The prayer I neither sought nor expected

Roy Nageak said a prayer for me tonight. That was not why I stopped by to see him. I did not seek a prayer. The thought to seek a prayer would never have occurred to me. I just dropped in to see him and Flossie because whenever I show up at their house they always make me feel at home, I knew my good friend Chie would want to see a picture of them and I wanted to hear whatever stories and history they might relate to me. So I stopped in, they fed me, and then Roy told me some good history from up here and down into the Brooks Range mountains.

I had another commitment and all too soon it was time to leave. I told them I expected to come back in late February, assuming that the surgery I was supposed to get months ago but now absolutely must have no later than early January actually happens and I recover in the three-week time period the doctor says I will. Roy offered to say a prayer for me, so I agreed. He then stood beside me, put his strong arm around me, and he said a prayer for me, one filled with great warmth and love.

I am not a religious man, but there was something special in Roy's prayer, something I felt all the way through my body and into my soul. It felt good. I left feeling all would go well and that as big and physically challenging as is the multi-year task that lies before me here in the Arctic, I will ultimately succeed.

The little one with Roy and Flossie is their grandson Ruben Roy, named both for his father and his grandfather. Dr. Chie Sakabara, originally of Japan, now a young wife and new mother, professor at the University of Oklahoma, adopted by Barrow and the North Slope and by Roy and Flossie Nageak as their daughter - this snapshot is for you.

The Daily School Bus: passing by the store

I shot this earlier, when the midday twilight was still strong, but held onto it to see what else I might come up with. As it turns out, this bus was the only one to drive into photographic range for me today, right after I snapped the jet and the skull. That's Stuaqpaq AC Value in the background, Barrow's main grocery store. Although I am told Barrow is out of milk right now, it is a reasonably well-stocked store, but very expensive - unless you come in from a village. Then Barrow might seem economical by comparison. Just about everything is flown in, that's why.

Jet over whale skull

I stepped out of the Iñupiat Heritage Center about half-an-hour ago and saw this jet, flying above the bowhead whale skull, up where the sun still shines but where it's colder even than it is down here. I wonder where it is coming from? Where is it going? Military or commercial? Headed southwest. Given its trajectory and altitude, one could justifably speculate that is has just come over the Arctic Ocean. As noted in an earlier segment of this blog, in the spring of 2012, I boarded a plane in Dubai, flew directly over the North Pole and then landed in Los Angeles.

On that trip to India, departing and returning from Phoenix, I traveled farther north than I had ever been before in my life.

As I walk beneath the moon to Sam and Lee's

The moon this morning as I walked to Sam and Lee's a little before 7 AM. It was a little bit chilly and I was lightly bundled and could definitely feel the cold, but it was a short walk and I enjoyed it. I could hear schoolbuses blowing their horns here and there on all sides of me. I hoped one would drive into camera range, but none did. As to that line across the moon, I see there is a hair lying across my iPhone lens. I think maybe it is the cause.

That's one trouble with an iPhone camera – keeping the lens in good working order as you take it in and out of your linty and dusty pockets.

Text added at 11:33 AM.

Midnight is there to wish Sharene a happy birthday!

Today, Wednesday, November 30, has been Sharene Ahmaogak's birthday and her dog Midnight was there to help her celebrate. So were a lot of people - her dad Savik, her son Little Alan, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, other relatives, friends and I among them, eating heartily. I had wanted to write more, but I am so exhausted I feel like this phone is going to drop right out of my hand and I'm going to fall asleep right where I sit. So I think I will go to bed now, but I will probably lay awake for a ridiculous amount of time. That's one reason I am so tired, but this post is not about me being tired. Happy birthday Sharene! 

Text added at 11:23 PM. Although I have yet to benefit from it and am still living the Squarespace nightmare, as I explained last night the problem may have been solved, once I can find the time to make the platform switch. So, to save me a little time, from now on I will not note the time I add the text to the photo if that time is less than half-an-hour from when the old defective Squarespace posted the pic.