Nellie finds medicine growing wild and free on the tundra

As we waited for the home-made bow and arrow and slingshot competitions to begin, Nellie Okpik picked some wild medicinal plants to take back to her home in Barrow. She said this traditional medicine is good to ease the pain of arthritis and to treat certain other ailments as well

Hugs for the departing Canadians - now that it's over, I must figure out how to get this gone

I am pleasantly exhausted and not quite certain how to proceed. Kuukpik's 40th anniversary celebration of the return of the Kuukpikmiut to their former home to build the modern village of Nuiqsut is over and I have hardly posted a thing. This is in part due to the fact there is no AT&T 4G in Nuiqsut and the wireless at the hotel has been down more than it has been up. There is wireless at the school, the main venue site, but every post I tried to make from the gym failed. I did find the hot spot in the classroom area, but to go there meant leaving the action, so I didn't go there often. Plus, I have been very busy. Still, I would like to post a representation of the sequence of events that happened. When? I could wait until after I get home tommorrow night. Right now, I am at Kuukpik Corporation on their wireless, but they are about to close for the day. Maybe tonight the hotel wireless will work and I can do it there. But then I am so sleepy I might just collapse and go to bed. In the meantime, here is one image from today's departure of the Canadians back to Aklavik, Yukon Territory. At left, Aklavik's Annie B. Gordon gets a hug from Lucy Nukapigak (facing camera) of Nuiqsut as Manny Arey is embraced by Waylon Leavitt of Barrow. Feelings at departure were warm, happy and sad and there were a couple of special moments. I will show something of those moments once I complete a summation of the celebration, whether I do so here or not until after I return home.

The Midnight Sun is gone

I shot this about 3:00 AM which, taking Daylight Savings Time into account, plus Alaska Political Time, would be somewhere between midnight and 1:00 AM on true solar time. Less than two weeks ago the sun would have not have set at all. I am not certain what day the sun set for the first time this summer here in Nuiqsut, but a little bit farther north in Barrow the first sunset since May 10 took place August 2. Now the night will get about 15 minutes longer every day until November 18, when the sun will set until making a brief appearance at solar noon, January 22. Again, that's in Barrow. Probably a day, no more than two, difference here.

She operated the Nuiqsut clinic from inside a tent - flagging down airplanes when needed

Forty years ago, Rosie Kaigelak was a health aide in what was then the tent village of Nuiqsut and a tent housed her clinic. During story-telling time, she recalled how whenever there was a serious medical emergency she would get on the radio and try to call down any plane that might be passing nearby. Once, a baby was about to be born in a hurry and she felt she needed a doctor's help. She managed to flag down a plane but the only place for she and her patient was on the floor. She radioed ahead to Barrow to be sure they would be met by an ambulance. They made it to the hospital, but as the doctor was prepping the baby came out - right into Rosie's hands. All was well.

Whitefish from the Kuukpik at Niqliq

White fish, fresh out of the net at Lydia's fish camp at Niqliq.