nopin

Sunday, September 22, 2019

Howard Luke, 1923-2019

Today is the Equinox and the official first day of Fall, and we got our first frost, and I took some lovely photos to share. Then I learned about the passing of Uncle Howard Luke. I have no words that are big enough to convey what this man has meant to so many. I feel really honored and humbled that my life overlapped with his for even a brief time, and that such a widely beloved and treasured Elder always made time for me when I visited him at his camp on the other side of the Tanana. At his camp, he was the last resident at the site of the Athabascan village of Chena. Behind his camp is an Athabascan cemetary. When Chena was still an active village of many residents, he said a day's boat ride upriver into downtown Fairbanks (what was then the entire city of Fairbanks) was eight hours! Today it is a ten minute drive. His last few years, he was at the Denali Center, where Roo and I had the honor of spending more time with him.

He told me lots of things--to live right in order to protect my "Gaalee’ya", which he translated to English as "luck", but which I later deduced meant more like karma. To be kind, good, responsible, and respectful of the land, people, and animals. He told me how to heal up an infected wound on my hand (with spruce pitch), and he told me that his mom and his beloved last dog, Schatze, "came to visit" him at night. After that, I never say that I "dream about" passed beloved ones. I say that they come to visit me! He told me never to strip off my parka when I get warm outdoors, because cold air on uninsulated skin could make you freeze to death. One day I saw him at camp fussing with a live trap. A weasel had been stealing his drymeat, and he didn't want to kill it, just trap and relocate it. "unless you want him?" he asked. I declined, but helped him set the trap.

As he passed time in the Denali Center, he was sometimes melancholy. "I used to be so busy", he said. "But now I just sit here." My heart ached for him, even though he had excellent medical care and frequent visitors from family, friends, and admirers. But a life well-lived is not a life easily relinquished for a sedentary one, and he continued to fade. One day, he said to me, "You know, I've lived a very good life. I've traveled the world and known many people!" I told him I agreed, and more than that, he had taught his lessons and skills to so many young people, both Native and not. He listened carefully, but I think at that point he could already hear his mom and Schatze calling.

I will think of him back at camp, sharing pots of strong tea and chatting around his iron stove, surrounded by his family and friends and with his Schatze at his side.

In Interior Alaska, the height of Fall's beauty is over before the official first day of Fall. Most of the gorgeous yellow leaves have fallen, and the trees are a bit on the bare side. This year, we had our first frost on this day! It feels rather fitting, to think of the rich, incredible beauty in a dying world, and to think further that "dying" is only temporary, that life will come around again in the spring. So it is that every person passes, but their memories and lessons relive themselves in the following generations. Look how beautiful it was this morning. It's like everything was coated with sugar.











This evening, the light was beautiful and golden. Of course I had to take photos of the dogs!







Goodnight, Uncle Howard. Please say hello to Autumn and Linden for me. You will remember when we skijored out to visit you at camp!

Here is a link to his obituary. It is lovely and obviously written by family.

Saturday, September 21, 2019

Couchal Photos

Okay! This year, Sept 18th was the Official Lighting of the First Fire! Cricket approved:


Cricket snuggle selfie!


Roo snuggle selfie!


Oh! Oh! They have gone flat again!

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Happy August Moon Day!

Friday was the "August Moon Festival" or "Mid Autumn Festival". Yes, I know it is September, but it has to do with the lunar calendar. Anyway, it is the second biggest holiday of the year for many Asian cultures, but it's never quite caught on in the U.S. like Lunar New Year has.

I'm not really a huge fan of mooncakes, but I dutifully purchase a box each year:


Since it fell on a Friday this year, I decided to host a party on Saturday. And since I have learned how to make jiu-cai hezi, and figured that that seemed like a nice celebratory thing to make, I made 'em!

I have to admit, I'm proud of my gift for eyeballing measurements. DL came home from running errands when I was halfway through, and organizing the first dozen hezi into two tidy rows on the cookie sheet. I was embarrassed to be so... particular about arranging them (just to sit! They get pan-fried, not baked!). But he understood, since after all, it is his extremely tidy wiring that first made me notice him. :)

When I had finished wrapping them, lo and behold, rows of six were precisely the way to go, as I finished with exactly six rows of six:

(and only four tiny lumps of dough extra)

And finished the filling perfectly!


I also took a cue from M, who roasts root vegetables whenever she bakes something. "Why turn on the oven to cook only one thing?" she says. So, wanting to roast a chicken for the feast, I roasted two chickens:


And I sent the leftover chicken from the first bird home with guests, and now we have a whole roast chicken for pot pies, tacos, enchiladas, etc, etc!

Speaking of dough, last week, I made my own jiao-zi skins for the first time!


They came out pretty good!


Only a few tore, where I had rolled the dough too thin, but they didn't fall apart:


Look! This sunflower that I had been eyeballing for the past two weeks finally bloomed on Thursday!


On Saturday, it looked like this!


A second one is about to bloom, but it is seven feet in the air, so I can't really tell!


It's weirdly warm nowadays, but not unpleasant. Roooooo is comfy in it:


And Cricket is comfy in it:


And so are honeybees!

Saturday, September 14, 2019

"Exploring" the Neighborhood Trails

Last weekend, a friend suggested that the neighborhood trails, which we have skied and snowshoed hundreds of times in winter but had never laid eyes on in summer, were actually passable now and quite lovely. Well, the mosquitoes have died down a bit, so we put on muck boots and attempted it.

It turns out that the lower trails were still quite boggy and impassable to someone who is trying to have fun:


Although the higher trail behind Quist Farm was lovely:


Roo and Cricket had fun!


It's funny how I know this trail so well, but had never seen it like this!


Cricket:


Roo:


Rose leaves in their fall colors:


The gate to the hay farm:


And the front of Quist Farm:

Tuesday, September 10, 2019

Dogs understand intent

When I accidentally kick a dog:


When a dog accidentally punches me:

Thursday, September 5, 2019

49,000 signatures collected

49,000 signatures were collected for the campaign to recall the governor, out of a goal of 30,000. Collecting 70,000 for the next stage should be no problem.

"Vic Fischer, a former Democratic state senator and delegate to the 1955 Alaska Constitutional Convention, turned in the application paperwork. He called the campaign the most “phenomenal outpouring of citizenship” he’s ever witnessed in Alaska."

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Rabbit Rabbit!

It is the first of September, and it looks like we are settling into a lovely fall! The days are warm, the nights are cool, the sun is like a radiant heater, and the night skies have stars and aurora. The air smells cool and damp, like humus and earth and mushrooms and highbush cranberries.

We still have not dropped below freezing at night on our wee hill, but some of the lower valleys in town have. This weekend, our neighborhood is really starting to look like fall, with reds and yellows in the plants and blue, blue skies:


These sunflowers have had buds on them for nearly a week now, and I've eagerly anticipated them blooming, but all they do is continue to get taller!! What is the deal with them? I sure hope they bloom before they get ruined by frost!


Roo on the trail:


The fireweed has all gone to fluffy seeds:


I have never seen squirrels eating mushrooms until I moved to Alaska. Mushrooms are a big thing among humans here. There are dozens of different kinds, and there mushroom-hunting clubs and trips and mycology lessons at the University. (DL says, "Are they continually looking for new members?" LOL). I'm glad I do not like mushrooms and am not tempted by them!


DL and his ladies:


Look at the gorgeous colors!


Starbuck on the trail:


Cricket on the trail:


The water is nice to drink again! All rain-fed and clean!


The leaves of the blueberry plants turn a gorgeous brilliant red-orange:


So do the dwarf dogwoods:


Roo sniffing with her tongue:


Some shrooms:


A straight view down the powerline trail:


Dogs on the trail!