Summer finally arrived in Anchorage this last week. We've waited, not so patiently, for those few brilliant rays to warm our blood before it thickened again for winter. This week's sun has been a welcome treat, a friend come home from a long absence, not forgotten, but fonder for the time apart. It was 68 degrees today, under partly cloudy skies, and it was wonderful.
Personally, the lack of sunshine or blue, blue sky was not what I missed the most. More than anything, I missed the sight of the Chugach Mountains, our local peaks. For most of June and July they have been shrouded in low ceiling clouds...clouds slung out over foothills, grey and monotonous, with no life of their own to delight you. Clouds that refused to rise. Clouds that put their full weight on this city and would not move for days on end. Misery for this girl.
Every morning I'd rise and go to my front window to see my mountains, these simple, unadorned mountains that have always brought me life and happiness. Weeks would go by without seeing their peaks, their undulating valleys, their quite grace. When God decided to air out the grey blanket he'd cloaked us with, I'd feel relieved, sated, better. It was always too short. Even now, in this week of mostly sun, I look at them constantly. Are they still there? Are they the same ones that I fell in love with as a young girl? Yes, and yes, and a sigh of quiet relief slips from my lungs.
What I've learned this summer is that I could never live in Seattle, or the Oregon Coast. I don't know how to fight that greyscale, how to rouse my heart when the sky comes down and doesn't leave you room to breath. I coped by drinking more and more coffee as the dreary summer progressed. Home brew in the morning, then out for Americano's in the afternoon. It's the first time coffee has really been a drug for me-I needed that kick to keep me going. Unfortunately, as much as I love coffee, after a certain point, it stops being my friend and turns me into something resembling Kathleen Turner in the movie Serial Mom...mostly normal, but psychotic if manners, or courtesy are breached. (Yeah, I'll admit my crazy side exists.) I figured this out about a week ago and laid off the afternoon foray, as much as it hurt.
What's that saying though, "The teacher arrives when the student is ready." And so the sun, and thunder and lightening came to my rescue. This last week has seen summer thunderstorms (rare for this town), big, heady, meaningful clouds, flash rains and the clearest skies afterwards. It's been amazing. Really amazing. And to top it off, my friend Lisa (living in Illinois) sent me fresh homegrown sweet corn today-something that brings back memories of summer in Nebraska, and my childhood every time. Thanks babe-your thoughtfullness iced this week's cake, making it even more delicious and lovely than it's been. I owe you big time.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Camping: Eklutna: June 08
Baby cries, mom sighs
and mummy bag adds a third
Owl calls long and loud
Haiku. 5-7-5. How can I capture this moment? A snapshot of my night counted syllabically on fingertips....
That is what rumbled around my head from about 3-4:30 am while the boys slept peacefully all around me, and the owl made it's second round of the morning through the campground. The kids with the gym whistle finally stopped at 11pm. The baby woke at 1am along with the owl. David had already made his way into my bag and Lucas followed. There is nothing like a howling baby in the dead of night, in a tent, at a crowded campground. Hmmmm. Good times.
To be fair, there were some tender moments between Lucas and I as he listened to the bird, then the airplane, and then a late night diesel engine rumbling by. Several times he looked up at me with a clear, intense gaze, while his fat cheek pressed against the warm sleeping bag. Occasionally, he'd reach out and touch my face, as if to see if he was really awake. A few minutes before he fell asleep, he sat part way up, looked close and deep into my eyes, spoke something profoundly intelligible (to him), leaned in for a kiss, sighed, and fell quietly to his dreams. That moment alone was worth the cold, the noisy owl and the snores coming from everyone but me.
and mummy bag adds a third
Owl calls long and loud
Haiku. 5-7-5. How can I capture this moment? A snapshot of my night counted syllabically on fingertips....
That is what rumbled around my head from about 3-4:30 am while the boys slept peacefully all around me, and the owl made it's second round of the morning through the campground. The kids with the gym whistle finally stopped at 11pm. The baby woke at 1am along with the owl. David had already made his way into my bag and Lucas followed. There is nothing like a howling baby in the dead of night, in a tent, at a crowded campground. Hmmmm. Good times.
To be fair, there were some tender moments between Lucas and I as he listened to the bird, then the airplane, and then a late night diesel engine rumbling by. Several times he looked up at me with a clear, intense gaze, while his fat cheek pressed against the warm sleeping bag. Occasionally, he'd reach out and touch my face, as if to see if he was really awake. A few minutes before he fell asleep, he sat part way up, looked close and deep into my eyes, spoke something profoundly intelligible (to him), leaned in for a kiss, sighed, and fell quietly to his dreams. That moment alone was worth the cold, the noisy owl and the snores coming from everyone but me.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Too cold for words
Well, I'm not crazy for complaining about the weather! Check this out....more later, when I warm up.
http://www.adn.com/life/story/473786.html
http://www.adn.com/life/story/473786.html
Friday, July 4, 2008
Sabbatical
Sabbatical as defined by Webster's is: "A period of rest that occurs in regular cycles." Originally referencing the seven year interval of rest in which Hebrew law required land to go unplanted and the forgiveness of unpaid debts, sabbatical as we think of it now, often means a year long break from professional duties.* Well, this mommy can't take a year off, but I did allow myself to let some thing go untended for the last month....this blog, my running schedule, library story time, and to some extent, the endless housework.
A combination of flying solo the first two weeks in June while Kiel was in Fairbanks and the return of dad into our 24/7 life spurred this mini-vacay from our routine. I put out the ultimatum this week though, that things had to get back on course for the sanity of all involved-particularly, me.
Flying solo went well this year. The boys and I had fun on play dates, going to the zoo, and biking to our local parks. Oh, and we played a lot of Frisbee golf. David, I am proud to say vastly improved his throw during the 2 weeks dad was gone. He now says that, "Frisbee golf is one of my favorite places to go!" I was able to improve enough to play two of my best games ever when Kiel came back, scoring my first 3 over par on our local course, which is 2-3 strokes off of my average. The women's record is 2 under par, so I have a ways to go. I figure if I can par it, then I'll enter competitive play.
Kiel's return from Fairbanks was met with delight all around. The boys missed him a lot this year, and I did too towards the end. I like my quiet time in the evenings to be sure, but it is nice to have someone to share that with too. After a week of daily home life, Kiel looked across the dinner table and declared this profound revelation, "It's really hard to plan activities when Lucas takes two naps a day." The welcome-to-my-life look he received prompted this follow up response, "Oh. You probably already knew that. I feel a blog coming on about this already." His second revelation came yesterday after lunch:
"So, what's on the schedule for the rest of the day. We already went to the library, what should we do next?"
"Well, Honey, sometimes we do this thing called clean-up-the-house. Once Lucas is down, I play a game with David, then I clean something afterwards. There is laundry, dishes, bathrooms, garage..."
"Oh. Yeah. Okay."
Oh, the joys of having someone else experience your life for awhile.
It's all good, and by the end of summer, I predict he'll be glad to get back to work. Right now though, we are really enjoying watching our boys grow.
David is reading well enough to pick up new books and read them outright, as well as real world reading when we are out and about. He is also getting better at using manners unprompted, trying new things, and exploring his social side at the playground. Lucas is running and climbing and trying to do everything his brother does. He is sleeping better, learning to self feed, and acquiring new skills all the time. Lucas has already entered the tantrum stage-so we are dealing with that a little earlier than expected. He's always been an opinionated kid and I fully expected to be having some battles, just not quite this early. We'll get through.
My good friend Karen was up to visit her family and stayed a night with us early last month. Tekle and Ikenna will be coming in the next two weeks, and Liz and her girls will be here at the same time. (It's nice to have friends whose parents still live here!) It will be great to see them all and have the kids get re-acquainted. The yard looks great, the flowers are finally blooming a bit and if we could eek out a bit more sun, we might get strawberries and look a little less pasty in another two weeks. Sweet!
* Websters New World Dictionary, Second Edition, 1986, pg. 1250
A combination of flying solo the first two weeks in June while Kiel was in Fairbanks and the return of dad into our 24/7 life spurred this mini-vacay from our routine. I put out the ultimatum this week though, that things had to get back on course for the sanity of all involved-particularly, me.
Flying solo went well this year. The boys and I had fun on play dates, going to the zoo, and biking to our local parks. Oh, and we played a lot of Frisbee golf. David, I am proud to say vastly improved his throw during the 2 weeks dad was gone. He now says that, "Frisbee golf is one of my favorite places to go!" I was able to improve enough to play two of my best games ever when Kiel came back, scoring my first 3 over par on our local course, which is 2-3 strokes off of my average. The women's record is 2 under par, so I have a ways to go. I figure if I can par it, then I'll enter competitive play.
Kiel's return from Fairbanks was met with delight all around. The boys missed him a lot this year, and I did too towards the end. I like my quiet time in the evenings to be sure, but it is nice to have someone to share that with too. After a week of daily home life, Kiel looked across the dinner table and declared this profound revelation, "It's really hard to plan activities when Lucas takes two naps a day." The welcome-to-my-life look he received prompted this follow up response, "Oh. You probably already knew that. I feel a blog coming on about this already." His second revelation came yesterday after lunch:
"So, what's on the schedule for the rest of the day. We already went to the library, what should we do next?"
"Well, Honey, sometimes we do this thing called clean-up-the-house. Once Lucas is down, I play a game with David, then I clean something afterwards. There is laundry, dishes, bathrooms, garage..."
"Oh. Yeah. Okay."
Oh, the joys of having someone else experience your life for awhile.
It's all good, and by the end of summer, I predict he'll be glad to get back to work. Right now though, we are really enjoying watching our boys grow.
David is reading well enough to pick up new books and read them outright, as well as real world reading when we are out and about. He is also getting better at using manners unprompted, trying new things, and exploring his social side at the playground. Lucas is running and climbing and trying to do everything his brother does. He is sleeping better, learning to self feed, and acquiring new skills all the time. Lucas has already entered the tantrum stage-so we are dealing with that a little earlier than expected. He's always been an opinionated kid and I fully expected to be having some battles, just not quite this early. We'll get through.
My good friend Karen was up to visit her family and stayed a night with us early last month. Tekle and Ikenna will be coming in the next two weeks, and Liz and her girls will be here at the same time. (It's nice to have friends whose parents still live here!) It will be great to see them all and have the kids get re-acquainted. The yard looks great, the flowers are finally blooming a bit and if we could eek out a bit more sun, we might get strawberries and look a little less pasty in another two weeks. Sweet!
* Websters New World Dictionary, Second Edition, 1986, pg. 1250
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