I'm BACK!

I have to apologize for being away so long. June happened and then July and then and then and now, October is just around the bend. I'm going to try hard to blog at least once a week.

In July, we took a ferry trip up the Inside Passage to Skagway, Juneau, and Sitka. I plan to put up posts of each leg of the trip.

But in the meantime, fall has arrived in Ketchikan - no blazing New England foliage, just the yellow of the aspens and red of some isolated maples. But the air is crisp, and any day now, I expect to see snow at the top of Deer Mountain. I remember riding my bike last fall to the rec center, rounding the corner and there it was - gorgeous white peaks stretched against the sky.

Last Saturday was the season's first Torchlight Cultural Arts presentation. Robert and I walked to the bottom of our hill to the high school where we saw Maya Soleil, an Afro-World Fusion Music and Dance group. They were terrific.

Boiling

Last night at around 8 PM, I looked at the thermometer outside the kitchen window. True, it had the sun baking on it, but remember, this is Alaska. ALASKA.

It read 90 degrees! It was boiling. Fortunately, most of the living areas of the house are in the back where it's much cooler at night. Still, one bedroom, my study and the dining room are all doubling as saunas. If this keeps up, we'll definitely have to invest in a portable air conditioner.

I have set up a deck-top garden of tomatoes, herbs and lettuce. They are all wilting. I should figure out how to drag the outside hose up to the deck so I don't have to carry pot-fuls of water to revive these sad plants.

The weather report for the weekend predicts a high of 62, so I could be eating these words. But I don't think so, because I really, really like it cool and do not like the heat. Yes for the beautiful sunshine and bright blue skies. But let the temp hover - at the most- in the low 70's and I'll be happy.

You see, the water around here is about 400 feet deep, right off the dock and is probably a toe-numbing, frostbiting 45 degrees. Really. So if you can't swim to cool off, then bring on the low temperatures!

Salmon Derby

Last weekend, the annual Salmon Derby began. We drove out to Knutson Cove to check out the activity. I was hoping to see a fisherman come in with a king salmon and watch it being weighed. No such luck.

We did, however, have some yummy fries and a great view of the marina. Then we drove about 3 miles north and took a hike on the Lunch Creek Trail which goes into the forest but has great views of a waterfall and also steps to the beach.

Root Canal in Anchorage

Yes, the title of this post is correct. I'm in Anchorage and have just survived my first root canal. Not as bad as the term implies, in my opinion! The whole situation evolved quickly and before I knew it, I was booking a reservation on the "milk run" to Anchorage. In plain language, that means you hop from small town (Wrangell) to next small town (Petersburg) to bigger town (Juneau) before you actually get to your destination. The whole trip took 6 hours. It IS 800 miles away from Ketchikan, but next time I think I'd do what many people do and take a direct flight to Seattle, get off the plane (which you can't do on the milk run) and then get back on and fly direct to Anchorage.

I'm staying at Elmendorf Air Force base which is great - the galley is stupendous - it looks like a deluxe ski lodge restaurant. I snapped the bear photo above as I was getting off the plane - apparently they roam through the airport. Just kidding! It's a stuffed one - maybe you can tell by the glazed look - and part of a cool diorama in the airport lobby (only in AK!).

The other exciting part of this unexpected trip is seeing an old friend from PA whom I haven't seen in over 15 years. We met for dinner Wednesday night and then she was my tour guide as I attempted to buy jeans, books, and unusual cooking gadgets I can't get in Ketchikan.

The root canal went well - I won't get into a long tired description but I will say that the view from the office window of Mt. Susitna (aka The Sleeping Lady) and of a distant and fogged in Mt. McKinley was incredible. The mountains here are much different from Ketchikan. There are more snow-covered and much rockier. The Ketchikan ones are all covered with trees which means, I think, the snow melts faster.

Tomorrow, it's back to the island (but only two stops this time - Juneau and Sitka). I've loved being here in the "big" city - Anchorage is easy to get around and great - but I'm also ready to hike up and down hills (very flat in town here) and get back to my island life.

Plus, now that it's finally warm, I need to get my plants for the deck garden I plan to start. More later!

Sun Again

No, I'm not bored with the sun. I'm just thrilled to see it, again. And the forecast for this week is more and more sun. Yesterday it was really warm - and I realize it's been in the 80's in the NE - but here it reached past 70 on the thermometer outside the kitchen window which was not in the sun.

I'm on the home-stretch for Blogbook 2009 and it feels great to have created something and followed it through to the end. I continue to get emails from enthusiastic librarians which make me feel very happy.

After I'm done writing this morning, I plan to take out my bike and go for a nice long pedal along the water. Maybe I'll even see some of those whales others have seen spouting...

WLA Conference in Spokane

I just came back from three nights in Spokane for the Washington Library Association’s Annual Conference. I went there to promote Blogbook 2009, my international online teen summer reading project. I plan to publish my teen novel, Loulane Lambert’s Lists for Life, on its own blog beginning June 1. The book is written as a journal, so I’ll post entries each day until the entire novel is on the blog. See my website for more info.

But, I also came to Spokane to get off the island and have a bit of a getaway. I chose this conference because it was relatively close by, looked interesting (a number of famous authors were speaking) and also because I could get there easily. Spokane is only an hour plane flight from Seattle and the hotel shuttle picks up at the airport.

I was stunned by Spokane. It is a beautiful, tidy, accessible city located near several rivers. There is a mini-Niagara Falls right in town! (See video.) Numerous footbridges cross the river, and there are an amazing assortment of walking/biking paths all along the river as well as through town. Name-brand stores such as Macy’s and Nordstrom’s were next to well-stocked bookstores and even the local library! I want to move there! Check out the video of the falls below!

The conference was also interesting, and I was able to connect with quite a few librarians. Most were receptive, but I occasionally felt like I was a fish oil hawker trying to get people interested in my product. I had ironed on a Blogbook 2009 placard to the back of a pink t-shirt which I occasionally displayed (when I didn’t have it covered up by a sweater) as I walked through exhibits and attended sessions. I had printed out Blogbook 2009 information on business cards which I kept secreted in my plastic nametag pocket. At the appropriate time (I hoped…) I would take one out and talk about Blogbook 2009. One highlight at the closing banquet was a kind library director actually asking me for cards so that he could help spread the word.

Snowshoeing in April

No, this is not a delayed April Fool's joke.

In the town of Ketchikan, the snow is mostly gone, and I think it will get to the high forties, low fifties today because the sun is out. But this morning, my friend, Jan (and of course her terrific dog, Lenny - that's him playing in the snow!) went up north a bit where the snow is very slowly melting.

Jan had an extra pair of snowshoes, so I tried them out. The area where we were hiking had deep drifts, and it would have been impossible to hike there without snowshoes. We would have sunk right down in. Which is exactly what I did when I got out of the truck and tried to climb over a drift to find a flat area to put on the snowshoes. I sunk in almost up to my thighs!