;)
When it came time to leave Point Hope, I caught a ride on the back of Mayor Steve Oomittuk's four-wheeler and we headed toward the airstrip. We had not gone far at all when Conrad Killigvuk came toward us with a smile and an outstretched hand.
We stopped, I shook Conrad's hand and then took this picture. He told me the baby's name but, darn, I have forgotten. He also asked for a copy of the picture. So maybe someone in Point Hope can direct him to it, have him click it to pop up a larger copy and then download it.
Or maybe you could download it and take it to him.
;)
When we landed in Point Hope four days earlier and boarded the school bus that took us into the village, we saw this sign of welcome.
Just as I was getting ready to board the plane, Othniel Anaqulutuq Oomittuk Jr, "Art" the very fine sculptor and artist who created it from part of the boatskin that covered the umiak of Popsy Tingook, drove up in the senior to drop off a few Elders scheduled to return to Barrow on the same flight as me.
I asked the pilot to wait just a minute so that I could run over to the sign and take this picture of Art with his creation of welcome. The supporting frame is made from the jawbones of a bowhead whale.
And always, every minute that I spent in Tikigaq was one of welcome.
;)
And then the Beechcraft turned from Point Hope and pointed its nose towards Barrow, 330 miles to the northeast.
Now... I had said that I would try to post a little bit of explanation and run down on the Arctic Economic Development Summit, but the fact is, I simply do not have the time - just as I have not had time to post but the tiniest hint of the photos that I have shot and the stories that I have gathered on this trip.
The project that I am working on is a huge one and does not leave me much time for the blog.
Counting this one, I have five more nights on the Slope and then I head home. I will then go into production mode on this project and that will include a serious edit of all the pictures that I have taken, and a cobbling together of the stories.
This won't leave me much time for the blog, either, but maybe I can dovetail my production work with this blog a bit and do a little catching, just the same.