Slaviq this year was quieter...

 The community began Slaviq on January 7. I posted several photos last year about the celebration. This year, we were fortunate to receive a phone call inviting us to the first house of the season. It was a beautiful morning, and then the clouds began to roll in.

The Russian Orthodox church had their service and the first house to begin the celebration was right across the way. There was a collection of snowmobiles and sleds waiting outside the home.

 We crowded into the arctic entry, like last year, and got there just in time for the singing and prayers. When the singers were done, we went inside and found a place lining the hallway with others. It was very crowded....! We filled our pockets with candy and small gifts that were passed out to all. Eventually moose soup was passed out to the adults, with a scoop of akutaq following. The children had plates of spaghetti, jello and cake. Elders made their way to the table for tea and bread. After others came to take their place at the table, the Spinning Star and Banner came out of the back room. Those of us in the hallway had to duck as it made its way out into the arctic entry heading on to the next house. The group of singers stood and followed.

Bruce kept busy over vacation helping Peter and Betsy. Their porch kept getting filled with snow as the outside porch door would not close. They have a store in their house, so have many people coming and going. Bruce fixed the door jam and "wallah" the door closed.

We shop often at their store as they have quite a variety for having such a small space. When you go through the door you walk right into the store. If you take a left, you walk right into their home.

Another project that Bruce took on was going after an empty fuel drum. There is a great youtube for all to see of an "orchestra of instruments" created out of trash in a dump. It takes place in Caeura, Paraguay. It is quite inspiring, please take a look. Bruce made a "washtub base". He even used the girls' tuner to see what it would register.

 


He even had a bit of a fancy scroll design for the neck. Between Lily's clarinet, Gwen's flute or piccolo, his bass, maybe Eli's guitar, Dorothy's voice and my...?? we can set up a jam session.


Tim came back from a successful moose hunt. The family cleaned the ribs well! We'd gotten a call the night before around 1 as he had come home late beating a storm. The sled was so heavy he could not get it into a connex to keep it away from the roaming dogs. We helped him slide it in. It was very heavy and both he and his other partner got stuck in the deep snow several times on the way home.

We were fortunate to receive some of this moose after it had been ground up. No fat whatsoever. It cooked up fast and was a real treat!!

Out for walk across the river...

 Pretty mild day out over the holiday vacation so the family (parents) decided it best to get out for a walk. Always hard to decide which direction to go when there is so much land everywhere!

This fellow was out collecting ice. He had five gallon buckets in his sled, and when he passed  us, all were filled with ice chunks from this lake.

 Melvin was out training his dogs for the Akiak Dash, a 50 mile race that occurs the same weekend of the Kuskokwim 300. He raced, and out of a field of eleven, came in fourth. Melvin is over 60....

 The Atmau-Nepenthe is spending the winter frozen next to several other boats.

 We have Ship Ahoy and the Titanic happening....

 The kids were ready to go in, but not the parents. Bruce and I decided to head out and practice the Garmin GPS we bought last year. We took off along the trail to Bethel to mark waypoints.

 We traveled about half way there marking three different points along the trail. We made sure they were always at the big triangular markers to test our skills.



Needless to say, we need a lot of practice and hope we won't HAVE to use it anytime soon.....

Getting ready and getting out

There is a wonderful photo essay book called Always Getting Ready. I found Bruce a copy for Christmas. It seems that the idea has become a theme for us.

 We had a big 'ole storm come just after Christmas. We moved the snowmobile closer to the house so Bruce could work on the hitch. He ended up having to dig it out twice.

 Great shot of the girls down on the river. Don't they look like they should get along all the time??

 We needed to dig the sled out from its home nestled against the supply building. It took some digging and shoving and pushing to get it out from its hole. Bruce came later to hitch it up and bring it around to our side.

 Lily and neighbor boys had fun digging snow caves in the drifts outside of the house. The snow is perfect for creating snowforts/igloos as the wind packs the ice crystals tightly. When you walk across, or fall down, it feels like concrete.

 Bruce beginning to attach the new hitch that Shorty from Bethel made.

 December 31, all dressed up and where does one go? It was beautiful out, fairly warm and we decided to take a ride to Kasigluk to see if their store was open.

 Bruce started us off with Lily on the back. The idea was to get the girls use to driving. We are heading out back of the village swinging off to the North. The pink building ahead is the clinic. They drove pilings in last year, and are beginning construction of the addition.

 Here is the switch over. Gwen hops on and takes over first. It is about nine miles to Kasigluk.

 Lily's job is to turn around and check on us old folks to make sure we are still being towed. We give her thumbs up and she does the same.

 Here, Lily took over and had the most fun driving over the tundra trails. Gwen headed out mostly over frozen lakes.

 We got to the village of Kasigluk, but the store was closed. They have a store that is about twice the size of Atmau's. It has a wall of freezers, fresh produce, and a variety of other goods, like clothing.

We went on to view one of the three wind turbines. 

 We left Kasigluk, then headed over to Nunapitchuk to see if their little restaurant happened to be opened thinking a meal out would be fun on New Year's Eve. No such luck!

 So, the New Year's Eve meal preparation began.  We made mini pizzas with all the trimmings we could think of.

 We'd gone to the Corporation Store here in Atmau and bought everyone's favorite junk food to last through the evening. We watched a movie while we waited for midnight.

Once Midnight hit, so did the fireworks. We had them coming out of the south side of the village, then the north, and some eventually to the west. It was a great treat!!

But, no meal is complete without Bruce's roasted marshmallows.....ala drill.

It's now time to get on with our Christmas celebration!

  I'm on my own this time, out looking for a Christmas tree/willow that will will be strong enough to hold up the lights this year. But, since we had an Arctic Hare out back last year nibbling on the willows, I had to make sure it was one that was out in the open.

 Perfect!

  Gwen getting Moosey!



Lily making chocolate mint candies. Eventually, we went into full on cookie production.

 We made cinnamon mixed with glue ornaments with the older students. I just happened to have some little red puff balls for a little Rudolf fun.

  This is when we went into cookie overdrive!

 We started a cookie marathon to take to many different people that helped us this year. We had a great time with the variety!