It's the End of the World as We Know it....and I Feel Fine

This little ground squirrel lives in our yard and has been enjoying taunting the cats lately. They sit on the window sill and stare while it chatters at them and watches back. I'm sure they'd love to catch it and make it dinner. I hope it realizes that they are harmless behind the window but not necessarily when they're out in the yard running at a full sprint.

Well, we did not get raptured yesterday after all. :) I saw a funny comment on Facebook (besides everyone listing their favorite songs for the day, hence the R.E.M. tune in the title of this post). It said, "I guess on Sunday we can't really console the Rapture people by saying 'Cheer up, it's not the end of the world.'" That made me laugh. Although I was not worried at all about the apocalypse (she says), I did have a very long and detailed nightmare involving a Princeton University football game, airplanes, Scrabble, a mushroom cloud and guns. Whew!

I put off dusting the furniture yesterday just in case the world did come to an end. Since it didn't, I spent an inordinate amount of time on the task today. Laundry I don't mind, doing dishes I don't mind, even cleaning the bathrooms doesn't bother me too much. Dusting is just a tedious and boring chore. But now it's done and I will ignore it for several more weeks, I'm sure.

Saturday I was up and dressed early (earlier than usual for a weekend, anyway) to attend a City Council meeting and then over to the USAFV Open House. The shelter looked really nice and all the staff did a fabulous job of welcoming visitors and showing them around, explaining USAFV's services and answering questions. Plus they had cookies and pies baking in the oven.

Tonight was book club, where we discussed Greg Mortenson's second book, Stones into Schools. We picked our books for the year back in September so it was coincidental that we happened to be reading it right as he's been involved in some controversy. You may have seen the story on "60 Minutes" a few weeks ago, in which there were questions raised about his organization's handling of financial matters and the authenticity of some of Greg's stories. We've read both Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools for book club and most of us are willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. It's possible that mistakes have been made but I'm still impressed with the very difficult work he's done and I know I would never have the heart nor the physical ability to do even a small portion of all he's accomplished. Hopefully the organization will take care of any lingering issues and their good work can go on. Steve and Goldfish hosted book club at Elaine's house because they are remodeling part of their kitchen. Thanks, Elaine, for having us, and GF for the great food. It was not on my current diet but I cheated a little. I told them not to tell Rich. Steve said, "what happens at book club stays at book club." :)

I talked with Aidan and Ally on the phone today. They are so cute! Aidan said he's having fun playing baseball, has had several hits and likes "running home" best. He's almost finished with school and is happy to be going on to second grade. Time flies! Ally had to tell me all the colors in her new bathing suit and that she is ready to go to the beach with us in July. Can't wait to see them!

Elle loves the "Annie song" and left us a cute message on our answering machine recently, where she sings, "tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow..." It's just adorable and I have to listen to it every day. It always makes me smile. And baby Beck is growing up way too fast. I am not going to recognize him when I see him next. See Sarah's blog to see him working on his crawling skills!

For the Emery watchers, she's just been to Houston for her last round of this first year's scans. Although all results are not yet in, Bonnie and David feel confident that everything's good. David saw Dr. Thompson in the hallway and he said the MRI was great. It looks like they had a fun trip, despite the medical stuff that had to be done. Check Bonnie's blog for more details and see the cool private plane they got to ride in. Wow, the folks in Amarillo have just been amazing in their support of our kids. We are very grateful!

Back Home

Here are some of the last few photos of our Texas trip. Elle and I had a little bit of play time before we had to head for the airport. She's so much fun!

Sweet baby Beck was already growing before our eyes.

Goodbyes are always hard. :(

Sarah, Beck and Elle dropped us off at DFW and our two days of travel began. First we flew from Dallas to Seattle, had a layover there, and caught our next plane to Anchorage. We arrived in Anchorage close to 9 PM, which was midnight in Texas so we were pretty tired. We spent the night in Anchorage and had to get back to the airport for a 9:35 AM flight the next morning. At least we were able to stay in a hotel instead of sleeping in the airport! I'm getting too old and creaky for that. We'd been hearing stories of weather and plane delays for a couple of days so weren't sure what our odds would be for getting home. But we loaded up at Pen Air and took off pretty close to the scheduled time. After a stop in King Salmon for fuel, we headed for Unalaska. The flight was not bad till we began our approach and then it became very bumpy. As we were coming in, we had a huge drop in altitude, which scared the &*^% out of me and I involuntarily let out a little scream. Have never done that before! I had my eyes closed and was digging my fingernails into Rich's palm. Seriously, this made two Unalaska landings in a row that were pretty darned exciting. But once again, we touched down okay and all was well. I guess I need to quit worrying! Later, someone else on the flight said that people were flying up out of their seats if their seatbelts weren't tight. I never saw that since my eyes were squeezed shut. :)

Home, sweet home. The cats weren't too stand-offish and everything seemed fine at the house. We both went right back to work on Friday, though Rich had a whole lot more to do than I did. 'Tis the season for holiday parties and banquets and special events so he had to jump right back into the fray.

While Rich was working, I went to a potluck and gift exchange with some friends on Friday night. We all like to read so we had decided we'd bring one book someone else might want to read, and one literary gag gift. At Barnes and Noble in Texas, Rich and I came across this book of "extraordinary chickens" in the bargain bin, so we couldn't resist. We also picked up a magazine called "Garden and Gun." Yes, really. I had certainly never heard of that one. Lucky Donna drew my gift and started out with the chickens, gardens and guns. Then Jeanette stole them from her. We were all giddy from laughing so hard at the photos of chickens and the ridiculousness of the whole thing. We got online and sure enough, there's a website and a facebook page devoted to extraordinary chickens as well. If I'd realized how well this gift was going to go over, I certainly would have picked up one for everyone else, too. :)

Judi, Paul, Jeanette, Anne, Jane and Donna

Rich worked all weekend while I puttered around the house, worked on Christmas cards, shopped online, ran errands, and tried to feel happy about the cold and wind and snow. The hotel had its annual "Moonlight Madness" arts and crafts fair on Saturday night where I sold quite a few of Rich's photos, chatted with everyone, and bought some of Sharon's fabulous home made confections while trying not to spend all of our profits. Rich joined me to finish out the night. It was fun to see everyone after being gone for so long.

Tuesday night, my coworker Anne and I served as judges for the annual Poetry Out Loud event at the high school. Students chose a poem, memorized it, worked on dramatizing it, polished it and performed it on stage for the audience and judges. I was very impressed with our talented teens and their poise and self confidence. Though the top three places were clear-cut, there were so many others who also scored very well. I hope they will continue to be engaged in this kind of event. Our winner goes to Regionals and hopefully then on to State and Nationals! Good job, everyone.

Though it's cold and snowy and windy outside, we enjoyed a little taste of springtime tonight while attending a slide show at the Museum. Local naturalist Suzi Golodoff took us on a pictorial hike from the beach to the top of the hills, showcasing the beautiful flowers of our island. I think we were all a little wistful but we know spring's just around the corner, right?

So we are just getting back into the routine and trying to get ready for Christmas. I dragged out our few decorations and our stockings but we haven't had a tree in years and don't decorate much since it's just the two of us. I think we are about finished with our shopping and I love, love, love getting Christmas cards in the mail. Send us a card! :)

Saturday Round Up and We are on the Road Again

I started writing this post last Monday and never got finished. Now it's 6:45 AM in Seattle as we sit waiting for our 9:30 AM flight to Chicago. Yippee! Our vacation has begun! The weather has been iffy all week; we heard horror stories about flights being cancelled on Tuesday and Wednesday and many of those passengers were still waiting on Friday. Thankfully we had a nice pretty day and were holding confirmed tickets when we showed up yesterday evening. We waited in line at Pen Air for an hour--that tells you just how busy they were! We usually don't have much of a wait, if any. Then the plane even left on time--now that's unusual! Arriving in Anchorage at 8:30 PM, we had plenty of time for dinner and then just had to sit around and wait for our flight to Seattle at 12:30 AM. The good thing about an overnight flight is that we don't have to pay for a hotel. The bad thing about an overnight flight is that it's not very easy to sleep sitting up in a packed plane (especially if you are stuck in the middle seat, like me). I brought my slippers and a blanket so got as cozy as I could but still didn't rest much. I got to try out my new Kindle (and it gets a nod of approval) and listened to the ipod while dozing intermittently. We arrived in Seattle at almost 5 AM local time (one hour time change), had to retrieve our bags, get our boarding passes, recheck our bags, go back through security, and here we are. While in Anchorage, we pricelined a room in Chicago and got a great deal on the Intercontinental downtown. We love priceline! We just reserved the first night and will do the rest when we get there. We are excited to be traveling again and can't wait to see everyone in Texas in a few more days! Also hoping that baby Emery will wait till we get there before making her entrance into the world.

Okay, so here's the rest of the post from a few days ago:

Last weekend basically revolved around eating. Friday night we went to Anne and Jeanette's for an Ethiopian potluck. We had never eaten nor cooked Ethiopian food before but after doing some research, Rich stepped up to the stove and made some chickpea fritters with a berbere sauce, meeting with the group's approval. We also had injera (flat bread), honey bread, two versions of wat (stew), several veggie dishes and salad. It was all delicious and a very nice evening with lots of conversation and laughs.

We went to dinner at the Chart Room on Saturday night, since Rich needs to do some quality assurance from time to time :) and I am lucky enough to get to tag along. We made a meal of yummy appetizers and small plates and I even liked the scallop appetizer, which is not typically my favorite thing. We topped it all off with dessert and I just have one thing to say: pumpkin creme brulee. A delicious nod to the holidays. I think Rich is going to make some for our Thanksgiving dinner in Texas, too.

Sunday night, we had an early Thanksgiving potluck with friends and a rousing discussion of the classic book Heart of Darkness. Several years ago, we saw a recipe for a sweet potato-banana casserole with a pecan streusel topping and had never made it so I decided this was the perfect opportunity. I spent a good bit of the day working on it and it turned out pretty well, although the banana taste almost overwhelms the sweet potatoes. Again, more good food at the potluck. No wonder we haven't lost a pound before vacation.

Some of you might remember that Rich and I met a woman named Anne on a plane leaving Denver after the Democratic National Convention. She was traveling with some teens and we struck up a conversation about their work filming a movie called "Papers." It is about undocumented teens in the US and what happens to them when they reach the age of 18 : considered "illegal aliens" even though most of them arrived here as babies or small children and have no memory of nor experience with the country of their birth. We just found out that the film is finished and I saw Anne and one of the kids on CNN being interviewed by Rick Sanchez. How cool is that? "Papers" is being screened around the country by various sponsoring organizations. I am hoping we can bring it to Unalaska after the first of the year. Look here http://www.papersthemovie.com/ for more info and to sign up for a screening.

All righty, stay tuned for more vacation posts. Have a good weekend, everyone!

Rainbows, Earthquakes, Domestic Violence Awareness, Radio Pledge Drive, Electronic and Non-Electronic Reading Devices

We've had some big, gorgeous rainbows around town lately. This one was right outside our door the other day. It's one of the perks of the storms we've been having. I heard we also had some earthquakes in the region on Friday night, supposedly felt here in Unalaska. Can't say that I noticed! Blogger is not letting me insert links this morning but you could cut and paste this address if you are interested:

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kial/news.newsmain/article/0/1/1565633/Local.News/Earthquakes.rock.region.no.damage.done

I've been up since 4:30 this morning when I received a phone call about a psychiatric emergency. At first, I was pretty disoriented but ended up being thankful that it had nothing to do with any of our family. You know how those phone calls instantly create a frightening scenario in your mind. I am not sure why I am still on the on-call list since I left my previous job in MARCH. I had to call my friend Donna, wake her up and scare HER next, so she could take over and make sure everything was okay with the situation. Thanks, Donna! Meanwhile, I could not get back to sleep. After tossing and turning for about an hour, I finally just made myself get up. I'm listening to our cool radio station (just so happens I work there but I am not biased!) which is playing Bob Dylan's "Tangled up in Blue" at the moment. One of my all time favorite Dylan songs.

This is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Last night, the City Council made a proclamation and the Chair of USAFV (Unalaskans Against Sexual Assault and Family Violence) presented a statement about the issue. USAFV staff, Board members, volunteers and supporters stood silently before the Council, masks over our faces, holding signs depicting common situations of domestic violence. Our masks represent the invisibility and anonymity of many victims, who remain "faceless" to the community at large. Because many victims are fearful to come forward, we wanted to stand for them.

Unfortunately, Alaska has one of the highest rates of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse and suicide in the nation. Organizations like USAFV are working diligently to bring more awareness and education to the community as well as assisting victims with a variety of services. Look around--victims of domestic violence are your family members, your friends, your coworkers, your neighbors, your kids' friends.

Seems like it's been really busy lately and I just can't get motivated to blog. We're working on the radio pledge drive for next week--local musicians in the studio all week long, which is always a lot of fun and everyone's favorite thing. We're calling it a one day pledge drive this year, not asking for money till Friday, the 23rd, when we will have a full day of activities and promotions. See www.kucb.wordpress.com for more info and go to our website at www.kucb.org to pledge online! You don't have to live here to support our local community radio station! You can even stream via the website if you want to check us out.

I just ordered a Kindle and am anxious to see how it works on our vacation. I usually weigh our luggage down with too many books! With no more free checked bags and outrageous prices for the second bag, I no longer have the luxury of carrying a library with me. My mom loves her Sony reader and I know a couple of people who love their Kindles. It sounds like it's a toss up between them but what sold me on the Kindle was that you can access wifi with it and download from anywhere. That will be easier for us on our many travels.

And it's Book Club this Sunday night--we are reading Red Earth and Pouring Rain, a novel by Vikran Chandra. It's a pretty thick book and I am just getting started, as usual. So far, it's intriguing. How could it not be, when it includes a poet reincarnated as a monkey who can type?

Monday

A couple of nights ago, we took a hike up the front side of Bunker Hill just to get out of the house and into the fresh air for a little while. It had been a somewhat dreary day but the sun came out in the evening so we thought we'd take advantage of the opportunity. The flowers were fading and there were no berries to speak of. It seems like there's a little bit of a chill all of a sudden. Could it be that our short summer is already coming to an end? Saturday we stopped in at the Second Blessings sale at the Methodist Church and I found four sweaters--I am already thinking about winter, as much as I want to avoid that thought. It was foggy, rainy and cold today; I commented to Rich that the family did not get to have the true Unalaska experience during their visit!

On Saturday I had my first piano lesson. It was a little bit intimidating, but mostly I felt happy to be sitting there at the piano, trying to make my brain and my fingers work together. I learned some fundamentals and squeaked out a beginner's version of "Mary Had a Little Lamb," slowly and awkwardly, but quite pleased with myself. I'll be taking lessons on Thursday nights and Saturdays, although my teacher will be gone for two weeks in September so I will have some practice time on my own while she is gone. Given my terrible history of being excited about something and then losing interest or motivation, I am hoping I will keep with it. :)

Our kitchen table is overrun with fruit from the organic produce box, which arrived today--early--and we still had stuff left from last week. We are eating lots and lots of fruit (okay, I admit that some of it has been in a sugary syrup with angel's food cake and whipped cream...see why we need to go hiking?) and still have more than we can finish off. I am thinking we need to make some jam or at least put some of it up in the freezer for winter. And Rich has been doing a fabulous job of creating dinner from the variety of veggies out of the box. Nice!

Looking at my list of books on the sidebar of the blog, I am realizing that I will probably not be successful in reading 100 this year. It's August and I have only finished 26! I knew it was a lofty goal but I thought I would do better than that. Tonight I finished Whatever it Takes--Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America, which returns to the question about why we don't value all of our children and families equally. Can a quality education help lift people out of poverty? What does it take to change a community and a society? And how many of us really care what happens?

A late 'happy anniversary' to Susan and Corey, a late 'happy birthday' to Miles, happy retirement to Kathi, and happy first day of school to Aidan. Off to bed for me.

Friday and all's well

It's that time of year when the eagles are hanging out looking for fish.  I came home today and they were in the yard, just sitting there.  Not scared of me at all, and in fact, posed for some photos.

This one is perched on the Cat Clubhouse, while Ajax chills in a deck chair.  I guess they worked out an arrangement.  Ajax was not stalking the bird and the bird was not clicking its beak at Ajax.  Meanwhile, Kali was under the deck, keeping both eyes on the scene from a distance.

We did try to get the cats to come in the house but they are brave little souls and think they can weather any sort of bird attack.  I hope we don't have to find out if that is true or not.

We've had some big rains and a little bit of sunshine this week.  I am about to go to the deck barbeque at the hotel and I think I will need my jacket, or at least we have to make sure the big outside deck heaters are on! Funny, huh?   
Thanks to a big group effort with my mom, my sister and me, we managed to get my sister's plane ticket rearranged and two mileage tickets for my niece Alana and nephew Eli to come with her to Unalaska. Yes! They will arrive on August 12 and stay for a week.    Get ready for your Alaskan adventure!

I finished reading an excellent book called King Leopold's Ghost, about the Belgian king's horrific treatment of people in the Congo and the individuals who stood up against him. I had no idea about this history.  And I will never understand how some people can treat others so terribly.  I would love to get inside their heads and figure out their thinking.  It's one of the best books I've read in a long time--go get it!  :)   I am not doing too well on the 100 book challenge but trying to catch up lately.

We're having a little party on Sunday evening but I can't reveal the details just yet.   Happy weekend, everyone!

Asheville, NC

We arrived in Asheville yesterday afternoon and got a room just off downtown so we can walk anywhere we want to go. Lots of cute shops, cafes, restaurants, and interesting sights to see. At Malaprop's, a local independent bookstore, we bought several more books to add to our collection, including one called Nikolski that I accidentally came across. It's a novel by a Canadian author named Nicolas Dickner and involves several characters who all have a sort of loose connection to the Aleutian island. Weird, huh? Later, we had dinner at a little place called Salsa which served Mexican-Caribbean food.

Today we slept in, then walked to the Tupelo Honey Cafe for breakfast (me) or lunch (Rich). I had some yummy sweet potato pancakes with peach butter and candied pecans. Not to mention the southern special--sweet iced tea. I usually don't sweeten my tea but when in the south, what can you do? And I have to say that people in the south definitely know how to make iced tea!

We stopped in the 10,000 Villages shop and bought a few little things, then back to a local artisans shop that we had scoped out yesterday and purchased a nicely carved rolling pin for Rich, some soaps, and some photo greeting cards, all made by local folks. We love supporting the community we're visiting.

The Basilica St. Lawrence
This guy was guarding the entrance to the market.

The view as we walked back to our hotel

We've had a lazy and relaxing day. I sat out by the pool with my book till I started feeling like I was burning and probably needed to go inside. I think it's in the 80's today--I'm loving it! Went to the hotel bar and ordered up some iced tea (sweet, no doubt) to take to the room. Now we are considering dinner.

Road Trip

We have been discussing and discussing what else to do on the rest of our vacation. We considered going to Europe since plane deals have been good. We thought about another cruise. We pondered Hawaii and Mexico and the Caribbean. We have talked for months about renting a car and having a leisurely road trip. Every day, we'd get asked, "So what are you doing next?" and each of us would say, "I don't know." Honestly, it took us forever to decide. I told Rich I think I actually do better when everything is planned out in advance. This last minute spontaneity is not me! We searched the internet and discussed some more and, although everything sounded appealing, I just felt kinda tired and wanted to relax rather than spending more time on planes and running from one place to another trying to see everything. The road trip won out, which I think was really Rich's first choice anyway. We left NJ on Monday about 3:30 PM, intending to drive till we were ready to stop. We ended up at the historic Hotel Strasburg in Strasburg, VA, but not without traffic fun first.

I told Rich I did not want to spend all day every day in the car--definitely wanted to get out and wander and enjoy the sunshine that had mostly eluded us so far on our vacation. We got to the outskirts of DC only to find traffic backed up for miles and miles due to a bad accident on the highway (and then a couple of other smaller ones once we were already stopped). It literally took us 2 1/2 hours to go 3 miles. Not my idea of fun. Quite a few cars were speeding down the shoulder and then trying to worm their way back into line, as if that was really going to help them any. Eventually, we made it through all the delays and wanted to get past the city before stopping, which is what led us to Strasburg. We like to stay in local places when possible so we bypassed all the corporate hotels along the highway and meandered through town till we found the Strasburg, which was once a private hospital for the patients of a Dr. Bruin back in the day. We got the "summer special" for only $69 and wondered why the rates would be cheaper in the summer. The rooms were all left open so customers can actually stroll through and choose the room they want--each a little different in size and decor and amenities. And a continental breakfast was included. Sweet! We got up early the next morning and took a walk through town. We noticed that the confederate flag is still in vogue in these parts.


Rich is deliberating over possible gigs for semi-retirement and thought this one looked good.


A local man noticed Rich taking photos and came over to chat with us. He was a Navy vet and widower who has lived in the area for years and owns an antique shop. He was walking his dog named Holly and said that Holly "makes" him sing the "Howdy Doody" song to her every day, but he has to say "Holly Doody" instead. Hmmmm. We can't quite figure out how the dog "makes" him sing it, but okay.

An old church and cemetery in Strasburg

After our walk, we packed up and drove out to the Shenandoah National Park, planning to drive the 105 mile long Skyline Drive. What a gorgeous area this is, and the weather was nice and warm so I was in heaven.

We stopped in the gift shop to browse, finding a book about the mountain families who were displaced by the government in order to establish the park. Well, if that doesn't give me something to ruminate over. I had no idea that several hundred families were literally kicked off their land and told to relocate so we could have this national park. Apparently most national parks were developed in places where no one was actually living but the Congress at the time (1930's) wanted a park in the East, close to Washington DC. Virginia lobbied for the park and noted that there were a "few" small farms that were basically "worthless" so it wouldn't matter (and besides, the people were ignorant, crazy and criminal). Wow! My enjoyment of the Shenandoah was somewhat sullied at this point. I bought the book.

I kept hearing the song "Shenandoah" in my head. Love that song. Had to play the Springsteen version on my ipod for Rich.

We stopped at one of the park stores and were surprised to see a mama black bear on the ground right there in the parking lot. People had gathered around to take photos so she climbed up into a tree before we could get the camera out. She had three babies in the tree with her. She was not at all bothered by the humans, though I did have a little bit of fear that she might climb down and start charging us. Everyone kept a respectful distance and watched the four of them climbing the tree and eating leaves. So cute!


As we motored on, a deer ran alongside the road and then sprinted in front of us. Luckily, we had slowed way down to get a photo.

The rest of the day was pleasant and we aimed for Roanoke to spend the night. We had a terrible time finding a hotel in the downtown area--there was a big hotel and conference center but it was full and there didn't seem to be any more in the vicinity. We stopped at a convenience store and the guy pointed us toward a Days Inn a little further away. We have stayed in Days Inns before and found them to be just fine. We walked in and the desk clerk was a little terse and unfriendly, but what the heck. We went to our room and I was immediately struck by the horrible stinky smell. I sat on one of the beds to look up some stuff on the internet and realized that the comforter stunk like really bad BO and appeared to have never been washed at all. Even Rich, who is much more easy going and accepting of "whatever" than I am, was amazed and appalled by the smell. We made a very quick decision that we would be moving on, refund or no refund. I went back to the desk and told the still unfriendly clerk that the room was stinky, the comforters needed to be washed, and that we could not stay. He made a face, did something on the computer, and asked if there was anything else he could do for me. I said no, we were leaving. He told me to have a nice day. I did not ask if he was refunding our money and he didn't volunteer. At that point, we didn't care. Bye-bye, Roanoke. Your downtown looked interesting and we wanted to browse, but we have to move on. We won't hold one unfriendly clerk and a stinky room against you, but we ain't stickin' around.

We traveled a little further to the nice little town of Martinsville, where we had a very clean and nice smelling room at the Jameson Inn, a fabulous Mexican dinner at a local joint, and a good night's sleep.

Book Club

Monthly book club is a great time to get together with friends and talk about books and life. This month, we read Younghusband: The Last Great Imperial Adventurer by Patrick French. Unfortunately, most of us had not had time to finish the book! What does that tell you about our busy lives?! Shawn, seated on the left, was the only one who completed it and she gave us some interesting morsels to look forward to reading. I have had a little bit of trouble getting into it, but I do like biographies and I am now more motivated to finish. Judi and Steve round out the photo with Shawn. It is always interesting to hear everyone's interpretation of the same reading and I appreciate insights that I might not have necessarily picked up.

My fabulous husband volunteered to make some food for our gathering. This after working late last night and getting up super early this morning, working Brunch, and then spending the afternoon on these little items. Am I spoiled or what? Above, we have several treats--a grilled zucchini roll-up with French chevre, mint and Japanese mustard leaf, harissa and red bell pepper; Spanish piquillo red peppers with rosemary, basil leaf, fresh mozzarella and a balsamic reduction; and a little skewer of tomato, cucumber, olive, and cheese. Delicious! I failed to get a photo before we dug in. :)

A lovely mini salad of greens and Japanese mizuna, asian brown pears, candied pecans, dried black mission figs, Danish bleu, and a raspberry walnut vinaigrette.

Here are Sonia and Anne talking about imperialism, trying to kill a sibling, hovercraft v. boat, moving to Antarctica or something along one of those lines. :) Our conversations may start with the book but we get pretty far afield at times. Which makes it all the more fun.

Though we tried to have healthy food for the vegetarian, the gluten intolerant, and the Biggest Winner members, I just couldn't resist a little dessert parfait to top off the veggies. I know, I know, it kinda cancels everything out, doesn't it? Starting from the bottom of the glass, we have a ginger snap, banana pudding, chunks of fudge cream cake, whipped cream, ligonberry sauce, bavarian cream and a candied walnut. Mmmmm, mmmmm, mmmmm. Thanks, Rich!

We only have one more meeting of Book Club and that's at Steve's house before we take the summer off. It's looking like spring and everyone is itching to spend more time outside than inside. Then in August, we will meet again to choose books for the next year and start all over again.

Ahhhh, Portland!

Here are some shots of Juneau from the plane yesterday.


So glad to be in Portland! What a week we have had! Rich got up early this morning and took off for Sutherlin to see George and Nadine. I've had a great day at the Community Radio Conference with a very cool, creative, diverse group of people. I think this is just what I needed to feel re-invigorated about being in the workforce in general. I have to admit that the last few social work conferences or "professional" conferences that I attended were just not all that satisfying. We have to get continuing ed credits so we go to these conferences and, most of the time, they are boring or repetitive or downright disheartening. This one reminded me of social work meetings "back in the day" when we were almost renegades of a sort, activists, a little bit on the edge, working for social justice. Kinda makes me think that social work has lost some of its heart. We wanted to be recognized as a profession and now we are just as staid and predictable and boring as every other professional organization. (I know, that's a hugely stereotypical and generalized statement). Or maybe I haven't been to the right social work conference in awhile. But here, wow, I am inspired! Community radio stations are out there stating their commitment to peace and equality and social justice and inclusion and diversity and bringing a voice to those who don't get a voice anywhere else. This is "community" in the biggest and best sense of the word.

One session today was on "nonviolence and culture change." At a radio conference. How cool is that? I also attended a session on using new media such as facebook and twitter so that's another area where I will be testing the waters for our station. I picked up some info about free programs that are available to us, met lots of interesting people from all over the country, had a free lunch and saw some folks get some awards (I am such a newbie that I don't know who anyone is, but they were pretty amazing anyway). Honestly, I don't think I have enjoyed training or continuing ed this much in YEARS!

Tonight I took a stroll downtown, browsed for a good long time at Powell's Books, one of the biggest and best independent bookstores around, bought two books and some bday cards. I love that store. If you are ever in Portland, check it out (they're online, too). Had a huge slice of cheese pizza (thick crust, not soggy, thick tomato sauce, lots of cheese--pretty close to perfection!) and a coke at a small pizza joint across the street from Powell's, all for the price of $5, including tip. Sat there reading my book with loud music blaring in the background and lots of people hanging out--my kind of place! On the way back to the hotel in the dark, I encountered a guy screaming about evil people, but I managed to slide past him without being accosted.

I talked with the housekeeper when I stopped back by my room earlier and she was way overboard with making sure everything was nicely arranged. I got back tonight and she had even placed my book on the bed just so. Now that's someone who takes some pride in her work. One of my friends a long time ago taught me that hotel housekeepers are the one group of workers who don't typically get tips. Ever since then, we make sure we leave some money on the bed and thank them for their efforts. (A little social justice in action)

The little details of life

Anne getting hugs after her performance in "Grace and Glorie" on Friday night.  Great job, Anne and Linda!

Saturday we had a party to recognize 25 years of Unalaska Community Broadcasting.

Melanie's friend Cheryl came to visit from "down south" and they were busy bees running all over town.  Here they take some time to help us out at the membership meeting and birthday bash.  Thanks, gals!

Food, games, a silent auction, and a little bit of a business meeting rounded out the afternoon.
Happy Anniversary, Bonnie and David!   Aren't they cute as can be on their wedding day?

We're still getting lots of eagles hanging out on our porch and our fence.
I'm so happy to have my internet back!   After days and days of calling TelAlaska and trying one thing after another, they sent the techs out to our house while I was at work yesterday.  Rich said they installed some new wiring and told him that the original wiring hadn't been done properly in the first place.   Maybe that explains our on again/off again internet issues!  Thanks, guys!    They said the TV should be clearer and the internet faster.   We can't be sure, but both DO seem better.  Maybe true, maybe wishful thinking!

I have to admit that the internet seems to grab a lot of my time and I managed to get SO much more reading done when I couldn't get online.   :)  Check out the latest additions to the 100 Book Challenge list on the right.

In A Private History of Awe, author Scott Russell Sanders ponders "the astounding 'is-ness' of things."   "Why this apple, say, gleaming in sunlight on a pine table carved with lovers' initials, why this sound of a cello and fragrance of lavender filling the air, why this flow of breath, this mind absorbing it all, this planet hurtling through space, this universe unfolding?  The moment we begin taking this skein of miracles for granted, we cease to live, no matter if our hearts still beat."    Others call it "being present,"  living in the moment,  experiencing the now without dwelling on the past or anticipating the future.  How difficult that is!