Suddenly, spring is coming.

Although the temperatures are rarely above freezing and in spite of several days of persistent snowing, the fine crystals of dehydrated snow that have survived the frigid winter quickly vanish in the face of the intensity of the artic sun.  Literally by the hour we can see the dwindling of the snow pack, the accumulation of standing water puddled in the streets and forming shallow but wide collections of water on the surface of the still frozen lagoons we view out of our windows.  With subsurface still frozen, there is little place for the water to go, much to the delight of booted children challenging the depths and four wheelers intent on setting a splash record.

 And with the vanishing of winter’s grace, the skeletons of summers past are exposed.

Presently, we have less than 90 minutes between sunset and sunrise. With that interval dwindling like the snow, by week’s end -  even before we return to Snohomish, we will experience the fulfillment of John the Revelator’s vision:  “There will be no more night.” (Revelation 22:5)

 This weekend we took  to the outdoors.  Some coiled ‘creepers’ added to the soles of my boots made walking on water (frozen) safer.  With the warming trend (up to 32F at times), snow is turning to slush and mud season is around the corner.

Below you have a view of our housing complex.
It’s the one on the hill....ha,ha.  We are left of middle about three windows on ground floor.  Nothing between us and the bright, white, frozen sea.  These abandoned fishing boats are part of the town’s landscaping we fear will not be pretty as the snow melts.

Saturday we explored the gift shop and had lunch at the Top of the World Hotel, then stopped by Frieda’s bake shop and mexican food.  Sweets went home with us, but Jon decided to wait til later in the day for his Mexican meal.  BUT, after the graduation he attended they were not open, even tho they said they would be until 8 pm.  We are learning to not count on posted info.  So, he ate some more of the cabbage patch soup we’ve been eating all week.  Of course, he eats most meals at the hospital, so I’ve been eating the soup.

AND NOW FOR THE ‘F’’ THEMES:

FEATHERS

This little bird, and probably some buddies, has
been singing around our street.  Word has it from
facebook that it is the McKay Snow Bunting.
Pretty song it sings, and Jon was patient, or
lucky, to get such a good picture of it singing.
The only other bird we’ve seen is the gull.
I’d love to see a snowy owl, but have to go
prowling for their hiding places, I hear.



FUR  (shucks, it’s hair on a dog!)

Sunday we came across a Husky relaxing on
another carcass of a boat...but, I shouldn’t be
too hasty....these boats are probably used when
the right time comes!











This Fur/Fabric/Floral shop was really a variety store.  We bought stamps to send the postcards because she said the PO in town did not have stamps currently.  Jon passed up the out of date carton of Diet Pepsi.

    MORE FUR.......beautiful furs, for beautiful prices.  My favorite is the Arctic fox.  In the winter it’s brown fur turns white for camouflage purposes.  This small head of white fur, the size of my hand was $215.  This full-body furs, are upwards of $1,000.

The people here wear the furs as collars, trim around the bottom of their coats, sleeves, and in their mukluks. A pair of polar bear gloves can be $500.  

This is a sign of their wealth and prestige, to have these furs.  Only in Alaska, I believe.  Someone reminded me it wouldn’t go over well in the south 48.

 FABRIC

was everywhere...about 4 of these cubbies, then in the aisless as well as zippers of all sizes, threads of all kinds, even yarn.   It was all I could do to not buy some!

FLORAL?

FORGOT TO TAKE A PHOTO OF THE
many fresh and fake flowers...to keep with the ‘f’ theme :)

Well, that’s all for today, folks.  Because of the dreadfully slow internet, it’s taken all day to do this.
Until next time.......

Graduation on the North Slope

I (Jon) went to the graduation of Ilisagvik College Saturday afternoon, Alaska’s only native tribal college.  This was their 20th graduating class, having awarded 127 associate degrees in that time, 14 today, including one grandmother.  It is primarily a technical college giving degrees in Allied Health, Accounting, Construction Technology and Business Management, but also four graduated in liberal arts and plan to move on to a four year school.  Rightly so, they are proud that this is an accredited community college administered by, and especially for, the Inupiat peole of the Arctic North Slope.  No more do they have to leave their communities to go to boarding schools administered by persons outside of, or historically often unappreciative of, their culture.

The graduates pass under the arch from the baleen of a whale while accompanied by a native chant and drumming.










On the platform from left to right:
the Chairperson of the College Board,
the Lieutenant Governor of the State of Alaska
the North Slope Representative to the State Legislature.

What do they have in common?
All are graduates of Sheldon Jackson school in Sitka, a Presbyterian school, now closed.






The first person to be awarded an honorary Associate of Arts Degree? an elder in the community that has taught the culture to many students.






“I finished my schooling in 1943....but I got my degree in 2015.”






After the ceremony, they served dinner to everyone and native drumming and dancing.

On to Alaska

It's been a year since the last entry.  That doesn't mean we haven't travelled or served anywhere. Jon's visits to Kabul have escalated in his new role as interim director with trips in June, October and March of this year, 2015.  Security issues worsened and most of our friends there have left.  He will continue to make short trips until the new director is ready to go into the country.



Barrow, Alaska from the air...........

Meanwhile, we are currently in Barrow, Alaska, the northernmost town on the continent of North America...330 mi. above the Arctic Circle and 1200 miles from the North Pole.  Inhabited by the Inupiat people for centuries, there are eight villages dotting the frozen tundra.  Barrow is the seat of government for the North Slope Borough, the largest municipality in the world, covering 89,000 sq. Miles of arctic territory.  With a total population of app. 7,500, app. 4,700 live in Barrow. People of many ethnic backgrounds live and work here.  The Inupiat population is around 65%.  

Jon is working in their new hospital as a clinic physician.  A van picks him up from our hospital housing in the morning and brings him home in the evening.  He eats all his meals at the hospital so I am left on my own to find sustinance.  With the price of food at the grocery, I've decided to shrink my stomach!  Bananas are $3. a lb.  Milk around $8. per half-gallon, gr. beef $7. a lb, Tillamook cheese $18. a 2-lb. loaf.  Needless to say, I brought a loaf from home....and a few other smaller items I knew I would use. 

   

 Jon works with a couple other new docs:  Rebekah from Wisconsin and Greg from Seattle.  They will stay longer than we and family will also join them later.  More permanent, contracted employees are blessed with good vacation packages and leave when 'subs' arrive.

Jon is enjoying all the employees he works with, and hasn't complained too much about the computer work.












Our apartment has a great view out toward the Chukchi Sea.  Since Barrow lies at the meeting point of the Chukchi and the Beaufort Seas, there is almost always a breeze.  Bowhead whaling is 'in season' in April and May before the miles of frozen sea hugging the shore breaks up.
Teams of men (selected by the tribe?) have completed chopping a trail over the 6 miles of uneven ice and have made camp on the ice floes.  They have 26 strikes for the year to kill their whales.  Unfortunately the first two were lost to the sea because of ice conditions that were too dangerous to finish the kill.  They travel out on their skidoos and complete the butchering out there.  In the Fall, when they will have another chance, they bring them into shore for the villagers to assist.  The whales are not around in the brief summer months.

  A word about the frozen ice.  Even though it is completely frozen, it is constantly moving, changing, and is very dangerous.  The pressure caused large waves and chunks to uplift.  As the temperature rises in the coming weeks, it will begin to thaw.
This view of the sunset from our window was taken a bit before midnight.  The days lengthen 10 minutes a day, Jon says.  Pretty soon the sun will not set, just keep moving along the horizon.  The main road is out where the poles are, but the lagoon immediately in front of us is frozen and used by cars, snowmobiles, people, etc.  A couple more weeks and it will be too dangerous to use, also.

Only in Alaska....

Last week was all work after Jon returned from Chicago.  The temps have slowly warmed and the snow is disappearing, even the big piles of it.  Days are getting longer and we had to add dark towels to cover our small window in the bedroom.....sun rises earlier than we want to!  Some student nurses and physician assistants have arrived for various lengths of time, so Jon includes them in the call schedule as well as their daily assignments.  He was up most of Sunday night, teaching Kathryn as they tended to the emergencies. We also ate out together at the local Thai place.....excellent food and picnic tables in the back.

Despite the loss of sleep, Jon rallied and we went ahead with our last excursion away from Glennallen on Monday.  TOK was our destination....about the only place left that we haven't seen in this southeastern corner of the state.  Tok is on the main highway from Canada and the USA, the only 'port' that you have to exit from as well as enter.....unless you ferry home.  So Tok is a bit bigger and a bit spiffier than Glennallen....not much, but a bit.  It is the 'mushing' capital of Alaska.....so seeing these types of sleds displayed made a bit of sense.  

We even saw green grass, not just on the roof os this gift shop!  The sprinkler was running, so we had to time our entrance to avoid the shower from above. 

The vehicles may have been on display, but I don't know.  About any type of vehicle is seen on the roads, or off.  We did not have time to venture further up the road to Chicken, Alaska.  It leads to Eagle and was part of the original gold rush highway to the Yukon River.  From the guidebook, we would 


have had to have a hardier vehicle and nerves of steel.  Another time?

 We ate at FAST EDDY'S, a very nice restaurant in these parts.
We even ordered milkshakes to go....something we haven't seen for some time.

 The Wrangell Mts. seem closeby in Glennallen, but this cutoff to Tok took us around them to the east and we saw a totally different side of them.  I'm not sure which river this is as the Slana joins the Gakona, which joins the Copper River, which dumps into Prince Edward Sound.  The rivers tend to be broad and meandering as the glacial silt settles along the way.

 Trumpeter Swans begin to migrate north from Central America and 80 % of them nest in this area of Alaska.  Many of the waterways are still partly frozen, so some were roosting on the ice.  These had found open water and were 'fishing' for food.

Mr. Moose, and his friends, were most unhappy about posing for pictures!  They seemed to always turn around and give us the rear view by the time we stopped and got the camera out.  We have seen a lot of them this time of year as they are migrating also.

Jon has one more day of work and he is on his last overnight call.  Thursday we'll clean the apartment and pack.  Maybe we'll have time to drive to Willow Lake and stop at the Princess Lodge for lunch.  He treated a young employee from the lodge so they may be open for business.  The cruise lines built it for their benefit.....tourist excursions.  Friday we catch a ride to Anchorage with Donna and Cleve, the chaplain at the clinic and his wife.  Right now I need to start dinner as they are our guests this evening.  Thank you for coming along on our trip and we bid farewell until the next one.

I am back in Glennallen arriving near midnight on Sunday after a four hour drive from the Anchorage airport, all of which could have been driven without headlights given the late setting sun in these parts (but for safety, I did turn them on, if for no other reason than to alert the bull moose along the roadside that I was headed his way).

The weekend in Chicago to remember and honor my friend and colleague who died in Afghanistan in April was a busy and meaningful experience.  I not only met his family but also some of the immediate family of the young couple who also involved in the tragedy.  I continue to be amazed and blessed by the over 150 expressions of support Marita and I have received from our friends who share their concern for us and also the families involved, even though they have never met them.    Thank You for your love and support!

Jerry was the first pediatrician to join the Lawndale Christian Health Center, a thriving facility with many services to care for one of the most challenging communities in South Chicago.  The love for him was hugely evident in the assembly of hundreds at the memorial, the overwhelming provision of food, transportation and housing for the weekend activities (enough so that the coordinator had to say “no more” to those offering), and the re-gathering of coworkers over the years.

My hosts, Karen and Bill had worked with Jerry in the past, were most gracious and fun to be with.  Karen actually has given tours for folks through some of the neighborhoods in the area so gave me a look at some of the unique architecture in the communities.  Over the weekend, I travelled in the steps of some famous folks:  past the home and studio of Frank Lloyd Wright, viewed some other homes he and his contemporaries had designed, past the apartment that the MLK, Jr. family lived in when they moved to Chicago to protest the unequal housing rights.  Jerry and Jan live just a couple of blocks from the Obama’s home, and the gymnasium where we had the memorial was dug out by shovel and wheelbarrow from the Cadillac agency where Al Capone purchased his cars.

I enjoyed hearing the stories of folks’ experiences with Jerry, many of whom I heard him speak as we travelled and lived together, now meeting them for the first time.  I am not the only one who considered him a gifted doctor, a warm friend, and enthusiastic adventurer.  Among many stories, he loved to tell of their eight hour zip-line excursion in Thailand, advising Marita and I to not miss it when we travelled there, although we did not heed is recommendation.  They showed a video at the service of his zipping down a line, whooping and hollering along the way.

We had time to meet with those of us connected to the training program and grieve together, share our concerns for the future and begin formation of an interim course of action.  It looks like I will be the point person at this stage, trying to be as available and helpful as Jerry was even when he was in the US.  Likely that will mean many emails, phone calls and Skype encounters to keep communication flowing.  I will have great support from our sending and receiving agencies in Tulsa and Colorado Springs.  

Those of us who spent time with Jerry knew that he was always pondering. I noticed he would often start a conversation with the words, “OK, so...”  Riding with him and some of our faculty with our driver we would hear those words often:

“OK, so,  I need to go to the community clinic at 12:00.”

“OK, so,  who do you think are the leading candidates for president?”

“OK, so, Doctor, what is your brother doing now?”

Actually I think Jesus had the same expression; maybe those "verily, verilies" really should be translated:

“OK, so,  if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed...nothing shall be impossible to you."  (Matthew 17:20)

"OK, so,  if a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it brings forth much fruit."

(John 12:24)

"OK, so,  you shall weep but your sorrow shall be turned to joy."  (John 16:20)

"OK, so,  whatever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you you."  

(John 16:23)

Well, OK, so...it’s one notion, anyway

In Asian countries, the custom usually is to remove your shoes before entering the home or workplace.  So it’s good to have shoes that are easy to remove and survive the dust and mud of the country.  Jerry introduced me to the L.L. Bean slip on Storm Chaser; so I had to wear my pair for the weekend, even though they never quite meet the high standard of appearance that our housemate, Kelly, would tolerate there.  I will always wear them with joy remembering my gifted friend.

Jon

We took a trip on Monday......up north in Alaska.  Glennallen is at the junction of the Glenn highway coming east from Anchorage and the Richardson highway coming north from Valdez.  We travelled 235 miles, over the Alaska Range and on to North Pole.  Notice I did not say THE north pole.  It is an actual town just south of Fairbanks, with fast-food drive-ins and all!   A bigger town than we live in.                                                                                                      

 Our original destination was Delta, which is the junction between  Highway 4 from Anchorage and the Richardson, and the Tok Highway which goes on into Canada and beyond.  It is not a very big place other than that.  Crossroad Medical Center has just started up a new clinic in Delta, opening in March.  So, Joel and Karen had business to tend to there and made for a fun trip.

Moose were out foraging and we saw quite a few of them.  This is mom and yearling.

These are called the Rainbow Mts.(6,000 ft.) because of the various colors in the volcanic rock (red and green) and siltstone/ sandstone (yellow and pastels) on the talus slopes.  Of course now it's still dusted with snow.

 



Another 'beast' we got a peek at was this baby yak.  The nurse at Delta Junction raises yaks with her husband.  This little one was not doing well after birth, so she brought it to work in the van, to keep an eye on it.  We pestered it until it stood up...
kinda wobbly.  They have 120, or so, yaks and will be able to sell them for meat.  Ugh.


And yet, another beast Jon ran into was this mosquito at The Knotty Shop at Salcha.  The gift shop was closed but we viewed the burled animals on the lawn.  The burled logs come from Thailand.



To think, we're already at North Pole, Ak.!
The reindeer were busy molting their horns.
This one doesn't look like Prancer, or Dancer...... But Santa, poor guy, is stuck up there reading off his list.  After purchasing a Northern Lights Christmas ball for our tree, we found the recommended restaurant and enjoyed ourselves immensely.  I hadn't had chinese food for a long time.

We were surprised at the end of the meal by a phone call from our friends in Kabul.  This was a first and Jon talked to them for a long time, getting more of the details of the last week.  The only problem was hugs don't go over the airwaves.  But, we loved hearing their voices!!

 

WE started for home around 8 pm.  This photo of the Alaska Range was taken a couple hours later.  It takes a looooooong time for the sun to set this time of year.  We arrived in Glennallen at ll:30 and it wasn't really dark yet.  Dusky.

 This bull moose, and a few others we didn't stop for, was alongside the highway.  He lost his horns somewhere.  Hunters get real irked at all the easy sightings of moose and caribou out of season.

 Jon has decided to fly to Chicago tomorrow on the overnight flight and attend the memorial service for Jerry.  In fact, a LOT of people are going.  The cool thing is how Jan and Jerry's friends are hosting so many overnight and others are arranging for gatherings enabling people to visit and get to know each other.  He doesn't even have to rent a car! And, maybe he will be able to visit our wounded friend in the hospital. She should be back in the US by then.  I will stay home and mope..ha.  I'll keep myself busy helping Karen with some projects....and I always have the ones I brought with me.