One King Island Kivgiq, one Jobe-Rex

I stated that today I would finally get around to putting up some good and broad Kivgiq material, but I was wrong. It is going to take at least one more full day. I have no more time today, I will have no time at all tomorrow, so that means hopefully Sunday and that means I will probably not post them until Monday.

In the meantime, here is one image from the performance of the King Island Dancers.

And I know that Jobe's mom and dad are missing him, as are many others, including his Aunt Suji who never does get to hold him but can interact with him only through this blog, and then there is all his aunts and uncles and cousins down on two reservations in Arizona who also need to see him, so here he is.

He is with Rex, who has not had a car now for almost a year, when he let his ex-wife take the one they had bought together and then pledged to go a year without one. He has been riding his bike a lot, even on the coldest, snowiest days and has been hit by a car once.

He came out to the valley last night in Melanie's car to look at an old Volvo that he might buy. Then he stopped to eat some burritos and to visit Jobe.

I know - my blog is kind of crashing a bit here lately - as am I.

But sooner or later, both the blog and I will pick back up again.

I wish that I could do something substantial for the people in Japan.

Today, by the way, is Jacob and Lavina's fifth anniversary.

Congratulations, Jacob and Lavina. How truly wonderful your union has been for this entire family.

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One Kivgiq and three Jobes

I can just see it in the face of young Georgia Fischer, of Barrow's Nuvugmiut Dancers: "hey Bill, where are all those Kivgiq pictures?"

One more day... one more day... I will never be able to find the time to put up the massive, multi-faceted, 149-part spread that I had pictured in my head, but I will put up a broad sampling.

I think I will do it all in slideshows, with hardly any words, because I can get many more pictures up in the same time period if I limit it to slideshows.

BTW: congratulations to the Point Hope boys basketball team, who last night won the Alaska 2A state championship for the third year in a row when they defeated Klawock.

I wish that I could have been there, but I couldn't. 

The Barrow teams enter their playoffs today. I can't go to town today, either, but I will get there before the tournament ends.

Yesterday was also Charlie's birthday. I'm sorry that I missed that as well.

Yesterday at day care, Jobe came down with a bad eye infection and had to be sent home. So now he is here, as he cannot return to daycare until he is all better and he needs a place to stay and be cared for while his parents go to work.

He is not quite as chipper as normal, but his overall mood remains positive - especially when he sees his grandpa.

Margie, Jobe and some kid on TV.

From the arms of his grandma, Jobe observes the return of his Uncle Caleb.

And this must do it for now.

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Paralysis

Ever have a day when you feel so weary and drained that you wonder how you can possibly carry on? Today is such a day for me. I won't bother to explain... I lack the energy. Anyway, I took this picture last night as I was working on Kivgiq, just before I hit the wall.

As both he and Jim so often do, Pistol plopped himself right down in a spot that made it difficult for me to use my mouse.

After I hit the wall, I did not want to just stop, because I have so many things I am trying to do, so I shifted my attention to another project, thinking that in this way I might keep accomplishing something, one way or another. So I did a search of my computer, looking for a certain picture that I hoped was still in it or on one of the hard drives currently plugged in.

It was not, but a bunch of pictures that I was not looking for popped up, including this one of Jim standing atop my monitor back when I had a monitor that a cat could actually stand on top of.

There are multiple big personal stories in this picture, some of which I have hinted at but never told in full. I actually just now got carried away and wrote one of them out in some detail, but thought better of it, cut it out, saved it as a word file and will return to it one day in the future through this or another outlet.

Now I think I will take a long walk and see if I can start putting myself back together. I've got too much to do to let myself be paralyzed like this.

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Will this be Jobe's last great crawl through the house? Congratulations, John Baker! post Kivgiq scene, Friendly people in a truck

First, before I analyze what may have been Jobe's last great crawling expedition through this house, I must congratulate John Baker for his record-breaking Iditarod win. I was greatly pleased to learn this. Baker is the first Alaska Native to win this great race since 1976, and the first Iñupiat ever to win it.

I only regret that I could not have been there to photograph his finish. Oh, this blog has such a long way to go to ever become what I want and hope it to be! And the event that happened today that I missed will never come again.

In some ways, it doesn't matter, because his finish was well-documented and there is probably not much I could have added to it, but given where he comes from and my history with the Iñupiat, I surely wish that I could have been there.

But there is no point in feeling sorry for myself, what is, is, and I was present for Jobe's great expedition and here it is. Given the fact that he has learned to toddle behind the wagon, given the fact that yesterday he rose up and stood for a time all on his own, it is possible that from now on, his expeditions will be taken all on foot.

He will be spending time with us this weekend, and I think he will probably still do some crawling, but one never knows.

Anyway, this particular crawling expedition began with him chasing after Jim. He did not catch him.

After Jim ditches him, Jobe continues on through the kitchen and enters the hallway.

Jobe ponders which way to go.

He turns around and goes the other way - all the way to our bedroom.

Once in the bedroom, he turns around again. Will he come out?

Yes! He pushes open the door and comes out.

Back up the hall he goes.

Jobe completes his great expedition.

Last night, I finally reached the very last Kivgiq picture that I took, and this is it - right after everything came to an end and people began to disperse.

So, today, I will go back through and make some kind of Kivgiq show tomorrow. I did not think that I was going to be able to, but it now looks like there is a good possibility that I will get to make a special Kivgiq Uiñiq. In this case, I will not go quite so crazy here with hundreds of pictures as I had thought I would, as I will want that Uiñiq to be special when it comes out, with a good number of pictures in it that will have not been seen before.

And this from India...

Friendly people in a truck, going who knows where to do who knows what, as our taxicab passes them on the right.

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Jobe falls, gets up and becomes a rolling toddler

As I prepared these pictures of my bright-eyed grandson, Jobe, for today's post, I could not help but think repeatedly of the equally bright-eyed children of Japan who have lost their homes, or even their lives, who have been displaced, and now live in dire circumstance.

In contrast to that, being very much aware of the arbitrary of this life and knowing that what hits Japan today can hit Alaska tomorrow, I begin today's happy essay with this image of my grandson, Jobe, who has discovered that with the help of his little wagon, he can now toddle about the house.

But oh, no! He falls on his butt. He looks up into my eyes (note that in this picture I am holding the camera low and off to the side in front of Jobe, so those are my feet and legs that you see to the left and he is indeed looking into my eyes) and cries. He wants me to pick him up, to comfort him, to put him back on his feet.

"It's okay, Jobe," I tell him. "You don't need me to help you. You can get up. You can do it yourself."

Jobe realizes that he must do this for himself. He begins to get up.

Jobe is up, a little bit unsure of himself, but ready to go again. In the background, his Uncle Caleb prepares to putt an imaginary golf ball.

 Off Jobe goes, as Caleb putts his golf ball through the roof and 400 yards down the road.

Jobe dashes into a sun beam.

He rounds the corner toward the kitchen...

...he passes by the kitchen table...

...gleefully, he charges through the kitchen, his fall forgotten.

Then back into the living room where he will do it all again... and again... and again...

I had to do some other things, so I retreated to my office as Jobe continued to wagon-toddle his laps. After a bit, I heard someone pounding on the window in front of my computer, where Jimmy likes to sit, bask in the sun and watch for moose, ravens, little birds and whatever else he might see out there.

I stood up, lifted the curtain and there was Jobe, looking in at Jimmy and me.

How did he ever grow to be so tall, so fast?

Later still, I stepped back into the house and saw that, using a couch for support, he had risen to his feet all on his own. He reached out for me.

So I took his little hand, and the two of us went walking. Again, in this picture, I am holding the camera away from me, so as to get my hand in the picture. Again, he is looking straight into my eyes.

And all this happened as children in Japan struggled for their very lives.

Let us not forget them even as we live our own lives.

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