MOUNTAIN PULSE: Challenges

Showing posts with label Challenges. Show all posts

September 14, 2013

Continuing to ride the wave of Something Wonderful

Thus ends Willa's first week of Fourth grade. Sigh......

(She missed the first 8 days of school due to our trip to Florida to visit family and attend the NYL Council meeting. Doh!)

I sit here once again at the office-the Middle Way Café- killing the hour before I have to go to work. The coziness of it's interior, the people decked out in rain coats, down vests and cute hats, and the rain coming down outside slams home the truth....ouch..... and shuts the door on summer. It's over. And, I think, it was one of the best summers of my life.

On this day at the beginning of our summer, I committed to trying my best to do something wonderful every day. From something as big as a road trip somewhere new, to something as small as painting together outside, or trying out a fun experiment. I'm proud to say that I was able to hold up this challenge pretty much every day! I can honestly say each day brought some gem, some impetus to keep us on our toes. There was almost no movie watching during the week and I kept the lap top OFF waaaaaaay more than I have the past 2 summers. Granted, the fabulous sunny warm weather we had this summer definitely made it easier, but the desire to achieve something new and different happily overrode the desire to frump around. Fuck that shit. And, there was the occasional chill on the cozy-ass couch and rest day, that being something wonderful in itself after being hard earned. I feel renewed and accomplished. Like I showed my kid a FABULOUS summer! MYSELF as well. We all agreed this was the best one ever.

I have A LOT of back posting to do! I've been back posting all summer. In fact, THIS post was mostly written 2 weeks ago! Rarely has there been a day where I've been able to find the time to write about what we've done! I'm usually 2 days to 2 MONTHS behind. I have to finish up on our Russian River trip, our road trip on the Denali Highway, our 10 day trip to Florida...and everything in between. But I'll plug away. Now that school is back in sesh, routine kicks in and making something wonderful happen every day would be quite a tall order. But there ARE the weekends.....as well as finding those smaller gems to enbrighten even the most mundane weekdays.

There's absolute TRUTH in these sentiments:

August 16, 2013

Wilson's Warbler

Well, it's certainly not a wonderful thing when a bird smacks into one of our many big windows, but sometimes it offers us a chance to show a dazed feather ball some tenderness and compassion, as well as a close-up view of the exquisite beauty, delicacy, and HARDINESS of these winged creatures.

Yesterday, the rare (at least up here) Wilson's Warbler introduced itself intimately to one of our living room windows. The familiar "bonk" sound, mostly heard in the winter when we have the bird feeder out, caught Willa's immediate attention. "Mama, a bird hit! It's lying in the driveway....it's YELLOW! ". We threw on our shoes, Willa grabbed the camera, and we ran outside to assess the damage. Awake, no blood, just a little dazed, and indeed, yellow. Not a common sight. I picked it up gently and handed it to Willa. It's talons clung strongly to her finger, a good sign. It seemed as amazed by her as she was by it. She gave the warbler some love for awhile and then set up a branch on a stump with some leaves and fireweed petals-a safe comfy place for him to perch while she kept an eye on him. He fluffed up and snoozed for awhile-they usually do before waking back up clear headed, realizing they are in the company of humans, and flicking off into the distance at the speed of light!

After awhile, Willa came back inside reporting that our visitor had alighted into the safety of the trees. Not knowing what kind of bird that was, we grabbed the birding books and consulted Facebook friends. Miles, the birder, IDed it as the Wilson's Warbler.

August 11, 2013

Restorative Sunday

A lovely mellow day today...

Sleeping in

Lounging in the living room

Taking a walk to pick blueberries in the woods

Snuggling on the couch and watching Toy Story 2

Going in to Anchorage to have dinner at our friend's home.

A fun lively group and lots of laughs!

Cool enough this evening to wear my neato boots!

Dancing free at The Blueberry Festival

High bush blueberries

Yes, another one! This one is more about worshipping those sweet, indigo, power-packing, little buggers that are so fun to harvest than it is about the music. But DeadPhish Orchestra was playing again and Miles had another chance to MC.

We woke up to a heavy downpour and a shitty weather forecast on the NOAA site yesterday, putting a DAMPER on our plans to camp with the Ruizes in Girdwood. But we figured we're Alaskans and can handle a blueberry fest in the rain if we have a warm dry house to come home to.
As is typical in Alaska, the weather turned quite pleasant once we reached Turnagain Arm and pretty much stayed that way. :l

Never a dull moment on Turnagain Arm

The festival is held in the courtyard of Alyeska resort at the base of the ski mountain. We perused the vendor's goods, enjoyed lunch and drinks , hiked a little into the enchanted looking woods to pick some berries for a couple hours before DPO came onstage.

Compared to the Salmonstock crowd, the Blueberry festers where a bit.....deflated? Surprising since Girdwood is an arty, liberal leaning, tree huggin' town nestled in some serious REDness!!! But they LOVES their music happenings. We've been to a few gigs next door at the Sitzmark where the floor is packed with happy dancers...so we were expecting the same for outside DeadPhish Orchestra. Is it because they hit the stage at 5pm instead of 10pm? Do people really need to be SO primed on booze, weed, whatev to feel comfortable letting loose and dancing? SAD. It may not come across on this blog, but I am an inherently very shy person...in my past, painfully self conscious. But fuck if I'm gonna let that get in the way of me letting loose and doing what my soul calls for! The ONLY ones up dancing after the band came on-besides Miles and I- were a group of CHILDREN. Running around with balloons, Willa included, screaming, dancing, huge grins.....As I turned toward the audience behind us, scores of people just standing and watching, some bopping inconspicuously to the music, I wanted to yell out all biblical-like,"Let the little children LEAD!!!! LOOK at these open, free, joyful, UN-ENCUMBERED souls! THIS truly is LIFE! It's what it's about! And ya don't need to be BLOTTO to get there!!!!"

It suddenly dawned on me.....at the age of 43.....I'm able to dance freely, heart singing, in front of a couple hundred people.....and not have a care in the world. I am SO truly grateful that I am finally there!

"If my heart can become pure and simple,
like that of a child, I think there probably
can be no greater happiness than this."

- Kitaro Nishida

Neato adult blueberry beverage!

Whoa! What was IN that drink?! FUNKY shroomz!!!

Dylan's doppelganger! Willa ran up saying, "Mama!!! Look! My new friend looks just like Dylan!!!". What a flash back!

Berry hunting in the enchanted forest!

The Old Ones....

Fuck, ME!!! That's one HELL of a mountain bike trail!!!!!!

Gettin' ready!

Dance, Babies!!!!

And who doesn't love a mush of rescue puppies?!

August 9, 2013

SALMONSTOCK 2013!

The Ocean Stage

I just looked back and realized I never posted about SALMONSTOCK 2012!
So, what's Salmonstock? Salmonstock IS: a celebration of fish, music, and the people who depend harmoniously upon them. It’s also about the power we have in protecting our resources and our livelihoods. More than just three days of celebrating what we have, it is an event that offers every attendee the tools needed to help preserve it.
We invite anyone who loves Alaska, our salmon, and great music, to spend the weekend with us, to show the world why we are so passionate about our salmon and what we can do to ensure another millennia of great fishing.

This 3 day music fest is put on at the fairgrounds in Ninilchik, Alaska, on the Kenai Penninsula. Last year we had a fabulous time camping on the beach at Deep Creek and attending the festival. We met some great friends there, the Ruizes and last weekend marked our one year friendiversary! Aw, so romantic! We had all been excitedly awaiting this trip all summer! We decided to convoy down to Ninilchik together, they in their RV and we in our truck. We were joined the next day by more friends as well as Suzanne(Willa's Teacher). I had told her months earlier that if she was well enough to boogy with me at Salmonstock , I would buy her ticket! And well enough she was! It was a regular class reunion, being that all of our kids go to the same school! A rockin' class trip for sure!

The kids spent time sequestered in our tent making Ms. Drinen cards

Another Winterberry family who had headed down the night before us, alerted us to fact that Deep Creek camping was partly closed off due to erosion and the rest already filled up with campers. We were really disappointed-camping on the beach is a HUGE part of this trip for us.....the beach combing, fishing the surf for halibut, hanging out with the water and volcanoes in view....the rolling waves lulling us to sleep after a long night of music. So, as we drove down I texted back and forth with our friend, playing musical campgrounds for awhile-they so graciously reserved a couple sites for us where they where staying. But being the stubborn types, we thought we'd give Deep Creek a quick check in-maybe have lunch on the beach-see what the deal was. We pulled in and it was just about EMPTY! Hoppin' fuckin' jeebus, hooray!!! We had our pick of the beach front property! We quickly snatched up 3 spots and set up our compound. SWEET. Room for everyone! 8 adults, 4 kiddos, one teen(babysitter extraordinaire!), and 3 dogs at the busiest time.

Home, sweet home.

We spent our days ~~recovering~~ sleeping in, playing, enjoying each other's company and usually around 2ish we'd all head over to the fairgrounds for the music. It was FABULOUS to have, T, the Ruizes babysitter there to take the kids back to camp at night so that we could all stay for the late shows! No tag teaming! No lying in a tent, hearing the music and wishing you could be there too! Whoo-hoo!

My man, my bestest friend, Doin' life with him is a fantastic journey!!

Since Miles has a radio show on the station that was sponsoring the event, he got to get up on stage and introduce some bands. He was SO excited but scared as hell-he'd never done anything like that. He got a backstage pass-I was denied :(, but they managed to smuggle me in the next 2 days betwixt the barrier and garbage barrels! He did a great job out there and was so stoked to meet the bands! Me , too! He had interviewed a couple of them on his show so it was cool for him to meet them face to face.

Miles on stage with DeadPhish Orchestra! REALLY swell guys!

The kids had a great time playing on the bouncy house slide, getting their faces painted, hoola-hooping, dancing, running around and indulging in yummy treats. This festival has such a happy vibe and is so family friendly.