Christmas Birdcount

Yesterday I helped out with Kodiak's Christmas Birdcount. My job was to climb up into the mountains and find a ptarmigan. And I did, but it sure was nasty up there (top photo)! Of course when I got back down it cleared up and got beautiful (second photo). The rest of the day I helped out my team by walking down Pilar Creek (where I found an Ouzel, Kingfisher, and some Mergansers). Since I got so wet climbing up the mountain in a blizzard I was freezing for the rest of the day. We even counted the eagles at the dump. When I got home I took a really hot shower and finally warmed up. And then when I took the dogs for a walk I saw my most exotic bird of the day at the end of our driveway - 2 robins. Robins may not sound exotic but they are quite rare on Kodiak. It's funny because a birder in Ohio probably would not bat an eye over a robin - but the 400 bald eagles at the dump would have bowled them over! Patrick

Abercrombie Lake & Zoya's Bible Lessons

THE BIBLE
Nora goes to the Baptist Mission PreSchool, which we have really enjoyed. They have caring teachers, a great outdoor play area and lots of free play time. In addition, the school also provides a lot of bible education and story time. Patrick and I don't partake in religion at a church at this time here in Kodiak, so for Nora to have some religion in preschool is quite fine with us. THe other day Nora came home with a little wrapped present for us. When we unwrapped it, we discovered a snow globe with a picture of Nora on one side and a drawing of a bible on the other side. I don't know if the kids were under assignment to draw a bible, or if they could draw whatever they chose, but it was cute nonetheless.

Today Nora came home with a christmas gift for her from the Baptist Mission. It was a kids bible. We read about a quarter of it...and ended with the story about God asking Abraham to sacrifice his son. It was a little ghastly and hard to read it with out any sounds of shock in my voice. Nora's eyes got really big, nonetheless. I know the stories have a moral theme to them, and Patrick was remembering how hard core the old testament is. (By the way, I have read VERY little of the bible...I'm ashamed to say. So this is an education for me. Its watered down enough for me to understand. Patrick, on the otherhand, has read lots of the bible in schooling.) Nora is looking forward to finishing the book tomorrow, so I believe I"ll be learning a lot more about the bible, and all the famous historical people in it!


THE OFFICE
The past week, Nora has carved out a little play area in the living room. She calls it her office. The other day, Stuey ventured into this area. Nora said to him, "Stuey, out of here. A birth is coming up. And I'm taking care of lots of babies." I smiled to myself. She hears me talk about attending births as a doula and taking care of moms and babies with the KINDNESS program. Since that time, Nora has set up her office and I hear her doing imaginary play and talking about babies and feeding babies. Its funny how thats what she talks about because she is emulating me! If I worked at a fashion design company, she'd probably be talking about display ads, getting orders out the door, advertising, etc. Too funny! Shes my little mini-me!

IMAGINARY PLAY
Nora has an imaginary friend, Maya. At first I thought she was talking about our friend Katies daughter, Maya. But the past couple of months, I realized that since she hasn't seen or talked to Katie's Maya, that it is an imaginary Maya. Nora has discussions with her and a few weekends ago even talked about going to Maya's birthday party and Stuey wasn't invited. (this made Stuey cry-poor guy) She can spend 20-30 minutes talking and playing with Maya-perfectly content. I don't remember having imaginary friends as a kid, but thats probably because I had my twin sister always around during those imaginary play years.

FIRST SKI
Today I went for the first cross country ski of the year on Ft. Abercrombie lake! Patrick and I got a baby sitter for the kiddies and took off for the lake. The weather was just perfect, as was the snow conditions for classic skiing. No one else was on the lake. We did 4 laps and then finished running our various errands. Skiing once again felt so good--got me excited for winter! It was just what I needed. I love how my husband waxes and preps the skis for me--my complete ski guru. In the 10 years of knowing him, I've never had to do any ski waxing and I've done quite a bit of skiing in that time! I'm so lucky!

COLD
This past week, Kodiak experienced its first really cold spell this winter. I pulled out the great goat fur winter boots that Susie Malutin made many years ago. Boy did they keep my feet warm! I wore them all over town. So soft and furry on the outside and inside. Not once did my feet get cold, even with temps in the single digits and with wind chill factors below zero degrees!

Zoya

Big Villages on Rivers

Last spring I got to help map huge prehistoric villages on both Kodiak and the Bering Sea side of the Alaska Peninsula. I was struck by how different they are from each other. The top photo is the map of the village from the other side of the Alaska Peninsula while the bottom map is of a couple of villages on the Karluk River. In each map a 'big' square is 20 meters while a 'small' square is 2 meters. So, as you can see, the old house depressions from the village on the other side of the peninsula are much bigger than the ones from Kodiak. And if you look carefully you will even see 2 'Kodiak' style houses on the map in the lower left corner. The Alaska Peninsula village is also a lot bigger.

Explaining why they are so different from each other is complicated. One reason is that they were built by people with different cultural backgrounds (sort like Italian vs Irish houses) but that does not explain all the differences. The villages are also different ages - the Kodiak villages are only about 500 years old while most of the Peninsula village is about 1500 years old (the 2 'kodiak' style houses are the same age as the houses on the Kodiak map). Another big difference is that the Peninsula village is built on a hill in the middle of a huge swamp while the Karluk villages are built on the banks all along the river. In other words, on Kodiak village placement is not constrained by the geography while on the far side of the Peninsula there are only a few places where you can actually build a village. The latter might help to explain why the villages on the Peninsula are so much bigger.

These are the issues that face archaeologists as they try to interpret what they find. Archaeologists need to consider the geography and history of a particular area to put the archaeological site they are studying into a good context. Next summer we will excavate the village from the far side of the Peninsula. And we will be studying both how it fits within the archaeology of the Alaska Peninsula and comparing it with what we find on Kodiak. In the end, we hope to learn how the two peoples were related and interacted with each other. But first we got to put the villages in context. Patrick

Terrible 3's

Stuey turns 3 in just over a month and I believe we slid through the twos and could be headed for the "terrible" 3's. Stuey is becoming STUBBORN. For instance, if I start to lift him out of the car and he wants to get out on his own, he says, "No, No, No-Me do." and I have to put him BACK in the car so he can do it on his own.
(I don't mind that part of his independent streak, however. I think thats healthy.)
The part that is draining is he and Nora fighting. Argh. And when Stuey is at all tired, his temper flares up more so than ever before. Stuey is such a cute, sweet little guy but then he just gets SO mad.

Yes, that little guy in sponge bob pajamas with a barrette in his hair is hair is not as innocent as he looks. Today, for instance, was a particularly frusturating stay-at-home day.... fraught with time outs, crying, hair-pulling and other attention getting tactics.

At times I think, "well, maybe its because I'm working too much"...but thats not it. I haven't been working much and recently I had 4 solid days off in a row without any change in his behavior. Who knows. Parenting is like detective work at times. Trying to figure out what changed, or what could improve the situation. One thing I do know is that sleep is HUGE for Stuey's mental attitude (as it is for me, too. Patrick reminds me of this...when I get at all sleep deprived, it is reflected in my mood). And lately Stuey has been rebelling against bed time, which isn't a good cycle.

I know what my sister Ella would recommend-serious physical exercise during the day to tire him out for bed time. I think a seriously long walk tomorrow is in order to tire out my little ones...

Zoya

Bunk Bed

Nora and Stuey recently got a bunk bed as gift from grandparents. Nora LOVES her top bunk-it is like a private little tree-house. Way up high and only hers. Stuey is stil trying to l warm up to his bottom bunk. I think the bed feels a little small to him after all his time in his toddler bed. And there have been the altercations about the ladder & Stuey wanting to climb into Nora's space...the standard battles which occur all over the world with bunk beds. They are being won and lost here on Cliffside Drive, too!

Tonight before bed I put Nora's hair in a pony tail and Stuey wanted a pony tail too-so he got a "bam-bam" pony tail (flinstones reference) as well as a hairclip like Nora.

Photos are of Patrick telling the kiddies stories at bedtime.

Zoya

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder' is something my mom repeated to me over and over when I was a kid growing up. Actually when I return home she still quotes it to me. It's right up there with 'Chacun à son goût' (each to one's own taste) and 'Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone'. But today when I was climbing Pyramid I actually thought about beauty. And my mom is right - beauty is biased by who we are, and we all certainly do not appreciate the same things.

I know that I love winter on Kodiak and I also know that many people do not. Today as I climbed Pyramid I was struck by the stark beauty of the ice and light. It got me thinking about how boring I find it climbing the mountain in summer. It's always raving green and just varies between dry and soaking wet (and always brushy). Sometimes the clouds can be awesome, but, in general, I find the scenics in summer pretty drab. Not so in winter - one day the mountain is covered in powder the next in ice. And the light is always low on the horizon. What's not to love about winter? But then again 'Chacun à son goût'. My mom is always right. Patrick

Patrick is feeling Old

This is a photo of Patrick taken in 1985-his first summer in Alaska-Karluk. It was discovered by an Aluttiq Museum co-worker who is in the process of recataloging photos. Patrick was 20 at the time of the photo (I was 9).

Patrick thinks he has changed a TON since the photo and I think not so much. Sure, he is more gray now, maybe a few more lines on his face, but really-he looks amazingly similar. Still the same great smile I've always loved Patrick for.

Zoya