Breakfast at Sam and Lee's, part 2: Mrs. Lee finds comforting warmth in the coldest city in the US

This is Louise Lee, of Sam and Lee's. The Lee's have had their restaurant here for a long time – I am not certain how long, but it seems like they were here when I flew in for my first visit 31 or 32 years ago, but I wouldn't swear to it. Just as so recently happened to Pepe's, Sam and Lee's burned down a few years back, but they rebuilt and once again conduct what appears to be a thriving business. This past week, she has taken note as I have come in for breakfast and have greeted friends who have shown up at the same time. She told me that this is how it is for her, too, when she goes away for a while and then comes back. She may sometimes get off the plane to feel the coldest blast of air imaginable yet with that blast comes the rush of greetings and welcome home's. "I feel such warmth every time I come back home."

Each time after breakfast when I am about to leave, she expresses great concern that I am walking. She is afraid I will freeze. I won't, but her concern feels nice to me. 

Text added at 11:03 AM. The Squarespace nightmare continues - day 56 and counting.

Breakfast at Sam and Lee's, part 1: A harpooner, his phone and a whale

As I have done every day since I arrived here Monday evening, I got out of bed this morning and then walked straight to Sam and Lee's for breakfast. The school district has provided me use of a vehicle while I am here, but I like to walk and it is only a few blocks away. In the past, I would split my breakfast visits up – some to Sam and Lee's, others to Pepe's, but of course with Pepe's burned to the ground, I can't go there anymore. I stepped in to find one other patron having breakfast – Larry Aiken.

Here, Larry gestures to where he had placed his phone as he hunted bowhead this fall with the George Adams crew. Larry was harpooner and when the whale came, he harpooned it. Immediately afterward, he saw something small and red in the water. It was his phone. It sunk and now lies somewhere on the bottom of the Chukchi, near Cooper Island. Another crew member used his own phone to shoot a video of Larry throwing the harpoon. Even as we ate, Larry made a call to see if he could get a copy of the video to upload into his new phone.

Text added at 10:26 AM. The Squarespace nightmare continues - day 56 and counting.

A nighttime walk upon the lagoons

Tonight I went walking on the two lagoons that separate Barrow from Browerville. It was nice out there. The chill air wonderful. I conversed with a dear friend of mine who is no longer here. I am the only one who speaks in these conversations yet, somehow, it feels like we connect very well when I walk out here on these lagoons and all is quiet. The moon was almost full, but not quite.

I spoke to my friend about matters of importance to me and then, as I walked near a pole that cast a long shadow over snow-buried frozen water, I heard the sudden rev of an engine to my right. I turned to look and in an instant this truck roared past, it's spinning tires throwing up snow. The conversation with my friend came to an end.

It was okay. I had said what I needed to say. One can only speak to the dead for so long and then one must move along. 

Text added and second photo incorporated at 10:49 PM. The Squarespace nightmare continues - day 55 and counting.

Gabe and I do simultaneous selfies together beneath the whale

It is 5:05 PM and the Iñupiat Heritage Center has closed but there are a few people still lingering in the office and I have a couple of minutes to borrow their wireless and make this quick post. A little bit ago my young and talented friend filmmaker Gabe Tegoseak stopped by to return a battery and battery charger I had loaned him and Dustinn Craig for a short satirical movie Gabe created and Dustinn is helping him with. Gabe took a picture of us together out in the main hall of the Iñupiat Heritage Center and I took a picture of his camera with us on it as he did so. I got the background in better focus then I got us, but that's okay because we all live in the background anyway.

I might note that one of the best joys I get as a photographer is when I walk into someone's house and see one or more of my pictures hanging on the wall. I get that joy when I walk into this place, as I am greeted not only by the big whale hanging overhead but by photos of elders I took in the early 90s, maybe a couple from the late 80s. Most of them are gone now. Viky Solomon, heritage Center receptionist strolled through just at the moment Gabe and I took our pictures together.

Text posted at 6:03 PM. The Squarespace nightmare continues - day 55 and counting.

Instead of a coffee break I get treated to a tuttu quaq break

I had been sitting at a desk in the Iñupiat Heritage Center reading oral histories for two hours straight, enjoying every word but I noticed I needed a break. My neck and shoulders were getting sore. I thought maybe I could go buy me a coffee somewhere, maybe with some prepackaged chocolate chip cookies. Then Fredrika Leavitt came into the kitchen area just on the other side of he divider from the desk I am working at. She pulled a caribou leg out of the freezer and started to cut with her ulu. She asked if I wanted some tuttu quaq (frozen caribou). I did. So she cut some off for me, gave me some ugruk seal oil to dip it in, showed me where the tea was and also the pilot crash crackers and a bottle of grape jelly and peanut butters. I had a good snack. No coffee, but I just made my second cup of tea. Now I will resume my reading until they close for the day and I must leave. 

Text added at 5:59 PM. The Squarespace nightmare continues - day 55 and counting.