Elise Sereni Patkotak

If the snow back east keeps up, my sister will be reduced to scrubbing her foyer tile with a toothbrush to keep occupied. She’s already scrubbed everything else that couldn’t escape fast enough. And apparently she’s now cooked everything in her freezer and refrigerator. Too bad no one can get through the snow to dinner. It sounded good.

Don Young’s constant re-election to high office would probably be a sign of the apocalypse anywhere else but here in Alaska. Here it’s merely another humdrum moment. Alaskans just react differently to all manner of phenomena than do others.

This is why I am always so startled at the reaction of people back East to the idea that snow might fall on them. While I will admit that two foot over a weekend is a lot even by Alaskan standards, I really don’t think it is worth the hysteria it produced in everyone from Washington officials to my relatives.

No

It was the fault of the damn superbowl. I had to leave the sidewalk and go into the street because somebody must have been having a superbowl party and all the cars were parked on the sidewalk…hey, we’re Alaskans. We don’t care if it’s the sidewalk. We’ll park wherever the hell we feel like it! I had the spiked thingies on my shoes and I guess I get overly confident in their gripping ability. Bummer. Had I been doing the Eskimo walk, this would have never happened. And now my hip and arm and butt are as sore as hell

That can be the only explanation for why I tore my kitchen cupboards apart this weekend and rearranged all the food. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. It’s an Alaskan thing.

… happiness at my age is a doctor’s visit where the scale thinks I’ve lost three pounds since the last time there. I may have to celebrate with a big meal. After all, I now have a three pound leeway.

A few days back I described an encounter with a moose on my front lawn. The query came in as to why there was no picture to accompany the story. It occurred to me that in today’s world, everyone’s cell phone takes pictures so everything is – or can be – instantly documented. Although I can think of more than one time where I would not have wanted instant documentation of what I was doing, I guess I can see where that impulse comes from.

The thing is, I don’t own a cell phone. Don’t want one either. So I

Speaking of athletes, it will soon be Olympic time and I’ll once again sit like an overstuffed potato on my couch watching young people with impossibly perfect bodies doing impossibly difficult tasks gracefully… things I could not have done in my prime no matter how hard I tried because – truth to be told – my sister does NOT have the market on klutz. I think it’s a general family gene which is why our family has never produced one outstanding athlete… though we have apparently produced one outstanding sports announcer back in Philly. 

Pour me another margarita. It’s going

Here’s what I will never understand… the lure of racing dogs 1000 miles in freezing cold weather with no amenities. Don’t get me wrong. I love the race. I love the cold most days. But I rarely get up on a day when its below zero and think this would be the perfect day to run 1000 miles. Usually I just think it would be a great day for a SHORT walk and then a BIG blaze in the fireplace with a warm cocoa.

I guess it takes all kinds.

Long distance mushers have my absolute respect… if only because

Sometime, amidst all the noise and clamor of recessions, lost jobs and rancorous political fighting, we forget what’s really important. We forget those things that get us from here to there, from today to tomorrow. We forget the people and actions that make life happen with some modicum of peace and comfort.

Then something occurs to remind us that amidst the chaos, there is light and love. And it comes to us not from the politicians who claim they will make our lives better. Nor does it come from the personalities whose lives, marital turmoil and relationships fill People Magazine