Tenakee Trickle

There is a place in this world, not so far from here,

where time slows to about a crawl

You stand and stretch your legs and they begin to take you down a gravel path where you see vibrant sun ripened berries on your way, you pick some and savor the sweet, tartness with your eyes closed for a moment. A meditated calm envelopes your mind and the most urgent thing on your agenda is what your next meal will consist of. Dogs run loose and befriend each other, people tending their gardens look up and smile pleasantly as you pass.
The waves crash onto to beach at 12 hour intervals,
and people have a rhythm all of their own.

Welcome to Tenakee Springs, Alaska

It truely is a place like no where else.

A place where you are encouraged to post a sign that says:

"if no answer come to the garden"

seriously, where else would this apply?


My grandparents have a small cabin here.

And I was fortunate enough to get to visit them for a quick

weekend trip away from the bustle of my dear beloved Sitka.

A break I didnt exactly know I needed until I was loaded up on reading material and snacks and flying the 30 minute float plane ride. After the more than interesting chat with the pilot-

(only stating that he was a flirt would be an insult)

I arrived to begin my trial with tranquility

Oh yeah, did I mention I would be camping out with family? Heh heh. Okay so much for the hope of tranquility, so between the waiting in line to use the commode (fortunately a flushing one at that!) and allotting out who is sleeping in which bunk, and who will be fishing on which day. And Granny rushing around with her ebb of energy trying to make 8 of us content at any given time..... It was a rather enjoyable experience. Not that I thought it wouldnt be! (wink!)
Between the fishing....... And the crabbing.....

And the fantastic wildlife.....

And the berry picking..... mmm pancakes...

Do you know what a thimble berry is? Ive lived in Alaska for 26 years and did not know how to identify them, until now. Silly me.

The great great great great great GREAT (I could have quoted tony the tiger here and saved myself a few greats......) The Gggggrrrreeeaaat lounging and/or reading opportunities! Plus the weather for this particular weekend would be difficult to top! Sunshine the ENTIRE time!

Oh yes and not to forget precisely what Tenakee is well known for. The 107* sulfur mineral hot springs. That the local townsfolk use for bathing.

Hope you left your shyness at home!

If you didnt bring something to read (or wear or do or watch) dont worry theres always the bus stop to rummage in to see what you can find! In Tenakee garage saling is not only on Saturdays, although there IS a local farmers market every Saturday. Abundant local organic produce.

Right here. Right now!

So everyone is friendly in Tenakee right?

Do you think whoever owns this satellite has a big screen tv to match? Maybe we could go see whats on HBO?......How do we get an invite? That is after Granny talks the boys into a bit of maintenance on the cabin. Nice new blue windows Granny!

There was a ice cream social birthday party for one of the residents whilst we were there, a woman who was turning 90! Not sure about the ice cream, (although maybe the advertisements for milk "does a body good" were onto something) but Tenakee is a fairly healthy place to be. Personally I think its all that fresh air!

Fresh air does a body good!!!!

And so do hugs with grandparents!

Bye Bye Tenakee, until next time!

To see more pictures visit: http://picasaweb.google.com/sitkakoala/TenakeeAugust2009#

Things I learned this summer

*When you see something on the ground that is round, white and resembles a bird egg, dont pick it up and squish it; it most likely IS a bird egg.

*The vitamin D in sunshine is GREAT for strong fingernails (and we got the perfect amount this summer)

*Daydreaming and meter reading is not the most effective way to get work done. You may then have to retrace steps over woodpiles, stacks of junk and even strategically placed land mines made by all the loyal fido's around town.

*The BEST salmonberries are found in other peoples backyards :)

*No matter what the weather is doing, anytime you wear rain gear.....its particularly attractive to inebriated fishermen(dont believe me, go ahead, just try it)

*You can stretch out your stomach by over gorging on salmonberries. (Or maybe thats just me... Yep must be just me :)

*Dating 4 guys at once in any particular period is not good for your mental health. (Nor your free time) but at least your girlfriends can live vicariously through you.....


*The new taco cart in town is good any ol time!!!! (Im just hungry again dont mind me, but really try the 8 layer burrito or the carne asada! YUM YUM!)


*Trying to stock pile sunshine for the inevitable winter months takes a lot more energy that could better be utilized for enjoying the wonderfulness while its here- SO GO TAKE A HIKE ALREADY!!! (its only sunshine in a liquid format!)

8 seconds of guilt

Adventures in meter reading is my current status: every time I go out on the field something is bound to happen. To me. To somebody. Something is bound to happen.

One beautiful summer day this year I squished a zygote, or an undeveloped bird embryo to be more specific. Or I really should say I picked it up to examine it and with an iota of too much pressure it exploded within my hand.

This little birdie did not even have a chance to hatch!

Now my guilt is a bit more than weighted in my mind, so many thoughts were flying through my mind as I randomly saw this white object on the ground and what, just had to pick it up on first impulse? Why do we do the things that we do, when the outcome could be less than desirable. (as it turned out this particular day in May)

The first of three thoughts that wriggled around up there in my gray matter in the span of 3.6524 seconds was: Could this be a stone? Its just so smooth... the next thought was: Or could this be one of those plastic eggs that you can buy to go with a toy kitchenette like I used to have as a child?

The next thought was more like a shock: !!OH SHIT!!! It was an egg. The incredible, edible, now nonexistent, egg.

A delicate, ultra smooth, lighter than you can fathom, simple yet extraordinary egg. to which I happened to come upon, pick up, and (gulp) totally dessimate in less than 8 seconds.

I wouldnt make a very good oologist.

Sigh

Lavendar and Lapis

You may be wondering why I have not been writing. Or maybe not. I am alive, yet struggling. My diabetes is giving me a fairly difficult time currently but thats not what Im on here today to give an update about.

I have been super busy with color schemes, decorations, menu choosing, looking up the proper way to spell tulle, organizing showers, naughty bachelorette antics(more to come later, I promise) dress alterations, misplacing every roll of tape that we bought, flower "trouble", getting all 5 of us bridesmaids somewhat on the same page, nail/hair appointments, not messing up the nails/hair post appointment, and aiding the bride in any humanly possible way that we could!


DEEP INHALE OF BREATH

All for Jon and Joanna who got married on July 25th 2009.


SMILE

I have to remind myself that its not always about words that I can twist and manipulate into something humorous and imaginative to give enough credit to this fabulous day. It was the the guests, the happy feel of the environment, both of their wonderful overly helpful families, and most of all the smiles on both of their faces that only these pictures can portray! Enjoy!

Photos thieved by me but beautifully taken by John Petraborg
Kayla Lea Weis
and Kimberly Davis!

Here is the much anticipated link to over 800 photos from this wonderful day in July:

http://picasaweb.google.com/sitkakoala

Make sure to check out all 3 separate folders: bridal and groom parties, the ceremony, and the reception.

We're doing WHAT with those plungers?!!!

July 18, 2009

Clear the road is right! Watch out Sitka, here comes
a flock of wild bachelorettes just itching for
some fun on the town!!

We are totally jazzed up! We have been planning this party and the play lists for weeks (unbeknowest of the bride to be)
and we cannot wait to get this party on the road!!

Our one and only problem: the bride is, not so jazzed about the
attention a last night out on the town attracts.....
but once we got all the ladies together, the energy was contagious and dinner was fabulous.



we even had a good sport waiter
we harassed pretty mercilessly.....
lets just say he earned his tips that night!

Then we started our games.

Game number 1:

Under no circumstances do you say ANY mens names, not so hard? hahaha we shall see! You say a man/boy/guys name; you LOSE YOUR BEADS!!! (Plus once we run out of beads we are going to tape condoms to you.....)

Muahahaha. Bring it on!

A little bit of fun at the local gas station.....
where else were we supposed to play our next game?

I am a paying customer, I just hope they don't have to check their cameras for drive aways for the next couple of days or they may keel over with some gut wrenching laughs with our plunger game.

Game number 2: we break up into teams and relay style have to run with a plunger between our legs (about 10 feet away) and aim- with no hands now ladies!- the stick of the plunger into the roll of toilet paper between the legs of your teammate.

You had to have been there.


Maybe we should give guys a bit more credit for technique huh? Much tougher than it seems!!!

Then our creative gals improvised a bit with the plungers and gave the bachelorette even more reasons to pose for the camera!!

Have you been working
on your carving skills? Don't worry I think we have that
particular dexterity covered!

Working diligently

on the "nuts" for the extra embellishment on the cake.
We have to make it appropriate for the occasion, right?!

Nothing says excitment quite like the bachelorettes face at our revealing of the "penis cake"
pure awesomeness, if I do say so!

Then out we go to Pioneer park for some more publicly humiliating games.

Um, don't ask, lets just say
we like playing with our vegetables.....

Or maybe still hungry? Maybe we should

have kept some of that weenie cake around to snack on....

If you can believe it we had the entire party sans any alcoholic
beverage, yep we are THAT zany and crazy completely on our own!!

A little dancing out at kellys, some jaw dropping dares
(We had some pretty brave chicka's teeheehee....)

And an all around great time. See Ms. Bachelorette,
it wasnt too embarrassing?! Want to do it again?

Watch out single ladies, I KNOW WHO IS NEXT!!!!
Mwahahaha!!!!

(No, really I do...!)

Barbie shower

July 11 2009

"Im a barbie girl, in a barbie world, life in plastic, its fantastic. You can brush my hair...." Oh ahem. Sorry. Sometimes while wedding planning is underway it begins to feel surreal, almost like you are playing make believe. Dont believe me? Ask the barbie- er uh I mean the bride to be!

Zoe, Robin and I, had way, way, way(way) too much fun making and decorating the barbie cake for the bridal shower. Dont believe me with that either, take a look at the over surplus of pics:
Trust me there were even more.......what can I say she was a willing model! No complaints from her.

No complaints from the beautiful bride either, we even talked her into wiggling into her gown (yet again) so we could ooh and ahh and take pictures of her with the cake.

The bride scandalously got away with giftcards, some naughty lingerie, and even some paperwork for passports! (thats right dont forget to turn those applications in guys....) I cant help it, I love to encourage travel whenever I can! After a bunch of games the bride could not wait to get herself better acquainted with the aforementioned doll of the hour.

I think the bride had a little too much barbie sugar......and ms. plastic cake topper needed a rest from all this chaos. Wonder what the bachelorette party has in store!? Stay tuned......

"Cmon barbie, lets go party oohahoo oohahoo..." Now will someone pleeeaaasssse help in removing this darn brain penetrating song by aqua from my head! GAAAHHHH!!!!

Jabberwocky

Make sure you always, always, always brush your teeth!!

There is a version of Alice in Wonderland with the character called the Jabberwocky. In the movie you dont ever SEE the Jabberwocky, but oh boy when I was a kid could I imagine it!!! Big, smelly, fire breathing and scaly. Perhaps he could time/space travel, since at any point in time he could show up with his heart pounding theme music.

In fact my mom used it as a effective mechanism to get my brother and I to brush our teeth. Like most kids you see, we liked to procrastinate on brushing our teeth, because then you just know what happens after that- dun dun duuuun: bedtime.

So we would dilly dally, and drag our feet, whine, say we were hungry, you get the drift. So at some point mom came up with the brilliant idea to tell us that if we didnt go brush our teeth this very minute, THE JABBERWOCKY IS GONNA GET YOU! While stomping her feet and banging a spatula (which was a intimidating tool in our house all on its own) against anything for noisy dramatic effect.

We would beat feet down the slender hallway shoving each other out if the way to the sink so the Jabberwocky would not get you (at least before it got your little brother first!) Then sometimes we would stand there out of adrenaline, and just stare into our wide eyed reflections in the mirror.

Most of the time we did not even brush our teeth. We learned to turn the water on for the precise amount of time so mom would not send the Jabberwocky after us again. As a young teenager I realized if there was an actual Jabberwocky, he would have KNOWN we didnt brush our teeth sometimes.......and had we been good kiddos and brushed our teeth regularly the Jabberwocky could have stayed in the looking glass!

It got to the point where the theme music from that part of the movie would ooze into my head, causing me to have difficulty winding down for actual bedtime. I attribute my bed time reading habit (or more than mild obsession as one of my friends calls it) to the Jabberwocky. So here is the utterly inane yet overly analyzed 1871 poem by Lewis Carroll, The Jabberwocky:

“

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. "Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!" He took his vorpal sword in hand: Long time the manxome foe he sought— So rested he by the Tumtum tree, And stood awhile in thought. And as in uffish thought he stood, The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came! One, two! One, two! and through and through The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back. "And hast thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!" He chortled in his joy. 'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe; All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe. I Think Im gonna run along and brush my teeth.......I hope you will consider doing the same, teeth health is more important than many realize! Goodnight!

”

queen of the corgi

The queen of England aint got nuthin on me! Okay, perhaps she is 6 up on me.....by that I mean she lives with seven of the little devils. I coexist with one. And I absolutely cherish my Corgi pup!

When most people think Corgi, they think: oh cute little dog with short legs, stumpy tail and gigantic ears!! Well, I think they dont realize just how much personality and attitude comes in the package of a medium sized dog with what looks like filed off legs. Their long little bodies sit so low to the ground you would think they would have trouble navigating, but seriously, he is just as nimble as any dog on holding his own while hiking. We decided not to crop his tail when he was born. Will give him more personality we told ourselves, now I ponder, would he have had any less personality had we chopped it off? Gah!!!

We have good days where my Corgi wants to please me and go everywhere I go, will sit patiently as I run my errands, wags his tail when I talk and complain to him at all the appropriate times, is cuddly when you most need it, and will eat ANYTHING you give him (a fantastic vacuum he is) We should have named him popcorn, since he will do anything just to get a seed. Once he sees you plop a bag into the microwave or hears the sizzling of the butter heating up he cozies right by and waits for the opportunic kernel to fall within his paws reach.

He sings along with me when I play the harmonica (however unharmonic we tend to be) he doesnt seem to mind if ever I am off key. He patiently awaits your arrival home via sitting on his perch next to the window overlooking the street. A good watch dog he is. He definatly knows how to use his high pitched bark to tell you only what he knows is true (Sigh)

And then there are the bad days. The days he goes running off down the street because he doesnt feel like going with you at the precise moment, the days he is vocal when you tell him to sit or stay and runs under the truck when you try to put him into it, the days (everyday) that he jumps up on every living being, the day he chews up the homely bamboo plant sitting so quietly next to the window minding its own business with the available sunlight, or when he runs into someones house just because the door is open. "What," Caeser says "isnt that an obvious invite?"

I get a big kick out of cruisin in my truck with my pal in the back, nose in the wind, content look on his foxy little face. When we pull over to get out of the vehicle people watch as I walk around to release the tail gate and the little monster launches himself at me (he always expects me to catch him- even if my hands happen to be full) and I set him lightly on the ground and he scampers off on his mini legs. People laugh.

Caeser doesnt seem to mind when he makes people laugh, I think he likes it. This breed of dogs LOVE LOVE LOVE people. I have never seen dogs who enjoy interacting with people so much. In fact I believe Caeser may know more people in this town than I do! Or my dad for that matter. Caeser hangs with my fabulous dog loving friends and my dads friend circle. And I think he knows all on an individual basis, I wonder if he has trouble remembering names?

Caeser, Bandit and Lucy are 2 years old this month (April 19th) Happy birthday puppies!!!