Orange

This is the time of year that the sun is slowing down and not hitting the horizon until almost 11. It makes for some beautiful shadows and the color orange across the landscape. Once I started to notice it last year, it was hard to ignore.

Barbecue Bethel Style

  Got a call from Jan that said, "Come on down!" and we all hopped into the big rig to head upriver. It was a beautiful day and a local group of people were gathering at their fishcamp to roast hotdogs.

 We drove onto the ice road, which is the plowed Kuskokwim River. It can go upriver 50 to 150 miles depending on all kinds of things.

 

 After a while we found the place and managed to drive right on up. Some others weren't so fortunate. The guys had to go tow out two other vehicles that got stuck in the snow.

 The fuel for the fire became this 400 pound bundle of cardboard. When they rolled it out of the truck, it broke the sled....



When the bundle arrived we set up an assembly line to get it to the fire pit.

Two old friends enjoying the sun.

 The cardboard burned great, but the big problem was the flying ash. We got covered and fortunately only burned a hole in one chair and  small blanket.

Willow thicket and shadows

 There was plenty of food and drink for all.

 The fire got plenty big and very hot. People began to shed coats and when it came to roasting dogs, we couldn't get too close.

 

Great shelter in place for all year camping!

    This was a first for me...

 Some kids were cutting in snow caves in the hillside, others were on their sleds, and others were out chasing each other around on snowmobiles.

 It was great to get out and be included. This is a wonderful group of people who like to have a lot of fun. Many were staying the night having set up tents in other locations.

 The green sled is loaded with wood from upriver. This fellow had been out hunting fox along the way.

 Time for us to head home. What a great day!

Sunset that night.

A Special Weekend

 We were able to go into Bethel for the Olympics this year. I brought in four students, athletes plus friends. Going into Bethel we needed money to spend! Fortunately, the school had cake mix and ice cream cones that needed to get used up. Perfect! We made Cupcake Cones. For two days we baked, and in two days we sold out.

 The first batch didn't go so well, they overflowed. We had to eat the "bad" ones.....we just had to. We even had to eat three bad ones each.....

 

  Then we had Bertina, the baker extraordinaire, come and we added popcorn balls to the mix. The students decided they wanted blue marshmallows. We also used up the rest of the sprinkles in the mix.

 At $1.00 a piece they sold out even though we only sold during the lunch times.

So, it was finally time to head to the big city of Bethel.

  We flew in using a Caravan, a first for these kids, and got ourselves settled. Next, it was time for pizza and making our banner for the opening ceremony. We were first in line. Barrow came up behind us, Bethel was next, Dillingham, Kwethluk, Kwigillingok, Napakiak, Nightmute, Nunapitchuk, adn Quinhagak all lined up.

The torch

 We had our own special cheering section, Eli and Katie.

 There was a short speech from the director out of Anchorage that was very inspirational. Then everyone broke out and headed off to watch the movie and eat lots and lots of popcorn.

 All the next day the teams were involved in a 3 on 3 tournament. The games were 20 minutes long, or the game stopped when a score hit 20. It was a great set up for our group.

 We finally had a break in the action and got to spend some of our hard earned money. Each student had a shopping list of what they were interested in looking for with an estimated cost. Slurpies were not on the list....but when you're a thrifty shopper you can make it work!

What a crew!

Then there was the dance and of course the girls had to dress up. The boys were nowhere to be found.

  As the night wore on more and more dancers joined in. The Conga line got the most dancers out on the floor.  We eventually found the boys, upstairs. So, we had to get at least one of them in the photo....

One tired group!