Afternoon at Aana's

I spent a wonderful afternoon with my husband's mother today!  My son and his cousin, who he doesn't get to see nearly enough, got to play, build snow forts and sled. Aana, Inupiaq for Grandma, lives in a small, dry cabin in the hills, beautiful in the summer and in the winter. 

We were talking about the caribou meat a friend had sent her and how we both prefer caribou to moose. As we were chatting, she started to tell me about her mother and father making snowshoes when she was a little girl. They lived near the western coast of Alaska in the Kobuk River area. 

"He would bring in willow and peal at it until it curved the way he wanted them and punch holes in them. My mother would take a caribou hide and soak it in brown soap for about a week until it was very soft. She would scrape the hair off and then lay it outside at 40 below to half dry and freeze. My father would slice thin strips out of it and lace it through the holes. He would use thicker moose for the foot area. He made the best snowshoes."

We have a pair of his snowshoes hanging on the wall of our home!  Amazing!