Outside Play

With all the rain and gloom it has been a tough winter.  One of the toughest aspects of the weather has been that no one has wanted to play outside.  It feels like we have all been cooped up together in the house all winter.  But in the last week with the return of cold weather all that has changed for the better.  The kids have been getting home from school and rushing outside to go sledding or build snow forts.  And today since it is the weekend we plan on taking a ski excursion.

The cold weather has created ocean effect snow at our end of town as the humid air off of the ocean cools on land and falls as snow.  Every day we get an inch or so of snow even as the sky stays mostly sunny.  At the other end of town out towards the airport there is very little snow.  Patrick

A Real 'Tour' for the Tour of Anchorage

That's me in the 25K classic race duking it out with a 13 year old in 2012 - to my credit I did beat him at the end.

This evening I signed up for the Tour of Anchorage ski race in Anchorage - my yearly 'force me to get in shape ski race'.  After last year I had decided I wanted to do the 50K classic race this year. I am a better skate (freestyle) skier, but I've been liking classic skiing more and more of late, and I have entered the 25K classic race at the Tour a couple of times.  But 25K just is not all that long.  For a while now, I've been wanting to do a LONG race using the 'classic' cross country ski technique.

For the 50K or 40K Tour of Anchorage races there is no 'classic' category to sign up for, and so for the longer distances you have to sign up for the 'freestyle' category.  'Freestyle' means anything goes, and that means I can classic ski in a 'freestyle' race.  In reality a 'freestyle' race means everyone will be skate skiing, and skate skiing is way faster than classic skiing.  Basically this means that as a classic skiier in the longer races I'll be a slug.  Based on my time it will look like I did badly, and based on the results no one will know that my time was slow because I was doing the race 'classic'.

For years this fear of being a 'slug' has kept me from doing the long distance races classic style.  And then last year at the start of the 50K race I passed an 80 year old+  dude skiing the race classic style, and as I passed I vowed that next year I too would do the race in the way everybody used to cross country ski - classic style.  I also checked the race results and saw that he finished in 4 1/2 hours - not bad for an 80 year-old and AWESOME for an 80 year old not skate skiing. When I am 80 I hope and pray that I am still racing.

So this evening I signed up for the 40K freestyle race and I plan to race it classic style.  It's not the 50K race that I had wanted to do, but this year on Kodiak it has been tough to train.  Without the snow time the extra 10K (and the vertical of the Spencer loop) had me a little scared.  So this year it is the 40K freestyle for me - raced 'classic' of course.  Patrick

This is where I've been training and this (today) is the best snow in ages, and that's pretty pitiful. 

A kid snapshot in time

Stuey~
A snapshot in time of who Stuey is…

Stuey is a child whom is frequently skipping from one room to the next-a lightness to his spirit. He loves his Archie comic books and has a whole stack that he is plowing through. At bedtime he reads Archie to get to sleep. Stuey's bedtime routine is with Tank curled up under his head and Jake on the dog bed off to the side of the bed.

Stuey frequently loves to annoy Nora, often for no reason. Sometimes when I discipline him with  raised voice, he gets tears of sadness coming down his cheek; he is a mix of a tender soul and a rowdy boy edge.

Stuey is a budding photographer and really loves photo safaris with Patrick. He is quite responsible with his camera and knows how to charge the battery all on his own.

About once a week  in the early morning dark hours, I"ll hear the pattering of Stuey's feet running through the house as he comes into our room. If he's tired enough, he'll crawl into bed and go back to sleep next to me. Or he'll just lay there quietly until its time to awake.

A while back, I heard Stuey laughing in his sleep next to me, and when he awoke he told me of the funny dream he had. I told him that I heard him laughing. It was a fun moment we shared. I'm glad I remembered to blog about it.

Stuey continues to have a hard time with his "r"s and Nora sounds more like "Noah". Anchorage sounds more like "Anchowage".

Nora~
A snapshot in time of who Nora is….

Nora is my independent, social daughter. She calls her friends on her own, sets up playmates, leaves messages, etc. When she answers the phone, she says, "Nora Saltonstall" which I just love hearing. Now her girlfriends call her up…our phone rings, a soft voice on the other end says, "is Nora there?". Nora leaps for the phone with excitement. I am glad to see her confidence build with phone skills and arranging playdates on her own. I remember the joy that brought in my own childhood.

When Nora is in a good mood, she has a good sense of humor and we find things to be very silly together. She can be very flexible and can handle changes in plans with grace. At other times, she has a very strong, stubborn spirit and doesn't take no for an answer. I try to smile inside my heart, take a deep breath and remember to appreciate this drive, stubbornness. It pays off in the end with her determination and she is a strong, independent spirit. It is not my job to "break" her strong spirit but to help her see when it is good to let go and when it is good to persist on.

Nora loves going to the new library to the children's section and looking at books. I call Nora my Barbara Walters because she has an intuitive and perceptive edge to her.

Nora notices details about the world and life that I sometimes breeze by. Something new in Kodiak, or something which is no longer around-Nora will notice.  She heard the faint hissing of my leaky tire today as she was getting ready to shut the door.

Zoya

Escaping the Sunday Afternoon Blues

Since I've known Patrick, he and I have both occasionally experienced  the Sunday afternoon blues. This unique case of the blues occurs when Monday is inching closer and the return to work is impending, and you could really use a 3rd weekend day to get all of those extra tasks accomplished.

This afternoon I had a serious case of the Sunday afternoon blues, so I texted a popular babysitter of ours to see if she could come over for a few hours while Patrick and I went to dinner.

We went to the Powerhouse and tried some of their amazing new raw Tuna dishes. The quality of the fish was something else-so delicious and smooth texture.

As Patrick and I  ate and looked at the eagles and sea lions over the channel, Patrick told me about the new trails which were being built along the channel on Near Island. He said, "There is a new trail going right along side the channel in those trees right there. How about after dinner we could go walk it?"

The hike along the channel sounded like a good idea until we stepped outside into the winter air.  The sun was quickly descending behind the mountains in the Southwest. I quickly got into the car and my teeth gave a preliminary chatter as my jacket wasn't designed for winter.
"Brr…I'm cold. Yeah lets not walk. Lets drive somewhere." I suggested.

"Really, Zoya?" Patrick replied, "Lets try this new trail. I think you'll like it. Once we walk you'll warm up. You can wear this hat and gloves".  I skeptically looked up at the sweaty and (potentially) stinky  hat and gloves up on the heating system on the dash…drying from an earlier outing Patrick was on. Little did I know, the gloves were surprisingly dry and warm and I figured I had to at least give the hike a try.

We parked in the North End Parking lot and hiked down to the new trail and it was so fun scouting out the new path. It was marked with white flags and went alongside the channel. As the cars drove over head on the bridge, a large rumbling sound was produced. It was fun to be right under the bridge.

We had moments of short sprints to help warm up and, in the end,  I was so glad we did the hike. Something I love about being married with Patrick is that life is full of so many adventurous moments. Never did I imagine that after dinner we'd be hiking on a new trail alongside the channel on Near Island.

My favorite dates with Patrick are of the outdoor variety.

Zoya

Stuey's Seven

Yesterday, in the company of a pack of little boys, Stuey turned 7!

Patrick made a huge web of string in our guest space. The kids all attempted to follow their string to the end where there was a prize. Patrick spent about an hour setting it up and it took over an hour for the kids to try to unwind it all. 

Then it was time to enjoy a volcano cake. Stuey has been excited about volcanos since our return from Hawaii.

The cake had a moist strawberry cake filling. So delicious!

Happy Birthday to my Stuey!

Zoya

Snow Teaser

Friday morning we woke up to a blizzard and the forecast was for up to 8 inches of snow.  Also the storm was coming from the North and not off of the Gulf of Alaska which means it was expected to stay cold.  Things were definitely looking up.

I went skiing after work and took the photo above.  There was enough snow to go classic skiing in the woods! The kids got out of school early and sledded with friends for hours out on the lawn.  Nora even taught her friend Estella how to cross country ski.

And then it turned to rain and warmed up.  By Saturday we had no more snow on our lawn and it had all turned to slush near the golf course where I cross country ski.  I am seriously wondering if the turn of events has to do with the spider I killed during Stuey's horseback riding lesson on Thursday.  Did I curse us with rain?

Now it is Sunday and it has gotten cold again.  Tonight another snow storm is supposed to roll in from the North.  But this time I am trying to keep my excitement in check.  And all spiders are safe.
Patrick

College Reception in Las Vegas

Earlier this week I (groggily) returned from my first ever National Physical Therapy Conference in Vegas. The trip ended up being great for making connections, learning new Physical Therapy  and having a fun getaway in the crazy city of Las Vegas.

ITHACA RECEPTION

At an evening reception on Tuesday night, I had my first contact with Ithaca College faculty since graduating from college 15 years ago. 

Two of my prior professors, Dr. Pagliarulo and Dr. Andrew Robinson were at the small evening gathering held for Ithaca college graduates and students. I had hopes of seeing some old college friends, but none were present. 

I walked alone into the reception with my "Zoya class of '99" nametag hoping to see a familiar face, but there were none. I made my way to get a glass of wine and a plate of fabulous cheeses, salami and bread and continued to look for familiar faces.  The awkwardness disappeared as I quickly realized that others there felt the same way, they smiled and we all looked at each others name tags for the graduation years. They didn't know anyone either. 

As we warmed up to one another, I gradually perceived this innate connection with the other Ithaca College grads that I couldn't put my finger on.  It dawned on me that I didn't  realize (until that moment) how much  sharing an alma matter was a  common denominator which made striking up conversation so easy.  

 I talked at length with a guy from Chicago who graduated a few years after me and we talked about our careers, families and reflected back on college. We shared stories about professors…and advisors. I told him the story of my advisor who would call me  into her office quarterly and scare the begeezus out of me…She'd ask, "How are you doing Zoya? Seems like this quarter has been hard for you, etc…"

She made me wonder if I would ever survive PT school. But I was so determined to finish and succeed.   

At the end of the evening, Dr. Pagliarulo arrived; he was the department chair when I was at Ithaca. Seeing him was like  putting  on a worn, familiar glove. His smile and kindness were just as real as 15 years ago. I had  lots of struggles in college with surviving the intense physical therapy program, and I always remembered Dr. P as someone who was kind and positive and rooting for me. 

That night, I felt as though I had come full circle. I couldn't help think, "My life is what it is now because these professors believed in me, taught me and guided me." It was a humbling moment of realizing where I was and who had helped me get there. 

I asked if there have been other Alaska students in the program and they said no; I am the only one. 

As the evening wrapped up and I headed back to my room, I was glad to have that long awaited moment over with; when I  connected with my Ithaca College Roots once again. 

Dr. Pagliarulo and I at the Ithaca College Reception

Nora and Stuey would've LOVED these!

meanwhile, I loved this….I enjoyed a margarita made with the infusion from jalepenos and oranges. 

The indoor "sky" at the Venetian Hotel 

Vegas skyline

 Zoya

Living on the archaeological landscape

Yesterday the kids, dogs and I went for a walk on Near Island and I learned something of interest that helps me understand what people were doing in the past at local archaeological sites.  Our first stop on the hike was an eroding archaeological site.  I explained to the kids that the red rocks coming out of the site were red because they had been in a fire.  I have excavated a few similar sites and I told the kids how they were probably smoke processing lots and lots of cod.  The rocks were heated up and then they held the heat to help the cod to dry. It was a good way to conserve firewood. Ancient peoples did not have freezers so they needed to smoke and dry the cod so that they could save it for later.

The kids duly nodded their heads, and asked me about how the people who lived here made knives from rocks.  The dogs ran off and swam in the ocean. Stuey went looking for a piece of slate to grind into an ulu knife.  My lesson was over - or so I thought.

A short while later we came upon a couple fishing from shore and they had caught some humongous cod.  One of the cod was darn near as big as Stuey.  A lightbulb went off in my head, 'ah ha, so that's why that site is located where it is - cod are easy to catch here.'  I had previously assumed that ancient Alutiiq peoples had had to kayak far offshore to catch such large cod.  Now I know that such cod can be caught from shore in late winter.

A small point to be sure, but it does highlight something I feel quite strongly about - archaeologists should live on and understand the landscape where they work.  Afterall, there is only so much one can learn from books.  This sounds obvious but most archaeologists live in a city and teach at a University and only visit 'the field' to work for a few short weeks every year - if at all.

Once at a large archaeological conference I checked out a session on Upper Paleolithic Portugal.  The archaeologists were talking about the various animals whose bones had been found in the site.  To my horror they used contemporary pictures of animals in a zoo to show what the various animals looked like.  Clearly these archaeologists had no idea what it means to chase down, kill and butcher something on their own.

Living in the environment makes all the stuff one reads in books so much easier to understand.  You know what is possible or not and you know when a theory is ridiculous.  You know what it means to live on the landscape.  Patrick

National Physical Therapy Conference-Vegas

NATIONAL CONFERENCE

15 years into my physical therapy career, I decided to give the National Conference a try. This year its in Vegas, which is such a wild, bizarre place. Oxygen bars, ridiculously  expensive food, sex, alcohol and gambling being promoted just about everywhere you look.

I heard that when conferences are held in Vegas, there is a 15% increased attendance as compared to other locations and I can understand why. For conferences, Vegas has got it down. From restraurants on every corner, lots of hotels in one location,  airport short distance from the Vegas strip...it makes travel here easy.

The National PT conference has 10,000 therapists in attendance and this mornings talk that I went to had probably 3,000 in one room. I"m used to going to small 20-30 person hands on classes, so this is a big change. The place is flooded with students. I look around and feel a bit old. At this mornings session, I sat next to a therapist who has also been practicing for 15 years and it was her first time to CSM as well.

There were 3 lecturers, a HUGE screen for powerpoint up front and a good AV system for the speakers. There were lots of videos imbedded into the powerpoints which was nice...to see the exercises being done as opposed to pictures.


SOCIAL GATHERINGS
Tonight there is a meeting of the Society of Women's Health (SOWH) at the Bourbon Room at the Venetian hotel. I'm not a bourbon fan but I imagine there will be other things to drink as well!  I'm way excited about this gathering to get a feel for the SOWH...I'm thinking of perhaps doing  a presentation next year at conference so I want to get a feel from the leaders of this group if my potential topics would be of any interest.

At 7pm is the Ithaca College Reception. I'm excited and nervous about the Ithaca College reception. Excited to have a social outing where I'll be with "my people" and to hear about what Ithaca College is up to. But nervous that I won't be hip enough or cool enough...just the same typical nerves that go along with reunions. The same type of feelings that make people not want to go to reunions at all.

I"m hoping to see some people I know there as well as old professors. I didn't attend my 10th college reunion, so this would be the first in-person get together with folks from my college days.

Because of the conference, I joined twitter (or rather, my office manager got an account going for A Balanced Approach). I'm a newbie to the twitter world and was realizing that get togethers at conference were done very much through twitter. Last night I went to a Mexican food restaurant where there was an announced get together, and no one was there. The hostess said, "oh yes...there was about 25 other therapists who came and left, saying there was a get together here". Very odd. I sat and enjoyed a quiet meal by myself-yummy mushroom fajitas.

Alas,  my first twitter-organized get together was a bust, but I"m more hopeful for tonight!



And amidst the hustle-bustle of conference, I've scheduled in lots of down time.
The down time feels good. I gave myself 5 hours today in between sessions to write on the blog, read, rest, eat lunch, rest some more, etc.  The view from the 43 floor of the hotel overlooks the aiport and downtown and just relaxing and watching the planes take off is fun! When looking at our blog, I realized that my last post was on January 18th which was forever ago. I've been writing down kid quotes left and right on the calender but just hadn't had the time to sit and write.


Zoya

Spruce Cape

Over the weekend we took a couple walks out Spruce Cape.  For the first hike we took along the little radios I use for archaeological surveys.  Basically they are really, really good 'walky talkies'.  I remember the walky talkies of my youth - you were lucky if you could talk to each other across an open field.  The kids would split up and talk to each other.  I noted that Zoya has the best walky talky of all - her cell phone.

The best part about the SpruceCape hike is the beach at the end.  Nora and Stuey found little perches on the bank and we threw sticks into the water for the dogs.  Tank can now swim pretty well and he negotiated some pretty large breaking waves.  It was doggie surfing.  Hard to believe that at the beginning of summer he could not swim at all, and it was very difficult to get him into the water.

Patrick

Crocuses in January

Nora and I investigated the garden yesterday and found crocuses coming up.  Say it 'aint so! This may well be the worst winter in 10 years. I remember in 2009/2010 we had crocuses in February, but that year we got a lot of snow in March & April.  The winter of 2002/2003 remains the worst that I remember.  We never got snow that winter.  And it could happen again this winter.

It's funny because the Lower 48 has been enjoying a glorious winter.  Lately it has been colder in Atlanta, GA than here on Kodiak.  On the news I saw that political pundits on the East Coast are decrying global warning theory based on the cold temperatures they've seen this winter.  The pundits need to come to Alaska.

Despite the lack of snow I've still managed to keep skiing.  The photos below are from the last 2 days on Pyramid.  It's pretty desperate snow.  Yesterday and today there was fog down low and the sun was out. The visuals alone made the climb up from the road worthwhile.
Patrick

My new favorite bookstore

I almost titled this post 'cabin lit', and really that's what the post is all about.  Last fall during an archaeological survey by kayak around Afognak Island Mike S and I gained an appreciation for paperback novels found in cabins. During the trip, we were weather bound next to two remote cabins,  and we shamelessly plundered their bookshelves for tent bound entertainment. 'Cabin Lit' is by definition limited.  You choose what you choose and that's what you read.  Afterall, every book there was already chosen by a prior cabin dweller and NOT YOU.  It tends to be action/adventure, romance, bra buster, sci-fi, fantasy type stuff.  But really the operative words are random and 'limited selection'.

Despite the random, limited selection, Mike and I enjoyed every book that we read. We even did book club like talk about what you read type stuff. And this got me thinking, 'how important is a big selection of books?'  Might I be better off with a more limited selection where it is easier to make a choice?  Sort of like TV channel selection in the pre cable days - no angst about choice?

Fast forward to post Christmas holidays when I go online to buy some new books.  Both Amazon and Barnes and Nobles no longer let you check out 'as a guest'.  It is all password and account driven.  Of course I'd forgotten my passwords, and after many complications I bagged the whole online thing.

And that is when I found Safeway!  I found books to buy while shopping for food. And I am happy to say that it is the ultimate version of 'cabin lit'.  There is not a huge selection, but it is bigger than it looks because each rack contains many titles - you have to flip through them by hand, each rack at a time.  But I am realizing that I don't like a lot of choices.  I have not picked a loser yet and I KNOW that I would not ordinarily have chosen many of the books I have recently purchased at Safeway.

Just this week I discovered a new series that ought to keep me entertained for years.  It is the 'Rogue Angel' series by 'Alex Archer'.  And I put quotes around Alex Archer for a reason.  On Wikapedia I learned that it is bi monthly series is put out by Harlequin and written my multiple authors (there are already like 40 titles for me to read).  It is about a female archaeologist who is the heir to Joan of Arc's sword.  What's there not to like?  The one I am reading now takes place at an archaeological conference in Madison, WI - the very place where I went to archaeological graduate school!  All about Mayan temples underwater in lakes and lots of murders etc. It's like a comic book for adults - HUGE entertainment value.

To finish, I have to add that Zoya wants me to go to the new Kodiak library.  And that makes total sense - check out books for free!  But hey, I still like Safeway.

Patrick

Time to get into rafting

Putting in at Sargent creek

Here on Kodiak it has been raining a lot lately.  And the bad part is that it has been so warm that even the tops of the mountains have been getting rain and not snow.  Right now it is 42 degrees here on Kodiak - At Waimea in Hawaii it is meant to get down to 48 degrees tonight.  There's still snow for skiing up above 1200 feet but it is pretty skimpy.  It's been a struggle to stay motivated and ski on a daily basis.

So today I tried something new.  I went river kayaking with Brent, Jeremy and Mike.  We made good use of all that melting snow.  We ran two creeks - we first did Sargent Creek and then did Virginia Creek out near White Sands beach.  Tomorrow I think I'll go again!

Patrick

Update:  Just now when I checked the temperature in Waimea, Hawaii (on the island of Kauai near where we stayed) it was 41 degrees - that is colder than it is here on Kodiak right at this moment where it is 43 degrees!  Right now there is a HUGE dip in the jetstream that is pushing cold air from Siberia down to Hawaii, and then the air is coming all warmed up back up to Alaska (and then it pushes down the 'polar vortex' towards the lower 48 where they are expecting a serious cold snap).  WEIRD.

I had some seriously bad deep fat fried, batter dipped shrimp in Waimea.

The top section at Sargent Creek

The first drop on Virginia Creek

Stuey's Camera

Stuey taking some final pictures with his camera on the way to the airport - after these pictures he left the camera in the rental car

When we left Hawaii Stuey left his camera in the rental car.  This made him very sad.  The worst part was that he lost his pictures of the beautiful sunset.  Zoya has called the rental car company - so perhaps all is not lost and we may well see the little blue Panasonic water proof camera yet again.

But it's not all bad.  He has been borrowing my camera for our 'photo safaris' into Abercrombie, and it takes panoramics and stitches them together in what stuey calls, 'the computer in the camera'.  The old Panasonic did not do this.  Stuey really, really wants my camera for his birthday, and it is not such a crazy idea.  Afterall, I did fog my camera up diving too deep underwater in Hawaii, and any camera that Stuey does get has to be water and shock proof.  So we will see.

Patrick