Just shy of 32 hours after taking off from the gravel airstrip at Coffee Point, I have returned to the barn, not smelling great but happy to be back at my desk and delighted by the prospects of slipping back into my own bed in a few minutes. I just got an email from Robbi, who claims to miss me. Apparently Alden was bent out of shape by my failure to be present on the tundra today. They’ll be home before I know it.

For now, to remember my distant brood, here is a recent family portrait, the sort of thing we might send out as our Christmas card, if we were organized enough to do that sort of thing.