only weeks ago ripened its berries…

… or the Nk’mp salmon coming home to sx̌ʷəx̌ʷnitkʷ …… and asking and asking to get past the dam there, it is the time of ripening. I give thanks today to the people of the Okanagan Nation Alliance and their families among the Colville Federated Tribes for bringing our ancestors home at the same time we go down to the river to greet them. Today was the annual salmon festival at sx̌ʷəx̌ʷnitkʷ. I was proud to be among these people. Some day all this land will ripen into the salmon again. Some day all people will ripen to welcome them.

I live for that day.