Chicago joins two vegetables by the fire

I'm still feeling lazy, still vegging by the fire with Jim, but Chicago has joined us so I had better put it in a picture that includes her. You haven't seen her yet since my return, because she usually waits until the initial flurry of greetings is over before she comes out and by then my battery was dead. Whenever there are little people in the house she just disappears. Lynxton is still here, but he's asleep. Margie is grocery shopping. So it's just us three - Jim curled up on my ankles, Chicago snug on my chest – vegging together by the fire. If Lynxton should wake up before Margie returns, then Chicago will disappear, I will have to get up to care for him and Jim's comfy rest will get disturbed. 

Text added at 4:53 PM. 

Gabe and I do simultaneous selfies together beneath the whale

It is 5:05 PM and the Iñupiat Heritage Center has closed but there are a few people still lingering in the office and I have a couple of minutes to borrow their wireless and make this quick post. A little bit ago my young and talented friend filmmaker Gabe Tegoseak stopped by to return a battery and battery charger I had loaned him and Dustinn Craig for a short satirical movie Gabe created and Dustinn is helping him with. Gabe took a picture of us together out in the main hall of the Iñupiat Heritage Center and I took a picture of his camera with us on it as he did so. I got the background in better focus then I got us, but that's okay because we all live in the background anyway.

I might note that one of the best joys I get as a photographer is when I walk into someone's house and see one or more of my pictures hanging on the wall. I get that joy when I walk into this place, as I am greeted not only by the big whale hanging overhead but by photos of elders I took in the early 90s, maybe a couple from the late 80s. Most of them are gone now. Viky Solomon, heritage Center receptionist strolled through just at the moment Gabe and I took our pictures together.

Text posted at 6:03 PM. The Squarespace nightmare continues - day 55 and counting.

The dark and rain out there

To most viewers, there would be nothing striking or unusual about this scene. But to me, it is striking to look at this window and see pitch-dark beyond. Such a short time ago, I could look at this window at any time of day or night and there would be light beyond. Plus, it was the sunniest, warmest, hottest, summer we have ever had up here. Now I hear a hard, cold, rain coming down.

The dog gets restrained

Ok. It is 1:23 AM and I just hit a wall. I need to go to bed and get some sleep but not until I put up a post or two. I almost didn't go on a bike ride tonight, because I really must have this job to the printers before I leave for Nuiqsut Tuesday morning. But last night I didn't take my bike ride for the same reason. Then, after I went to bed a little before 1 AM, I found I could hardly sleep because my muscles missed having pushed the pedals - they felt awful. So tonight, I went. I was going to keep it very short, just to Abby's and back, about 3 miles, but when I reached Abby's I had to keep going so it turned into six miles or so.

I don't believe this dog would have bothered me. I've been seeing this dog for years, it's never bothered me before, but the man it owns was worried it might, so he pulled it to the side. I pedaled on by. I'm going to bed now. I don't think my muscles will bother me tonight. That doesn't mean I'll get a good night's sleep, but I can hope.

Self portrait of a man on a coffee break in need of a haircut

I'm on my coffee break. Here I am, sitting at the wheel at a stoplight. There are no stoplights between my house and Metro Cafe but I needed a raspberry pinwheel so I drove to the House of Bread. Now, as I drive back towards the house, I will nibble at the pinwheel and sip the hot coffee. Looks like I had better get a haircut and beard trim before I leave for the village of Nuiqsut on Tuesday.