The Bender family with the village of Chevak in the background.



Sunset in Chevak.

Our children flew out this morning. Elizabeth called from Anchorage to say how much they liked the Dimond Hotel. I chose it because it is literal in the middle of a huge shopping and entertainment area. Since the truck can no longer travel on the snow and ice safely, they had to go out to the airport on the snow machine pulling a trailer. Charlie sat down in the sled and Liz rode behind Leo on the snow machine. It was pretty cold but they bundled up. I watched the plane take off in the dark (10:45 am) and hoped there was heat on board.

A teacher friend took Charlie out on the snow machine and I think Charlie had a pretty good time. He was able to get away from the village area and really see nothingness for miles and miles. They also went down to the fish camps - which of course are frozen solid right now.

I just hope they had a good time. It was expensive getting them up here and three days is usually about all the togetherness we as a family can take.


Charlie took this one way out in the tundra. I like it.


You can see a couple of the drying racks for the fish. The river of course is frozen.




That is Charlie sitting in the back.


The use this trailer to haul people back and forth and to deliver boxes to folks.


Elizabeth was the lucky one.

We attended the Eskimo Dancing last night. Finally the weather was good enough so people could get outside. Still it was very cold. Tom first drove over with Liz, and Charlie and I started out walking. I would say the distance is maybe three football fields - however, the temperature was extremely low. One gets cold quickly. So Tom came back to pick up Charlie and then returned to get me - maybe halfway there. It was so cold.

So much attention - the Chevak kids kept coming up wanting to compare our looks with Elizabeth and Charlie - comparing eyes and chins and noses. Everyone wanted to know how old they were and their names. It was a lot of fun introducing them to all the folks. Many were amazed that they spent their Christmas up here. Right now Tom has taken Liz for a trip to the dump and the store and some other places - like a tourist view of the village. Today I am posting a few photos we have taken this week. The first few are of the Eskimo Dancing last night.


The first part of the evening the kids dance by grade level. The males use feathers in their fans and the females use fur.



Drumming is serious business. That is John Pingayak in the center - he is well known throughout Alaska for his knowledge of Cupi'k native culture. The older man on the other side of him is David Boyscout - one of our village elders.



Virgil is a great kid and a great reader!



This child was just too beautiful - her headdress is a real heirloom.



This last photo is interesting - the one girl has on high tech reflective boots while the other has on hand made boots - of seal skin, fur, etc.




Here are the Benders - relaxing.


Charlie took this just outside the village. Pretty lonely looking.


Another view of the tundra.


The way the wind blows the snow makes for some interesting architecture.

Tom has Charlie shoveling snow so we can get off the porch. I am not sure the kids will ever come up here again. The weather has just been so windy and that makes the cold even colder. It is just too bad to even go outside. Of course we do, we went to school yesterday and they were both certainly impressed with the school facilities and especially all of the computers in the library.

The Eskimo Dancing celebration has been canceled twice now due to the blowing snow and cold temperatures. I do hope it transpires before the children leave - I will be so disappointed if they don't get to witness this event first hand.

This photo shows how working in a small kitchen with three dogs running around can be difficult.


Charlie and Elizabeth are trudging to school during a clearing of weather that lasted about an hour.


Here's Charlie returning later - you can barely see him.

We've been watching lots of movies and playing with the dogs.

After four separate flights and 24 hours - Charlie and Elizabeth arrived in Chevak. They were almost speechless - but glad to see us. We sat and talked and made pizza and Tom and Charlie watched a movie. Liz and I sat side by side at my desk using our individual computers - had a great time comparing notes about our libaries.

They just missed going with the fisherman teachers to check some nets - arranged time was 2pm and they did not arrive till later. You can't just wait for a plane to arrive around here - you might be waiting hours - so they had to go. However, there is another trip planned for Saturday and I am hoping the kids can go. It will be very cold - we are getting lots and lots of snow.

Charlie looks great with his haircut and shave. Liz is even smaller than she was this summer. Both seem healthy and happy.

Here are a few photos...
The Digital Comets had a great time decorating the gingerbread cookies.

This is Destiny, who has vision issues - but she did a great job with her cookies.

If you look carefully you will be able to count three dogs - not counting ole' Tom.

Here are Liz and Charles when they arrived. Their first words were "I want to go home." and "What are ya'll doing here?" They will both love this place by the end of the week.

Roxie and Blondie are extremely jealous of each other although great friends. Anyway, You can't pet one without the other demanding attention also.

Charlie and Tom took a ride on the 4-wheeler to the grocery store a little later.

We enjoyed seeing some small trees in Bethel when we were there for weather hold for two nights.


Lots of Ravens in the parking lot at Home Depot - on every mound of snow.


My Digital Comet graduates in their sweatshirts.


We always had refreshments - like tootsie-roll pops!

We are staying at the WhiteHouse in Bethel Alaska. We flew back to Chevak yesterday afternoon from Bethel but the weather was pretty bad - well foggy, and the power was off in Chevak so there were no lights at the airport to guide the pilot. We flew in a couple of different ways - but in the end flew back to Bethel because we could not land. Very disappointing for several reasons - the first of which is the cost of staying overnight in Bethel. We stayed at the LongHouse once before when we were weathered in. It was okay - well for Bethel it was okay, but it was $179 a night. When we got back to Chevak and I told a friend where we ended up staying, she said, "Oh no, you want to stay at the WhiteHouse. It's cozy, there's a fire and you can make tea. And it is not that much more." So this time we called the WhiteHouse and got a room. Well, it is really, really nice. Cozy, there's a fire and we can make tea. We are also the only ones staying here, so we have this four bedroom, two story bed and breakfast to ourselves. It is a log cabin, beautifully furnished in Alaskan decor. I have never slept in a more luxuriant, warm, cozy bed. A man comes in periodically to poke the fire and the owner came by last night to catch up on life in Chevak - where he was stationed with the BIA in the late 70's. He knows everyone in Chevak. He actually pulled all the logs for this log cabin (two story log house rather) from about 500 miles away and built it himself years ago. The kids grew up and moved away and it was too big for just him - hence the bed and breakfast. We are actually on the river - fishermen must come in season. We have not gotten the bill yet - but I know that if ever I am stranded in Bethel again, this is where I will stay. In fact, this is the kind of place I dream about when I think (dream) that I might like to stay in Alaska. Then I start thinking of the extra work involved in home ownership up here and quickly wake up from my dream. The fire poker has been working outside most of the morning, shoveling snow, moving firewood, and more. Hopefully we will get back to Chevak this afternoon.

We were in Anchorage for my surgery! Making a long story short, I had to have my gall bladder removed. We had flown in to
Anchorage in November to get it done, and about ten minutes before they were to roll me into the surgery, the anetheseist came in and said sorry, no surgery today, that my EKG was definitive for problems. I spent the rest of the week at the Alaska Heart Institute getting tests. Bottom line, I am fine. I have two blood pressure medications now and this past Tuesday got the gall bladder removed. So everything is cool. May I just state that I am taking this blood pressure thing seriously now. The doc told me that if my blood pressure averaged 20 points above normal that I had a 50% higher chance of a heart attack. Ouch!

My Digital Comets had a very successful run. We had about ten Monday afternoon meetings - and there were six kids who attended regularly. I will post photos of them tomorrow I hope - I do not have my camera cable with me to download them. We enjoyed doing a lot of fun projects. The digital storytelling project was a bit over ambitious - so we backed off and explored other projects such as logo designing, stitching together landscape photos, learning all about the operation of the digital camera, some trick photography, making illustrated timelines and learning to use Photoshop Elements. Lots of fun.

Photos coming, promise.

The kids had lots of fun at the Halloween carnival. I helped with the cake walk and we made $640!


Our book fair was a lot of fun. Tom helped me with the cash box. This is the only book sale a a lot of the kids see till they are teenagers.


The cutey pie won the guestimation for the candy. She is in kindergarten.


On our second trip to Anchorage last week, I took this photo of our runway as we took off.


The streets of Anchorage are covered with snow already lots of accidents, cars going too fast and sliding.

Here's a photo of Chevak as we landed. The school is the blue/red building to the left. The village is behind it and to the right. Teacher housing is to the left. Very white out here now.

Snowcapped mountains in the background in Anchorage. We were there for medical apointments and a workshop last week. The weather was just beautiful the whole time.


Here's Tom in the post office. You can hardly see him at the desk shipping boxes of groceries back to Chevak. There was a long line waiting on him!


Looking down from the plane over the ice covered tundra - just miles and miles of flat ice covered lands. It is not completely frozen yet - you can still see some streams - but it will be soon - be all white.


This is a good shot from inside the plane. Tom is sitting directly in front of me and I am in the back seat. I believe this was a seven passenger plane. This was one of the most secure flights I have had - the pilot was still being trained or observed so he had to do everything correctly. Smoothest landing we have ever had.


At the airport - this is a typical scene - a truck from the school to pick up teachers, and the 4-wheeler with trailer to pick up packages for the mail and stores. There were other 4-wheelers picking up passengers - this will change to snow machines pretty soon.



The children are having a wonderful time on the lake - it is mainly ice right now - so great for skating. You can't tell from this photo - but there must have been 20 kids on the other side of the lake near the village skating.

We have had another tragedy this school year. A little 9 year old girl was killed in an awful accident. Her father was cleaning his gun and it accidentally went off. Everyone has been in a sad, dejected mood. This is the second student we have lost this year. These children become used to death around them at much too young of an age.

We've had our first snow of the year. The temperature has really dropped and I have pulled my blue coat out. The first year we were here - there was no snow until November. Second year, the snow came halfway through the month of October - lots of it. Then it all melted. That process repeated at least twice before it finally stuck in December. We'll see what happens this year.

We finally got our counselor and second math teacher - both from Kentucky. What a southern accent they both have!

Our book fair boxes are here - 40 of them - all stacked in my little workroom. Book Fairs are so much fun - but so much inconvenience at the same time. There won't be a lot of buying, but it is fun to see the kids look at the books.

My Digital Comets club starts Monday. We go for 10 weeks, two hours a meeting. We are going to start with basic digital camera skills, learning all about the possibilities of the camera. We will also be leaning how to get them into the computer. We'll learn how to scan a photo and manipulate it. We will learn how to manage our photos on the computer also. We'll probably go with iPhoto. At the same time we will be learning to use Photoshop Elements - a program that does lots of stuff with photos. I am doing this with 9-11 year olds - so this is a big job for them. I think if I keep it very simple - we will be successful. The ultimate project will be digital story telling - using iMovie and maybe GarageBand. I have my work cut out for me. If it doesn't seem to be working out - we will just change the direction of the class. It is really about having fun with the computer and using it as tool.

I got a little grant from the Alaska Association of School Libraries to go into Anchorage on the 18th to hear Gary Hartzell speak. That means they pay my way in and provide a hotel - I'm so happy. Right now, airfare from Chevak to Bethel to Anchorage and back is just over $900!

My library is beautiful. I have the best computers and the fastest network (I have my own server) in the school. The bean bags have been a real blessing - the older kids just love them, seldom sitting a table to read, always preferring a quiet corner on a bean bag..or two.

We are having a Create A Creature contest for October. The winners will get to choose from a selection of jewelry I purchased from my aunts estate sale. It is wild and crazy jewelry - big and colorful and elaborate stuff. The kids should have fun picking it out for their moms or girlfriends. Our friend Jeanne came over to watch the "Sarah Palin Show" (debate) the other night. Afterwards I got all the jewelry out and we had the best time trying it own. We were rolling with laughter. It was quite a show for Tom. We all have gotten pretty rustic out here in the tundra and the idea of putting on earrings or a necklace is, well, pretty foreign to us now.

Today I am posting some photos of fish camp from this past summer. Fish camp is held for the first several weeks of summer - after school is out and teachers have left. However, this past summer Jeanne stayed in Chevak for most for most of the summer. She actually went out to the fish camp - down river from Chevak and stayed for a couple of days. She is the one who took the photos.


Notice the woman is using an ulu - a knife that is very popular with the Alaskan Natives. Lots of tourists buy these knives to take home as suveniers.

Of course the children have to help out and they start at a very early age. Actually these are the lucky kids who get to learn these things early.


The fish is dried and they eat it all winter long. One of these sheds of fish would belong to only one family. They actually dot the banks of the river for quite a ways.


This young man - a ninth grader this year - is holding the head of a seal he killed. They use every last bit of the seal - nothing is discarded. They even use the seal skin to make dolls. That is actually a sealskin tacked to the shed behind him - I don't know if it is the one he killed - or someone else killed. Looks too big, I think to be his.

Digging for clams.