Priority Mail = 65 Days

Bonnie sent us a Christmas package on Dec. 17. See postmark. :) We had sadly given this present up for lost and figured we'd never see it. Imagine my surprise when Rich called me at work today to tell me it was here. I would love to know where it has been for the last two months--stuck in a corner in a Post Office somewhere, at Pen Air in Anchorage, left in the UniSea van and covered up by other stuff till just now? It's a mystery and I am afraid it will remain so, but I was really happy that their money was not spent in vain and that the wayward box finally found it's way here. And we enjoyed having Christmas in late February! :)

Ms. Not-a-Morning-Person

Something funny happened today. Rich and I went to bed around midnight last night and I probably fell asleep soon after. I'd asked him to set the alarm for 6 so I could get up for my early morning GED/ESL class. Sleeping well, I don't think I stirred till the alarm went off; in fact, I remember thinking, "Oh, I feel pretty rested!" as I rolled out of bed and headed for the shower. After getting ready, checking emails and making a big glass of tea to take with me, I gingerly felt my way down our outside steps, which were completely iced over. When I arrived at my classroom a few minutes before 7, the room was all locked up. It's usually open and I couldn't find the rec monitor who works in the building; surprisingly, his door was locked as well. Typically, one or two of my students are waiting when I arrive--early birds--but none of them were in sight, either. I waited by the door for several minutes and no one showed up. I started wondering if maybe they'd all had to work a longer shift than usual since most of them work overnight and then come to class. A few people walked by and I asked if anyone had a key to the room but they didn't. It began to feel very curious that no one was there. I am on call for work right now so am carrying the station's cell phone (I don't have one of my own here...no real need for it) so I flipped it open and it said 6:20 AM. This did not faze me because I had dropped the phone the day before and the back flew off, dislodging the battery, so I just made the assumption that it had somehow messed up. Still, no one had come to class yet and the rec monitor had not shown up for work. I walked into the work-out room and looked at the clock on the wall, which also showed 6:20. There was a guy working out so I asked him, "Is that clock RIGHT? Is it really 6:20??" He said YES. It finally dawned on me that, apparently, I had awakened at 5 AM, not 6 AM, and had arrived at class an hour early! I called Rich because I was so amazed and could not resist telling him what had happened. The only thing we can figure is that he accidentally advanced the time on the clock when he set the alarm. Hilarious! And to think I'd jumped right up and felt so good. :)

By this time, I didn't think there was any point in going back home so I took the opportunity to organize my papers and handouts, get the lessons ready for the morning, and get everything set up for class. After my students were in their seats, I told them my little story and they all got a chuckle out of it. I think they were wondering how I could be so dense! I am still amused by the whole chain of events!

It's funny how one's mind works. Once I had it in my head that it was 6 o'clock when I got up and going on 7 o'clock when I left the house, none of the evidence to the contrary registered. I know I looked at the clock in the living room and the one on the computer at home several times to make sure I was on track....but my mind expected to see 6:45 or whatever so that's what I saw. Even when I looked at the cell phone later, I was making up reasons why that time was wrong. So strange! In conclusion, I guess I CAN be a morning person if you keep me from knowing how early it really is. :)

February Fun

Silly Ajax out in the snow. He was marking his territory, maybe because we had a fox wandering around the other day.

It's been busy, busy! And I am not sure why I am still awake at almost 1 AM when I have been getting up early every day since Tuesday. You know I am not a morning person!

So I started teaching my ESL/GED class last Tuesday morning and we met again on Thursday. I love my class and have completely enjoyed it so far. I can't believe I am actually getting up without a fuss at 6 AM so I can be there a little before 7. I decided if I signed up to do it, I am going to do it with a pleasant attitude about the hour and not make my poor husband suffer through my grumbling. He admitted he was surprised that I got right up and didn't make him endure several rounds of the snooze button. :)

Most of my students are quite competent in English and many of them are more interested in getting their GED so that will be our primary focus. I am flying by the seat of my pants a little bit but have lots of resources and assistance so I think it will all be good. Since everyone in the class indicated a desire to improve their writing, we started keeping journals and I think that will be both interesting and helpful. And it's so nice to have students who actually want to be there and participate enthusiastically!

I had swimming class again today and that was great! I love that one, too. I was so pumped up after swimming that I came home and practiced piano chords. Wow, I am the picture of motivation and productivity all of a sudden. We will see how long that lasts. :)

Our sweet, funny, lively granddaughter Elle turned 4 today. Time does fly, cliche or not. We talked with Elle this morning and learned that she had cupcakes at her preschool with her best friend Miles, who also has a birthday this week, that she was going to soccer this afternoon, then to Mr. Gatti's tonight for "basketball and pizza," and that she's having a bday party at a gymnastics place tomorrow. When I said, "I wish we could come to your party," she said "You CAN!" as if we just thought we weren't allowed. I reminded her that we live very far away, to which she replied, "It's not that far!" Wish I could wiggle my nose and be there!

Then, extra bonus, I also got to talk with Aidan and Ally today--they are also adorable and sweet and so much fun! Aidan signed up for baseball and I am hoping he might still be playing when we go to Texas in June. Ally is loving dance class, but unfortunately she'll have her recital before we get there. Someday we will be close by so we can pop in for all these major events!

Swimming Granny

I've never been a very good swimmer. Okay, I don't really swim much at all. I took those *beginner* lessons when I was young and maybe even the next level after that, then moved to Germany where I did not live near water nor a pool for four years. By the time I returned to the US, I was in high school and too embarrassed to go to kiddie lessons. I've kinda faked it for most of my life and not very well. Yes, I can recall several people (who shall remain unnamed) making fun of my lame attempts to get from one side of the pool to the other. I mostly chose to sit on the side of the pool, lounge in the boat on the lake, float around in a life preserver or on a raft, and claim "I don't really like the water that much." Not a lie. You can't like something you are worried about, I don't think.

Oh yeah, there was that (what seems like) near drowning as a teenager, when my sister, my cousin Dennis and I went canoeing on a lake one dark summer night. My cousin was goofing around and turned the canoe over, all of us tumbling into the blackness. We could see the lights on shore but they seemed far away. He had to drag me to land. This did not help my comfort level around water. I've been snorkeling a few times in the last couple of years and enjoyed it once I got past the initial semi-panic stage. But water-baby I am not.

Hopefully this is all changing since I started an adult swim class today. Better late than never, huh? It was really fun, my classmates were friendly, we all encouraged each other to the max, and I'm even a pretty good back-floater. Who knew?

Another Goodbye

I appreciate my Air Force upbringing for lots of reasons but also because it prepared me well for all the comings and goings in my life. I've said before that living here reminds me of being a military kid because Unalaska can be such a transient community. Of course, there are people who have lived here for years and years, but there's also a pretty large group of individuals who stay for a few years and then move on. I can't even keep track of all the people I've met over the past 8 years who are no longer here! Today brought another goodbye when my friend Donna left after about four years on the island. Some of us had a little farewell gathering last night with dinner and fun at Amelia's. Above, Kelly, Becky and Donna.

Donna and Kris-Ann

I first met Donna when she came to town to work as a Behavioral Health Clinician at the IFHS Clinic. I was still working in the same sort of position at the Oonalaska Wellness Center. We coordinated services and shared the on-call responsibilities with the other clinicians in town and got to know each other over lunches and phone calls and meetings. Eventually, she came to work with us at OWC but soon after that, I left for the TV/radio station. Still, we kept in touch, participated in many of the same activities in town, and hung out when we could. We traveled and worked together for the year-long Healthy Native Communities Fellowship, where we bonded further over many funny, irritating, and overwhelming experiences. Thank goodness she was there or I probably would have quit. :)

Here we are at the airport, delayed, of course!

I was complaining about my double chin in the previous photo, which brought on lots of laughing and silly posing.

Donna is heading to Ninilchik, where she will start a new Behavioral Health Program. I know she will do a fabulous job! She'll be living a couple of hours from Anchorage so we will be able to see her if we have more than an overnight there. Our friends Anne and Jeanette have just returned to Anchorage, and our friend Paul is there, too. So it will be like old home week next time we go "to town."
Farewell, Unalaska!
Safe travels, Donna! We'll miss you but will see you again!

Oh, July, where art thou?

My non-Alaska car was iced and snowed into our parking area last week so Rich was driving me to work and picking me up at the end of the day. We kept noticing this view on the way home between 5:3o and 6. One day after I was back to driving myself, Rich went out to take some photos. What a gorgeous sunset over the water!

The Unangan culture teaches us not to speak ill of the weather so I am trying to keep a smile on my face. Still, it seems very cold this winter. The snow is lovely if I don't have to go out in it so I've been a little bit into hibernation mode and I am not much of an Alaska gal at times like these. Many of my friends are very outdoorsy and don't even mind the cold but I haven't quite made it that far. No, I don't bundle up nearly as much as I used to, I can drive our stick shift truck under just about any conditions, and I'm pretty good at scraping the windshield. But I can't say I am enjoying it! :)

Still, there's lots going on, as always. Besides work, I'm doing my nonviolence studies, I've started practicing piano again after buying a DVD instruction set that I really like, and I just signed up to teach an ESL class starting next week. I'm looking forward to it, though I thought it would be held in the evening and I just found out it's from 7-9 AM on T-Th. You know I am *not* a morning person! I hesitated for a moment and then decided, "I can do this! It will be good for me." Right?!

Winter Doldrums

We've had cold, wind, rain, sleet, snow and ice for the last couple of weeks. I have hardly left the house except to go to my part-time job in the afternoon, when the sun has already come up and I don't have to negotiate the steep iced-over steps and the icy parking lot in the dark. We did catch a break in the ice and wind one day and took a little drive.

This is a cool old WWII building. It would be perfect for our commune, but I hear it's condemned.

Crab pots, eagles and the Holy Ascension Russian Orthodox Cathedral.

January 11th was my youngest daughter Susan's birthday. Here she is with her husband, Corey, when I saw them last September. I can hardly believe my baby is now 29! Where have the years gone? Happy belated birthday to my girl. We love you and miss you!

Tonight my thoughtful husband surprised me with pot pies for dinner. You might wonder what is so special about pot pies, besides the very important fact that they're homemade. The truth is that I have many food peccadillos, not the best situation for the wife of a chef, or for the chef (maybe especially for the chef). What a treat for me to have a delicious pot pie with lots of veggies that I WILL eat and none of the ones I can't stand. No onions, no rubbery little square carrots, no canned-tasting peas. We were laughing about how I must have had to maneuver those little frozen pot pies as a kid--I'd eat all of the crust, pick out the chicken and potatoes, and whatever juice I could get that was not tainted by those nasty carrots, and leave the rest. I probably got in trouble for not cleaning my plate.

And it's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. This quote is from the '60s but I think it is just as relevant now, maybe more so. "We must rapidly begin the shift from a 'thing' oriented society to a 'person' oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered." This makes me think so much of the income inequality of our country, the rich only becoming richer while the poor continue to struggle for dignity and a living wage and the middle class see their jobs and security slipping away. Corporations are deemed "people" and control every aspect of our society. I wonder what Dr. King would have to say today.