I took lots of pictures in Alaska this summer, almost all with my phone, which was always with me in spite of the fact that it didn’t get any cell or data coverage—kept near because of it’s camera. There is just so much to photograph along the beach.

We gathered for a Fourth of July pot luck in a garage attached to one of the compounds. I’d show you a picture of the extravagant culinary offerings if I had taken time to snap one. I was too busy eating. But after I’d eaten my fill, I wandered outside and looked back toward the tundra. Here’s what I saw looking across a marsh behind the compound.

It’s my favorite of the summer.

Here are a few others from that same day.

This is a smokehouse, I think.

The ubiquitous laundry line.

This is our version of a sidewalk.

Maritime decor

Broken frog thermometer

I assure you, it was nowhere near 70 degrees.

These are the artifacts of a place with no room for frills, where necessity dominates, where function trumps form.

But still it is our place.

I’m off to the airport now to fetch my family.