Mema, Aunt Caroline, and Auntie Lynn Drive the AlCan and Survive!

Fresh off the road from California to Alaska is Mema and her Merry Band of Travelers, Caroline (her sister) and Lynn (her sisters sister-in-law). It sounds like it was over 3000 miles of thrills and spectacle. They are still road weary, but able to come over for dinner, and spend the days with the kids who could not be more thrilled at their arrival home.

They saw much wildlife and much open space, making time when they felt like it and stopping when they wished. I am glad to have Mema home, and I am thrilled to get to spend some time with my Aunties, as they live far away and they are just so fun! (You may remember Lynn from my blog postings from last year in St. Louis!)

Today, Vince has taken the three of them out halibut fishing. They went out with a friend of ours on his new boat. They aren't back yet. I hope they are catching fish and seeing all kinds of wild life. Sadly, Vince never thinks to bring the camera and my mother believes roll film will make a comeback so she still hauls around her Nikon with telephoto lens. No pictures of this excursion will make the blog.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we received a package from our dear friend Laurie P. from Michigan, which contained the sweetest letter to the kids and packages of tattoos! The tattoos were nice, but I think the kids were most warmhearted by the letter Laurie wrote. I don't think any of these kids realize how much they accomplish and grow in a year, and her letter really pinpointed each of their achievements and made them feel very warm, special, and validated.

Just as Laurie predicted, the kids cracked open the tattoos, grabbed the camera, and made portraits of themselves for the memory!

Thank you Laurie!

Halibut Cove Lagoon

In Greear Family style, we returned from Seward and Soldotna, took one day off and then blitz-ed over to Halibut Cove Lagoon for two nights in a cabin that Vince rented last February. Yes, February; before we had any idea what else life would want us to be doing.

Alaska is a bi-polar world. The winters find us low energy, taking on small-ish projects, having time to sit by the fire and enjoy the company of friends. The summers send us the other direction filling every free moment with activities.

We arrived in Halibut Cove at 9am Sunday morning. The cabin next to us was filled with families and small children. The park rangers wife and I knew each other from the airport. She is working over there with her kids this summer. It was a relief to know that our loud family was not going be interfering with some foreign naturalists long awaited trip to Alaska to record the silence in nature.

The kids made new friends. The forest was filled with the sounds of their games as they fished together on the dock and played hide and seek at the creek. At the same time, our friends Lisa and Art had checked out of their cabin the morning we arrived and spent the day hanging out with us.

It was sunny in the lagoon and I elected to nap in the sun instead of fishing. My friend Sharon told me once that on the cool days of summer, "napping on a porch with feet tucked into a sleeping bag is fantastic." She was right! I was in the midst of a deep peaceful sleep when Falcom snapped this picture. Thanks Fal...

Monday, the kids were all away and it was Vince's turn to pass out. I snapped this pic. He's going to thank me I'm sure...hee hee hee

I woke Monday morning to find that Falcom had already woken up. No surprise there, as he is usually an early riser. The beautiful and amazing part is that he did not wake any of us up! Instead he took the cabin log book and wrote the entry for our family. He wrote about how there were a lot of bees around. How he found a dead bird on the trail. About how he has made new best friends and how this was the best camping trip.

I was so proud of him. Not only for not waking us up, but for writing a whole page worth of pertinent and useful information, garnishing it with hearts and happy faces, and radiating the feeling that we were all having so well.

Vince left a halibut rod submerged with bait overnight and the morning had caught this sea star. It had wrapped itself tightly around the bait and had partially digested half of it. I said, "I've heard those things move fast." Vince said, "In terms of sea star speed, I guess." The kids loved catching something, as there was not a king salmon in sight.

There were two otters though, hanging out around the dock. It was a treat to watch them frolic and check out in puzzlement our family. The loud banging of rocks on the clam shells they held on their chests would interrupt us sometimes, but it's a busy life being an otter.

After dinner Monday night we were making s'mores with our friends at our camp when a German backpacker arrived. He wondered if there was an empty cabin. Vince invited him to take ours as we were heading back to town in an hour and would not be using it. He declined but took us up on an offer to go back to town with us. He then declined our offer for a marshmallow.

On the boat he apologized for not sitting with us by our fire. He said, "You were so gracious, but I've been hiking solitarily for two days. All the children and commotion were a bit much. I meant no offense."

I said, "No problem, I know about re-entry shock." He laughed and said, "Yes! Re-entry shock that is it exactly." He then told me about how he is an organic bread baker in Germany and told me about the German farmers, how they still find battle debris in their fields...helmets with holes blown in them for instance. They are still trying to heal.

We got in last night at 11 and Vince turned around and went back to work this morning at 5am. I bet he will sleep well tonight.

God's Reply

As a mystic, I need to make a public proclamation. "Thank you God, I get the message."

In my last posting, Diamonds on the Soles of My Shoes, I mentioned a certain robin nest outside Chuck's hospital room that was really stressing me out. For me, this nest is a symbol of significance. In fact, in the posting I mentioned that it was kind of literary symbolism I HATE. Such a fragile thing, so sweet, such a bad idea. I wrote that post Friday night.

Saturday morning, the nest and little mama were still intact. I said a little prayer that she would make it through the day so that I would not have to return from Anchorage with Phyllis and her breaking heart and have to also contend with a broken nest and a little birds broken heart.

Saturday night, when Phyllis and I returned from Anchorage I found this. Someone has put a fence around the tree.
Protecting it without smothering it or taking over the job. This little bird is able to attempt to hatch her eggs and follow through with her plan without having to worry about cats and lawn mowers and human children.

She still may fail, but she is protected.

Thank you God. I get the message.

Diamonds on the Soles of My Shoes

Tonight I brought our cousin Rick to Seward to say a final farewell to his brother, our cousin Chuck, who is dying of brain cancer.

I don't think I need to go into this much because every reader of this blog can imagine what this is like for Chuck's immediate family. You can also imagine what it is like for the second line of defense, our family: The help or lack of help we can provide. The words of comfort we try to speak that have no where to go. It's tricky.

It has got me thinking about beginnings and endings. About a month ago, right before my ill fated truck wreck and hospital visit, I was cleaning (I know...I know...grab your oxygen mask, it's a shock!) and found some old cassette tapes. The truck cassette player still works and so I was making my kids listen to them. Early Prince was not a good choice for Fal, as he seems to glom right on to the parts of the songs that no one at school will appreciate him singing. "I wanna be your...lover..."

I made another selection, Paul Simon's Graceland. In an interesting twist, Marina fell in love with the song, "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes". She made me rewind it. She wanted to know all about that image. She wanted to know how a person could get diamonds on the soles of her shoes. I was blown away by her eagerness to hear about this and was instantly transported back to a distant summer in Yosemite. I told her that I used to know a young man who thought I had diamonds on the soles of MY shoes, and that I am sure, through the mere act of being my daughter, that she did in fact have diamonds on the soles of her shoes.

Unfortunately, she is a literal-ist, like her father, and said, "maybe if I used a glue gun." She popped me right back into the now.

The days when we listened to those songs are like a lifetime ago, but still, the art of that time brings them back so clearly. All the memories of a youthful Alana sitting by the Merced River, driving around in Sid, playing with her friends. Happy times, sad times, wild times, painful times. The time rolling by...and like a wave, rolling back, surprising me by coming out of nowhere.

My pictures of Falcom as a tiny kid crawling around in Yosemite that he HAD to hang up in his classroom this year are now down laying on my counter waiting to get put back into his baby book. Where did my baby go? Last weekend I got to listen to him sleep in the back of the Mel Mobile and I had him back, but when he woke up he was a gape toothed 10 year old again.

Now Phyllis (Chuck's mom) is loosing her baby. Rick is loosing his brother. Time is going by and circling back all at once. Are we still living strongly? With purpose? Are we burning our karma or creating more? When we say hello how long are we going to get to keep that friend? When we say good bye, how long until we are brought back together? Will it be in this life, or the next?

I broke away from the hospital room and had a perfect moment over this amazing burger in the quiet of an old train car near the Seward Harbor while Neil Young's Harvest Moon was playing over head. No, I'm not making that up! After Neil Young was Keb Mo. And the burger! It was perfect! And there was not one kid with me grossing me out by eating with their hands or interrupting me, just me and quiet and Sudoku.

Then I took the van (that's right, that big ass Mormon family van, The Mel Mobile) over to Safeway where I bought a pie for Rick, Chuck and Phyllis. On my way back to the hospital in the parking lot of Safeway, I got distracted by a group of Chilean Tourists who needed a ride. They were cruise ship types and it brought me great joy to load them into the van to get them out of the rain and to their hotel. I loved hearing their voices. Their accents. Their amazement at Alaska. Beautiful people sitting in my dusty, kid worn van. Yes, I took this picture of it for my blog.

My family was waiting for me at the hospital. They loved hearing about my fun with the Chileans in the hillbilly van and each had a big slice of strawberry pie. Us having desert last weekend, while camping in the Mel Mobile. Picture courtesy of Falcom.

Pretty soon the doctor came in. He checked over Chuck while Phyllis (Chuck and Rick's Mom) dropped over from a blood sugar problem. Rick can barely move with his paralysis. Chuck was trying to stay conscious enough to help me help his mom. What a mess. I couldn't believe that doctor could just leave me in that mess like that. Maybe he needs to pay off his hot tub and was hoping I would have Phyllis admitted so he could score a paycheck. No, he probably just realized she was manifesting her intense grief. The nurse on duty got me some peanut butter and in a few minutes she was back on her feet.

On the way home Phyllis made several comments about dying. She's going to die of a broken heart.

That is not going to stop me from hauling her to Anchorage with me tomorrow to take Rick back to the airport to head back to Florida.

I'll do my best to make them smile and help them step out of this moment in time during our trip tomorrow, but unfortunately, I won't be able to keep them there. They will have to experience re-entry...

In the parking lot of the hospital, a robin family has made their nest in a tree only two feet off the ground. It is killing me having to check on that crazy family each day. Every day I think, "Little Robin..if none of these eggs make it and you've been wasting your time because of this bad choice you made, I'm going to be pissed! This is the kind of literary symbolism I HATE!" Upon checking on them today, I found her still there, sitting tightly, waiting out the storm...

Poll Answer: DeeJay's Perfect Job

Thanks to Paul G, DeeJay took a field trip about a month ago to Seward where he checked out AVTEC (Alaska Vocational Training Education Center). When he arrived back home all he could say was that it was very strict and he didn't think he could go there. When I asked why he told me that if you miss a day of school they will put you on probation. I asked him if he had ever missed a day of school.

He looked at me and then said, "well...no..."

That was all that I heard about AVTEC until my coffee meeting with Paul. It seems that Paul found out about a great career opportunity at AVTEC that DeeJay missed while he was worrying about getting on probation.

MARITIME TRAINING - CREW MEMBER ON A TUGBOAT

When Paul interviewed the instructor it sounded like a perfect job for DeeJay. DeeJay's skill set and temperment are perfect for the job. The industry is in dire need of workers and the pay is great.

Nothing he could say was convincing DeeJay of this. DeeJay could not bring himself to think about going to AVTEC because he was under the impression it was so strict.

Paul was really having a tough time cracking that egg. Then he got an idea. He stood up in front of DeeJay's class at the white board, marker in hand, and said, "This is what I earn. This is how much I work. This is how much a tug boat crew member makes. This is how much they work."

DeeJay is very excited to go to AVTEC and become a crew member on a ship. Paul is considering a career change.

seward

if you have seen the film "little miss sunshine" then you have a vague windy impression of our weekend road trip to seward. falcom and marina even made a music video for our cousin while visiting him in the hospital yesterday. the campground here is super with an awsome playground and skate/bike park. acs put internet on my phone and since falcom is asleep in the back of the van, i figure now is as good a time as any to play with it. a new technology...all because of a broken home phone.fal is passed out in the back of the mel mobile and for the first time in six years i'm peacefully sitting in the car listening to his breathing...ah

Mom, I've Got a Phone Problem

Boots, Fishing Poles and Bull Moose

The other night I was not able to access the Internet. I was tired. I didn't want to try to restart the router. Finally, I did. Like a hamster on a wheel, I just kept trying to restart the Internet until I remembered the definition of insanity; trying the same things over and over again, expecting different results is insanity. Finally, I picked up the phone to call ACS hoping that one of their super friendly Internet repair people could assist me in getting my Internet to work again. (I am addicted to 'Dead Like Me' on Netfilx now and was motivated.)

No dial tone.

Hannah Grady getting candy Lei's from Marina at her graduation from Homer High School

Really motivated to call ACS the lady gave me the old, "Have you checked your grey box out front for a tone?" line. I checked. No tone. "We will send out a repairman soon." The vagueness kills me. "In the mean time", she said, "I will forward your phone to your cell."

The next morning the repairman called and told me that the phone line had been cut at the road and that if I had any information about who had been fixing the road it would be appreciated. I said, "Look, I do not need to be in a pissing match between you and the borough. Someone needs to fix my phone!"

They won't tell me this because they aren't like that, but I am quite sure that my telephone will not be fixed until after the weekend. Because of this I have told ACS to put Internet on my phone. I haven't figured out how to use it yet, but at least I'm getting something out of this problem...right? Just not getting to watch Dead Like Me.

Marina in New Dress

Mom, this is why I have not called you. Until my phone gets fixed, you will have to call me and I think it may be free to call you this weekend, but I'm not sure. Love you!