Antarctica and Then Some

Wedding Wish List

2009-09-18T23:41:00.006-05:00

Our country, Bohemian, rustic homestead

(hey, I can dream)

For those of you insisting on bringing a present, I certainly won't argue. Thank you in advance for your thoughtfulness and generosity. If you're reading this post, I will assume that you are here looking for some ideas and hints on what we might like, or perhaps even need. These are some things I'd at least like. Jason has given his input as well, mostly as an "I don't care", or "all we need is money". I'll probably be adding to this post periodically. I am realizing how much I love finding stuff to want and I'm more than happy to share the endless list.

Register Lists

I take no responsibility for the expensive items. It's just wishes, not expectations.

Pampered Chef
JC Penny
Pottery Barn
Amazon - all right this is just my own collection of books that I want. This list is years in the making. I'm SURE Jason would be just as thrilled if we got a book I had been wanting. :D

Other ideas

unique self sustaining, simple life with space for high tech.

-water filter/shower filter
-flannel sheets/Queen size bedding (this is one housing thing we've discussed - duvet)
-large wood bowl
- framed photos/memories
-enamelware

-crock ware

-stoneware

-handmade/hand crafted (doesn't matter who made it)
-functional art
-functional antiques
-favorite family recipes
-essential oils (esp. bible ones myrrh, frankincense, sandalwood, etc)
-shelving
-storage containers

-really cool serving platter
-Italian glass chandelier (getting greedy)
-paintball gear
-hemp shower curtain

-handyman tools. Like a power drill, hammer, screwdrivers, crescent wrench, etc. unfortunately JC Penny doesn't let you register for this. I thought they did. I might have to register at Lowe's or something.

"Needs"

If you want to be practical and really take care of our needs then what I said on the invitation is pretty much true. There really is not much we need, especially for kitchenware which is a really fun and practical wedding gift to shop for and receive. There's only so much bedding a person needs and as far as the rest, we don't know, we don't even know where we'll be living. Jason is being the most practical about this, with full time college on the horizon, both of us transferring/ losing our jobs, and some travel plans in the works, money ,will in fact, be our biggest need.

Hotel and travel info to Shores'

2009-09-17T23:17:00.003-05:00

I'M GETTING MARRIED!

The Shores House
400 Wesley Dr
929-1929 home 215-3035, 215-0466 cells
Wesley Dr in front of the house will be
blocked off 4-8 pm
From I40: Take exit 266. Turn south toward Chapel Hill onto Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. (aka HWY 86 & old Airport Road). Travel 3.2 miles and turn left at the light onto Umstead Dr. Follow map to 400 Wesley Drive or park in the office building lot and walk up to the house . Need help? Call above #’s or 880-3016.

HOTELS

Unfortunately UNC is having an at home football game with their biggest rivals who are 8 miles away. All hotels in Chapel Hill are booked and overpriced for this weekend. Carol has blocked rooms at the Holiday Inn Express in Hillsborough and at the Microtel.

Holiday Inn Express
9 rooms available w/ 2 Queens
$94.99/night plus taxes
contact Carol Shores at cgshores@gmail.com to reserve

Microtel
120 Old Dogwood St
919-245-3102

We aren't too certain about the quality but the price is the best around
2 Queens 62.99/night
1 Queen 53.99/night

call up to Oct 23 for reservations
877-361-2512
confirmation # 52816027

City Crushing Monster Party '09

2009-04-25T18:42:00.013-05:00

Welcome to my world

Boxburg

Here's another odd weekend that I got to witness. City Crushing Monster Party. This is the second year of it. I think Dreya is the instigator. It's pretty self explanatory but hard to believe so I will tell you a bit about it. For about a month Dreya and friends collected boxes, for about a month they turned them into buildings. Lots of buildings. It reminded me of elementary school. Then we had a gathering of monsters.

Gathering of monsters

Boxburg was set up in Shores' car port. Of the attending we had, Gothzilla - special move: the crushing darkness of angst and despair. Dogzilla, Jewzilla, Passive Aggressive Bear "Oh, I just came to hang out," Insectasoraus, The Tyranical Trench coated Ten Tenticalled Terror, Ger, Stay Puff Marshmallow, Freddy Mack and Fanny Mae, and Robo Zeus. Just for a few.

Unsuspecting Boxberg

Boxberg had everything a town would have, modern architecture, the ticky tacky suburb, school, several churches, seedy hotel, industrial district, train, water towers, gas station, and of course lots of sky scrapers.

Attack

And then the mayhem

Ryan

complete destruction

I think the city was destroyed in less then 10 minutes, and then the monsters used the skyscrapers to beat each other. There was even a little bat practice. All in all it was highly entertaining, done under black lights as the sun went down.

Any party Tony attends ends with fire twirling

What do you do on a Sunday afternoon?

2009-01-31T20:54:00.006-06:00

Well, it finally worked out. One day I stopped in at the butcher shop, bought some pigs feet, told Carol about it, she got some suturing material, and we made a date to do some sewing of a different kind. Months ago Carol had heard about one of my long time goals to learn to give stitches. It hadn't actually occurred to me to ask Carol to teach me how to give stitches but what better teacher than a surgeon? The invitation for the stitches lesson had been offered over dinner. Joe and Dreya wanted to get in on the learning experience. Dreya wasn't able to make it but Joe showed up and Carol sat down with us and finally satisfied my desire to learn how to give stitches. She went through knot tying, various suturing thread and when to use them, tools, everything. It was a very in depth and thorough lesson, totally fascinating. We tied knots, sliced little piggy feet and did all sorts of Frankenstein-ish things. It was fantastic. Thank you so much Dr. Shores. Another goal checked off my list even though knowing what it involves I don't actually want to need to give stitches. If the opportunity ever arises I'll be calling Carol. She's one of those people that drops everything to help someone, and she has the qualifications to back it up. It was so amazing of her to acquire our supplies and really put together a coherent lesson. She says they have a suturing workshop for the residents every year.

Joe and handiwork

Big news. Two weeks ago we got two whole inches of snow. It was fantastic. The way Southerners react to even the word snow is incredible. People were canceling their doctor's appointments when they heard the forecast. Only 20 people showed up for the clinic that day, we closed the clinic down 2 hours early and opened it 2 hrs late the next day. I walked the two miles to work to fully appreciate oncoming snow and it was a beautiful sunny day when I got out of work at 2:00. Jason picked me up from work and we helped his friend move, then his friends went and lost their keys in the snow. The snow! Of all the days to unknowingly drop your keys you do it with snow on the ground. I was just happy to have it feel like winter finally, and it stayed around long enough for me to get pictures.

I finally took some pictures of my place, so all those that can't stop by for a visit can get an idea. First up is the art area. All crafts and projects go here. The hall to the left passes the washer, fridge, and goes into the kitchen. The hall on the right passes the door that opens to the dryer on the right, the closet under the stairs, the bathroom on the left, the stairs to the right, kitchen to the left and finally the front door. I'm standing at our sliding door to take this picture. The desk on the left we picked up along side the road.

Our living room, see our white free book shelf we found along side the road? Dreya has 30 some plants. I don't know if you can see it but Dreya hung up antique glass ornaments that I got at a junk sale.

Tiny kitchen!

My boss gave me the wok that's hanging up. For those that are familiar with my religious practices, the snow covered sticks one of the earlier photos is the remains of the booth I built this fall. It was cozy when it had all the leaves.

I'm now officially full time employed at the hospital. My free health benefits start February. I got new hand-me-downs from Dreya's sister. Dreya was gone for a week to her sister's wedding in PA. Dreya had to put her cat down when she got back. It was a sad surprise. I didn't find out till I got home from work. All in all, I think that's about it. I went cantra dancing finally. I'll keep you posted.

Goals reviewed and refreshed

2009-01-19T09:48:00.004-06:00

I took the 43 Things Personality Quiz and found out I'm a

Self-Improving Traveling Tree Hugger

Ok, So Dreya tells me that I'm a sucker for hype. I like the way she puts it. It looks like I've found my perfect book, all about lists and goals. I don't think I'll be buying this any time soon since this is what I do on a regular basis but the advertising has inspired me to get back to goal setting. I have lots of goals, I just haven't kept them up-to-date or worked on my progress. I really like that the book recommends that you publish your goals and progress.

Here's what I can think of off the top of my head for now. I'll work on more later.

-keep house clean and ready for company
My house is actually clean at the moment, I have a game plan, a schedule, and criteria and I just ordered "How clean is your house?" Off Amazon. I flipped through the book at Barnes and Noble one time and have been inspired ever since. It's very colorful, and short bit's of info. A quick reference to get you moving and feel like it's not so daunting.
-write and publish my travel book
I just started a writing workshop and InDesign class last week. I'll have people inspiring me to write and critiquing what I have so far while I learn how to do my book lay out. SO EXCITED!
-learn to belly dance
-learn akido
-have a garden
does buying another garden book count? I bought one last year and was around when Bethany and Dreya had their gardens
-do art
I'm not going to be too specific but I have a list of projects to do for people that I need to get going on
-trim hair once a month
-get EMT certified
-get trained in phlebotomy (learn to draw blood)
-write and mail a letter every day
-work on scrapbook
-learn Spanish
-sail with Dad
-get married
-swim the English Channel
-get a log cabin
-fix my bug
-make my quilts
I have a crazy quilt, a round-the-world quilt, and a T-shirt and Jeans quilt to make. Round-the-world is first. From the scraps of that I make the crazy quilt. I have the scraps. I'd get a long ways if I could just cut the pieces.
-learn fiddle
-see The White Stripe in concert
-read the Bible regularily
I'm trying to start with a chapter a day. It's at least an improvement. I really want to read and study and grow spiritually but I really don't know how to go about it. I see lot's of books on spiritual growth, and I really like books but it's still someone else's interpretation and list of do's and don'ts.
-collaborate with Rachael on bowl designs
Yes, I have found another artist with the exact same name as me. I would like the opportunity to put my art on functional pieces and get out in another area
-have an art show
I'm a chicken. I'm afraid it would be expensive, and I haven't even looked at how to go about getting galleries to take me seriously. I'm afraid I have to invest the money to get my stuff framed first which will be expensive, take up space, and have the potential to get damaged.

-do New Zealand's biggest bungee jump
-learn Thai Chi

Goals I've accomplished

*elbow length hair
*fish in Alaska
*road trip the US
*see all 7 continents in 5 yr
I made it in 6 years but that's all right by me
*hike the Appalachian Trail
*meet Weird Al
* see Everclear, Eve 6, Modest Mouse in Concert
*learn to give stitches
My most recently achieved goal. This is where it shows that people are out there to help you accomplish your dreams. I've been saying just about forever that it is my goal to learn to give stitches. I happened to mention this in the company of "The Doctor" Jason's mom, and she was like, "Well, bring over some pigs' feet and I'll bring the suture supplies, and I'll give you a lesson". So Sunday after a wonderful brunch of eggs, oatmeal, and kale we rubber-banded the pigs feet to some boards and she gave Joe and I a complete lesson. Joe, had heard about my wish and wanted in as well. It was absolutely fantastic. She went through needle and thread guages, holding, surgeons' knots, square knots, all sorts. We sliced up the pigs feet and then sewed them back up. It was absolutely awesome and also a good dose of reality. Now that I have an idea of how to do it, I don't want to ever need to. I'll post pictures later.
*make pie crust from scratch
Another goal that came about because someone else willingly provided me the resources. Ben is an excellant and patient teacher, he showed the simplicity of it so well that I feel confident that I could make it again. I should really make another pie to make sure. Maybe that should be on my list today.
*sky dive
*bungee jump
*learn to knit and knit wrist cuffs
-get a credit card (Oct. '08)
Maybe that will help with new expenses. Really, I just want to be more financially independent and build credit. I'm responsible, I should just have some back-up.

updated picutres for Becky

2009-01-08T22:56:00.008-06:00

Well, it's been awhile. I quit painting after the first week of January and I consider myself basically done until I have input from Becky that says different, otherwise there's just too many ways I could go and the goal is to go in the direction that she's interested. So, let me walk you through my studio.

I layed out the the pictures that were similar. I think they could really go together and make a powerful wall piece. I see them all framed in minimal black frames that stick out like they're stretched canvases, maybe even overlapping some of the frames to make one of those sort of collage pieces.
Here's another angle just to get you thinking. Once the two paintings that are on one sheet are seperated there a lots of possiblities.

I really added some subtle changes to the scenery one. I was trying to incorporate the red and greens again. I added red to the trees and the shadows, and yellow in betwee. Full sheet.

This is that bathtub stain painting. I started to try to make it a real murky/misty forest scene with horses but I'm still stuck on it. I still don't really like it. I should really find a good photo referance. I'd like it to stay abstract with horses. Something has to change because this painting seems really dreary. I don't know how to brighten it or where, the same problem I had with the other landscape. this is a crop, it's probably about 11x17, I would like to repaint a larger painting like this with all the crisscross angles. I was breaking down the blur and movement of horses and jockeys. I could detail it some to give that idea of racing action or I could break it down more into angles and colors. I just like block-y .

I like how much the painting changes depending on how I crop it. Here I think it looks a little more like horses racing, in an abstract way. I would like to take this and make it a larger painting. Right now it's too small to for much impact. approx. 15x17

Becky had mentioned that she wanted horses and racing so I wanted to try doing a sort of abstract color block horse head. I made all the little mock-ups to see what combination I liked better and then tried to make them like minature pictures, maybe a long row in window boxes. I'd like to see them rearranged and displayed with the bigger one. In the end I couldn't commit to just two colors on the large picture and now I have something that reminds me more of some early 90s poster. Total is one watercolor paper.
This is the narrow fence one finally done. I don't think it's a very strong painting on it's own. I think it should have a very large wide black frame. Or be grouped with other paintings which I have also tried. I could repaint the horse head perhaps. It was just a mock up of what I was thinking. approx. 32x10

Here is an idea of putting two together, or maybe they could turn horizontal.
Remember the green blurs of colors, I put in a horse eye, That's all I could see doing but the left side doesn't seem finished. I think I need to finish some of the streaks and then reshape the big red and green blob to be more like a horizon line. I like how the feathered white space looks like a blaze on the horse. full sheet

Here I just cropped it to show how I think the picture could look more dynamic. I would still need to fix the drooping red in the background. Maybe I could soften the blue lines that frame the eyes, they kind of box it in.Could this just be a minimalis painting? I did some streaks trying to make a larger version of that angled painting and then I stopped and didn't want to go any more. I think I did them wrong.
And then I had a huge break through. I found a new technique that could take me in a whole different direction. I've got texture, tons of color and all sorts of possibilities to just make a mess of blended colors. I painted this without really manipulating my materials, just to see how they would work out. I don't care for this painting a whole lot but I like it for the reason that I was in a bad mood and by basically finger painting with such bright happy colors totally made me happy. I just feel happy and relieved when I look at this painting. I don't think the colors work with what Becky is looking for.

See how you can change the painting just by rotating it? This is the way that I actually painted it but I think I prefer it vertical 16x20
THIS is what I got trying to make something geared more for Becky, I kept the thought of racing horses in my head and I like the movement this has. I see a dusty silhouette of horses backlit by a sunset. If Becky likes this I would definately like to continue with more of these. Both of these pictures are rather small though, not a full sheet of watercolor paper. I worry that a large sheet might end up looking more like a finger painted mess. 32x10 approx.

I started painting a multi colored background to do that new textured technique over it but then I just had fun watching colors blend and ended up with this. I don't know if it's done and it could go a lot of different ways. Something else I am still waiting on feed back for.

Or should it be horizontal?

All right, that was my show, any ideas or suggestions. Please let me know. Particularily BECKY. Send me an e-mail Becca. This is what I'm thinking, if from these you have your "two" paintings that you want then I'm done, if you still don't see anything that really jumps out at you tell me what you want, send me some ideas, or tell me what things you want differently. I could change the black streaks to brown and make less contrasting pieces, I could use fewer colors, more muted colors. I have seen some really really all red paintings which I really like and could try but I don't know if you want that and I might have to get more paint for an all red canvas.

updated blog

2008-12-11T10:37:00.001-06:00

www.roadsparrow.blogspot.com Check it out. Finally some pictures. Some boat news, some art, some stories.

Love,
Rachael

You live life online. So we put Windows on the web. Learn more about Windows Live

Catch up on photos, and short boat update

2008-12-07T21:32:00.006-06:00

Jason at paintball, shot by his good friend Phil. He didn't even know there was someone still left on the other team. It looked bad for quite a while, blood and everything.

The booties I knitted, cute little pointy elf toes. Can you see that they really have a heel?

The Renaissance outfits that Carol got for her and Russ.

My Ren outfit, not the best picture of the cape, but we're showing off Jason's new hat and vest.

POINTY HOOD!

And since I'm at it I can try to get you caught up on this past week. Basically it was none stop. I was schedule to work 9 hrs a day. Saturday, Nov 29 was Jason's Birthday, it was also his mom's best friend's 50th birthday so we went out for dinner and dancing. Sunday night was B.B. King for the grand opening of the Durham Performing Arts Center. We were pretty high up but it was neat to be in the presence of a blues legend. Wednesday we were back at the Center for Lewis Black, an angry comedian yelling about politics, we laughed hysterically. That night I did find out that there were extra tickets to the hockey game Hurricanes vs. Penguins. So Jason and I went to that with a bunch more people. Someone has season tickets, nice seats. I thought it was a bit ironic, my second hockey game and I've never been to one in Minnesota.

I got my bike all tuned up and with saddle bags. The guy at Back Alley Bikes sold me used water proof saddle bags for $40. I don't know if that was each, or together, either way he said they are usually over $100. I don't know, I LOVE them. I can haul everything with me, my bike looks all cool, I have a functional mode of transportation. My busy week caught up with me on Friday when I forgot to turn my alarm on so I missed the bus and the bike was in the shop. Dreya let me take her bike which made me only 10 min. late instead of the half hour I would have had waiting for my bus.

Yesterday I finally got to go to the really really free market. It's the first Saturday of every month. Everyone brings whatever stuff they want to get rid of and everyone is free to pick through everything else. There is no strings attached. It's awesome. I got all sorts of goodies then decided to bring the things that my boss had given me that I didn't want. I ended up bringing two loads of stuff home. I got a wine rack that holds nearly all our wine - did you know that Dreya and I had bought two cases? I got a sweatshirt, tank top, wrap around shirt, a cool curtain rod with blown glass balls at the ends, and a navy blue polo shirt. Which, for those of you don't get the joke, that was Jason's and my kitche uniform down in Antarctica. I wore it when I came over to Jason's this morning, complete with my old bandana head scarf. Perfect. I am really glad to have that shirt. It totally puts me in the mood for cleaning. My boss has given me a stoneware lasagna pan, a nice 5 or 6 candle holder, one of those that would sit on a mantle. Dreya has brought home big glass jars from work so I've been able to do some rearranging in the cupboards.

I didn't feel like I accomplished much this week, it was really just a flurry of activities and lots and lots of fun. This coming week I have a normal 40 hr week so I plan to get more done. I signed up for another class - writing. It's at the community center. I've also signed up for InDesign which is the computer program that will help me layout my book the way I want. I don't think I'll sign up for any more classes though. Once I finally did the math I realized that the Community Ed classes are $20 a lesson, not that great of a deal.

On Friday I met our new nurse at the Neurology clinic, Bethany (my old room mate's name), and then at the Art Center the girl that works there and who also waits on us at Carrborito introduced herself and her name is Mandy (the name of a super good friend that I worked with in Antarctica). The owner of the bike shop is Jason and his mechanic helper is Ben (one of my brother's), how ironic is all that? I met them all pretty much this weekend.

Saturday night was Yo Mamma's Big Fat Booty Band. They are a really dancing sort of band, big hats, funky costumes, and they didn't close down till 1 am. It was greay. I danced the whole night in an outfit made from the free market, a reversable house dress from the 60s with a red and white floral pattern. I certainly felt funky. Dreya dressed up like a James Bond villianess. She had the big jewelry, leaopard print, and cleavage. It was an awesome night.

For those of you that aren't my family I'll tell you what my family sent me. So, for Thanksgiving I wrote everyone a letter using some old packing paper that looked like paper bag material so eveyone sent me an envelope of letters and drawings and they all used various scraps of paper. I have notes written on plastic bags, a napkin, a kleenex, a magazine page, paper bags. . .a pile of recyclables. It was funny and sweet and cute.

Next Friday is another band, then another on Saturday. I have to go to coffee night on Tuesday, but other than that, so far it's a pretty mild week, it's just that December is counting down and I need to get focused. I have a bunch of paintings to look at and try to fix. I'll show you those as well.

Boat Update:

I got to talk to Dad yesterday, (for the rest of this update I'll refer to him as Randy since that how most everyone else knows him). It turns out that the guy that sent him to the Bahamas was trying to get him to work on a very large boat. Randy had one money boat in the garage that he was working on restoring this past year but there is a whole new project that only fits in the barn. Randy said that the only place he could work on it was in the barn and the only way he would do that is if the barn was heated, and not out of his own pocket. Well, the guy agreed to the deal and now Randy has an insulated heated barn with folding doors and a huge furnace. His very own shop. How cool is that??? Well, this means that Randy has agreed to restore this giant boat, about a two year project. Which means that he can't go sailing yet. That means that he'll be finishing up his boat in the new heated space, finishing the boat that was in the garage, and starting the new restoration project this winter. Randy also has a new assistant, my brother Ben. Ben tells me that the car dealership that he was working at closed down so now he's working for Randy. So, once again Ben is thinking of sailing with Randy! YAY! It's too bad that Randy doesn't get to go off sailing around the world next summer but he will be sailing next summer around Lake Superior and saving up money for the big voyage in summer 2010.

What this means to me is that I have a place to be for at least another year. I can try to get hired on at the hospital, I can continue to nestle in at Dreya's, I can continue to get involved in my community and I don't have to wonder about plans for a long time. I can work from project to project, and they are lining up. I have the paintings to make for Becky, bowls to design and paint with Rachael - the Rachael that I met at the Carrboro Art Crawl, and I have scrapbooking to work on in a major way. It's so exciting. Next summer I hope to sail with Dad a little and see how things have changed.

Paintings for Becky - very first peek

2008-12-07T13:29:00.010-06:00

I don't know if you know the story but Becky bought me 100 sheets of watercolor paper. In return I told her I would paint her 10 paintings from which she could choose two. This is what I have so far. Please note that these are all in progress or are not what I will present her with as final 10. I will take you on a little tour
"cheery blossom" That's the idea I was going for, the black slash got way too curly and is unhelpful in the painting, the pink is too busy, and too much like a blob. I like it better cropped down like in the first photo and I think that is how I will end up presenting the painting later. I would like to try this concept again but with more angled lines and more wet looking color.I was trying to do Kentucky inspired landscape with abstract. This is still a work in progress. It's a little loose, too much the same green but I'm not quite sure where to tone down or if I should brighten stuff, should I add more colors and where? I tried adding the red in the background but it doesn't quite go together right. I like the idea. I'd like to work on it some more. I like the composition, I just want to have a better plan for the colors. I would like to do one in yellows and blues that mix together to make greens. Maybe that would be the simplicity and complex coming together. I would also like to try one with the fences white. The fences should fade out in the background.I'm just not sure if this is the sort of picture that Becky was going for. I first tried pouring on colors which I would then slash big streaks of black through but when I was supposed to add the black I couldn't decide where to put it. Now I think I might try turning this into an abstract horses head, very close up. You can see the eye in the upper right corner. Hopefully with the loose lines I could make it look like it was in motion and racing. I think that this painting is too bright for Becky's office. I like that there is lots of white. My priority is to make something for her law office.
This was one of the mix colors. I painted the black on first which was a lot easier to work with but I still feel like I didn't have a plan for the colors. I liked that I was muting the colors down more instead of always the bright primaries. Becky had talked about earth tones, sea foam green, a burnt red, and I want to narrow it down and focus more on those colors

I painted the black as Kentucky inspired fence lines, still trying to keep it very abstract but I think the fence line theme is still pretty obvious, then I tried to use more warm colors and with the greens and all. It's. . .ok. Nothing very dynamic. It looks like a pattern instead of an abstract painting.This is a true Chinese character. I think it mean success and completion or something. I plan on this being two paintings, so these are two images as a pair. When it's cut apart I want to try flipping the designs around and seeing what I get. Still pretty blah. For the time I put into it it's not all that interesting.

This is hard to distinguish. This painting is still on the board and it's a long narrow painting. The yellow above is not part of it. I was just curious what Becky thought of the very square rough pattern. I have plans for this, something more scrap book-y, more colors, more contrasts. I want the squares to be more like frames and colors on paper cutouts that don't stay in the frames. This seems to be deviating away from plans for Becky but I had the intention of making it Kentucky inspired again. I was trying to represent a fence line. I want to have images of horses and racing inspired images in the frame work. You might be able to make out the little horse head I quickly painted. This would be more detailed but it's not all bold and strong.

Then I tried putting some of my paintings together as one. Now we have something. On their own they don't make sense but together they have the black slashing through and being broken up by the borders. I might try some more of this style but it's harsh. I think Becky wanted more calming. I have two more phases I want to try, one is bright flat colors with racing themes. I have some photos of horses heads, jockeys, race tracks. I think I'll calm down the colors a little bit but they will be more blocky.

After that, if Becky liked the landscape I want to work on those. So, any suggestions? I'm not taking any criticism comments, only from Becky, she's the boss, I am finding plenty on my own. I just want inspiring ideas on how to improve, things to try. What sort of images say "Rebecca, fabulously successful lawyer and awesome person, she will take good care of you and everything will be all right"? That's the message I'm trying to give. I started by breaking down the message but like I said, I think the black and the slashes is to harsh. Maybe in big numbers and more color, more spaced apart, the black and colors will change and have a calming affect since they don't make any sense. Security in numbers. Let me know, I am looking forward to all suggestions.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-29T15:29:00.003-06:00

What a perfect Thanksgiving. Well, there were a couple hitches but it started off absolutely perfect. On Wednesday night Kat and Ben came over to Shores and brought absolutely delicious chili with rice. It was SO good and I am not a chili fan at all. After the chili Ben and I hunkered down and he set out to teach me how to make perfect pie crusts. It was amazing, it really worked. They rolled out super thin without sticking the to cutting board, they easily went into the pie dishes without tearing. Hopefully this means that I can make pie crust on my own now. It was so homey. The Shores' kitchen is well designed and can really accommodate a lot of cooks. Carol, Kat, and Jason went shopping for some last minute ingredients and then they were back. Carol worked on apple pie filling and Kat worked on the pumpkin. I had found the recipe for pumpkin pie from scratch online. On Tuesday I had gotten off work early and Jason drove me to the farmer's market where they were having a special Thanksgiving market. There were lots of pies and baked goods on sale. We bought a few things but there were no pumpkins, luckily I found some at Weaver Street Market.

Anyways, The kitchen was warm and busy with the smell of cinnamon to tie it all together. Laura and Paul came over and watched the hockey game with Russel. Russel just got out of the hospital on Monday, he had knee replacement surgery on Wednesday and is already walking around but so far it hurts worse than it did before. Carol bought him a leather Lay-Z-Boy. Super comfy. It was pretty handy to be working at the hospital and to go visit him afterwards.

I started Thanksgiving with a late morning watching cartoons, just like at Grandma's. There was a Tom and Jerry marathon going on. I worked on my knitting, I've been trying to knit myself a pair of wrist cuffs, you know, like sweater sleeves with a thumb hole. I even worked on them last weekend when Jason had paintball practice. I also got to take lots of pictures again at paintball practice because one of the paintball wives had a zoom lens and the same camera as Jason. It's lots of fun to be out on the field to take pictures and try to avoid getting shot.

I was hanging out at Shores, Carol got the smoker going and commenced to smoking 3 ducks, she also roasted a turkey. Then Jason's bathtub and toiled filled with brown water and they had to call the plumber. Whatever stopped up the drain worked itself out but Jason still had to take apart the toilet and the plumber man still stopped by and charged an arm load. Russell slept or shuffled around, he can almost get by without crutches.

I made wild rice stuffing but it turned out really bad, the rice was hardly cooked and the bread crumbs were soggy, nothing stuck together. Some people actually had seconds on it so maybe it wasn't all bad but I wasn't happy about it. I had made refrigerator pickles as well, Mom sent some lefse which I taught people how to properly eat it and a tub of pickled herring completed my attempt at making Thanksgiving feel like home. That first bite of pickled herring instantly took me to Grandma's and I was suddenly home sick. I've been away for Thanksgiving before but I was traveling, now I was actually at Thanksgiving away from my family. It's sad to be so far away but this was the perfect way to do it. There were about 15 people at dinner and I knew most of them, some really well. Carol made cranberry sauce, and guess what, succotash, as in "Suffering succotash," like Sylvester says, is an actual food. From what I saw it's a combination of different beans and some mashed potatoes. I really don't know what it is but it sure tasted good. It's probably made with bacon fat since it's a southern dish but I really didn't want to know. "Recieve all food set before you with thanksgiving", right? And I did. There is, of course, tons of left overs. One thing they had that I've never had at Thanksgiving was wine. Carol made mulled wine too. There were green beans, mashed potatoes and kale, pumpkin bread, sweet potato cobbler,. . .I can't even remember everything else. It was a great time though. The best part is that I keep forgetting that I have a 4 day weekend, I keep thinking that I have to go back to work tomorrow and I don't! YAY.

All right, well, today is Jason's birthday. I am very happy since for a little while we are a little closer in age. Kat is also 50 today and has been having a continuous birthday party all day long. We are going tonight for dinner and a concert. Should be fun. Hopefully I'll be painting more tomorrow. I've been working at it but still not getting anything I like. I was all productive yesterday, I rearranged the kitchen, utilizied some bottles, and now we have a spice drawer with well marked bottles of spices. I also finally washed up a set of plastic drawers that I got off the curb and we have newly organized paint supplies and more shelf space for books. Hey, so it's not exciting, I call it nesting. Time for dinner and dancing.

Best Weekend Ever

2008-11-15T16:25:00.004-06:00

I was biking home from work the other day, the leaves have all changed, everything is the perfect fall colors and cool breezes, it makes me think of Bethany, my old room mate, and how I miss her but at the same time it just makes me love Carrboro more and more.

On Thursday I had just eaten with Jason, I think that's the night his mom made awesome Pad Thai. I checked my e-mail to find that there was a gardening meeting going on at that very moment. I took off and showed up nearly an hour late but they were still at it brainstorming and the like. The room was full of shaggy hairstyles and fuzzy sweaters, some grubby bare feet, lots of big mugs of tea. The conversation was all so exciting, nothing got accomplished but I found out that there is a whole group of people here where I live that want to learn backyard sustainability, that want to have cooking classes, learn to cook healthy food, that there are medicinal herbalists, that there's organizations out to get this sort of thing to be independent of donations. I was so excited just to drink it all in. That night I also got an e-mail about a pie contest/fund raiser, so on Friday at about 10:00 Jason took me shopping and I started baking apple pies at about 11:00, poker was just ending. On Friday Carol also had a going away party at Carolina Brewery, she has a new job at Wake Med, it's the hospital in Raliegh, she has left UNC, the hospital that I work at. I got to meet more doctors and assistants and hear Dr. Carol Shores stories. My favorite:

Why Carol Won't Eat Anything a Patient Makes Her

When Carol was a lowly resident or intern or something working in the neonatal unit someone actually brought brownies for them ( I have learned that this is a common thing patients do for their regular doctors) which everyone happily ate.  The former patient was happy to hear that the brownies had been enjoyed, she had run out of some ingredients and had subsituted. "I made them with breast milk!", she said with a proud jiggle.

There's a great apple pie recipe I found on line that people have liked so I made 3 for the various events happening for the weekend. Saturday was also Spam Jam, one of the Shores' friends hosts techno, a bonfire, and a food drive at her place. I brought a pie for that but I later realized that my midnight math had gone down the tubes and I hadn't made it with enough butter. I did find Ben though, and he's offered to give me a lesson. I guess he's a pastry master and soon I'll be a pastry pro. For other learning things, I've also learned to do some knitting, made baby booties with a heel and everything and what I am really excited for is that I was telling Carol how I've always wanted to learn to give stitches and she says if I bring her pigs' feet she'll teach Dreya and I how to do real stitches.

I accomplished another goal of mine as well at Spam Jam, fire poi. I never knew about spinning balls of fire hung from chains till I saw street performers in Poland on my European trip in 2000 and I thought it was the coolest thing. I figured it would take at least as much time to learn that as it would take to learn to juggle, too much dedication but Jen, the Spam Jam hostess, has been giving poi spinning lessons at the beach trips using tennis balls and then someone else brought their fire poi and. . . well, I was spinning fire poi, it was awesome. I only had one minor burn on my forearm and some singed hair but it was awesome. You feel the heat rotating around you and you can hear the rush of the fire. Just awesome. The balls hang a little shorter than an arm length. It's all about spinning them at the same time without the balls knocking together, there's lots of tricks and ways to do this to make it look really cool.

Saturday Jason also had a paintball tournament. He's on a 3 man team. They did really well, moved up a few spots and qualified for regionals which will be held in Charlotte in a few weeks. It's too bad all the tournaments are on Saturdays.

Sunday was Renaissance Festival! It was so fun! You have no idea. I was all dressed up like a milk maid. Dreya has a black velvet corset that she let me borrow. Jason was all dressed up too in really cool boots, and a pirate outfit. He even brought his sword. Carol came with as well which was great because we talked her out of moving her office to come to Ren. So it was Phil, Kellye, and the rest of us. I can't even describe how much fun it was. It was a whole fantasy world, everyone was part of it, all the booths and food kiosks were in on it. There was jousting, tricks, belly dancing, lots of awesome outfits. It was a perfect warm golden fall day and I was just giddy the whole day. I don't think I stopped smiling. Carol found a soft grayish, purplish vest that totally completed Jason's outfit, it was absolutely perfect with his gray shirt. "I'm buying that for you." She said just like that. As we were leaving the shop Carol and Kellye got distracted by a rack of capes. There was a perfect olive green one that they pointed out to me. It had a fancy metal clasp just like on Lord of the Rings. I tried to keep my distance because I really didn't want to fall in love with a cape I couldn't afford. Besides, I would only consider a cap with a pointy hood. I was explaining this to them as they turned the cape around and there was the perfect pointed hood. I bet it was almost 3 feet long. SO COOL! dang-it! Well, then they wanted me to try it on. So fine, I would try on this totally awesome cape and tell myself that I could learn to make it oneday, it even had braided trim all along the edges. "That cape was made for you, I'm totally buying it for you,"Carol said, and just like that I have an awesome awesome cape. I think I'll wear it today actually.

I suppose the indulgent shopping made us giddy as well. After that Carol decided Russell needed a vest to complete his pirate outfit. We used Jason as a model and found a very regal top for him, it was sort of scarlet brocade, laced up, with wide shoulders, very King Henry, very cool. Well, after more looking around and seeing the various shows Carol was finally getting convince that she needed a better pirate outfit and so we went back to the costume shop where she found a corset to match Russel's vest, a very full red petticoat, a ruffled black skirt with splits up the sides to show off the red underskirt, and an off the shoulder black peasant shirt. The last purchase of the day was at a leather shop where I made Jason try on a green muskateer hat. The underside is green suede and the top is black, it even had a gold ostrich plume to finish it off. It was perfect with his long goatee. We all coerced him into buying it, it was horribly expensive but I say it's worth it. Now I have my very own muskateer.

What a weekend. The pies, the party, being productive, feeling like I was contributing, feeling all homey, making contacts in my community with people who have similar goals. A cozy bonfire, accomplishing wild and slightly dangerous tricks that I had never thought I would do. Being all dressed up and feeling so girly and rugged at the same time in this beautiful fall time. It was absolutely such a perfect weekend. There was so much adventure and so many new things and yet I was feeling more established in my new place. Ahhh. . . .

In the News

2008-11-04T17:21:00.008-06:00

Mom sent me a news article the other day. It was Dad's story about the boat. I found the link to the St. Cloud Times article so now you can go see it for yourself, even if you already read it you should check out the comments. It's really interesting how many people made a comment. So, after the big boat party some friends that came to visit told the paper. I guess Mom has been stopped at the grocery store by people who didn't know about the boat 12 miles away. Diane wanted to bring out tour from the nursing home, and I think other people have asked to come out. I know that there is a boat in our barn but it was really refreshing to hear Dad's words again as I read them in the paper.

Just a warning, St. Cloud Times only has the article up on the website for a short period of time before it goes to archives and then you have to pay to look it up.

I called Dad on Monday to say hi, he had called from the airport on the way out to Rhode Island to crew on a sailboat. Here when he answered he was already heading out to see. I could hear the engine going and he said he was trying to keep the books from sliding around on him. I hope he keeps us updated on his adventures. I can't remember if I already wrote it but the guy that owns that boat that Dad has been restoring in the garage has another 65 ft sailboat. That sailboat has been in Rhode Island getting a new deck and now it needs to be sailed back to the Virgin Islands. The guy hired Dad, paid for his flight and now Dad gets to learn to sail for 2 weeks. How cool is that?

blog update

2008-09-29T17:42:00.001-05:00

I haven't sent out a blog update in a long while, now I have 2 new posts. Be sure to see Dad's latest work on the sailboat!

love,
Rachael

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The Big Mast Party

2008-09-29T16:56:00.005-05:00

Congratulations!

I know I've mentioned and even shown some pictures of Dad's boat but last Sunday was the big day, the mast "stepping" is the proper way to say it. For us land folk it means they stood the masts up. These pictures were taken by Charity and hopefully all those that missed the party and wanted to see pics will be able to see these. Dad's been working on this boat since he retired about 3 years now. I've gotten to help a little bit and well, actually, many people have been able to contribute their tools and talents. It's really neat to see how Dad's dream is affecting others and how they have been able to come forward and help out. At least 50 people showed up for the big day. Next year Dad plans to set sail and start heading around the world. I hope to sail with him at least for a portion. Who knows what a year will bring.

the main mast is about 45ft above the deck

the sailing kite
infamous for sailing from the roof of our barn

the main mast is at least 20 ft above the barn

Just try to imagine: This boat is sitting out in our circle driveway, down a country road of very rural Minnesota. It has a 2hr journey by road to get to Lake Superior. From the deck as it is in these pictures, you can stand and look out at the corn field.

Schooner Stats:

ballast is 4,000 lbs of concrete
length on deck is 43 ft
overall length, tip to tip is 56 ft
it sits 6 ft in the water
name ideas: Sea Sparrow,
Valerie's Vessel

It's hard to believe that the whole thing is now back in the barn for the winter.

HIRED!

2008-08-25T12:51:00.004-05:00

I suppose I should be sending out an update about my whereabouts and all that. I did move to the Chapel Hill area in August and didn't say anything else till now. It has been busy and uneventful at the same time. In the end it was a whole month before I got hired, from there I had to wait for 2 weeks for my first pay check, which was this past Friday, so I have been paid for a total of one day of work. BUT the awesome thing is that I got hired for the job I wanted, my first choice, they are also the only one that ever called me for an interview, even the temp agency, which I will say, is totally worthless. It's coming up on two month, I'm hired, and I still have been called about ANY work. I should just see how long it takes them.

So, I love my job, I am working at the hospital at the Neurology clinic. It's office work, lots of phone answering, setting appointments, checking people in and out, verifying insurance, etc. The cool thing is that not only is it office work but I was hired because of my nurse's assistant license. Eventually I'll be trained as a CNA as well in Neurology and have more responsibilities. I am very excited about all of it. I've had a bunch of computer training already and I'm getting a feel for things. I've loved dressing up, I get to work full time, I am even getting over time right now and I still get off at 5:30. All the classes I want to take work right around my schedule, eventually, when I get money and have time I'll be able to take some classes. We'll see. I also have an art project to work on soon. I hope that all works out. I have PLANS! My big shot lawyer friend, Rebecca, wants to commission me to paint for her office and her town home. YAY!

I'll tell you though, it was real tough up till I got hired, my bank account is scratchings and it's going to be that when I pay rent tomorrow. My first big paycheck doesn't come till next week. Bah. But after that it'll be smooth sailing.

I'm having so much fun here. I get to hang out with Jason pretty much every day. I'm being a little clingy I think because he'll be leaving in January for college in Asheville, it's 3 hours away. That, and I have plans to be painting all I can from now till January. I've been out to watch him play paintball, there's been great dinner conversations at coffee night and poker nights, Jason has taken me out to a few movies, there was the Carrboro art crawl where I got to see the local artists and discovered contra dancing which is my kind of dancing. Almost every girl was wearing flowy skirts and it's like variations of the Virginia Reel. The music was fantastic.

I think Saturday night was just about the highlight. It was the Clockwork Ball. It's called "steam punk" maybe I've mentioned this style to you. I guess it's based off an anime movie called Steam Boy which makes me feel nerdy and less enthused about the origins BUT the bottom line is that it's like funky Victorian dress. All the girls were in corsets and, fishnets and crazy lace up boots. I had my own visions of steam punk, adjusted them slightly when I saw the trailer to the anime and then proceeded to copy the female character on Sweeny Todd. It took me a good while to get that ratty hair do, I still haven't attempted to comb out my hair but with some crazy blow drying, bobby pins, and random poofs I looked like a wreck. "My goal is a fancy hairstyle that I slept in for a week," I explained to Jason when he asked why I was trying make it look like I had been living in a bush. Unfortunately I didn't take a camera with and Jason refused to come along but I had a great time, I had on this long long black satin skirt, 3 or 4 inch platform boots, and petticoats, everything. It was sort of school marm/mad scientist lady. I danced till I wanted to cut my feet off and then we walked home, I bet is was half a mile. The night was fantastic, the music was awesome and the costumes were amazing. I hope to get a link to the pictures soon. I'll put that up later. I was surrounded by friends, I knew seven people there, met a couple more, and we danced the night away. SO. MUCH. FUN.

Yesterday was the memorial service for one of the Friday night poker players, Mary. I'm sure I must have met her on at least the first Poker Night that I was at but I can't really remember. She died suddenly of a brain aneurysm while Jason was up in MN. Even though I didn't remember her it was very sobering to see the lives she touched and the affect she had on people. The minister gave a great service and I went away thinking about how short life is, what our purpose is and how it's all small stuff. Our purpose in life is to serve the community and the lives of others, was his message. I think of that as I am here and how there are so many things to participate in around here and as I get to hang out with the Shores' group. There is a sense of community here that was explained as stronger than ties of friends. It's almost like family and they often refer to themselves as a tribe. That's what I love about being here. I feel this opportunity to be a part of something strong, accepting and embracing. I also have my times of feeling inadequate like being down south in BBQ country. I've been instructed that BBQ is only BBQ when it's pork. It's pork or shrimp, neither that I eat. I am also dreading Halloween. Where am I going to hide for that? Because I am really going to have to hide. The entire town takes part, it's like New Orlean's Mardi Gras. You can't escape it. No one is going to understand that, my favorite thing to do is dress up but I'm going to skip the biggest dress up party of the year.

On Friday is the fall Beach trip. The Spring one is the one I went to when I decided that I would be moving here. I am very excited. The Shores tell me that the water is 80 degrees. I thought that water was warm and wonderful last time. I can't wait. So much to do. Next Friday is my big paycheck. I've had two months to plan how to spend it. Most of it will go to pay off loans from the Bank of Mom and Dad. I guess there aren't many exciting purchases, just household stuff that I didn't want to bother mailing. I found more free stuff. That's been exciting.

Dreya and I get nearly all our food for free from Dreya's job - although, Jason also takes me out every night which is what has mostly sustained me. It's exciting to see what is available or what new treat we get to have. Often it is bread, sometimes, it's a leaking jug of milk, one time it was an abandoned jar of honey - yay for free honey!

Our furniture situation is the same way. Russ, Jason's Dad, gave us the heads up on some furniture on the side of the road. Dreya and I were able to get it all in the back of her little hatchback. We got a very nice long desk, that's more just a table with a drawer, a roomy bookcase, and an end table. Once we got home we unloaded everything, and then rearranged the whole living room to fit everything in a homey way. It's so nice and open feeling now, I sit on the couch looking across at the fountain and the huge mirror, I can look outside to my right at our patio, the solid coffee table is where our laptops permanently sit, the table is now our art desk covered in paints, the end table is the mail drop, and everything has various dried plants hanging from it. We are collecting all the shelving that we can because Dreya's plant collection all has to come in the house for the winter.

Winter reminds me of weather and weather reminds me of hurricane season. So far we've only had the tail end of one hurricane. There was some power out, leaves and small branches were everywhere, and a huge oak fell down once the sun was out again. It was pretty exciting to see the torrential rain, some streets were momentarily flooded. I like when weather can bring everyone together. There was lots of spectating going on. Well, that's about all I can think of. I've been helping Russ fix up his apartments on Sundays, I've rocked on the porch with the Shores while we watched the sunset from the porch of the local ice cream shop. I had raspberry chocolate but I should have had the mango. Carol had an intense day of surgery where she operated nearly all day, got home at 10:00 that night, got called in at 1:00 in the morning and finished the operation at 10:00 the next morning then spent the rest of the day seeing patients. I've been walking home from work, I finally found my way to Kat and Ninja's, Kelly and I did some very quick window shopping during a rare visit to the mall, and my boss gave me a bunch of her office clothes that she doesn't wear! I've seen more deer activity in the suburbs than anywhere else. I've seen a doe nursing her twin fawns in my back yard, and bucks lock horns in a field as Jason and I drove by.

All right, that's all I can think of. I've thrown in these pictures from the 80s party I went to at Mr. Jim's. You know, that one where I was one of two people that dressed up. Another thing I loved about the Clockwork Ball, I was certainly not the best dressed or most outrageously dressed. I got so many ideas, I wish I would have taken pictures, I wish I could have taken notes. Well, I will talk to you later. I'll try to get you an update about the beach trip.

NEWS

2008-08-22T18:12:00.006-05:00

Bemidji!

So there's been a few things rearranged. I went down to visit Jason, Jason has come up to visit in MN again. I got to drag him way up North to meet relatives and get another photo of a silly MN landmark. Yay Paul Bunyan. I told people that Jason was my escort to make sure that I really did return to North Carolina for good. It's official: I'VE MOVED. I slept in my own bed in my own room on Aug. 12.

throwback to the 80s

beach activities

Yes, you have missed out on a lot. Let's see, there was the surprise 80s party for Bethany's birthday, Dad has the boat painted and a hole in the barn, Naomi had her baby and I actually knitted booties for her new girl, my cousin in Alaska had her wedding, I also missed Mr. T's wedding (an awesome hiking friend from 2004), I saw Modest Mouse in concert with my little brother Casey, Mom and I went to Halfway Jam, got to go backstage and meet some bands, we got our picture taken with on of the Georgia Satellite members, Mom and Dad also got to go up to Duluth and see huge sailing ships, Jason came with me for another Everclear concert, Jason and I also got to have a reunion with another awesome DA from Ice, Emily, at her family's big 8-8-8 party, I took rosemaling classes and painted Mom's doors to the kitchen and basement, Charity moved out and got her own place in Sauk Rapids, my poor little truck that I bought from Skittles died, I got CNA certified and started working in the nursing home which was really an out of the blue sort of thing. I told the nursing home I already had a month long trip planned in May to go visit Jason. Well, May came around and about that time I learned that one of my friends in NC was losing her room mate in July. I worked with her for the month of May while I was in NC and she used that time to convince me that I belong in Chapel Hill. It wasn't too hard to convince me because Minnesota had three false ends to winter and when I was riding to the airport April 28 it was snowing. I arrived in the beautiful blooming South and it was so refreshing and there was so much to do and I was so happy to see everyone that I got to scheming. I went from winter to the beach with lots of people to meet and talk to. The beach was such a perfect time, there was hardly anyone else, the weather was cool and beautiful and it was just salted peacefulness. When it started sounding like a good idea to move I had to call home and let Mom and Dad talk me out of it but instead they were both excited for me and thought that it was a great opportunity. Really???

There was just too many good reasons to move down here. Not only am I closer to Jason, I only live 2 miles away, I am also within walking distance of the hospital (where I hope to find work, now that I'm CNA certified and all), the food co-op, farmer's market, belly dancing lessons, aikido lessons, an Art Center (need to visit that), and just about everything; the apartment has a garbage disposal and dishwasher, I don't need a car, rent is very reasonable, my room mate has the same sort of odd food tastes that I do, and all in all Chapel Hill is a very artsy place where I really hope to grow as an artist.

I've spent the past two weeks now filling out applications and waiting for a phone call with no luck. I even picked up an application for the grocery store. I got down tonight thinking of the frustrations of job hunting. Really, I'm not being picky. I applied first to where I wanted to work and then on down the line and I've heard zilch from everyone all around and rent is coming up. Welcome to real life, I guess. Still, it's just money, no worries. Dreya is an artist herself and we enjoy brainstorming collaborative art projects together. We'll see what happens. I left my portfolio at home to start new. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea but most of my stuff in there is really old, and I have a lot of the images on my computer. I have been having a whole lot of fun dressing a lot more comfortably. It's been so HOT here. My bike is together, most of my stuff is unpacked, my room is orderly, and today I started our first batch of sprouts. Dreya made kambucha and keifer. I was looking at my scrapbook today and realized that it's time for a new scrapbook. Another chapter of my life is starting, I guess it's official now. I wish I could get my act together and host a party. I might do that next weekend. We'll see.

shooting clay pigeons - activities at my going away party

from the Tundra

2008-03-08T15:40:00.003-06:00

Lucy

I was chided last month for my lack of blogging. It was right after my life finally kicked back into action. It's like the bike chain got back on track. Now I actually have stuff to report on.

It started in February when the Caucus came to town. I have never voted and have no intention on voting but I wanted to see what it was all about. I wanted to see for myself if it is as hopeless as I thought. I decided it is. But more importantly I met people that care about and are active in their community. I found out that the Minnesota Center Arts Board is located right HERE, that there is another local artist my age, I reunited with a High School graduate who has gotten his own book published and knows all about design and all that. I found out that Tuesday nights is Texas Hold 'em at the local bar and that my crazy friend plays.

in D.C.

I had a good sit-down with myself. I read some inspiring books, heard an inspiring story on "This American Life" and was reminded that THIS is my life. A girl who had always wanted to be a super hero decided to train to be one, she made her list and accomplished it. This is my chance to be who I want to be. I know who I want to be, I want to be a fictional character. Fictional characters have depth and stories and are having adventures or at least living weird lives. There aren't books about people who watch TV. Sitcoms are nice but it depresses me when a life on TV is more interesting than paying attention to mine. I took inventory of my shortcomings as a fictional character and I only have one thing left to learn to really feel complete and unreal, fighting. I want to take Akido classes. One day my character will play fiddle as well, I should probably be starting those lessons soon as well. It was after I came to these conclusions that Bethany and I had the same talk about where our life is going and we decided to take charge and LIVE. I'm telling you, just by taking an active step the next day has snow balled me into all sorts of stuff. I have since slowed down again and now I have time to write about it but I want to get back out of this funk and get back to be an active participant in life. So, I started with visiting at the Nursing Home, I started rosemaling lessons (a Norwegian folk art), Yoga classes, Charity and I have been going to a ball room dancing club, I got hired on at a bar and they said they'll teach me bartending (they haven't called yet), the money boat is keeping Dad and me busy for most of the week, I've gotten to chop wood a couple of times, I finished my first knitting project, I went on a short-notice road trip to Washington DC, and now last week Tammy at the Nursing Home convinced me to challenge the CNA test. I signed up for it and now I get to study. I am so excited. Years ago when I had money that I didn't know what to do with I took the CNA class and all that, figuring that I would always be able to get the certification back if I didn't keep it current. That is exactly what has happened. I have lots of studying to do and I hope to be on call. That's what got me into this, Tammy is the staff coordinator and she explained that there's a position where I can choose my hours and days I work when the schedule comes out. It's perfect, plus you get a higher hourly rate and I only have to work once every three months to still be considered on call. With this uncertain summer coming I can still have a way to be making good money on my time. IF I can pass this test. Wish me luck. If I could get my certification back I would have a lot better job opportunities open to me. I really like that idea if I decide to move to Asheville. Asheville is a possibility I've been toying with.

I've realized that I love community, I need to get more involved, and I like communicating and discussing. I love to learn, and I need structure. Those are some of the things noted this winter.

Well, I'm glad to be here. I hope to start blogging more about things I've been thinking about. I've been surfing the web a lot and all it has done is bring up more questions. Maybe I'll just start discussing them here.

Nalgene Poster is in Print

2008-02-10T15:18:00.003-06:00

FINALLY! I finally have a way for people to buy a poster print if you're still interested. For those of you that weren't in Antarctica with me and didn't get to see this project let me explain. From the beginning. One of my firsts days of work in Antarctica Troy and I were led up into the loft of a large storage building. We came in under a curved roof and there shoved against the nearest wall were three desks with three people that didn't look like they should be behind desks. They were right in a little row like three children in school. Not only were they all dressed in similar Carhart overalls but they also had on tie dyed shirts. A girl with a shaved head, a guy in dreadlocks, it was like they had been kidnapped from the Rainbow Gathering and holed up in this massive attic at the bottom of the world. This was Supply. If you needed pens, a shovel, paper towels, it was the general store of McMurdo Station. This trio also had a water bottle sitting beside each of them and each water bottle itself was odd, covered in random stickers, like a skateboard.

Nicole's really got my attention, it was almost a life size sticker of gerbils. Gerbils. Who else would ever have gerbils on a water bottle? And where would you ever find a sticker of gerbils? Troy and I were just getting used to the idea of carrying our water bottles everywhere. Everyone is a issued a water bottle as part of their Antarctica gear. The lectures in the safety meetings about the arid climate and the importance of drinking lots of water was itself a never ending stream. Most of the buildings don't have running water, some work areas don't even have running toilets. Yes, we used outhouses in Antarctica. "How cold is the toilet seat?" everyone asks. Well, for a toilet seat someone carefully carved it out of foam insulation. There were many offices tucked away all over the station with a big mustard colored water jug in it. It was up to the workers to refill it from time to time. And so, most everyone always carried around their own liter supply of water.

After seeing that gerbil sticker I wanted to see everyone's bottle and as I saw the diversity in the people I was getting to know I could see that bottles took on the personalities of their owners. The variations of how a water bottle could be altered were so unique that I finally decided I would start taking pictures. How many water bottles could I get? What would they look like all together? This poster is an accumulation of my 6 months in front of the dish window chasing down water bottles I saw. It didn't end at the dish window, there were many late night parties that I would see a new water bottle and I would run down to the cafeteria with my camera and my new bottle - my "studio" was set up in the dish room, it consisted of a white pale and the dish room wall. Everyone thought I was a little odd but everyone is odd in Antarctica. At the end of the season there was a group effort to help me put my vision into Photoshop. Thank you so much Christine Powell, Andre, and. . .the two guys that helped me get this printed. Shoot, it's so sad to have the names of the people of my Ice year fade away. They were my whole life for 6 months and the names are escaping my head faster and faster. Anyways, some people, especially those that were featured in the poster, have asked for prints. Now I have prints available to everybody! That's that. I have more plans for this. One day. One day I want to make a real art piece out of this. I don't know if it really counts to be mimicking a pop art artist but I'm gonna do it anyways because it would look so cool.

Getting ready for Thanksgiving with Lefse

2007-11-21T11:41:00.000-06:00

I had such a nice day yesterday. It started with Bethany getting me to go on a walk with her and Rachel. We greeted the morning, got to feel the cool brisk air.

Last night when Charity got home she helped me make up some lefse. I walked to the grocery store and carried home the ingredients. Wild rice is on sale for this time of year. Everyone has to make their wild rice stuffing. It was just so fun to feel all domestic, covered head to toe (seriously) in flour. Charity is an awesome cook and has it all down. We had the kitchen set up so that I was right near her by the stove but completely out her way - we have an island in our kitchen. Charity oversaw the production and showed me how to cook it in the pans. I worked on rolling out the dough. I hope I didn't get it too thick.

I also walked over to the post office and mailed off packages that I had meant to send since I arrived home. I still have so many postcards to send out. I haven't written a single one. I guess all that fresh air and contact with friends made me feel all warm and homey. The old fashioned post office is such a fun way to reach out to people.

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving and seeing all my family again. This is such a warm time for all of us. This is the first time I've ever brought up lefse to dinner, and home made lefse. If anyone doesn't know what lefse is it's a Norwegian sort of tortilla, a flat bread made from mashed potatoes, flour and milk. Dad says that when he was little and would spend the night at his grandma's house she would take the boiled potatoes left over from supper and make the lefse from that the following morning. She had a wood cook stove that was also the main source of heat for the house (which is not much for Northern MN, especially when you are a little boy sleeping in the drafty uptstairs) . My great-grandmother would roll out the lefse right on the stove top, no pan.

When I was riding the train through Norway they served packets of lefse like Little Debbie snacks. It was layers of lefse, sugar and butter cut into bar shapes. We eat lefse by putting butter on one side, sprinkling with sugar, and then rolling it up. I never cared for it much, it tasted like mashed potatoes with sugar on them but last night Charity demonstrated putting lots of cinnamon on as well. That worked great. Lefse is a Thanksgiving staple and always makes me think of my family. Everyone else in my family likes lefse (lef'-sa). Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Settling in for the Winter

2007-11-17T14:55:00.000-06:00

I'm listening to my room mate belt out ". . . if you need me to be with you, I will follow. . ." It's another Gilmore Girls marathon at the Paris House in Nowhere, MN. This blog is missing a big section of my life, you'll have to go to Trail Journals if you really want to know details. Otherwise I'll give a summary at some point.

I had a great week this week. Since I got back home I've been trying to get into a routine that I can keep up for the winter. I need to be efficient, there's things to do! One of the first things I got to do was help Dad saw some logs. He's got a nifty portable sawmill from New Zealand. I was able to make some money, be out in the fresh country air and feel all tough piling lumber. Bethany and I had talked about getting into the sawmill business since it's all there and available. I hadn't really thought about what was all involved. Dad laughed at me when he heard the idea and that's how I got invited out to help. He's right.

With the leaves off the trees I can look across the fields and see cars driving down the road a mile away. I know it's a mile because that's how the roads are laid out. It was a lot different to be back from North Carolina. Have you ever looked at a map of Pennsylvania? The roads look like a river system. There's a ridge that goes through the state that determines where the roads are able to be built. We don't have the land dictating how we develop it around here. It's just flat. I never really thought much about it till I spent so much time in North Carolina. Now it makes me smile when I can see oncoming cars miles away.

My brother is going into training to be a Kirby Salesman. I don't know how I feel about that. I think it's funny but then again, he's my brother. Now I have to say that out loud when someone asks what he does. I hope he has fun. I think if he could find something he really believed in he would be a great salesman.

In between jobs Ben has been out helping Dad on the boat as well. That's another way I have been making money. Dad has/had this rotten boat in the yard. It had to be stripped down. That meant lots of unscrewing. I had no idea how many screws go into a boat. We pulled the top off of the bottom, put the bottom in the garage and now Ben and Dad are building an extension onto the garage to enclose the boat. It was so fun to be hanging out with both of them. I wish we could all just work together. All the time.

On Sunday Dad bribed his kids to come out and help bring in the firewood for the winter. Dad heats with wood, stores it in an old corn crib and when winter comes around he gets it all thrown down into the basement. He has a good system for it. He puts up some plywood to protect the siding on the house and from there it's a game of skill to throw a log sideways so that it shoots through the little basement window. Bethany and Charity even came out. Casey drove the skid loader and it was a beautiful day. Cold but sunny. We were all paid with a complete Turkey dinner. The works, stuffing, potatoes, gravy, even pumpkin pie. That reminds me, I should make something for Thanksgiving Up North.

It's down to that time of year where we are seeing our last warm days. You never know when this is going to be the last day above freezing. Dad has all sorts of projects that he hoped to have done before the cold weather set in. They all involve epoxy and that needs 40 degrees to work. So one day I was called up to come help finish putting in the last bungs around the cabin on the boat. I forgot what sort of wood it is but Dad has some really high quality stuff that he has boarded the wheel house and cabin with. That's a bunch more screws and each screw hole gets a little wooden bung glued into it to fill it and cover up the screw head. It's slow monkey work but Ben was out there and we spent till 7:00 gluing and pounding in those little bungs. The warm weather held. Now Dad can go along and sand down the cabin.

Bethany is still job hunting. While I was down in North Carolina visiting Jason she called to tell me the business she was working for went under. It was pretty sudden. She's been on interviews, trying to decide what she wants to work toward and I've enjoyed all our time together to hang out. Last week we attacked the basement. This house is just full of stuff. Most of it left over from her Grandmother. She has wanted a craft room and she has plenty of room downstairs if you were to just congregate the junk. We got rid of so much STUFF. The best part is that Mom and Dad got a bunch of things that they are excited about, a Nordic Track, a fireplace cleaning set, and a microwave, and I now have a work space. We finished late on a Friday night about midnight. We were in a frenzy. All crafting supplies were pooled from all the corners of the house. I brought my kitchen table from home and set up all my art books and travel journals. Bethany has these old wooden crates and she let me use some to form book shelves. I love it, I just love it. I've never had my own work space. I've never have a spot that I could just leave my art work. I haven't even had a shelf to hold all my journals. It's me. I'm all right there in that one little spot. My stuff is out of boxes and in view. There's room for my laptop and I've begun writing out my travel stories. Did I tell you that I got and external hard drive? I suppose that's no big deal to most everyone else but for me it means that I have now sorted my travel pictures and I have all my travel pictures in one place.

Bethany and I were also talking about the coming winter. Last winter she had an energy audit and learned that there was basically no insulation in the attic. She was highly advised to have some put in. That's as far as it went. How hard is it to blow in insulation anyway? And who was ever going to get around to doing it for her? The price of gas is supposed to go up, she's been re-evaluating how she spends money and well, why not now? This last Wednesday I got to looking at the schedule and realized that Friday was probably about our last chance. I dragged Dad in for advice, he let me use the Jimmy to pick up the trailer and whaddya know. Yesterday Bethany and I blew insulation into her attic. What a day. I was dead tired from a late night and an early morning. We had to stop so she could go to a job interview and it was at that time that I noticed how nice the weather was. I checked the temperature and it was 42. The magic 40 degrees. I still hadn't finished her mural on the garage door. It was close but there was still one small detail that annoyed her. Instead of taking a break I hauled out paints and within an hour I had a signed piece of art in Bethany's driveway. Very nice.

So, I've started my book, increased and decreased my bank account, experienced insulating an attic, practiced backing up a trailer, have gotten pretty good at using a drill, finished a mural for my room mate, taken my dose of green food nearly every day, made friendship bread, I still feel skinny, and Charity and I have started watching the Firefly series. They played that in Antarctica and I never got to watch it.

It has snowed a couple times already but nothing has stayed. One day the flakes were like snow packed together in the shape of a snowflake. They looked like sprinkles you might put on a cake, totally artificial.

Oh, another weird thing, I was browsing craigslist when I found a guy looking to move to Alaska to build a cabin. I have a new pen pal now. Turns out he's not up for cold weather but he's a writer from NYC. Almost the day after meeting him I got another e-mail from another writer. It turns out that this writer found my blog. He's also a traveling artist who has been to all 7 continents. He just published a book as well. I, of course, had to order it. It should be here any day.

Well, that's about it. Except maybe the shopping spree I went on at Saver's 50% off sale. I got red pants. I got a bunch of other stuff too. I guess I'm just saying that I feel all spiffy in my new stuff and I just want to go out. I guess it's time to give Kimmy a call.

some updates

2007-09-17T00:04:00.001-05:00

I put some pictures up on www.trail journals.com/roadster. I didn't say anything else though. Tomorrow I start on the last 167 miles of my hike. YAY!
-Roadster/Rachael

Make your little one a shining star! Shine on!

updated trail journal

2007-08-22T21:10:00.001-05:00

I just gave a brief update at www.trailjournals.com/roadster. It's really
brief and no pictures. I didn't even reread it. Sorry about that. At
least it will tell you what I've been up to. I'm in Glencliff right now.
Out of the Whites. Onto the easy stuff. Wish me luck.

Love,
Rachael/ Roadster

_________________________________________________________________
A new home for Mom, no cleanup required. All starts here.

http://www.reallivemoms.com?ocid=TXT_TAGHM&loc=us

call me Roadster

2007-08-07T01:14:00.000-05:00

Hey all, Conneticut here. Yes, I was in North Carolina before that. I bought tickets to NC almost as soon as I arrived home on from my first trip back in March. Tickets are just so cheap! Anyways, by doing that I also made it so that I inadvertantly missed my highschool reunion AGAIN! I was so mad. This was my Arts High School. The school I loved so much. Last time I missed it because I was fishing. I was planning my whole summer around going. They had told my the it would most likely be the second week of June or July. Instead, when I finally got desperate and had to know the date they told me it was to be June 29. That's not the second week! Or even the middle! Whatever, I don't want to talk about.

I got to do the jello wrestling instead which had long ago been scheduled for June 30. I had heard all about it.

I got all painted up. Great fun. It was about the most elaborate b-day party ever. There was the wrestling, a huge pot-luck, live music, bonfire, BBQ, an air cannon that you couldn't even see the tennis balls shoot from, tie dyeing and fire twirlers. Everyone was in broomstick skirts and barefoot.

I loved it. Jason and his friends left early, I stayed to see the rest of it. I wish I would have known to wear my skirt but I was so intent on the wrestling that I was all business. My only opponent didn't show up till it was over. Of course I still wrestled Jason but only a little. I was an even more hopeless challenge covered in slime. Jason was the go-for. People sent him after those that hadn't been exposed to the pit of jello.

It was fun to be back in NC, to see all the people I had met before and I was able to start getting to know them. Last time I was just trying to remember names. There was also a wedding to go to.

We went out drinking with the groom the week before.

When I finally went home Jason came with. It was a surprise. Only Mom knew. It was fun to surprise each person. First Bethany who picked us up, then Charity as she was settling to go to bed. Dad didn't come home till the next week, he's been Up North helping his little brother build his new house. My aunt and uncle are determined to move out of the Cities. I thought perhaps Jason would be up for some hard labor volunteer work in waaaay Up North. Meet relatives and the like, ha.

Instead we stayed close to home, I started a mural on Bethany's garage during the day while Jason kept in touch with work and Warcraft. At night we did taping on Dad's boat. The deck has to be chaulked and the chaulking can't seal to the bottom of the 1/8" seam.

We

Entertainment was watching Jason spit and swear at the remoteness that he kept finding himself in. Wi-fi is 12 miles away, a decent restaurant is a 45 min. drive, anything closer he wouldn't step in because they referred to themselves first as a Bar and then as a Grill , the closest pizza place is only open in the evenings and only till 9:00, mail isn't delivered at Bethany's and in the midst of it all Bethany tried to argue with Jason that Foley (a town of 2,000) is a city. It was classic. My favorite was when he had to pull over while we were driving to St. Cloud. We were doing some adjusting on the Tracker and I was like, " Why don't you pull in here?" I was pointing at the driveway he had just parked next to. "I don't want to block an intersection," he said.

"No, you're fine, it's just a driveway."

"No. . .it's an intersection, see the street sign?" Poor Jason.

"No . . ." I was trying to be sympathetic, honest," That's a house number and see the mailbox across the road?" To be fair it was an exceptionally long and wide driveway. You couldn't even see a house. That sent him off again, I was entertained.

Jason got to meet one set of my aunt and uncles. They came to see the boat. Then he looked up to see what concerts were coming to the area and almost fell over. There were 4 just during his visit that he wanted to see. One was NICKLEBACK! I can't believe I didn't hear about that. I love Nickleback. Unfortunately that one was pretty much sold out and the day that we would have gone down to see it we were left sitting in a left turning lane with a dead alternator and a drained battery. That was a fun day. We got to get towed the 25 miles back to Foley. Yay for All State.

In the end we were only able to make it to one concert but it was a doozy. It was a Sounds of the Under Ground tour, metal bands I had never heard of. Jason took turns calling up his various friends to tell them he was seeing their favorite band in concert. We stood for 8 hours. and it was a couple hours into it when I realized that all this waiting was to see GWAR the band that Beevis and Butthead were always on a mission to see. Ack! I'm here to see a Beevis and Butthead band? And WOW is about all I can think of to say. Wow. I can't believe I did that. Our legs hurt, my ears hurt. We were sprayed in various dyes or "blood" as they call it. Jason was covered a little more, I had used him as a shield. I convinced him to eat at Perkin's in Monticello afterwards. Even though it's nearly an hour out of the Cities concert people still seem to filter in there. Sure enough there was a couple all in black and metal studs. How cute.

Jason flew out August 1, I flew out August 7. I had bought my tickets to leave home before I had even returned from NC. There was some hectic packing and painting. I'm almost done with the mural. But now I am in Windsor at Emily's. I in New York City the day before flash floods closed down a lot of the trains. Nifty. Just in time.

Emily took me on a tour of the various job sites of her and her family. We mostly reminisced about Antarctica. It was so awesome to be back and visiting Emily. I've missed her humor. It's so neat to see someone in their home environment. When she picked me up at the train station she had on a blue polo shirt, later I asked if she had worn it so I could recognize her easier (that was our uniform for 6 months). She has a scrapbook and picturese that I don't have. I bought some last minute Trail items - socks and a camelbak for water. Very important. I love her house it's New England style. We went bowling, she took me out to her favorite restaurants, I got to try Polish food. How funny is that? I leave a Polish community to try Polish food for the first time in New England. Today we are going to take a little road trip to Gorham, NH where we will spend the night at the Barn and tomorrow she will drive me to the top of Mt. Washington where I will start heading South to Dalton, MA 250 miles away. I think I have everything. My pack is smaller but it still seems heavy. I don't even have water yet, ugh. This will be interesting. When I get to Dalton she's going to pick me up and take me back to Windsor for a day or two and then it will be on to my last section of trail Arden Valley, NY to Port Clintion, PA.

Let me end with a little quip from Antarctica:

"My advice for the day is: Don't ever do three winters in a row. Usually I'm really good at numbers and stuff like cups to pints. Now I have to keep looking at these stupid charts."

- Shane

McMurdo a.m. Head Chef

June 12, 2006

Wish me luck!

Love,

Roadster (back to my trail name)

PS I give up, I don't have time to make this entry perfect. Maybe I'll fix it later.

The Arctic Circle

2007-07-10T09:03:00.000-05:00

I left Alaska a couple weeks ago. I spent my last week or so in Fairbanks with relatives. I also had the chance to catch up with my hiking partner on the AT. Skittles/Richard is back in Fairbanks working to save for an 18 month hike. He plans on rehiking the 3 major US trails and the newly completed New Zealand trail.

I got up to Fairbanks my usual way - hitching. What a way to end my last hitching experience. I only hitch in AK and who knows when I'll have that opportunity again. But I would have to say that this hitch was about the most inconveniant ever. The lady went plenty out of her way to pick me up. As soon as I got my knees squeezed in behind her daughter's reclined seat she asked if I could pitch in for gas money. This of course meant pay the whole way. Crap. I suppose I should have just said no and waited for another ride but she was heading all the way to Fairbanks. I had had pretty good luck leaving Anchorage. The family I had stayed with had left me alone so I was able to head out without worrying people. There was a bit of a wait for a car to get me on the freeway but you can count on ex-hitchers to see the need and a commuter/ex-hitchiker soon gave me a ride across town where I soon had a ride out to Wassila or some place that I should know the name of. The second guy reminded me so much of Tony from Ice. Maybe a more domesticated Tony and I found myself thinking about Tony and all the crazy Ice people and how I hope they can get back down to McMurdo soon where they really belong. There's no place like McMurdo to be crazy and welcomed for it. Anyways, my thought for the final ride to Fairbanks was that I felt like I had been enough of a mooch, I might as well pitch in somewhere. This lady had driven from Fairbanks to be with her boyfriend, got mad at him, turned around and went straight back. She had only brought enough money for a one way trip. I don't get it. In the end I babysat the toddler in the car seat which meant periodically getting punched by a baby, I got my nails painted in metalic purples and pinks on the Alaska Highway by an 8 yr old (very glamorous), and then I drove for 4 of the 6 hours. Did I mention I paid for the gas? I just got more annoyed as I went. To top it off we ended the trip with her borrowing my cell phone twice to call up her boyfriend and cuss him out. One nice thing about swearing is that we have a very limited vocabulary of swear words, there's only so much you can say thus the conversations were short. Only a few lost family plan minutes on my detested cell phone. I had a good long time to think about society and the different family dynamics and I felt bad for these two children being raised in such a haphazard environment. I had at least made friends with my manicurist. She was sweet and did her best to help her mom and comfort her agitated sister. It can always be worse. But I was still grumpy and as you can see I can still gripe about it.

I met Skittles' landlord, he took me out to an awesome Italian supper. Then we went to the Big 'I' which I guess is one of the original Fairbanks bars or something historical like that. It looked like it was all original too, like it came out of some Clint Eastwood movie. The chairs were like bar stools crossed with recliners and wrapped in padded gold vinl. Wwe sat in the smokey wood panneled haze till Skittle's got off his evening shift.

I stayed at Skittles' that first night in Fairbanks, one: to be able to hang out with him for a bit and make plans for getting up to the Arctic Circle, and two: another way to keep it quiet from my relatives that I had hitched up.

Almost as soon as I got to the Lofthus place I was asked about my trip up here. I'm not a liar and they knew instantly what I had really been up to. They didn't seem worried at all. "Was it a nice trip?" How nice. What was I always worried about? Sneaking around all. Silly.

It wasn't until I was up at Fairbanks and in no way near fish that I realized that fish would be a great gift. It turns out that Uncle Mel had acquired his AK limit of fish and had plenty to share. It was great to be able to fillet fish, sort of get a bit of a refresher on it. I didn't get to do that with net mending when I was in Southern AK.

It was a great time to feel rugged as I got my hands all slimy and sawed at soft fish carcasses. This, people, is what red salmon is supposed to look like. These were pulled right out of the stream.

We got a few recipes off the internet, I combined those with what I remembered from Roths smoking fish. We dumped a brine together and let it soak for the day. Uncle Mel had bought a Little Chief Smoker at a garage sale for some ridiculous cheap price like $5 or something. It's the way to go as far as smoking goes.

The other Alaskan part of visiting the relatives was the rhubarb sauce. Yum, we ate that every chance we got.

There was some garage saling to do, a few visits to Value Village where I found things to over stuff my pack, Skittles ran a half marathon- the Mosquito Meander, we had to of course go and get ice cream at Hot Licks. There was coffee with the ladies, the land to bid on, and a wedding to attend - coworkers of Skittle's.

No, I did not get my land. You probably figured that out by now since I haven't responded in a very long time. It was one of those tough calls where I really wish I had the instinct to just go for it. I saw one piece of land go for $3,000. It had been a chunk that sounded like it would be a good investment piece. It was close to the water, had a great view. But I wasn't interested on living there. It wasn't even half an acre. So I didn't bid. And all the plots that I would have been happy owning went for over $10,000. I wasn't about to pay that much on land I hadn't seen and didn't really need at the moment. I did find out that Sandy and Glenn were also in the state of Alaska. I can't believe that we missed each other! They were down South.

As far as the trip to the Arctic, Skittles had a few contacts and before you know it my long driving plan had turned into an overnight camp with a group of 4. We needed enough to play Yuker. The ride up to the Arctic was long and bumpy and a little dusty but we had a rugged vehicle and great company. Towards the end we even picked up a Polish hitchiker. It was fun to hear that he was from Krakow and to tell him that I had hitched to Krakow. And to meet him now on the way to the Arctic Circle.

The sun never set, we stayed up till 3 in the morning playing cards. There was talk of bear attacks but it's hard to imagine a bear storming in to camp in broad day light. Even if it is 2 am.

By the time we got back I had just enough time for one last coffee with the girls, Connie and my Aunt Gladyse. I was tuckered out though.

The next morning around 8:00 as I prepared to leave I got a call from Maine. From the Cabin. The Cabin! I haven't seen these people since I stopped at the hostel with Skittles in 2004. I haven't heard from them either. They did send me copies of all the paintings I made for them. That's really neat. Anyways, Bear informed me that Honey was arriving in Fairbanks that day. I couldn't believe it. It's like contacts that I had met from around the world were nearly colliding in AK.

I had 24 hrs of travel. My first plane was to leave Fairbanks at 10:00. My day of travel was started off with the first plane being almost 3 hrs late, instead of having to wait in the airport Michelle was sent home sick from work, she returned to the airport and we went out to lunch. I barely made my connection in Anchorage to Minnesota. In MN, touching down at nearly midnight 14 voice mails were instantly downloaded onto my phone, I slept for about 4 hrs on a nice cushion that a security guy had pointed out and then I was heading out on my next journey to North Carolina. It wasn't even 6:00 am. I called to tell Mom and Dad that I had arrived in Washington (DC) only to call back a few minutes later to tell them I was actually at the Chicago O'Hare airport. My bad. It wasn't even noon and I was already jet weary and confused. I was giving Jason a big, if not slightly dazed, hug at 2:00 Thursday afternoon June 21. Yay, North Carolina!
http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=22944855

Back in A[c]K

2007-06-11T23:41:00.000-05:00

Well, here I am, back in AK. What a great thing.

Where do I begin? Probably with the mention that it is way too late for me to be working on this and that I should be in bed. I've been in Alaska for almost a week now. I started the count down to when I get to leave almost as soon as I hit the 50 degree temp in my capris. How I wish I had my long johns and a wool hat.

I, of course, had to stay up a whole 24 hr before I flew out. That's the last time you heard from me. So I was unconscious for most of the plane ride except for when the row of kids in front of me were screaming over the DVD player. In "My Day" all we had was a pencil and paper to entertain us and we were QUIET! My first expense for my trip was the dollar I paid for the headphones to maintain my sanity.

Once I had collected my bags it was back to the travel mode. How to find a way to the highway South so I can start hitching. I really didn't feel like starting this. Aren't I too old for this haphazard sort of travel? I talked to other MN tourists instead. Eventually, I took a bus to the South part of town and started walking from the Diamond Center Mall. In 5 hitches I was in Homer. It took a good while. I think people are losing their trust. It's neat because I was able to pick out the cars that would stop for me. If they have some sort of large sport equipment tied to the top of their car they'll stop, if the hood is tied down itself they'll stop, same as rust, the more rust, the more likely they will stop for me. I can definately count on a big fancy truck NEVER stopping.

I had my chance to go to Seward. I wasn't sure where the boats would be. Unfortunately, I didn't realize the difference in distance it was from Seward to Homer. So, I ended up in Homer and no boats were around. Instead, I found Bob working on his boat, the Neptune, in the boat yard ( I fished/had my mental breakdown for him in Kodiak, 2003). I got to meet his new crew and was invited for steaks. A great way to end a long day of meeting new people. I do like hitching. It's such a great combination. You get to meet some random person and then spend a car ride getting to know them. I asked a lot of questions about AK. My goal was to find out about life here.

It was great to meet Bob's crew, they had a campsite out on the Spit. I was really glad to have some instant male buddies. The camp was cozy, the fires were huge, plenty of Spit Rats to stop by and say hi.

It was very handy to have a cell phone, that's not the point, I'm still sad about owning one. I left messages for anyone I could get ahold of. The main thing is that I FROZE. I had tried to pack for Alaska and North Carolina weather but that cold wind off the ocean and the cold rain. . . shiver. Awesome thing: I was heading in to Homer from the Spit (hitching) and as I walked and cars drove by I finally noticed a car sitting along the road just waiting. Who just waits like that? It was really fishy. I slowly made my way up to them and then I found out it was Josh! A Roth relative and crew member. He had recognized me on the road and had pulled over to wait! So cool. I got to meet up with his sister, Heather, as well. Her and Robert finally bought a house. The Roth house has really been remodeled as well. Linda is working in Tutka at the fish hatchery. I got to ride around with her when she was in town to do errands.

I did get to go to the Salty Dawg again. This time I left a dollar hanging on the ceiling like all the others before - but not my bra, this is brand new! I also had to play my fishing song, "The Joker" by the Steve Miller Band (?). Ah, the good ol' days.

I actually didn't sleep the night that I went to the Salty Dawg. Instead, I packed my things and hit the road to hitch to Seward. It would be Friday and the boats would be done for the weekend. Sherri was driving to Anchorage on Sunday so I had a ride from Seward and to Anchorage. My idea was to hit the road early that Friday morning but 6 am was a bit too early for Homer traffic. It took me an hour between rides. I rode with a group of long time Alaska women, another car with a couple of old fishermen smoking cigars as I tried to snuggle with their waders in the back - did I mention how cold I was?

In between rides I urged hypothermia to set in so I could feel warm. I finally had a ride from Ninilchick to the 'T' for Seward and Anchorage. Jerry even bought me breakfast!! Awesome. I don't eat much out on the spit. Rice and tuna. It's sort of a bummer because I ate that for about 3 days and I was already sick of it - ok, 4 days. Anyways, I felt bad for Jerry because I was so tired that I was halucinating as he told me stories. He'd start on one, I would start to drift off and as I drifted I would fill in my own details. At one point he was saying something about his first marriage and I realized I was responding with an arguement about what he had been shopping for at the grocery store. "No, I think it was you . . ." I was saying before I was able to stop myself. He gave me a funny look and I tried to refocus my eyes as back peddled.

Anyways, once in Seward I was able to get a shower at the cannery and a little nap. Jamie woke me up (another point for cell phones) and her and Abbie took me around town on some errands before we took the skiff back out to the boats. As we went into one of the grocery stores I ran into BRIE coming out. BRIE! Do you have any idea??? I wintered with her in Antarctica! How crazy is that?? I've been waiting for my crazy "small world" experience and this has got to be a doozy. She's working at a camp. Awesome. We talked a good while till Abby and Jamie had gotten their supplies. I got our picture in front of the store for proof. See, go look. Long haired girl? That's Brie. I hope I'm spelling you're name right. I am SO sorry, Brie, that I didn't seem to remember your name. I'm going to blame exhaustion. I saw her and I was like, "Brie?" but I only thought that and then I was like, "No, that can't be her name, that's a cheese. Maybe it's Sarah," but Sarah definately didn't seem right. So, instead of guessing I just said I couldn't remember. I'd rather claim forgetfulness that to call her Brie and be wrong. Sheesh. I'm SORRY! I felt awful. I lived in Antarctica, we saw each other for 6 months. I know she used to play rugby, she was a GA, she played dodgeball. I bet I could still get to her room, she does watercolors. . .and yet I blanked when she came out of the store. "Cheese? That can't be right." I think I was really tired.

Back on the boat, I got dropped off on the North Star. That was a little crazy. The skiff came zooming up to the side and I lunged for the rail with my backpack on. I thought of all the hiker days and rock scrambling and didn't feel nimble at all. I did get to plunge (scare fish away from their only escape route) for a set, Sherri and I caught up on news and stories and discussed our "favorite" book, Fascinating Womanhood. She's the one that introduced it to me when she was ranting about its sexism. She had gotten the book as a wedding present. The book is an interesting topic. I do recommend it, something to laugh at and think about. This would have been such a fun year to return fishing. Abbie and Jamie are back fishing as well as Dave and Allen. Such awesome people. I met Norman's little sister Gabby as well. She would be fun too.

Paul and Sherri fed me and then it was a ride back to Homer. I was out. Sherri let me sleep in the bunk house. I was so grateful to not have to go back out on the Spit. Bob's crew keeps talking about moving. They don't pay for their spot so it's only a matter of time. And the Spit is not a place to catch up on sleep, especially at midnight on a Friday night.

Sabbath was relaxing and indoors. I wore my skirts over my pajama bottoms, snuggled in a blanket and had a day of phone calls. After that was a game of Estimate and my visit back to AK was complete. Of course, I also had to have my old skipper inform me once again how old I'm getting and how slim the pickin's are getting. I think it's down to "take what you can get" as far as husbands go. So helpful.

I do miss fishing. I miss the water, the scenery, coming into town, the smell of the salt and the boats, the docks. I love the ruggedness and the adventure. I love stepping off the dock and knowing that no one else knows where you have been, or the fact that the same sea crossing can vary so drastically. I guess I don't miss any work part of the fishing. I just miss being out on the boats. Being in AK made me think back to Dad's boat again. Maybe it would be something I would really, really love. Maybe I wouldn't feel like I was just tagging along.

I did find one very interesting bit of info, a flyer at the bulletin board by the marina bathrooms on the Spit. The flyer is advertising a land auction for this Thursday! I am excited. I plan on doing the auction at my Aunt and Uncle's. It says you can bid online. We'll see. I've looked over the land descriptions, have a couple bits I want to bid on. I am REALLY excited. There's no minimum bid, only $500 down required at the time of sale, and you can pretty much pick how much to pay each month. I don't know what remote land is selling for but this is in Prince William Sound on a peninsula. Accessible only by boat or air. You can look it up, it's in Port Fidalgo. Or go online: http://www.grubstakeauction.com. So far there's only about 4 cabins. I'm hoping that not enough people are interested on something so remote. I won't be bidding very high though. I don't have that much money and I've never seen the place, but the pictures show an area just like Homer. It would be so awesome to be able to say that I own land in AK. I just want to have it. Then I can figure out what to do with it later. I don't have any set plans but this would certainly give me options. Well, I'm not going to think about it. I need to get to bed. My southern leg of Alaska is finished. Tomorrow I head to Fairbanks to visit my relatives and Skittles - who I am trying to get in the habit of calling Richard. Speaking of, I was talking to an acquantance of my brother and he was laughing that my brother actually knows two people by the name of Skittles. When he stopped laughing I said that I also know two Skittles. How odd is that? How many of you know someone that goes by "Skittles"? All right. I really have to go. It's an early day tomorrow.

Oh, I should tell you. I drove up with Sherri, she dropped her car off at Mike's and he let me stay with his family in Anchorage. He used to skipper the Lindy till he sold it a couple years ago. It was SO nice of him to let me stay. I was planning on camping. Ahhhh (comfy sigh). . . I'm staying in a 16 year old's room. Did you know that they really do decorate their rooms like in the Target catalogs? Pink and shaggy. I was so suprised. All these years I thought I still related with High Schoolers and now I feel like I'm in a family sitcom. I think I am getting old.