Anchorage feels anonymous and distant until a stranger, an older woman with large arms and soft skin hugs me, looks at me, really looks at me like she knows me, and tells me I look just like my mom. Suddenly, I am home again.
Family Video
Waayyyy back in the day, in about tenth or eleventh grade, I was at my friend Martha's house. She was going to drive me home and her mom handed her this small, black rectangular box and asked her to "return it," on her way. I was curious. It was a video, she explained, you put … Continue reading Family Video
How to Spend a Saturday Night
Wearable Art. A gluey, sticky, feathery, glittery event. For my non-island, non-Alaska, sunny-clime friends, Wearable Art is a huge event here in our rainy little town. For months artists hunker down in the dark and the damp and create Wearable Art. Ideas are born when the theme is announced, dumpster diving and attic raiding begin. … Continue reading How to Spend a Saturday Night
It’s All in the Details.
This Christmas I wanted to take notes. Pay attention to the details, the sounds, the smells, the conversations, yet when the last kid got on the plane, the last box of ornaments was tucked in the attic and my new Roomba aggressively buzzing around, scooping up stray pine needles, I sat down to write and … Continue reading It’s All in the Details.
Ho-Ho-Ho in the Library
It all started because the Winter Program is coming up. I have ALL the kids in school, so I thought I would do a few unifying crafts to hang in the gym to bling it up a bit. Paper chains for primary, paper light-bulb chains for intermediate. The kids had fun and we got a … Continue reading Ho-Ho-Ho in the Library
It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!
It has been awhile since I have posted, but I have been busy. Really. It has made me a bit unsettled to not write, but not bad enough to make me get up early to fit it in, so there you go. Things have been busy in the library, it was time for the book … Continue reading It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!
Herons and Humpbacks Whales, Oh My!
Thought I would post a few videos from my weekend. Friday while driving home from work I spotted a tell-tale cluster of seagulls so pulled over and sure enough caught some bubble feeding action! Walking the dog on the docks this am saw this heron. When it made that sound I almost dropped my … Continue reading Herons and Humpbacks Whales, Oh My!
Trick-or-Treat
Halloween in Anchorage meant costumes worn over bulky snowsuits. It meant cold, snowy, moonless nights trick-or-treating in our protected little neighborhood. The big question was always, would there be snow? Halloween was homemade costumes. My siblings and I were hobos once. Eyebrow pencil stubble on our chins, gel in our hair and then tousled, oversized … Continue reading Trick-or-Treat
The Last Time
When my daughter was about eight, my husband said to me, "I don't remember the last time she rode on my shoulders." She was too big now. "I didn't realize the last time I carried her would be the LAST time." There are a lot of things like that. A lot of "last times" that … Continue reading The Last Time
In the Dark
In light of Halloween, I decided to read "The Dark" by Lemony Snicket of the Bad Beginnings fame, illustrated by one of my (new) favorites - Jon Klassen. While technically NOT a Halloween story, it is darn scary, perfect for brave second graders. Enter the second grade class. "I am going to read a scary … Continue reading In the Dark
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