I live and write on Lingít Aaní, and gratefully acknowledge the past, present and future caretakers of this beautiful place, the Jilkaat Kwaan and Jilkoot Kwaan.

Running,Hunting & Gathering

I’ve had a busy couple of days. Well, not compared to Kelly Hostettler and friends, who ran from Skagway up to the White Pass yesterday, 40 miles in all– and will keep going at about a marathon a day for the next ten days  until they swing back down from...

Domestic Bliss

There’s a moose stew bubbling in the pot, made with garden carrots and my neighbor Betty’s apples, for a little added spice. Chip says local apples are to store bought ones what sockeye salmon are to humpies. (Is that how you spell it, or is it humpys?)...

Ruminating on Omnivores

 Chip was counting the brown bears across the river, and checking for goats on the mountain with his spotting scope and I was on the couch with my knee on ice last night, and telling him about Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, a great book– so...

Waking Up Alive

 I was hoping to stay awake during the arthroscopy on my torn meniscus– it’s a breeze, they said– although I was a little surprised that the pre-op involved an EKG, and an IV and questions like “are you an organ donor?” and “do you...

Pizza Joe & Holly Marry

 I’m thinking about Pizza Joe and Holly’s wedding, and how nice he looked in a Navy blue blazer, white shirt, tie and khaki pants, with that red flower in his lapel, and how she wore a real white lace wedding dress and white heels in the mud on the bank of...

Real Work

Yesterday we watched the plumber stick his whole arm, up to the shoulder, into a full septic tank and reach around feeling for a clog. Well, actually, I couldn’t look, and the backhoe operator turned away and groaned, and my husband covered his face with his...