It’s been a busy week. It’s amazing how much I can do when a book is done. I cleaned the chicken, lunchbox yoga-d, stacked the last cord of firewood from the shed onto the porch, Morning Muscle-d, swam, paid up my swim-a-thon pledges, sent a check to Mark Begich to beat those carpet-bagging Koch brothers, went to a lunch at the Guardhouse to meet the Art Place America guy who was here to check on the Arts Confluence’s grant application, and attended the borough budget power point presentation which began with a slide of ancient Greece, and the Athenian citizen’s oath:
“We will never bring disgrace on this our City by an act of dishonesty or cowardice. We will fight for the ideals and Sacred Things of the City both alone and with many. We will revere and obey the City’s laws, and will do our best to incite a like reverence and respect in those above us who are prone to annul them or set them at naught. We will strive unceasingly to quicken the public’s sense of civic duty. Thus, in all these ways, we will transmit this City not only, not less, but greater and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.”
I mean honestly, what’s not to love about a town whose financial officer and manager put that on the first page of the annual budget? (Which is about 12 million dollars this year, by the way.)
It snowed and rained and blew, and snowed some more, so I disinfected the house from the flu bug, got my hair cut, had tea with my neighbor, called my dad twice, hung out with 4 year old Caroline Cooper one day, and 2 year-old Lani another, and last night made it to choir practice. We will sing at the Blessing of the Fleet Sunday at 3:00, and before that at 1:30 at the library to kick of National Library Week and the “music in the stacks” feature which will continue every day next week at the library—check the schedule of all the special events, and be sure to renew your Friends of the Library membership HERE. I did my part for the new River Talk series last night, too, and told a nice story. The others were really terrific though, and the whole event– 7 people, 7 stories, 7 minutes– with a theme (last night’s was Thrills and Chills)– with refreshments and a cabaret style atmosphere, is a great addition to the Haines arts scene. Everybody has a story and it’s really fun to hear them. There will be no more until next winter, which actually makes me look forward to snow– Well, almost. The weather has broken today, and sun and warm temperatures are forecast for the weekend, finally. The streets are swept too, so it’s safe to ride a bike again.
This evening I’ll be watching Ivy and Caroline so their mother can help the Fireweed cater a special reception, also in the Chilkat Center, for the new borough manager and a former Marine officer, David Sosa. There are high hopes for his tenure. The last slide of the borough budget power point showed a tank rolling up the beach and said the best borough-wide news is, “The Marines have landed!” So brush the dog hair off you coat and wipe the mud off those boots and stop by the Chilkat Center between 4 and 6 this evening to meet and greet him.
Wash your hands too, we don’t to give him, or each other, the stomach flu which is alarmingly like that pesky Norwalk virus. Remember : “Thus…we will transmit this City not only, not less, but greater and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us.”
