What has BW been up to today?
January 1-6, 2024
December 26-30, 2023
December 25, 2023
December 24, 2023
December 23, 2023
December 22, 2023
December 20, 2023
Getting the heart pumping…
December 18, 2023
A little late to be stringing up the lights, but he’ll get it eventually.
December 16, 2023
Time for snow sculptures…
December 14, 2023
Baking cookies…
December 12, 2023
Gathering some decor…
December 8, 2023
December 6, 2023
Few things better on a cold winter day than a cup of hot chocolate…
December 5, 2023
December 3, 2023
BW is decking the halls and making preparations. Tis the season…
First…a tree is in order.
November 4, 2023
I know I’ breaking the first good rule of writing a blog: Being consistent. I just can’t seem to get into a regular schedule on this. Surprising there was ever a time that I had a full head of stories to share. They are well buried by other life tugs these days. Too much is riding on one angle of my life to be settled. So I sit here at The Writer’s Block, spewing words onto the page. BW’s Adventures has been well shelved even in painting, where since my gallery opening, he has been absent the canvas.
I’m back in Anchorage today for a week. Mostly the mundane of medical appointments I couldn’t get flanked to my recent vacation visit to see family. Expensive but productive trip into the front country. Looking for a diversion, a consideration has been the Discovery Theatre where they have a concert tonight that is meant to involve the audience. Or yet another, a piano concert…and I have time yet to make it…
September 16, 2023
Doors.
“When one door closes, another opens.”
September 10, 2023
Today is special day of remembrance.
Yes, it is the day before 9/11, the day before our world changed forever. It is more than that on a personal level. Today is the birthday of Robert Baron, a dear friend who was killed in the line of duty in 2013.
Robert used to call me a heathen. It was mostly in fun, but at the time that my life crossed his and his wife’s, I was angry with God. Five years earlier I had lost my mentor and another dear friend in a targeted shooting. Mike Blankenship was my first loss in public service. Like 9/11, losing him changed my whole world, and left me particularly bitter toward God. Why would someone who cares for us take away from this world such an amazing teacher, friend, mentor of so many? I could not forgive God for the loss of Mike. Not for years did I begin to open my heart to God again. In part, thanks to Robert.
“Just because you don’t believe, doesn’t mean it isn’t true,” he used to say to me.
Robert introduced me to an uncommon prayer, in an attempt to soften my outlook. “Just talk to Him.” Nothing formal necessary. Just talk to Him.
I did eventually let God back into a conversation with my life, but it was only in recent years that I would turn to God for guidance. Still, I can thank Robert for my progress with God. His presence in this world, his contribution in loving God and the life God seemingly created for him and his journey, helped me open my life to possibilities.
Nowadays I pray with more formality of a meditation, plea, or child seeking a helping hand. So much in life happens unexpectedly. I am grateful to have God in my life as I navigate challenges.
September 8, 2023
Wow has it ever been a long time since I was on here! September already!
BW has tagged along with me on some adventures in the front-country. I’ve been blessed to have time since August to gain a new foothold into a somehow, someway, someday prospect while I try to ease my foot out of a still yet propped door. I keep being told so many doors will open when that one door closes. But it is scary to close doors…especially one that has been open so long.
On with adventures…
First off, BW came with me to visit the Alaska Public Lands Information Center in Anchorage to get some ideas for weekend trips. Spanning all of Alaska, the center introduces any new traveler to Alaska’s public lands. Be it national parks, national forests, wildlife refuges, or state parks and forests. This is the place for resources, questions (and answers), beautiful landscapes, and a chance to check out some biology. There’s also a feed to a live camera, eavesdropping on the bears at Katmai National Park & Preserve.
A weekend trip to Palmer, Alaska, found BW getting to know a local reindeer herd and a small family-owned reindeer farm. These reindeer don’t pull any sleds, but have the luxury of being tended to daily, even bottle fed for the growing young ones.
The third week of August brought rails, glaciers, and rain….waterfalls and harbor seals! Riding the Alaska Railroad to Whittier set me and BW up to a glacier cruise up Prince William Sound where we were introduced to Harvard, Yale, Beloit, Blackstone (and many more) glaciers.
All around it was a miserably wet and yet spectacular day in drenching rain. Good thing he had solid raingear.
A tug last week brought him and I to Homer for a light meal, landing on the spit just in time for the wind to blow high tides over the road. Thankfully, a little nook called “A Better Sweater”, grabbed his attention for a nice deal on a cozy addition.
This week, first full week of September, the yearn for home drew me back to a tiny community off the road system in the middle of Lake Clark National Park & Preserve. I just ran home for a few necessities as Anchorage and Alaska turns its sights on autumn. Leaves may not fall here in the droves of the Midwest, but the temperature sure does. The prospect of running home for a few quick errands sounds so normal until you figure in that the trip involves a round-trip plane ride. No roads lead to my home. But the quick turnaround was worth it as I shared smiles with friends, enjoyed the utter silence of rural Alaska, and packed up a long-ago-started donation box for the Anchorage Gospel Rescue Mission.
Back in Anchorage, my night bringing BW to life for a few moments is winding down as I overlook Potter Marsh. Potter Marsh was once destined to be a landfill until a special group of kids in Anchorage pled to the city to help preserve the area for waterfowl. It is now the southern tip of Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge. A raised boardwalk allows visitors to walk a half mile of the perimeter of the marsh and view sights such as a Trumpeter Swans, Common (North American) mergansers, Northern Pintails, and Red-necked Grebes.
June 10, 2023
I am still struggling to get into a groove of telling BW’s stories. That seems so…well, if you think about it…real. Our lives get in the way of imagination all the time. Realism is where the here and now reside. We have hopes and dreams, sure, but even they are held back by the “here” and “now” to keep us grounded, not let our feet follow our minds into a cloud. And yet this is how inventors invent and writers tell stories. Dreams are how we find ways to better happiness, or happiness at all. Staying grounded is important, yes, but happiness is, too. Happiness is dreams of a better place and time.
BW has been on a long journey with me up here in Alaska. He, representing joy, is keeping me grounded in the belief that anything might yet be possible when only we dedicate the time to try.
I am back at the Writer’s Block Cafe today. Feeling the sun on my neck reminds me I as going to go for a bike ride today when the weather decided instead to give us rain. This diverted my adventures to the boring. And yet as I sit here writing, taking a break from daily self care tasks, I see blue sky peeking out around the clouds, to tell me a ride is not out of reach today after all. I need only just go. Go ride.
June 2, 2023
Today is the day. Reception at Snow City Cafe from 5-7pm Alaska time. Nervous cannot accurately represent the anticipation before me. BW is taking it in stride. He has be living life’s adventures without a care in the world but his own. So refreshing. I am approaching this carefree outlook on life, but it has been a long journey and yet a long journey remains ahead for me. Still, one day at a time. It’s all any of us can do.
In the here and now… Writer’s Block Bookstore and Cafe is offering the perfect venue to kill time before my reception tonight. A cozy spot to relax and unwind. Hours yet before I must change in to one of those infamous dresses rare friends have ever seen me don. I can imagine BW laughing along the side of this for he is blessed with adding clothes to his repertoire as a bonus in life rather than a necessity. As one friend said in response to my painting Ice Feeshing: “He’s fishing naked!” He’s a wolf. He’s entitled. And no; he’s not cold. I will be the one likely chilled tonight! Anchorage has been cold for the beginning of June. 55 degrees and holding strong with light rain! Brrr. Not a usual start for summer even for Alaska.
Back to the cafe. The chai latte I ordered is hitting the spot and warming me up.
I am wishing I had a box of my dailies I am working on entering into my site. Soon enough I will have my web store up and running and–crossing fingers I find a good print shop–have greeting cards for sale. The postcard subscription is a bit more than I think I will be able to handle for now, but it is still on the back burner. I so enjoyed telling BW’s story through those cards and so many, I know, are waiting for new chapters. Soon enough.
Until tomorrow…I hope to meet many new faces, and greet some familiar ones, tonight at Snow City Cafe.
May 28, 2023
Anxiously awaiting a public debut. Friday, June 2, 2023, BW is introduced to Alaska and visitors to the Snow City Cafe.
In 2018, BW began looking for a long time home. Tugging at me to expand my horizons, I pushed my career to Alaska. Whether he and I make it here is left unseen, but he has enjoyed the beginning of his adventures. Kayaking, fishing, hiking, volunteering with a lighthouse or two, wildlife viewing, even a spot at the International Space Station. He’s been busier than I.
“Covid sure slowed down the humans. But not I,” says he. “The wild of this state is just waiting for a wolf like me…”