Misadventures of a Midlife Married Couple

June 4, 2024

Well it’s safe to say the last few weeks of school kept us hopping! We had cross country skiiers come in to teach our kids how to ski. Watching kids from ages 4 to 18 learn to navigate the tundra on skis was fun. We also loaded up any of the kids who wanted to go, invited the community, and took anyone who wanted to go to ice fishing! It was an awesome experience and quite a sight to see, especially the elementary group where we had 17 snowmachines, many pulling sleds loaded with kids, trailing out over the tundra like a train!

Ice fishing was part of our move to bring more cultural activities into the school and we also spent several days with our kids learning and practicing cultural dancing. We had two local men come in and instruct the dances to all the grades. The kids loooooved it.

Then graduation week rolled around! We had senior graduation, kindergarten graduation, and eighth grade promotion all in a span of 5 days (including a weekend in there!). When I tell you that the 13 years I spent doing prom decorating with Hillary paid dividends… lol.

In the midst of school chaos for me, Marty got the chance to get out of the village and went to spend a few days recharging and hanging out with Dave and Stacy. They went up to Chena hot springs and just spent time enjoying each others company.

The emergence of spring here looks pretty different than spring elsewhere. Home in Oklahoma everything just greens up really quickly, flowers start blooming, and all the weird allergens start spreading their particular gifts to the world… (I do NOT miss Bradford Pear trees… they are the trees of Satan). Such is NOT the case here. Spring has come in spurts, a couple of warmer days here, a small snow storm, a couple of warm days there, days in the 20’s, a couple of warm days… you get the picture.

The snow was not quick to give up it’s hold on the landscape, the mountains in the distance are still covered in snow, and as recently as ten days ago there were pockets of snow dotting the tundra, many of the lakes still had ice covered centers, and the sea ice in the big village was still holding on when I flew out May 31st. Then, about 4 days later we got to see video of the sea ice break up in Kotzebue, the waters were rushing and moving the ice around in chunks. The winds here blew the ice from the centers of the lakes to the edges where it has finally completely dissipated. As the snow receded and the tundra reemerged it was actually the first time I looked out and went ugh… the reds of fall faded under their winter blanket and the tundra showed up in clumps of dead brown tall grasses. The trails created by snow machines became muddy scars across the land (picture the “road” you create when you drive through the pasture all winter…) and the willows stood bare in clumps along the roadside.

We have watched over the last two weeks as the green began to reemerge…. and reemerge it has! The tundra has exploded into color. It is not yet the field of greens that it will be later, it is blooming. The willow trees started it, covered in small buds, which have now turned into bright leaves, the grasses are filled with small red blooms whose plant has heavy red leaves. Tall grasses have sprouted white puffy blooms, and white flower clumps abound. The snow on the tundra itself has finally given up the ghost, although it clings to the mountains in the distance.

We are the only village in the region (except Kotzebue) that does not have dirt roads. Every other village has fought mud during the thaw, we have not had to fight that battle, we have a large natural gravel pit down on the river and river rocks make up our roadways, (honestly the village sells it and when other villages DO rock “pave” something it is with our river rock) so we have been fighting dust. Yesterday we got rain tho!

Our weather has been between 40-70 the last couple of weeks. Yesterday was 59 and Marty and I were sitting out sunning ourselves, I thought it was in the 70s… today the high is expected to be 49. It’s funny how that 49 feels so much cooler than I expect it to. There has been some sort of shift because I was only wearing a light jacket when it was in the teens and low 20s. I have repeatedly said that there is something here that makes the cold NOT feel as cold, I stand by that.

At the end of this week we will fly out of the village and head to Fairbanks to visit framily, get vision and dental taken care of, take the dogs to the vet. The vet is the part I’m worried about. Our sweet Xena has a growth in her saggy boobs. It does not feel like a lipoma, it is hard and I am terrified that she has a cancerous growth. There has been nothing we can do here, as we have no access to vets. So I am hoping they can just remove whatever it is, and that any tests come back as non-malignant. We ARE however, looking forward to seeing Maryla and Seth, and spending time with Dave and Stacy.

When we get back I will have about two more weeks of “break” left, I plan to be at the school quite a bit. I have things to accomplish!

If you want to come visit, we have a spare bedroom. Life above the arctic circle is simply amazing.

Until next time…