Growing up in Nome Alaska - part seven

two options - run back.....or stay there and wait. There are no outs as we know them. When the team "on top" is running, the team "on bottom" must hit the runners with the ball. When this happens, the team on the bottom runs to either the spot or where you hit, as fast as they can. While the team on the bottom is trying to become the team on the top; the team that was on the top can pick up the ball and hit someone trying to be on the top. If that is the case, the team that was on top runs back to the spot or to bat to regain their title as "The Team on Top." It sounds rather confusing but it really isn't once you start to play. There are definitely LESS rules then the usual baseball. They use a log that someone has carved down to be a "good bat." They use any kind of ball for their ball.

During the summer months the ships would come to Nome. The ships would anchor 3 to 4 miles out from the shore and all the freight was brought in on barges. The Eskimos who lived on King Island would come to Nome in June in “umiak’s.” They’d load all the stuff they needed to live for the year during the summer months to carry back on their umiaks. They lived in shacks on the beach. They would carve on ivory and make bracelets and cribbage boards under their umiaks. Most of the Eskimo ladies wore fur parkas summer and winter. They made covers of calico to wear over the fur to protect the fur from getting dirty. They would carry their babies in the hoods of the parka. I can remember going to a restaurant and watching an Eskimo mother take a bite of food and chew it and then put some in the baby’s mouth.

Lucy Fagerstrom was a good friend and I remember going to her home and seeing her grandmother who was Eskimo sitting on the floor mixing something. I asked what she was making and was told she was making Eskimo ice cream. It didn’t look very good. I think it was whipped fat mixed with berries. The thought of it being fat didn’t sound very good to me. Her grandmother would dip the tips of the willow leaves in it. Lucy and I would wrap little things from our kitchens and share with each other. I would wrap something from our kitchen; maybe chocolate chips and give to her and then she would wrap something from her kitchen; maybe some coconut and give to me. It was fun!

The 4th of July was an important holiday in Nome. I remember we participated in a parade by wearing costumes and decorating our bikes. The Eskimos had a lot of games and contests. I remember the blanket toss. About 30 or more Eskimos gather in a circle, holding the edges of a large skin made from walrus or seal hides, and toss someone into the air as high as possible. The object: to maintain balance and return to the blanket without falling over. Of course, I never did that.There were kayak races too.

I attended the Methodist Daily Vacation Bible School and received a bible for memory work on June 2, 1950. I really enjoyed going to bible school. I loved the bible stories told with a flannel board. Also, the songs we sang were fun. I remember the Easter sunrise morning breakfast at the home of the minister and his family. I remember we ate bacon and an egg cooked in a muffin pan. I thought that was unique.

Our troop of Girl Scouts had a surprise one day. A submarine had come to Nome and they were inviting the scouts to tour the ship in the harbor. The boy scout troop was invited first but they they were gone somewhere so our girl scout troop was the next choice. I still remember how scary it was.
We had to ride a tug boat out to the submarine and the waves were active. Then they would lift each girl over the swirling water from the tug boat to the submarine. I still can see the ugly water as I was lifted to the submarine. One experience I will never forget.

We loved to play in the snow and I enjoyed my little sled. When they plowed the roads they made hills and we would use our sleds on those hills. I tried skiing too but I think I wasn’t brave enough to go down hills. I liked going and coming on mostly a flat surface. One winter there was so much snow that my friends and I built a snow fort in front of our kitchen window so we would have light.

One day my cousin Ralph was giving me a ride to his house from my house which was only about 4 blocks. He was riding on the back of the a dog sled and he had three dogs pulling the sled and he fell off the back. Here I was hanging on for dear life and scared to death. The dogs stopped in front of his house. I jumped off the sled and Ralph was yelling at me to hang on to the dogs. I wrapped one arm around the telephone poll and grabbed the sled with my other arm. I was screaming for Aunt Florence to help me. Well, I couldn’t hold the dogs and they ran away. Ralph was very angry with me and he had to get help to track down the dogs.

I loved my warm parka and my lap boots. Mother left my parka in Nome but I still have my lap boots and believe it or not they still fit! They are seal skin with rabbit fur on the inside. I also have an Eskimo doll in with fur mukluks and fur gloves attached to a rope which hangs around the neck.