So here they are, a picture of obedience, all watching and waiting for their master’s voice, and that is definitely not mine, I just happen to be standing next to Joe Henderson with camera in hand.
Andrea–I love this post! You have always taken such stunning photos of our dogs and you really have a knack for capturing their personalities on camera. They sure can be ornery!
Angus Mill –Glad you like the post, it was fun to assemble and it made me realize how much I miss the feisty enthusiasm of those dogs! You’ve just taught me some US english too, ornery, I like it, I never heard it used over here.
Kim –Thanks so much for sharing the pictures and commentary. I just love reading your insight into the Malamute personality. So many times I read it and think my Malamute does that too! I’m really hoping for a book of your stories and photos! Thanks again!
In winter the boundaries of land and sea become blurred and can be a little unfathomable. Often there is no easy telling whether you are on solid ground or floating on ice, and were it not for the occasional tideline of flotsam you would not have any idea that you were on the beach at […]
Bruce –I was trying to determine how best to count the annual rings in a 2×4 of Alaska Yellow Cedar that I have when I found your post. Hah! There must be no easy way to count.
To describe the rings in my piece the closest analogy would be stacking several reams of heavy bond paper, fanning them, then going at it. It was coincidental that this board was going to be part of an historical family chest. I will revise the joints to best display the end grain. Needless to say, the grain pattern is pretty boring.
I will linger and read more of your blog.
Bruce –I commented a few days ago, but… To follow up.
Managed to count the rings on a Yellow Cedar (Cupressus nootkatensis) 2×4 (3.81cm x 8.9cm -net) rift grain board, so counted the diagonal dimension of 9.21 cm having greatest number of rings. I counted 336 rings. This is a clear grained board, so is from a tree of much greater age.
I live on the west coast of the US. This is the first time I have seen Yellow Cedar lumber in 60 years. You might think I gloat at the age, but the reason this cedar is so plentiful is a sad story made gross by the culpability of political parties and heinous people ignoring persistent destruction and the world’s future damage.
I had a chance to view your posts and thank you for giving us a glimmer of a life and place most can not witness.
Angus Mill –Hi Bruce, Glad you liked the posts and good luck with the project.
Much of the Arctic north of the treeline, away from the classic destinations and the hyperbole of adventure, can be flat and featureless and more than a little desolate. Still, it has its charms and on a grey day as the clouds thicken it creates its own kind of subtle and nuanced excitement, a perceptual […]
It may be surprising to some that I am not a great believer in the significance of photographs, perhaps a heresy and doubly so as I am a professional photographer, a peddler of seductive images. Still when it comes to the Arctic I can’t help myself and I am seduced, as many of us are, […]
Andrea Loveland Henderson–Joe and I always enjoy your beautiful photography from your arctic expeditions. They preserve such special memories for us. Thank you!!
Angus Mill –Thanks, but thank you for making such rare experiences possible! Look forward to catching up with your tales from this year.
Gil –Beautiful, timeless, mythical an amazing image.
This is the sound of Joe Henderson’s 22 alaskan malamutes howling with total abandon. They love to howl when they have been fed, or pretty much any time they are feeling happy and content. I like the sound too, it’s like canine ululation, an ancient sound that unites all the individuals as a pack and […]
JoAnne Kalvaitis –I’m doing a brief booklet about my life in photos, text and sketches for a project by the Brooklyn Library. This booklet, if I get it done in time, will be digitized and available online. It is not for sale and only that one copy will be in existence as an actual object.
My parents and I spent 6 years in the NWT and lived for a time on an island on Great Slave Lake. The sled dogs we had were not malamutes, but whatever my dad bought. I remember them sleeping in the snow and in general we all lived a rough life through the winter, but to a child it was life.
My purpose in writing you is to ask for permission to do some sketches from your photos. Im 75 now and am eager to document the part of my life for which there are no photos.
Thank you,
JoAnne
JoAnne Kalvaitis –Here is a link to the Brooklyn Library Project:
I got very excited seeing your photos of the North and wonder as well if I could sketch or do watercolours of a few others: Northern lights, etc Then I’m on the to next part of my life not in the North.
Thank you,
JoAnne
Angus Mill –Hi JoAnne,
Sorry for being slow in responding, but please do use my photos for the basis of your drawings. Good luck with the project and if you have a link to your story, once it’s finished, I’d be pleased to see it.
Best wishes,
Angus
My previously posted video, At home in the Arctic, of Joe Henderson’s alaskan malamutes in a ground blizzard has generated a lot of interest and amazement, so here’s some further shots. For a dog with an Arctic pedigree bedding down in a storm is the most natural thing – curl up, wrap that bushy tail […]
5 comments