I took my chances and flew to Juneau for a long weekend. ( ‘What’s a week-end?’ for me it was Weds evening – Sun afternoon.) I just wanted to see the kids and waiting for the perfect time these still-Covid but back to school days, means never leaving home. My sister had Papa Bob an extra week so there was a window– and it seemed like a good idea at the time, until we were too far away and too high up to change my mind.
Blame it on my red hen who keeps escaping to the yard. Even with the coyote prowling she is not afraid. The last time he came by I caught him staring at the kitchen window, and ran out and shooed him off. I counted a rooster and four hens in the coop. One was missing. The red one that I really like. That’s life with chickens, but it made me sad anyway, then I heard cackling and there she was! Up on the porch roof, scolding me for doubting her. Which is a long way of saying that a little red hen inspired me to fly the coop and I am glad she did.
We hiked the “magic” trail in the rain.
Played inside
and outside.
At night, Jeff and I shared the sewing room. (He loves me very much.)
We took a sunny stroll during nap time with the baby (who is 19 months old now. Can you believe it?)
There were parties too– two birthdays. So we skipped daycare and baked a cake.
And everyone got presents.
I found the courage that I had lost on my flight down.
On the way home, when the pilot asked me to sit next him, I surprised myself and said okay. (The weather was perfect.) Instead of imagining a disaster, I made a note of all the dials and buttons, and what they did, and I knew, just knew, that if anything went wrong I could take the controls and listen very carefully to the instructions in my headset and land that plane and all of us on board safely. It was an uneventful trip, but it is amazing how simply rewriting the script on the fly made all the difference.
Here’s good news, I think. On Friday At 2pm the Haines holiday event committee is meeting. The hope is that we can celebrate together again. The Friends of the Library are also planning a Lighting of the Library party for the Saturday after Thanksgiving. If you want to help decorate, call the library, or me.( And keep your fingers crossed for Covid declining to no active cases by then.) At 4pm on Friday I have an Alaska Quarterly Review Zoom event with legendary poet Pattiann Rogers and Dr. Laura Kolbe (talk about capable, she is no Henny Penny. Doctoring in NYC in the thick of Covid, and a terrific poet.) Then at 5:30 Friday evening, Dr. Marnie Hartman, my physical therapist who restored me to an active life following a devasting accident (bike, not plane) in 2005, will present her book at The Bookstore in Haines. Join us?
