Hiking

We hiked the Climbers Loop at Mission Trail Regional Park. It was one of the most strenuous hikes I've ever done - and that said after climbing up and down Ketchikan's hills for the past 9 months... Many paths were strewn with large rocks that made hiking even more challenging. Still, the views from the hills were worth it.

What does a Ketchikaner do on vacation?

Here's the proof of my newly acquired bad habits. Not one but two (and nested inside each were even more bags...) shopping bags.

But who can blame me (us) when the clothes choices are a bit limited on our island home??

San Diego

We've now been back from CA for over a week. We've seen snow storms and rain storms here. Yesterday we had a mini-blizzard. On the positive side, much of the snow is gone and I've even seen clumps of crocuses waving their purple and white heads in town near the cruise ship docks.

San Diego seems like a far off paradise... The San Diego Zoo was GREAT. It has to be the best zoo I've ever seen. And that includes the ones in DC and London. But we also discovered some amazing hiking trails at Torrey Pines State Park, where, at the end of the trail, I even got a chance to put my feet in the freezing cold Pacific!

Sports News

Up here in the Last Frontier, the sports news is about the Iditarod. So, I thought I'd let everyone know that Martin Buser, four time champ, has taken the lead. He breezed through the checkpoint in the tiny town of Takotna. Apparently, the folks in Takotna are so friendly that the mushers are often tempted off the path with homemade pies and soothing tunes playing on the stereo at the community center.

But Martin was not to be deterred by any fruity desserts or lulled by soft tunes. He spent less than a minute in town before jumping back on his sled and taking the lead.

Figuring out who is ahead is actually hard to do because of the mandatory 24 hour rest requirement. Many chose to rest in Takotna, while Buser did not. Once he chooses to rest, he may not be in the lead.

The course is 1,100 miles with around 700 hundred of them left after departing Takotna. Stay tuned for updates!

Looking for a Crocus

Happy March and Happy Snow! These pictures show Gates and Robert on the way home from the indoor soccer tourney on Sunday. We had a quite a blizzard last weekend, but now - Tuesday, March 3, it's nearly all gone. It's in the forties and raining...

Last week was a busy week with the winter performance of the Ketchikan Theatre Ballet, the Ketchikan Community Concert Band and a performance by 60's Woodstock-ite, Richie Havens. Fortunately, all these events, including the soccer games, were at Kayhi - right at the bottom of our street. We got quite a workout some days going up and down the hills 3 or 4 times, but it was still very convenient.

I have my eye out for the hint of a crocus pushing its bright face through the leftover snow. Let me know when you first catch a glimpse!

Puzzled at the Mainstay Gallery

This month, I decided to enter a piece in the exhibit, "Puzzled," at the Mainstay Gallery in town. I picked up a "puzzle" piece - a piece of paper with black and white forms on it which resembled a quilt. There were two other "puzzles" but they didn't appeal to me as this one did because I used to make quilts.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do and then it came to me that a quilt is like a book - in both you are fitting things together. In the middle of the night, I wrote this little poem - "A quilt is fabric joined with care. A book is words, with none to spare."

Next, I copied the puzzle piece and then cut out the black shapes. I traced these on pieces of fabric I had once used for quilts. After I glued them on, I worked on the words. I used the title and the first lines of my teenage novel, Loulane Lambert's Lists for Life.

The photos show the progression. The opening is March 6 - all the artists get to "place" their piece in the puzzle. Even though I'm not an artist, I really enjoyed the creativity that went into this.

Crepes?

You read right - I have finally attempted crepes. It's Gates' birthday, and that's the surprise dessert. I don't have a crepe pan, but I do have a trusty old 8 inch iron skillet - the kind that could break your toe if it fell on your foot - and high hopes that I can do this.

The recipe is truly French, as it's from my friend, Michele's, grandmother. My first biggest fear was that I wouldn't be able to swirl the batter easily to fill the pan. The second was that the batter would stick to the pan, as maybe I hadn't "seasoned" it sufficiently with enough oil.

As you can see by the photos - my first crepe attempt was a success.

Anybody out there remember the chain of creperies in the 1970's? They were called The Magic Pan. I used to love their Chicken Divan crepes. Hey, I've got some leftover turkey and gravy, maybe I can concoct lunch ala Francais... Later, amis!