Nursing in Barrow

Glenn and Anne's hut at NARL Ah...I haven't written for some time now but somehow it feels right this morning.  I'm sitting at my pine desk after a wonderful night's rest in my own bed.  It’s wonderful to have taken this for granted in the past but to find renewed joy in it now. Contrasts and change seem to heighten a sense of gratitude for me, pushing me into a pleasant and welcome state of mind.  I just recently returned to my apartment after enjoying eleven days of  house/cat sitting out at one of the huts at NARL, the old Navy Arctic Research Lab.  Big Boy, Anne and Glenn’s smokey-gray, long-haired, affectionate feline was in need of companionship and feeding as well as were the two fish in the large murky tank and the multiple, active, chubby worms in the indoor compost bin. All-in-all, it was a great eleven days.  The hut is quite large although it looks small from the outside. I’m still washing clothes by hand at my apartment, a weekly ritual that is ti

I took these photos the summer before last but missed posting them. When out with Mari for a beach walk last weekend, we saw the same varieties of jelly fish and some, this year, with longer tentacles. They're beautiful and sparked my curiosity. Some years one sees them populating the beach with ice bergs floating on the sea in the background, so the water can't be very warm. It's interesting that they can live in the Arctic environment here.  According to Natalie Angier in an article she wrote for The New York Times (June 6, 2011) called So Much More than Plasma and Poison , jellyfish inhabit all the oceans of the world and are the oldest multi-organ animal, believed to have been in existence for 700 million or more years.  Here's a link to her fascinating article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/science/07jellyfish.html?_r=0

It's been some time since I've visited or posted to the blog but in looking back on my last entry, I could have left the impression that I didn't survive the outing to scout for polar bears.  Unfortunately there were none who wanted to be seen on the Saturday Jan, Mari, Rita and I ventured out in the small car Jan had borrowed. It was a wonderful afternoon though with the sun beaming from low on the horizon, promising longer days and the ability to see again the stunning Arctic beauty after a long, comfortingly dark winter. My father passed in early January.  I'd been fortunate enough to see him and Mom several times over the past year and know that he's in a brighter place now.  Our family and his many friends will miss him in ways that are difficult to describe but I think feel his presence to some degree at different times.  The sound of his laugh is easy to recall and I smile remembering listening to his thought processes as he explained something to me, alway

Although I've seen polar bears while on nursing trips to Kaktovik, I haven't seen one in Barrow yet. The whale remains are taken far out of the village to the point where bears can enjoy them without human contact.  This notice came through the North Slope Borough email recently.  It was welcome as knowing there are polar bears nearby provides a possible opportunity for people here to see them, but also serves as a reminder to be alert to the danger they pose. https://sp.north-slope.org/Public/Documents/2161/20141203140119.pdf Several friends have told me that they've driven out to see the bears over the past two weeks. They saw a sow with two cubs who seem to be living in one of the cabins at the fish camp beyond the location of the Naval Arctic Research Lab (NARL) and Ilisagvik College and this side of the point. The pups go in and out of the cabin easily but the sow takes some time squeezing through the door not made for someone her size.  A male bear has been seen a