Heather's Blog
May 20, 2013
High pressure is in the forecast for the entire week, and it's supposed to be 67 on Friday, just in time for the beerfest. This is technically not news in Alaska in May, or at least according to my friend Tom. He says news by definition is when things don't go as planned. Snow in May is...
May 19, 2013
"Get a life in which you notice the smell of salt water pushing itself on a breeze over the dunes, a life in which you stop and watch how a red-tailed hawk circles over a pond...get...
May 16, 2013
From the Haines Police Blotter, May 14th:
"At approximately 12:45 p.m. a local lodging reported that a queen sized bed had been stolen from a room. Police initiated a case on the incident."
May 16, 2013
Yes, it is Manic May-- one day feels like summer and the next day we are back in March. The first cruise ship of the season surprised us all yesterday. It wasn't meant for Haines, as it was supposed to dock in Skagway but it was too windy so they pulled in here instead. As Bruce said...
May 12, 2013
"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.' To this day, especially in times of 'disaster,'I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing...
May 10, 2013
This is what my husband said to my father on the phone: “Not much is new here. The weather is great. The kids are doing fine, and they found a murderer in our neighborhood."
Make that an alleged murderer. Later I heard that the...
May 08, 2013
It's ride your bicycle to school day, which meant we had a lot more company than normal as we pedaled in from the highway toward the Haines School this morning, usually we might see two other riders and very few vehicles, but today there were policemen, teachers, parents, children all in a...
May 07, 2013
Maybe we should call it manic May? I mean, I wanted spring so badly that I was getting kind of depressed-- okay, really grumpy actually. But when it suddenly arrived yesterday-- late, but in a spectacular way-- all shorebirds, sea lions, bears, wolves, moose, swans-- sun and even warmth-- I felt...
May 05, 2013
Schools of little fish properly called eulachon or more often hooligans, have arrived, just as they have every Alaskan spring since time in memorial. Yet the date they show up, the length of the run, and even the strength of their numbers remains a mystery. Einstein said that the fairest...
May 03, 2013
A very busy day puppy sitting.. and another one just like it today.
Also, the Spring track meet was canceled because it is still mostly winter. But the prom is still on. Tonight is the fishermen's splash at the pool from 7-9m fishing families and boaters can practice swimming...
Apr 30, 2013
We could pretend this is March, then it wouldn't be odd at all to be so cold and relentlessly snowing. Then, a bike ride in the snow would be almost fun, something to laugh or even brag about-- or at least a choice-- and not a must-do with 7 weeks before the Kluane to Chilkat International...
Apr 29, 2013
The phones rings Saturday morning. My husband answers it. "Here, talk to the person who answers surveys," he says and hands it to me. I say I do have a few minutes to answer questions about Alaska issues. The first one is: How often do I vote? There are a choices, sometimes,...
Apr 28, 2013
The Chilkat Center was full a few summers ago for Pete Lapham’s funeral. So many of us felt like we knew him well because the DOT foreman waved, smiled, or nodded it seemed at everyone he passed on his daily rounds of our roads and highways-- the walkers, cyclists, and...
Apr 27, 2013
"Snow. It's the new Spring." -- Walter Betz, yesterday at Mountain Market.
Apr 26, 2013
It is 32 degrees, snowing sideways and the north wind is blowing 20 mph. "Real feel 17" is what the weather icon on the community web page says. Today is the drop off for the annual spring hospice rummage and bake sale at the ANB Hall. The annual spring student art show is going...
Apr 25, 2013
I have been inspired to spring clean my office this week by beautiful photos in the New York Times of one writer's lovely writing space. It was so tidy and pretty. Mine, on the other hand, looks like some kind of re-cycle center for white paper and old coffee cups. I print out every draft....
Apr 22, 2013
Lynn Canal Community Players weekend drama, Dinner With Friends, was just great. I had dreaded it because of the publicity, which emphasized the serious tone of infidelity, divorce, and friends taking sides. It wasn't suitable for anyone under 18 either. And there was an...
Apr 21, 2013
"When a wave of love takes over a human being, love of another human being,love of nature, love of all mankind, love of the universe, such an exultation takes him that he knows he has put his finger on the pulse of the great secret and the great answer." --- Marjorie Kinnan...
Apr 18, 2013
This morning as we were walking a whole pack of dogs on the beach (there were three humans and five canines) we marveled at how this time yesterday it was snowing but by the evening it was clear and calm and the inlet was full of birds and smelled like May. John said the good thing about this...
Apr 17, 2013
It's snowing. I know, 'nuff said. There's music in the stacks from noon-1 at the library featuring Dr. Feldman on his concertina. Tomorrow at noon it' s that wayfaring mariner Scott Pearce & Friends band "Howl's Pals" and Friday it's Liz Marantz Falvey on violin and...
Apr 17, 2013
Here's a little spring verse, set to motions and music for the young and the young at heart. Words by Emily Dickinson tune by Nancy Nash-- (But you can make up or borrow your own if you don't know...
Apr 16, 2013
Am I the only one who couldn't sleep last night after all those horrific images from Boston? I won't look anymore. The radio is enough. How could anyone be so evil? All I kept thinking about was when my husband ran the 100th anniversary...
Apr 14, 2013
New Year's resolutions and good wishes really should be made in the Spring, when so much more seems possible than in January.
Here's one I love, from Maxine Kumin's poem, Magellan Street, 1974:
This is the year, in a kitchen
you brighten with pots of basil...
Apr 13, 2013
The sun is out, the snow is mostly gone, the geese are back in the ponds on the beach, and my neighbor Betty saw her first hummingbird. No doubt the little guy rode up on the back of a goose. Is that true? Or an old wives's tale? Is it just a coincidence they arrive at the same time? Speaking of...
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