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.