Lots of moms in my life but none are my mom or any of the substitute moms who were so instrumental in getting me through both life and my complicated relationship with my mother. So I’m spending the day at the Eagle River Nature Center with my education crow Kodi and the most wonderful golden eagle in the world, Denali. Oh yeah, and Denali’s mom MaryBethe. I expect when I get home my dogs and birds will have the entire house cleaned and a wonderful meal waiting for me… god, I have to stop being delusional at some point in
Here’s how you do business the right way
Went on the 26 Glacier Cruise out of Whittier. It was a disaster. Engine kicked out. Couldn’t do much of anything promised. Docked a distance from where the cars were parked. Missed the 6 PM tunnel opening and had to wait for the 7. Turned out to be a long, boring and frustrating day.
Called the company today to see what they were offering to compensate for all the problems. Without hesitation they offered a full refund… not a chit for a future trip, not a partial refund because we did see some glaciers and had lunch and saw otters…
Senseless tragegies leave behind devastated victims
Soon after the senseless tragedy in Tanana last week, I was the guest speaker at a Victim’s Rights dinner. The people in that room were all dedicated in one way or another to ensuring that victims of crime were not again victimized by the criminal justice system. This concept is one that most people take for granted nowadays. But it was only 30 years ago that people started to acknowledge the needs of victims. Until then, the justice system dealt only with the criminal. The victims were there to testify at trial perhaps, but beyond that they were simply expected
I want to believe in it but…
I want to believe in the death penalty. Especially for horrible murders where someone was made to suffer unbearably or a child had his or her innocence forever destroyed. I want to hate someone enough to enjoy having my government kill them in my name. And yet I can’t. Damn those nuns! Teaching me that Jesus required love, mercy and forgiveness. What were they thinking?
I may not make it
Let me make it perfectly clear to whatever deity that might be listening… I did NOT move to Alaska to get a tan, hang out on the beach in a bathing suit or sit on my porch and grab some rays while mosquitoes ate me alive. So let’s cut the crap and turn the temperature down outside. And do it fast. My normally jovial personality is quickly deserting me.
The demons of hell are upon us… and I’m not referring to Joe Miller and his minions!
Killed the first mosquito of the season in my office the other day. The gates of hell have clearly opened and we are now merely blood vessels from which the hellish shall drink.
And yeah, I smacked the crap out of that mosquito and took great pleasure in so doing.
Yes my butt is frozen
But I’m also not sure if my balls are completely free so I’ll probably just sit here until spring.
My cousin is here. Let the summer visitor season commence!
Like the first robin of spring in the lower 48, the first relative to arrive in Anchorage proclaims the end of the winter and the beginning of our own personal tourist season. I’m grateful to the family that have come to visit. Were it not for them, i would not have had the incentive to see half as much of the state as I have. (That’s known as looking on the bright side of things!)
And it’s not ever summer yet
The temps are already higher than I like them to be at the height of the summer. Is the goddess just messing with my head or has climate change finally arrived in full array to show us why we should not screw with Mother Nature?
Alaska’s indigenous languages
I grew up in an Italian family in an Italian neighborhood being taught by mostly Italian nuns. The mere sound of the language still sends me back to those years in an instant. The cadence of English spoken with an Italian accent is all I need to have my nonna’s face pop up in my brain, her grey hair in a bun, clad in perpetual mourning black with always, always an apron to protect her only weekday dress.
The sound of a language’s rhythm and flow is one of our earliest memories. Long before we focus on a face or