Sleddogs

My view when I arrived home the other night…

An *almost* perfect scene…

Think the REA would be upset if I buried all our power lines???

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I need to share these photos I also took on my way home.

I “almost” walked over and talked to these people…

You see, back in the day…

I lived in Alaska when I was in grade school…

Anchorage to be specific.

They have an event called Fur Rendezvous and I remember snippets of it vividly.

I remember the dog sled races… Though they started elsewhere, about 2 blocks from home was part of the trail… We could hike down there and wait in the willows… chingchingchingching… Here they would come, metal on the dogs’ traces singing their way through the crisp air. (freeze-the-snot-in-your-nose kind of crisp) One year a news photographer jumped in front of the lead team causing dogs to stop and dodge and tangle themselves… the second place team passed them and won! The crowd threw the ignorant reporter in a snowbank. Seems like I’ve *always* wanted to ride on a dogsled.

I remember the Eskimo and their blanket toss… Probably where I grew my interest in cultural anthropology! My friend across the street was Winnie L. Her mom was Eskimo and shared traditional food… muktuk and mustard… seal… I have a passion for Aleut, Inuit, Tlingit clothing… just not the money! When I win the lottery, I’m buying a sealskin parka… and just this fall somewhere I saw snowboots resembling Eskimo style, but now I can’t find them for sale… rats. Oooooh, lots of dusty memories bouncing in my head right this minute!

I remember my parents dressing up in Gold Rush attire… it was a photo I couldn’t find last week while making Mom’s memorial slideshow… but I remember thinking at that instant someone snapped the picture… “Wow, my mom is sssssooooooo pretty.” I guess I hadn’t really thought about it before, she was just my mom. But from then on, I had that memory. I’ve *got* to find that photo.