November Stroll

Yesterday, the first of November, was a brilliant day in Kodiak and we took the kids for a walk on Near Island. The back hike with the trail head near Trident Basin is my favorite walk with them. You get woods, beach and beautiful open vistas. I do get anxious with the wee bit of sheer cliff near the end (top photo) so I compensate by hollering, "stay on the trail, don't run, DON'T RACE EACH OTHER!" In the top photo above, we are approaching the trails end and the view of the bay with town to the west. In the middle photo, I wanted to get them contemplating wind power and alternative energy sources ... two out of three isn't bad. And the last photo is my beautiful girl with wind-kissed cheeks, just chillin' in the Alaska sunshine.

H-A-double L-O-double U-double E-N

We had two Halloweens this year and two days of trick-or-treating. On Friday afternoon we took the kids around the local businesses for Kodiak's downtown trick or treat. This always makes for a nice warm-up. We can drill in the requisite manners - take one piece, say thank you - before they are turned loose to beg candy from people in the privacy of their homes.

On Saturday we dressed the kids up again and wandered around the neighborhood around 5 pm, just as the sun was setting. At six and four, mine are young enough to tolerate about a half-hour of walking around in the cold. They are more excited about coming home to distribute candy to others. I'm happy with that, too.

Photos: 1. The cousins ready to make the rounds. 2. Maya as Dorothy complete with sparkly ruby red slippers and Toto in a basket. 3. Our neighbors up the street created a house of horrors with a chainsaw man cutting up bodies in a tent, and a gorilla and the "IT" clown menacing passers-by. It was truly creepy!

It's a Guy Thing (mostly)

This weekend I had a small part in the Fairwind Players/Loose Edge Reader's Theater production "It's a Guy Thing." All four scenes were sharply-written, perfectly cast, and well executed. My role was a girl-next-door type playing out a number of different relationship scenarios at a party. We played to a full house each night at the drama pod, and the biggest challenge was keeping our timing without running over the audience laughter.

It's been a rather long time since I've done any theater, and I was nervous about my ability to ride the proverbial bike again. But this was so much fun and everyone was committed and collaborative and supportive. There's a camaraderie with theater work that builds quickly and pays great rewards. I had forgotten how much fun it is... the experimentation, the lingo of the theater, the costuming and make-up (where else do I get to wear a red party dress and bronzer?).

There will be another Fairwind Players production this weekend, "Secrets of a Soccer Mom." This is the natural counterpart to "Guy Thing" except that the ladies will be off-script. Should be great! Check out http://www.kodiakartscouncil.org/ for times. And thanks to Pam Foreman for the cast photo above.

Unalaska Conference

The Alaska Historical Society annual conference was held this year in Unalaska, September 16 - 19. I've been here since Tuesday along with my daughter Maya and fellow Kodiakans Toby, Aldona, and Sven and his daughter Bella. The Alaska Historical Society alternates conference locations each year between urban and rural destinations. Last year was Anchorage and next year will be Fairbanks. Unalaska is perhaps the most remote place to host the conference. The locals here have been so friendly and hospitable. Everyone - from the President of the local museum to the shuttle drivers to the other moms at the local tot-time gym activity - has been warm and gracious and willing to offer help and entertain. And the food has been great at every restaurant, perhaps especially the seafood buffets put out by the Grand Aleutian hotel. The rural conferences are always unique and memorable experiences.

The photo above is the girls and me at the awards banquet. I was given the President's award, also known as the Beaver Log award. It's an award given at the discretion of the AHS President - the brilliant Katie Ringsmuth - to someone who has worked hard on behalf of the Society. Needless to say I was thrilled ... and completely surprised by it. And yes, it's an actual log glued to a plaque. But it's a lovely little log that Pat Roppel picked up on island near Wrangell.

Blueberry pie

I have this memory of myself as a 5-year-old outside at a summer fair or festival in Haines, Alaska, bidding in auction for the world's best blueberry pie. It had been made that morning by my mother - a perfectly realized, made-from-scratch blueberry cream cheese pie. But instead of cutting fat slices and serving it up to her four children with glasses of fresh milk, she donated it to whatever worthy cause stood to benefit from the fair/festival dessert auction. I had gone to the auction determined to get that pie back. I remember the auctioneer looking at me with hesitation, maybe weighing his doubt as to whether I was legitimately bank-rolled with his desire to keep the momentum of the bidding going. About 20 seconds into it, I felt my dad's firm hand on my shoulder and heard him say, "Now that's enough of that."

I have made this pie six times since the blueberries reached the edible stage this summer. I am confident that I can rival my mother's, with the exception of the crust. The critical point came last week when a friend who had helped eat one of the six called from Seattle to verify ingredient quantities. She was going to make it as part of the catering for a friend's wedding (congratulations Jenny and Randy!). Yep, I've hit the big time. Next year - I'll enter it in the Kodiak state fair!

Photos above - the boys enjoying the pie. And Maya doing her best impression of an overworked Queensland fruit picker.

Fair Days

On Saturday I took Maya out to the Kodiak Rodeo and State Fair. I had signed up to work at the Arts Council's booth for a two-hour shift and thought I could go early to squeeze in some horse rides and games. Maya was very pleased to ride this beautiful dark horse with jewels in his tail and mane. Later, Maya latched on to a friend who took her to watch the bull riding while I stayed in the exhibitor's hall talking about Arts Council programs. After three hours and two bowls of french fries she hit the proverbial wall (I think the catalyst was my refusal to buy her a spiderman balloon on a stick) and removed her boots and sweater and began to sob. The long ride home mercifully put her to sleep.

Onward and Upward

The August 2009 edition of Backpacker magazine has a feature story about a route through Rocky Mountain National Park pioneered by my grandfather, Hull Cook, and a guiding partner Clerin Zumwalt. In 1929, at the age of 19, my grandfather worked as a packer for the Fern Lodge, now-defunct but then an isolated wilderness lodge for early eco-tourists. He led the burros carrying equipment, supplies and luggage over a 5-mile journey to the lodge. In the early 1930s, he worked as a guide on Longs Peak. According to the Backpacker article by Dougland MacDonald, he and Zumwalt worked out of a cabin at 12,750 feet. Twice a day they would guide groups to the 14,259-foot summit and pocket $1 each for their work. The full article is available here: http://www.backpacker.com/august-09-full-circle-the-rocky-mountain-grand-loop/destinations/13239

Today we took the kids up the 2,251-foot Heitman Mountain, south of town. I was motivated by the prospect of cranberries, but they are not yet ready (two weeks, perhaps). For Maya, this mostly meant being packed in and out on someone's shoulders. The fall grass and brush was higher than her head and her xtratufs got stuck in the mud. For Lucas, the climb meant some helping hands and lots of encouragement. About 30 minutes in I decided to give him a pep talk, and remind him about his great-grandfather, the mountain climber. His mood and attitude lifted considerably and at every rough spot he would announce that it was no problem - no help needed. "It's easy for me," he'd explain. "Mountain climbing is in my blood."

First Day

Tuesday was the first day of school for the local elementary schools and for Lucas this meant the first day of first grade. Lucas is in a K/1 blended classroom, and he will spend the first week with only the other first graders - a core group of seven kids. I tried to pre-empt any possible dispute over school clothes by talking with him the night before about the tradition of dressing up for the first day of school. I picked out several possible options from which he could choose. Nonetheless, battle royale ensued with Lucas opting for an oversized sweatshirt and jeans and me refusing to budge from the collared shirts. The compromise saw a collared shirt with jeans and (sigh) rubber boots - with socks. I don't know what it is with that kid and those rubber boots. Just after we agreed to the terms of the compromise, his cousin showed up looking like this:

Trucker hat and all. Apparently my sister didn't get the memo about the family tradition. She had decided that, as a fourth-grader, Yasent was old enough to choose his own style and identity. That's fair. Not helpful to my objective of presenting a tidy, well-groomed six-year-old for at least one day ... but fair.

Buskin Camping

On Friday we took the kids out for a quick overnight camping trip. Lucas very nearly stayed behind, but finally agreed to come for the fishing. The Buskin was full of gnarly, colorful, half-dead salmon that I vowed to release if we were so lucky as to catch one. But they must not have been hungry. Despite Lucas' many well-placed casts, we caught nothing. The night was far from a loss, though. We flew a kite, made s'mores, chased squirrels and told stories in the tent. Photos above: Lucas explains his casting technique, Maya and Toby with the kite, dinner of local foods: salmon, elk (thanks Millers) & lettuce salad (thanks Saltonstalls), Lucas and Maya roasting marshmallows.

Princess Party

Today we celebrated Maya's fourth birthday with a fairy princess birthday party. The party theme was Maya's concept. All her friends arrived in princess costumes. The girls had sandwiches and fruit salad for lunch and then went up to Maya's bedroom to play dress-up and dance. The pinata was a dragon (because naturally princesses slay dragons) filled with jewels and bling. The girls used their pinata bounty to decorate tiaras. It was little girl heaven.

A friend of mine recently discovered she was carrying a little girl and posted notice on her Facebook. She quickly followed up with a note that she would try to be gender-neutral with toys and general upbringing. I remember a time when I tried for neutrality, and I think it is a worthy aspiration. But by this stage I have crossed so far over into the dark side (aka the pink side), I can hardly remember it any other way. I'd like to believe that I'm just following Maya's lead. My sister Anne can attest that an 18-month-old Maya loved to play dress-up, and would happily throw herself on the floor and wait to be dressed whenever we showed her a new outfit. She gravitated to pink and purple without any overt encouragement from me. She'd turn her nose up at a toy car, and pick up and wave about a celery stick, singing "Wiggly wiggly wog, I turn you into a frog." It was just by natural progression that we got to this morning's fairy princess extravaganza.

August Treats: Friends, Berries and Worms

In early August, Lucas' godmothers Melissa and Katrina both came home to visit. We went for walks, and picked berries, and cooked food, and drank wine and caught up with all the happenings in each other's lives. Maybe it is because good friends tend to visit in August, or maybe it's because of the berries and sunshine, but this month is my favorite. At this moment I am fighting the urge to go for a walk and pick more berries. I've already made a blueberry pie and crisp, and salmonberry cordial. There are berries in the fridge and freezer. I don't think I'm greedy - there are always over-ripe berries falling off the bushes in late August even on the trails in Abercrombie (except for the very bad year of 2007). And I'm certainly not wasteful. When the kids were younger they wondered aloud why candy and fruit leather didn't come in salmonberry flavor? I have to keep reminding myself there isn't any urgency to it, except perhaps for beating the worms to the blueberries.

Photos above: The kids examine an earthworm. Anyone who knows how fastidious Lucas is can appreciate this photo. Maya picking salmonberries. Maya taking a break to pat a spruce tree.

Refuge Visitors

Every Saturday this summer the Wildlife Refuge visitor's center downtown sponsors a program to teach kids about Kodiak's natural environment. It is clear to me that a lot of content planning and development goes into each activity, and the kids love it. Early in the summer I would promise the kids ice cream from the Chowder House if they were attentive and well-behaved for the program. At this point they've forgotten about my bribe and wake up each Saturday wanting to go downtown. So far this year we have made a birdhouse, tried on eagle wings, created forest creatures with spruce cones and measured river otter pelts. And they definitely retain some of what they learn. Just this morning I heard Lucas warn Maya not to leave any trash outside because "the red fox likes to eat birds and eggs and garbage."

Taking out the Wind-eye

Late yesterday afternoon we removed one of the final windows at the Museum slated for repair this summer. We had known from the beginning that this particular set of windows could be problematic. For one, it has long been notoriously leaky and on days with wind-driven rain we normally have a plastic tub on hand to catch the drips. We also have historic photographs of this end of the building in the 1920s showing extensive wood rot.

Don Corwin suspected that these would be the most "modern" windows on the building, in part because that photograph evidence suggested an Erskine-era repair job. Sure enough, Don found two trim boards stamped with "W.J. Erskine Kodiak Alaska" (see photo above). The Erskine family live in the building from 1908 - 1948. So these windows were installed in the 1920s, while the windows on the Sargent Park side featured newspaper insulation from the 1880s.

This unit has two windows, each with an upper and lower sash. If I understand it correctly, these windows were intended to be true double hung sliding windows (thought they haven't been operational in more than a decade). Both the upper and lower sash are hung on cords and counterbalanced by weights concealed in the wall cavity. In the second photo above you can see the cords attached to the sashes.

Deck Blues

I have finally succumbed to all this incredible sunshine and taken on a outdoor house project. We are painting the back deck Robin's Egg blue. My first instinct was to go for a Brick Red color, but apparently that was a popular choice as Spenard's has run out of the pigment. I thought about Espresso brown or Cape Cod gray, but decided I wanted something a little more dramatic. It's not too outrageous, looks nice against the green grass, and the kids certainly love it. Now if we can just squeeze out one more weekend of sunshine I can finish the job. Photos above are my fierce painting crew at work.

Salmon Trio

Smoked salmon, pickled salmon, gravlax. Very satisfied with my recent and ongoing preservation efforts. And my new favorite breakfast is smoked salmon and strong tea. Happy 4th.