Three beautiful young people at the Gwich'in Gathering; Sunshine takes the wheel; my condolences for the death of William Hess, but Bill Hess remains among the living and loves salmon

Four days have now passed since I last posted and I fear I can't make but a token post now - just enough to tell you that I am alive and shooting here in Fort Yukon. Up until now, however, picture blogging has been impossible for me. I have been able to get only the slowest wireless connection, one that works for a minute or two and then cuts out for 15 or 20 minutes - one that did not allow me to upload pictures at all.

Now I have unplugged a friend's direct line and plugged the ethernet into my laptop, but I have little time before I must run. I have shot many pictures since the Gwich'in Gathering began yesterday morning - of dancers, ceremony, speeches, feasting, the Yukon River, a fiddle band, a jig dance contest, square dancing and what have you but I have not had time to go back and look at any of those pictures, save this one.

I chose this one for today's post because shortly after I took it, I showed it to Jayme Thomas and promised her that I would put it on the blog. So, no time to sort through, edit and prepare photos - I just went straight to this one, so that I could keep that promise.

That's Jayme with the Gwich'in dance group that came up from Circle. She holds Esau Ervin John, the baby of a friend. Sitting beyond them is her friend and fellow dancer, Denise Carroll.

I think the problems that I face blogging here are going to make it very difficult, if not impossible, to blog in my usual manner and I will go home with another huge pile of photos to add to my unseen backlog, reaching everywhere from the Arctic Slope to here, to Arizona, Greenland, India and many places in between.

I don't think that I will ever catch up.

But check back anyway. Anything could happen.

On Sunday, I mentioned that I had prepared a dozen photos to post but was unable to, because of the problems that I encountered. For the most part, those photos dealt with my travels to Fort Yukon and that no longer feels very relevant to me.

Plus, lunch is about to be served and I want to go get some of it.

Yet, I will include three from that dozen, beginning with the above. That's my host, Ben Stevens and his two-and-half year old son, Alex, better known as "Sunshine. We were on a road with no traffic, Ben was driving maybe one mph, Sunshine wanted to take the wheel and Ben let him.

Sunshine was born January 20, 2008 - just a bit less than one month past Kalib's birth. January is generally not only a cold, cold but dark month here in Fort Yukon, where wintertime temperatures can drop into the lower - 70's.

But on the day that Alex was born, the sun rose to shine brightly upon Fort Yukon, so one of his uncles gave him his Athabascan name, Hech' edee' 'onh' - Sunshine.

Not long after I had arrived in Fort Yukon, I was taking a nap when I heard an energetic voice that I recognized, so I got up and went out to find Bruce Thomas. In years past, Ben and Bruce had taken me on a number of trips up and down the Yukon and Pocupine Rivers, plus Birch Creek, to visit fish camps and to hunt moose and geese (we didn't get a moose, we did get geese - or they did. I got pictures).

It was a good time and I would be happy to do it again.

First thing Bruce told me was that everyday he likes to read the obituaries. One day awhile back, he read about the death of William Hess.

"I gave you up for dead, Bill Hess!" he told me.

In the event that any of William Hess's friends or relatives should read this, my condolences. I am sorry for your loss.

I, however, am Bill, not William. I have never been a William, I never will be a William and I am still alive.

I say this with caution, because one never knows about tomorrow.

That evening, Ben and I went to visit Bruce in his backyard by the fire, along with whoever else showed up, to share conversation and many did.

As we were leaving, Bruce showed up at the driver's window with these two bottles of salmon that he had just put up. "I have something I want to give you," he said. "Take this home to your wife."

So I will.

Gwich'in hospitality.

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Comments

[twain12]

great picture, the Dancers absolutely beautiful and the baby adorable

[debby]

Bruce has a wonderfully expressive face.