You never know what is going to happen when you step out onto the road of life. It has been an amazing year. Being in a new environment has made me more aware of my surroundings. My eyes have been wide open as I have taken in the incredible scenes and culture around me. I… [Read more…]
May 13, 2012
My son Orion, his girlfriend Sarah and Steve were up last weekend. We celebrated Orion’s birthday and have been enjoying an arctic spring weekend. That means watching polar bears munch on last seasons left over whale, skiing out on the frozen Chukchi Sea on the trails made for the whaling crews and watching the spring… [Read more…]
April 24, 2012
After getting over the shock of a small school in a small town, I was very happy when we moved to the mountains for my high school years. I found I could be anything I wanted, cheerleader, class officer, yearbook designer and then my true calling, member of the ski team. Gone was the competition… [Read more…]
April 16, 2012
We are often faced with choices in life. Fortunately, this weekend all the choices I needed to make were between two good things happening at once. It was Piuraaqiaqta or Lets Have Fun weekend. There was a parade, music, games, competition and food. Many of the games mimicked skills needed for whaling which will begin… [Read more…]
April 9, 2012
Expectations are delightful, especially when fulfilled. Spring in the arctic at first was hard to discern. My expectations being formed through 55 years of temperate climate. The only daffodils and tulips were in the store, and I have not seen any birds return yet. We still have our noisy ravens and the occasional snowy owl… [Read more…]
April 2, 2012
Yesterday I had the rare treat of viewing art work in both public and nonpublic places with a Smithsonian curator working with the Anchorage Museum. The tour was put together by cooperative extension of the Ilisagvik Community college herein Barrow. Ilisagvik means place to learn in Inupiaq and it is the only tribal college in… [Read more…]
March 26, 2012
Bad things happen all the time. We sympathize and perhaps reach out a helping hand but for the most part we are on the outside looking in. Once in a while we get a ring side seat and the pain is a bit more real, and then it’s our turn to be in the center… [Read more…]
March 19, 2012
It is with a bit of trepidation that I welcome back the sun. Nights will now rapidly grow shorter than the days. The dark coziness of deep winter is replaced with bright sun reflecting off snow and ice sculpted by wind and waves. Now is the time to keep my overachiever nature in check, nurturing… [Read more…]
March 12, 2012
Sunrise: 8:30am Sunset: 8:40pm As you can see, we are back to 12 hours of light here in Barrow. It is amazing how fast it happened. The temp hovered around zero this weekend with windchills around -15 when the wind was blowing. Steve is visiting and we went for a beautiful ski out on the… [Read more…]
March 5, 2012
The dogs were raring to go, the crowd was exuberant and the mushers were gracious and joyous at the start of the 40th annual Greatest Race on Earth. For those that don’t know, the Iditarod is a reenactment of the great serum race in 1925 when diphtheria broke out in Nome. Twenty mushers and about… [Read more…]
May 13, 2012
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