Tundra of Change

Fall officially settled into the tundra sometime ago. Mornings are quite chilly and there has been fog on several occasions (fog that would have delayed or cancelled school back in Ohio for sure, but not here). I wore my coat for the first time this week to school in the morning. It is still warm enough during the day for a person to easily forget their coat at school when coming home. My heat at home has started to kick on now on a daily bases. I am told there will be snow within a month...definitely before the end of October.

One thing that I miss being here in Bethel, are trees. There are no trees here and, therefore, no leaves to change amazing shades of red and gold before falling to the ground. You can imagine my awe, then, when I was driving out to the airport last week and noticed that the tundra had changed.If the river is the heart of this place then the tundra is the lifeblood. The people live off of it in so many ways. From the tundra, the people collect berries, herbs for tea and healing, eggs, and even bigger animals such as moose and caribou. I have been berry picking on several occasions. One time, we collected about a gallon of blue berries and had a huge blueberry pancake breakfast for ourselves and the neighbors.
If you look at the previous blog post entitled Our House...you will see pics of the tundra when it was green this summer. Now it has exploded with brilliant shades of red, orange, and yellow. I miss seeing the leaves change and fall, but I will not miss raking them up! Go tundra!