I live and write on Lingít Aaní, and gratefully acknowledge the past, present and future caretakers of this beautiful place, the Jilkaat Kwaan and Jilkoot Kwaan.

A Story for Wednesday

Monday I was driving home from town in the bitter cold and wind, the kind that sends swirling dust and snow clouds down the road in front of school and Mt. Market and whips the flags at the fire hall straight up. I toodled along by Deishu Drive where the speed...

Follow Your Star

The wind must have shifted just enough last night to keep the whole town up. Pearl was pacing all night long. It sounds like thunder and feels like an earthquake to her. Naturally, she’s in deep dreamland now. On the way to Morning Muscles lawn chairs skittered...

Cold Spell, Warm Hearts

Listening to the forecast is humbling. It’s supposed to stay this windy (50 mph or so) and pretty cold (warmer, like 18) until Friday. They are playing hockey at the rink and the ice is good on Rutzebeck Lake. (But be careful, as always.) The ski club has set...

Sunday’s Thought

“In skating over thin ice, safety is our speed.” Ralph Waldo Emerson.  I thought of that line today, when Chip insisted the ice on the pond was thick enough, mostly, but may be a little thin at one end of the lake. He reminded me that two inches of ice...

Coincidence? Or?

Last night, over black-eyed peas, greens, and corn bread– New Year’s good luck food, we five women friends talked about faith, spirits, and a clairvoyant some of us had visited when she came to Haines a few years ago. (Our spouses watched the football...

Happy New year

We are almost back to normal. With Christmas and New Year’s falling on Thursdays the last two weeks have been kind of manic– on and off again– celebrate and get to it– and today we are sort of on again– it is a work day before one final...