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.