Dedicated to my dear friend who has passed.... Steve Tredway

I received a text from my pastor back home that our music worship leader passed away suddenly; I was shocked and stunned beyond words... he will be missed by so many who loved him.

Awhile ago (August), I went for a walk and took some pictures of the village on the Hill (where I live and where the school is located)  Down the Hill is the actual village - where the bay,  Post Office and the AC store are located. More people live down the Hill  in the village than live on the Hill.

All of these were taken on the Hill in August of 2016.

 These are the 2 teacher housing apartments (plus another that is next to the school and not pictured here) - each building has 4 apartments - 2 upstairs and 2 downstair

s.

 This is my building - I live in the upper-left apartment  (my bedroom is the far-left window) - the view from my living room/kitchen are awesome!

 The dump in the distance - it is a nice walk out there - lions, tigers and bears oh my!

The dumpsters on the Hill...

I have photos I've taken of the actual village (and their dumpsters!) and hope to get those up here in the near future.

Happy Fall Ya'll!

3 days late... ooops

So, I try really hard to update this on Sundays... well, this past weekend I had a terrible sinus headache and completely forgot to touch base! So - here is the quick low down for the week.

I went down to the beach the other day - it was a beautiful day, as you can see! I took some photos of interesting finds during low tide. I hadn't planned on picking clams but did bring 4 home; I cut them up and threw them in a can of potato soup - not bad! These beautiful days are going to become less and less. Yesterday, the temperature was 19 and there are many areas surrounding us with snow already. Winter will be here soon!

I bought a native-made ulu! An ulu is a knife tool used by women (men do not use them). They are  used for cutting salmon, meat, vegetables, and were even used to cut hair! Mine was made by a local and has a moose antler handle.

I learn so much from my students - one taught me how much fun scrap paper can be!

Until next week!! (PS - headache is gone - YAY)

Homecoming 2016! Fun for all ages!

The weather this past week has taken on a bit of a chill. We have had 2 wind storms, as they call them, with approximately 40+ mph sustained winds (without a single break!) for 20+ hours at a time. The apartment window shakes, rattles and bows inward with the gusts that I'm guessing reach 55-60 mph. Poor Ginger - she had a hard time yesterday morning maintaining her balance while trying to do her business outside! It was pretty funny really :)

There was a plane crash this past week. A bush plane that was 12 miles from Togiak hit a mountain. The 3 on board all lost their lives. The one passenger had lived in Togiak in the past, but had moved to another village. Many folks here knew him. I am not crazy about getting in the bush planes and flying - not at all - but, the only other option is to swim :) I can swim just fine, but I'm not that great of a swimmer lol

Last night was our school's Homecoming dance! It was a blast... it is for all students and the little ones kept my attention with their pretty dresses, their dancing in circles, playing, running and just having fun. I also noticed that the older jr. high and high school kids do not mind the little ones joining in on this dancing and fun; the community is one big family! I enjoyed dancing with a few of my 1st graders too.

There was food, good music and just pure joy.

Homecoming 2016

My students were gifted a beautiful fossil rock by a wonderful lady in MO (Thank you Lynn!) - they have enjoyed several days of exploring and discovering new patterns and designs on the rock.

The North Slope.... hmmmmmmm