| I am in the Arctic Circle living on the tundra where there are no trees for a circumference of approximately 25 miles in any direction. The tundra sprawls out like the midwestern grasslands, but is not at all like those grasslands. It is spongy, soggy in places and full of plant life. One of my favorite joys is hanging the clothes out to dry on the clothesline. I love standing in the sunshine and feeling the ocean breeze, smelling the freshness of the clean clothes. It brings back memories of Oklahoma when I was 4 or five and running as my grandmother (Susie Bearskin Tussinger) washed the clothes in the yard. She used a tin tub and washboard and always wore an apron that slipped over her head and tied in the back. Her short black hair was held back with bobby pins with tendrils falling over her forhead as she would yell, "Don't touch the clothes on the line, you'll get them all dirty again!" |
| The home was in the backhills off the beaten trail near Flint, Oklahoma. We were situated off a dirt road and in an older dwelling that had a porch surrounding two sides of the house. If you were facing the house and looked on the the left side, there were the remnants of an old stone building. My cousins told me it used to be a store, but had burnt down years before. It was a fun place to play and we would throw rocks against the walls, or bounce rubber balls on the cement floor. |
| Forty-six years later and I live where there are no trees, but the grass grows tall and beautiful. It is now Fall in the Circle and the grass is beginning to turn colors..........that arctic way of showing Fall colors. The village is surrounded by the Kotzebue Sound on three sides and it is like a small finger sticking out into the vastness of the unknown. There are hills and mountains about 25 miles from here and you can find herds of caribou. I live on the cutting edge of wilderness and falling off that edge means death. So I am reminded to wear the proper clothing, always let people know where you are, stay off the ice if unable to prove it's stability, make sure you have enough gas, have a survival kit on your vehicle, never let your stove oil get too low, have different forms of heating devices available. Yes, physical survival, but I am also reminded of the spiritual survival and the importance of friends, family and keeping my heart right with God. Soon the air will get cooler and the smell of the ice will fill the air. I will no longer hang out my clothes. |
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| Fall in The Artic |
| Me Standing on the Edge of the Water |