So, how fresh is that bear poop? Just checking to see if it’s still warm. (It’s not.) My friend Beth took the picture because she thought it was funny. There is a little black bear hanging out in the neighborhood. He, or maybe she? (I did not get that up close and personal) ran right in front of me when I pulled in the driveway the other day in the middle of a hot sunny afternoon. I beeped the horn and he took off. I have been locking the doors at night (especially the mud room where the freezer is) and the electric fence is on all day and night now on the chicken coop. I let the crows have the cherries again this year after reading that we have lost 1/3 of the birds that were on the planet when I was in high school to climate change, habitat destruction and pollution. My whole yard is a bird sanctuary. The robins and sparrows like the wild strawberries and the cover of the tall grass and bushes. There are nests in the garage, the wood shed, and the big white Sitka rose by the back door. Eagles too, have set up a new home in a tall spruce tree nearby.
We are all taking care of each other, and that is better news than the 12 cases of Covid in nearby Skagway, and waiting to see if the fair last weekend was our super spreader event, or it may have arrived here on the cruise ship this week that had confirmed Covid cases on board. Yikes.
Beth, who took the picture, says to breathe and be mindful. I’m trying. But my brain feels like a boomerang inside my head these days. (And the dogs keep rolling in bear poop and puking on the stairs at night.) Anyway, she made me laugh when she said she was reading an article in a mindful journal, ironing pillowcases for the glam yurts she rents (Chilkat Inlet Retreat, google it) and attending a Zoom yoga class. Even mindful folks are a little stretched this August when so much is happening at once. One antidote is cake and coffee (or tea, or milk… or gin) and since you asked about the North Douglas cake recipe here is where to find it. (Douglas is the island community opposite downtown Juneau and North Douglas is out the road a ways with a sport boat ramp and lots of mountains, trees and sunny beaches.)
This is not an advertisement– I support writers and recipes that work are great writing– and this book is, as you can see, one of my favorites, also, the DeCherneys and Deborah Marshall are Haines folks (Nancy grew up here, and her family is still here. Deb is the president of the Fair board and has lived here for years now.) Their Juneau restaurant is long gone, but the cookbook remains and is in paperback now. Please order it from your local store, and if you don’t have one, check with Amy Kane at The Bookstore in Haines. (Contact info on my home page. Maybe Deborah will sign it for you? Ask Amy.)
Trixie approves. But then again she always smiles even when she’s made a big mess.
