Kangaroos, Possums and Devils, Oh My!

Yesterday Alisa, the two boys and myself went to the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park, which was about an hours drive out of Hobart. The  Tasmanian Devils in the wild are afflicted with a contagious cancer which is spread through their saliva. All the Devils in the park are cancer free and they are looking to help support their population.

There were also kangaroos, possums and parrots. Little Eric was NOT a fan of the kangaroos. He would cry and get upset when we spent time with then. There were about 30 kangaroos in  very large field and we could just walk amongst them AND feed them! They are such cute, gentle animals. In the picture I took the baby kangaroo is nursing.

After seeing how sensitive Eric was to the kangaroos,   Alisa and I figured that he wouldn't enjoy Tasmaian devil feeding time. We were wrong! We went the the area where they feed the Devils chunks of meat, and they fight like crazy for it, squealing and playing tug-o-war with the meat. Eric laughed! He thought it was great.

The picture above is of Alisa on their Sailboat, Galatic. More sailboat pics to come next week when we go for a several day sail! I have been spending primarily the evenings on the sailboat with them for dinner. During the day Alisa and the boys and myself are out and about exploring.

This is a view from an overlook along the way to the Devil Conservation Park.

Yesterday we also went to an incredible large outdoor Market which is held every Saturday, Year round! It was phenomenal. The street artists, food, crafts, produce. In the bottom picture is a vintage clothing stand that was part of the fair. It was fun to browse through all the old clothes!

Above you can see the Tasmanian Devils fighting at feeding time. They are ferocious creatures! They only eat dead meat, which is a good thing!

I have been really, really enjoying traveling by myself. This is the first time out of the country by myself since College when I went to visit Ella and Sweden. All of my other trips overseas have been with Patrick. Before leaving, I was a little nervous about going by myself...customs, money exchanging, etc. I had nothing to be worried about. This country is a perfect place to travel to by myself because it is english speaking, and they use dollars and the exchange rate is nearly 1:1. Plus, I'm not really here by myself because I'm with Mike and Alisa.

Unplugging from my cell phone has been lovely and really good. It doesn't work here and I haven't tried to make it work. I have access to my work e-mail, Facebook and this blog, which is all I need. Its been nice to have enough technology to touch base with my family once a day. I think that is one advantage of having vacation here....a non working cell phone!

I'm having the time of my life with Alisa. It has been so fun to really catch up with her and play with the boys and see the country here.

The white Australian wines are amazing. So fruity, smooth and ever evening we enjoy a glass with yummy Brie cheese and crackers.

Zoya

Sun from the Sea

This is the sun rising out of the sea this morning just after Nora and I got up - we adjusted the colors in photoshop looking out the window at the real thing.  Nora made sure I got the colors and exposure just right to match what was going on outside in the real world.

Here are Stuey and Nora out by the firepit last night.  They cooked hotdogs on pokers, and, in honor of Zoya in Australia, I cooked a rack of lamb chops.  We did not bother with buns or condiments - just the meat on sticks and fingers for grippers (I had to use a knife to cut up the ribs though).  Later for carbos I cooked them up popcorn.  Simple food.

At the airport it broke 55 degrees which is truly amazing.  I don't even think the kids needed jackets!  All the crocuses are blooming now and I noticed that the rhubarb has come up.  Spring has sprung rather quickly in the last week or so.  Patrick

Loving Tasmania

Tasmania is lovely. It has been so much fun to see my friends Mike and Alisa and their boys. Alisa has spoiled me with wonderful white tasmanian wine and brie cheese last night from Kings Island. It was the smoothest, best brie cheese I've ever had! And we've had so many great laughs since my arrival yesterday. Last night after the boys were in bed, Alisa Mike and myself enjoyed dinner atop the sailboat outside. It was fun to eat outside under the stars. Its nice to catch up and not be in a rush...to know that we have a week to hear stories from the past 5 years apart.

Today Alisa, Eric and myself went to a very cool Art sculpture walk which was about a 1/2 hour drive out of Hobart. There was a mile trail through the woods with about 20 various sculptures along the way. We were the only ones on the trail and Eric had such a great time walking with us as well. The art was done by a variety of artists and I posted pictures of a few of our favorites.

And the gate in the photo is no ordinary gate. Someone had knitted a cover for it! Yes-thats right--a knitted cover made out of yarn! There were several gates like that. Alisa says people knit covers for such structures occasionally here! I thought that was most unusual and cool!

After the sculpture walk, which took us about 1.5 hours, Alisa, Eric and myself had lunch at a sheep cheese farm and winery. We enjoyed some goat cheese tasting (YUM!!) which included lavender infused Manchego as well as another type of manchego. Anyone around our house lately knows that Manchego is currently my favorite cheese!

With lunch I had an ewe-chino.... which is a cappuccino made with sheep milk! So creative! It was delicious. I'm in love with anything sheep--sheep cheese, milk, and even pictures of sheep. Such great animals they are!

I'm staying at the cutest B and B ever-pictures to come.
There is WIFI here and the password is: ConvictTransportationForTheTermOfHisNaturalLifeByMarcusClarke
I couldn't believe it was correct at first, but it works. I was telling Alisa about it and she said it is probably because Australia was originally where convicts were sent that there is a lot of convict history here. That made a little more sense...still quite funny!

Zoya

Nora and the wolf

Last night Saint Mary's had their spring 'Festival of the Arts' event, and all parents and children were required to attend. At first I thought, 'oh great, Zoya's gone to Australia and here I am taking Stuey alone to an event that will go on until after his bed time'. 'This could be a nightmare.' Bad daddy that I am I did not even know about the event until the day before it happened. In the end Stuey fell asleep and I had a great time watching Nora do her performance.

The opening play was a sort of 'Peter and the Wolf' type performance where a teacher narrated the story and the kids played instruments to act out the scenes. The story is on the wall in comic form behind Nora in the photo. Basically, a braggart wolf named Harry gets everyone annoyed by constantly talking about how he is faster than everybody else. So the other animals come up with a plan whereby an ant named Fred challenges Harry to a race, and then hides on his nose and jumps at the last second of the race to beat Harry the wolf across the line. 'Fred wins!'. Nora got to beat sticks, imitate Harry's laugh, and chant 'Fred is winning' during the race.

And it did go late. I had to carry Stuey back to the car and both kids went to sleep immediately when we got home. Wow!

Anyhow, on another subject, today was my 100th day of the year on skis. I only bring this up because that is the quickest I have ever made to 100 days on snow. I have gone skiing on 100 of the 110 days to date of the new year. Wow! I guess I'm pretty obsessive. But I'm proud that it seems I am skiing MORE and not less than I used to when I was single and without cares or kids. Patrick

Small Site Archaeology Public Lecture

Today at Noon at the refuge visitors center I'll be giving a talk about what we found last summer at the Amak site during the Community Archaeology dig. I'll be comparing what we found this year with all the other small sites we have dug in the past. Bring your lunch and watch me squirm, or rather present. Patrick

Travel to Sydney!

I made it! To Sydney!

I love Virgin Australia Airline. It was so comfortable, new-agey... and they gave every one in sardine class a blanket, pillow, earplugs, eye covers and headsets! Completely unheard of in airline travel nowadays.
The 15 hours passed amazingly quickly; I watched 3 movies during the flight and slept 6 hours. There was an empty seat between me and the gal I was sitting close to and she was a lovely Australian. We laughed at baggage claim because our bags came out on the belt right next to each other. What a coincidence!

At customs an official pulled me aside to another room and a customs official questioned me. He asked to see a copy of my itinerary, which I didn't have. (it is on my iPhone and is a "live" document and internet on my phone wasn't working). He asked what I do in Alaska and I said a physical therapist. He asked who I work for and I said I have my own business. He asked to see a business card, which I didn't have on hand. He then asked what type of physical therapy I do and I said I work primarily with people with low back and neck pain. I got the sense that he wasn't necessarily looking for what my answer was, but my body language when I answered it.
Then he searched one of my bags, seemed satisfied and sent me on my way. Next time I'm definitely going to print out a paper itinerary. Messed up on that one.

I have several hours before my flight to Hobart Tasmania so I ate at a delicious restaurant in the Sydney airport food court. They had the most beautiful spread of greek food. It was fun to enjoy a meal of tabuohli, stuffed grape leaves and hummus at 7 am! The food court is quite amazing with a variety of fresh food restaurants.

More from Hobart, Tasmania!

Zoya

The goodies given to customers on Virgin Australia
New-agey lighting on the airplane. The colors would rotate throughout the flight!
The spread of greek food at Sarahar restaurant in airport food court.

Australia Bound!!

Tonight when I cuddled with stuey and kissed him good night he said,

"And everyone is good. But some people are bad and good. And deer are bad and good because they mess up our garden."

I leave for a 12 day trip to Australia tomorrow to see my friends Alisa and Mike and their boys. My bags are packed and I'm so excited for a journey to a country I've never been to and to see friends who lived in Kodiak about 5 years ago.

(and the trip comes at a perfect time after an incredibly busy four weeks---including jury duty, assisting at 2 births, subbing for fitness instructors, helping my sister from recovery from surgery...thats why you haven't heard much from me on the blog lately. I'll update from down under!)

Zoya

Picture: packing, laundry, more packing, more laundry...

Last Light

Yesterday morning it was sunny and beautiful, but by the time I finished with my ski it was cloudy and sprinkling. And today it is already blowing 40 and we got a full on storm. While on my ski I watched the light get overtaken by the dark clouds. In the top photo you can see Buskin Lake on the far left with Elbow Mountain and Elbow Creek headwaters on the far right. The clouds came in from the East and town was already dark by the time I started my ski while it was clear to the West. I got a few brief spotlit moments and then it was all dark.

The bottom map shows the general route of my skate ski trips the last few days. I created the map to post on the snow forum. The top picture is from the 'flat bench' at 900' looking towards the bottom of the page. The second picture down in the 'April - sun, snow, surf' (the snow) below I took a few days ago and is from the 'sidehill' and is looking towards the top right corner of the map. You can see the 'Spruce Trees - Sloping bench' on the lower left.

But today my skiing experience will be entirely different. It will be sleet and high winds. I'll be pretending I am climbing Everest in a storm or something. Patrick

Tidepools

Yesterday while we were down on the beach I checked out the tidepools and took some under water pictures with little Pentax point and shoot. I used the 1 cm focus feature and the pictures came out pretty good. I was amazed at how cool things look up close. These sea anemones are actually pretty small and don't look as colorful in real life. But I did not play with the colors in photoshop - they just look colorful up close. When I took the pictures I did not expect that they would come out. They looked good on the screen, but pictures often do until you blow them up on the computer screen back home. Next time I go with the kids to the beach I hope the tide is out so I can explore the tide pools some more with my camera. Patrick

April - Sun, Snow, Surf

April is a good time of year. The sun starts to rise out of the sea in front of our house and the skiing is great. It seems there is suddenly so much light. More than enough light to go down to the beach with the kids after school - or even after dinner. Today the tide was out a bit more than yesterday and we found more beach glass.

When I went skiing at the pass after work there were 2 ladies with beach chairs catching the sun next to their truck with the stereo blasting - 3 or 4 feet of snow all around. But it was baking hot with all the reflected sunlight. I went skate skiing in short sleeves - absolutely perfect conditions. The second from top photo I took today and it is of Pyramid with all the area in between a wonderful terrain park.

About the only sad thing about April is that summer is on the way and the snow now has a limited lifespan.

Patrick

Beach Glass

Yesterday evening I took the kids and dogs down to the beach by our house. Nora and Stuey love walking the dogs on leashes on the way to the beach. Roxie often would pull the leash right out of Stuey's hand. Down at the beach the kids looked for beach glass. They found quite a bit, but I was surprised there is not more on the beach. I know a lot of people break their bottles further out on the rocky cliffs to create beach glass. Kodiak does not recycle glass and our landfill has a limited amount of space.

So where has all the beach glass been going? My question was answered when I realized how many other parents with kids were down on the beach looking for glass too. I gather looking for beach glass is quite the evening routine down at Mill Bay beach. What a way to recycle glass!

Chickadee

Our friend John Mahoney built this bird house almost 10 years ago. He built it and we put it up together, and then.. ... No birds nested in it. Until Now.

Yesterday I heard Nora squealing in the living room, and checking on the commotion I saw she was pointing at the birdhouse. Our first bird guest has arrived. It seems the pair moving in are chickadees. But it must also be said that I have not seen them since. Were they just checking out the house and decided they did not like it? We'll keep our eyes open.

Patrick

Exploring on Skate Skiis

Today I went exploring on my skate skiis. I cruised on the crust on over to Sheratin Bay. To start, I parked at the Outlet to Buskin Lake and then skiied across the lake and over the low pass into the headwaters of Elbow Creek. It was fun to explore a new area and to come at an area I visit frequently from a new direction. In the Fall I often take a boat to Sheratin bay to go deer hunting. Today I got there more quickly on skiis than if I had taken a boat!

The upper Elbow Creek Valley is a pretty cool place with copses of spruce trees and a creek running through it. I flitted here and there on my skate skiis and the mountains loomed up above on either side. That's the backside of Sheratin Mountain on the right side in the photos. Patrick

"And How Does the Jury Vote, Madame Foreperson?"

This past week was crazy. Wild. Wow.

In a 7 day period I
- attended two over- night births as a doula
-helped my sister at the hospital, as she is recovering from appendicitis (bless her heart! she is a trooper and recovering day by day! Going home tomorrow, I believe)

-then I went to Grand Jury duty today....

I thought, "After what a busy week it has been, this will be a CAKE WALK! I'll go in there, surely they won't draw my name and I'll be outta there!"

Well, I was one of the 18 out of 50 randomly drawn to serve on the jury. And then, the icing on the cake, the judge picked me to be the jury foreperson. I couldn't believe it. Not only do I have to go every thursday, but I have to be uber responsible, in leading the group to vote, ask questions, read the oath to witnesses, etc. Thats what I get for thinking I could get a "day off"!

In the end, I am glad to be the "Madame Foreperson", as the District attorney calls me. I can help ensure that the process moves along with our group in deliberation. I had a chance to practice today and it went smoothly. It will be interesting to learn more about the legal system as well.

I googled 'Jury Foreperson' and it looks like there some information on how to be a good one, so I"ll read up on it. I figure this could be the only time in my life I am asked to do this, so I might as well make the most of it and enjoy it!

Zoya

picture is of kids in block city they built sometime this week

Kodiak Outdoor Film Festival 2012

The ITN film festival is upon us - it's tomorrow night, 6 PM at the Kodiak Convention Center (right there by the only stop light in town where the Toyota dealership used to be). Zoya and I have a film in the festival titled 'Mosquitoes and Archaeology'. It is all about the archaeological excavation I ran over on the other side of the Alaska Peninsula 2 years ago. We got eaten alive by mosquitoes. The moral of the story is that life is better on Kodiak. Anyhow, come check it out tomorrow night at the Kodiak Convention center.

Kodiak Outdoor Film Festival
When - Fri, April 6, 6pm – 9pm
Where - Kodiak Harbor Convention Center

Free to ITN Members. Register online at www.islandtrails.org/join to avoid lines on the night of the event, or join at the door. ITN membership is $15 student, $25 individual, $40 family. Admission includes a free pizza dinner from Big Al's, salad and no-host bar and an evening of Kodiak's best local footage of 2012!

Telling Nannies and Billies Apart

The last 2 days I have been skate skiing back up to the big ravine at the headwaters of the Buskin River. We have a lot of snow and there is a solid crust for skate skiing. There is a herd of mountain goats in the ravine and it has been fun to check them over and see if I can tell the difference between the nannies and the billies. This is not an easy task. By looking at the photos above can you tell the difference? The nanny and kid are pretty obvious but what sex are the 2 goats in the top photo?

For a couple of years I did a lot of bow-hunting for mountain goats. When you bow hunt you get up close and personal to the goats quite often, and I got pretty good at telling the difference between the nannies and the billies. generally the big billies are bigger and off by themselves with a dirt-stained back end (in the fall), but you can also tell the difference between them by their horns. Billy goat horns are much fatter along their length and curve evenly the whole length while nanny goat horns are thin and sort of flare with a bend near the end. I look at how fat the base of the horns are in relation to their eyes - fatter than the eye and it is probably a billy, thinner and it is probably a nanny. Also billies seem to have almost no space between the horns at the bottom and you can often see a black gland around the bases.

Anyway, in the top photo, at first I thought both were billies, but on inspection I think the top one is a billy and the bottom one a nanny. But I am not sure! What do you think?

For more information on how to tell the difference check out the Alaska Department of Fish and Game website:
http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=goathunting.billyid

Powerflex Promo Video

Powerflex from A Balanced Approach on Vimeo.

Here is a 1 minute Promo video of the Powerflex class taught at A Balanced Approach. If you have been curious as to what a group weight training class is like, check this video out!! (or come try a class! Or do both!)

Many thanks to Hanna Craig for filming and producing it~Shes amazing.

Zoya

Emergency Surgery

Yesterday my twin sister underwent an emergency appendectomy for her appendix, which has become very infected. On Sunday she had complained of a painful stomach and she went to the Clinic, then the ER. After extensive testing, a diagnosis of appendicitis was made, she was admitted to the hospital and yesterday morning they did the surgery.

When she awoke from the anesthesia, the nurses told her that her case was quite bad....one of the worst ones they have seen. Which means a longer and more tough recovery time. as they had to do open abdominal surgery, leave a drain tube in place, etc... My sister is on intense fluid restrictions for the first 24-36 hours...she is only allowed 1 cup of fluids every 8 hours. She will be so excited to finally be able to drink more, hopefully today. The docs have to make sure her digestive system is up for larger amounts of fluids before giving her the a-ok.

She is a tough cookie. She hasn't complained at all. She is amazing. It was a bit hard for me to see her in so much pain yesterday afternoon. Each day will get better.

Picture is of the sign on her door at her hospital room. She will be there for 1-2 more days for IV antibiotics.

Zoya

Childbirth Class reunion III

Yesterday I hosted A Balanced Approach's 3 childbirth class reunion. 10 moms and their babies and a few birth partners attended and it was fun to watch the babies all eye eachother and play with eachother! The moms had a chance to reconnect and meet the other little ones. Its fun to go full-circle with couples, from pregnant, to giving birth and seeing them as parents with babies several months old!

Zoya

Pictures:
-Group picture
-the 10 month group
-My fabulous co-teacher, Julie and myself
-A recent doula client, Elizabeth, her baby and myself
-Everyone playing