First Day of School

Today was the first day of school for the Northwest Arctic Borough School District. Uyaana is in third grade this year. Here he is, doesn't he look bright eyed and bushy tailed at 8am this morning??? Funny, he looks exactly the same as last year, same sweatshirt and all....I promise that he has new nice school clothes on underneath that old hoody.




Third grade is the beginning of big kid school. More homework, bigger books, harder stuff. He even has a three ring binder that he takes home with him. Here is Kotzebue ALL school supplies are provided by the school district so he has a binder and a notebook with some folders, but he wants to change it over to the way cool Power Rangers binder I got him. Even though he wasn't thrilled to get up early this morning he seemed happy to be back at school.


Can I just tell you that it is HOT out today. Walking over to the school it just felt hot. Everyone was talking about how warm it was. I went back to the office and checked the temperature outside and it was a whopping 63 degrees.

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Moonrise

Taken at 11:44pm 8/16/08

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Too Stinkin' Cute

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Salmon

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Evolution of an Akpiq

The cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus), is a slow-growing alpine or sub-Arctic species of Rubus (related to Raspberries, blackberries), producing reddish peach colored edible berry. In Alaska they are often mistakenly called "salmonberries. It is easy to tell the difference bcause salmonberries grow on a bush and cloudberries don't. In the northwest Arctic region of Alaska we call them Akpiqs (ahk-pik).




It all starts out with a little white flower.




After pollination, the white flowers begin to form a berry that is somewhat similar to a raspberry.




The akpiq spends the summer slowly developing inside the protection of it's tightly closed petals.




As the berry gets bigger the petals begin to split open and show the berry inside. The still unripe berry is reddish orange in color.




As the akpiq ripens the petals open all the way and fold back and the berry starts to turn amper in color. The berry has a texture similar to raspberries and a taste similar to apricots.

Excess Baggage

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Sunset

I took these last night at around midnight




The sun will set at around 11:30pm.




We are losing about 8 minutes of sunlight each day.




It is quite dark by about 3am and the starts are starting to be visible for the first time since mid april.

Portland Rose Gardens

Yeah I know, I'm not very prompt in getting pictures up sometimes, but better late than never.



While I was in Portland I had the oppertunity to visit my friend Melinda for a couple days. One of those days she took me to Portland’s International Rose Test Garden.




It is the oldest official, continuously operated public rose test garden in the United States.




The main purpose of the garden is to serve as a testing ground for new rose varieties.




The gardens are very beautiful and certain areas offer beautiful views of the city.




This is Melinda's daughter Sequoia. She had a great time looking at all the roses.




Isn't she cute? She is 3years old and is quite the little singer. She sang me Somewhere over the Rainbow with very good pitch.




Here is Melinda's son Tristan. He is a great storyteller. He loves to tell me long stories about tornados and all sorts of things.




So as much as I was whining aboutbeing stuck in Portland I did have a good time for a couple of days.

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Sterilite Tote vs. Galvanized Tub

For wordless Wednesday I posted a photo of Uyaana taking a bath in a Sterilite Tote (the best bush luggage ever)at Iten's camp. Fellow Alaskan blogger, Ishmael, over at Kodiak Konfidential said..."That is so great. Times sure have changed.... when I was a kid in the village it was a galvanized metal tub that we bathed in, just like the kind you'd see hanging on a barn down south or something. What a hoot."



Well, funny thing is there was a galvanized tub available, see it hanging on the porch post?

Wordless (almost) Wednesday- Camp Bath

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