Heads up - Throwing parties!

Throwing parties are similar to that of the northwest coast potlatch parties, a redistributing of goods. A celebration takes place for a variety of reasons. These can be the first year of a life, a first catch for a boy (moose/seal/caribou), or a girl's  first egg from a nest she found on the tundra.  A feast is held in the home where all are invited, then the women take their places outside. Everyone gets ready and the goods begin to fly.

 I only got hit on the head twice. Bars of soap, measuring cups, dish towels, scarves, and hand lotion were some of the small items.

 Laundry baskets, sleeping bags, and blankets were some of the medium weight items. Fighting over whatever comes your way is part of the fun. The sleeping bags and blankets were opened up so they would cover several women on their way down. Those old ladies are pretty tough. My size didn't matter.....

The heaviest items such as liquid laundry detergent and boxes of powdered milk were eventually handed down to certain elderly women who were seated off to the side on the boardwalk.
I walked away with a yellow plastic bowl, perfect for popcorn, and a white washcloth.

Out for a walk, early August

 From these shots it is hard to tell if the water is the river that Atmautluak runs along, or one of the many large ponds/lakes that surround the town.

 It was a very rainy, windy summer in the region which made it difficult to dry fish and the berries that people rely on are late.

Boardwalks in this area are the infrastructure.

Everything is accessible by the boardwalks! These are very sturdy, and they are now wide enough for two four-wheelers to pass. Not so, long ago. I remembered them to be quite narrow, and in some places sinking into the tundra to where one had to hopscotch along.

Dishes for cable are common next to the houses. This area of the village has fairly new housing.

                  



                                  Alaska Cotton Tuff Grass

 This is a section of the older village along the river.

 There is a little bit of smoke coming out of the stack. This is a steam bath house. With no running water this is how people stay clean. The taller room is for undressing, a small door opens into the shorter section where a fire is lit, usually contained in a used 55 gallon drum on its side. Water is poured onto the drum and the steam....feels so good...unless you are with the men who like to get it tooooo hot. Some to the point of having scars on their back.

Moving in...... 40 boxes later....

 (I added these photos after the rest of this was written up.)


This bed barely fit in one of the middle bedrooms. It is waiting for the girls.


All teachers are supplied with a freezer in the arctic entry. Ours had a little frost situation that someone must have missed when they moved out.....

 Just some shots of the inside. It is a three bedroom apartment, very long! Note the hallway. It is awfully big for one person, but will fill up when family arrives. Kind of funky, but is much nicer than I would have thought.

The HALLWAY....kind of scary.....The furnace is at the end. All heat runs from fuel, in which the tank is checked constantly. If electricity goes out, so does the heat. We pay rent monthly with all utilities included.





Small middle bedroom (below) that will become Bruce's mini-shop space.

 Bathroom has running water and flush toilet. BIG deal as only the teacher housing, school, and community laundromat have it. When I was here before only the school had the plumbing. The village has a local well where people come to get water to haul home. In the winter they mostly chop ice (hard work!). They also use a "honeybucket" system to deal with the sewage and grey water. There is quite a bit of iron in the water....My scalp turned orange the last time I was in the area.

  There are two stores in the village, the Corporation Store, and the Jenkin's Store. Peter and his wife, Betsy, run it out of their home. It is all very expensive, can of corn about $3, so best to bring what one can at first. Then, there are several mail order companies, Costco included. The shipping and handling is what will get you!

Home Sweet Home!

As long as it's warm.....

Actually, this is three homes. The far side is mine, the closer side is Dorothy's, and there is a tiny apartment in the back that I had about 30 years ago! This thing is ancient! We share an arctic entryway which is common. When we walk through this front door, we have a long hallway before we get to our real front door.

This hot little piece of real estate is insured for a cool one million....

Off to Atmautluak!

 I love flying! First sight of Atmau elevation of 17 feet out at the airstrip.


We left Bethel heading a slight northwest for about 15 minutes. Only tundra and lakes were below. In spotting Atmau, we could also see Nunapitchuk, and Kasigluk (now divided into Akula and Akiuk), the neighboring villages 5-7 miles away. We could see the three wind turbines of Akula.

 Atmautluak is home to about 280 people. Almost all those that live here are of the Central Yu'pik Eskimo ethnicity. The largest building, the one with the red roof, is the K-12 school. I was here two different times back in the 1980's, once with the 1st and 2nd graders, the other with the Special Education students.

This is a good view of the Petmigdalek River which is the windiest river around. It is a typical meandering tundra river that eventually makes its way to the Johnson River, which is a tributary of the Kuskokwim River.

Bush pilots need to be good out here as they deal with crosswinds, sub zero temps, ice fog, nasty clients, and oops, low fuel readings.....

Inservice for Lower Kuskokwim School District new to the area teachers

Trying to keep fish guts off the kuspuk.

Fish! Lots and lots of fish, all kinds. Summers can be spent at fish camps along the various rivers drying fish that have been caught in gill
nets either drifting with the current, or set nets that stay put until the owner "works the line".

The school district had these three women show how different salmon species are cut to dry. I think the fish were silver, king, and chum. They are using the ulu, the traditional women's knife.

The people of this region are considered subsistence hunters and fishermen. The Yu'pik people will put up fish all summer placing their drying racks where the wind will keep the flies away. Many people will smoke their fish also helping the preservation. Come winter, hopefully enough has been put up for the family.

I think this woman is so beautiful! I chose to make all the people photos black and white as the camera was being goofy with its color.

Note how the tail, end of fish, is still one piece on the table. This allows this style of cut to hang over a fish drying rack. This is the typical way to hang silvers.

This woman is slicing the thicker part of the meat to help it dry quicker. The one she is cutting is the King Salmon, or Chinook, as it is the largest species. There are some BIG ones out in these parts!

This woman is making a "plank cut". The sticks are being woven into the fish. This is the typical way to dry the Chum or Dog salmon.

Again, the tail piece is intact in order to hang the fish.

LKSD's inservice continued!

 Fishing! Silvers were running and we had the opportunity to either try to get them, or just have the experience to go out on a boat ride on the Kuskokwim River. We all said, "Fish On!"

 So, Potts (and his lovely daughter, Emily, not pictured) donated his boat, time, and expertise to take his new deckhands out. Brave man. I was a bit concerned as the transom was about level with the river....

It was cold! The cold beer and cold wine didn't help much, but the smoked salmon strips did! What a host!

It was wet, pouring, sloppy, soaking, wind gusting, getting in cracks and crevices....burrr.

It was fun..... especially when the rain stopped. But, we got skunked and could barely move by the time we returned to the harbor. Lots and lots of hot chocolate helped.