Yesterday’s mail brought a package from Japan. The photographer who joined us on the tundra this summer sent us several copies of her Alden-themed calendar as well as as a handful of miscellaneous images. Among them was the one below, a photograph that captures the spirit of what it often feels like in our little cabin on the bluff.

I imagine this picture was taken in late afternoon, during the break that sometimes happens between fishing periods. The foreground skillet is full of spoon bread, a dense dish made with canned corn and flour, served hot with maple syrup. It is comfort food for when we’re tired and hungry and the wind is howling on the tundra.

The sort of thing that happens almost every day up there.