A little bit of sunshine

2 pictures that show the same thing - a spot of sunshine on a far hillside and a little hole of blue.  Another name for this phenomena is a 'sucker hole', as in, 'you are a fool if you actually think the weather is clearing up'.

Indeed the weather has taken a dismal turn.  We are back to warm temperatures and grey skies.  In the morning the kids and I watch the news and we see that the East Coast is getting all the snow.  What kills me it that the newscasters complain about it - no appreciation about how lucky the east coast is to have a winter.  I wish they could send it our way.

But at least we now have snow on the mountains - in the last 2 weeks Kodiak has received a LOT of snow up high.

One problem with the lack of sunshine is that Stuey and I have not been able to complete his Science Fair project for school - a sundial.  We got the sundial built, but have not been able to calibrate it in the sunshine. No sunshine, no shadows, no clock.

Patrick

Stuck

"I"m not doing any better," my client says to me, seated across from me on the treatment table. Shoulders and head rolled forward, back slumped-he is bummed.  Inside my heart sinks, wishing it weren't so. I take a gradual deep breath, try to ground with the earth. But on the outside, I must remain un-phased. Confident.

"Ok. So...tell me about your nighttime pain. How has that been the past few days?" I ask. (And deep down hoping that there has been at least  some tiny change in symptoms.)

"Its the same." he replies.

These are the moments which are so hard-to not know why. To wonder- am I missing something? I want nothing more than for all my clients to progress.

In these moments of doubt,  I try to  remind myself that I am along with them on their journey. Its not my journey. Or my pain. And I'm not responsible for my client's journey or their pain.

These are the unglorious moments of my job as a PT. When theres not progress.
It doesn't happen often but when it does, its hard. By nature I am a healer and I want to see progress.

I explain to my client how perhaps a switch to another therapist, or doctor, or refer back to the same doctor for more imaging/tests may help.  I want to help him see all the possibilities.


As my client leaves, he looks me in the eye and says "Thanks for all you have tried, Zoya." He reaches out for a confident appreciative handshake. "Your welcome. I wish I could do more" I reply.

"No, I appreciate all you've done. I wish I knew what was going on. Why this isn't getting better" He responds.

After my client  leaves the clinic, I sit at my computer and give a cleansing sigh. I remind myself that you win some, you lose some and some people need a different approach than what I offer.

Zoya


This narrative is not about one specific client, but rather an example about a  dialogue and scene which occasionally happens in physical therapy. 

Our Luge Run

Yesterday Stuey's best birthday present was snow in the yard.  We built a luge run down our small hill.  Stuey also made a snow tunnel to sled thru.  The luge has given new life to our small hill.  I had to make a big pile of snow at the bottom to act as a backstop.

This morning we got another 2 inches of snow, but the satellite photo shows a pineapple express descending on Kodiak.  Hopefully it wont wash everything away.  Patrick

Stuey's Eight

Stuey's 8!

Today for Stuey's  birthday breakfast, he requested home made chocolate waffles…so together we made them. 

And it snowed so much last night. After eating their waffles, Nora and Stuey played outside in the dark for nearly 30 minutes. This is the first heavy snowfall we've had all winter and boy were they excited. 

Later, Stuey had his  birthday party at the bowling alley.

Last night at Safeway I asked Stuey if he wanted Safeway cake or home made one.  He spotted the cake with  a deer and hunter on it on the cooler at Safeway. That was the one. 

Bowling! I loved how excited Stuey was to wear his birthday hat. 

Stuey started to pull the hunting figurines off the cake before the candles were lit. 

Several of the kids bowled multiple rounds and really got into it! Stuey's cheeks were red from the activity at the end of 2 hours. 

Thank you Sara L for the picture!

Thank you Sara L for the picture!

Zoya

Rare Day

This morning Kodiak woke up to 8 inches of new powder snow and sunshine.  This has not happened much lately, and, unfortunately, it is supposed to start raining Monday night. Powder snow on Kodiak is one of those things that needs to be prioritized.  Get it while you can because it never sticks around.

So at dawn this morning I drove out the road to go cross country skiing.  The road to the golf course had not been plowed so I went skiing in Swampy Acres.  I think it might be the first time in 2 years there has been enough snow to do this.  It's a great loop, and I did not see another soul out there.
Patrick

Personal Training in Portland

In Portland I stepped outside my comfort bubble and did something I've never done before-hired a personal trainer when on vacation.

That photo is definitely a stock image. But you get the drift…
Just replace that smiling girl with one who is cringing at the thought of one more repetition, wearing a few more clothes on top and you get the idea. My personal trainer and I in Portland.

I've never done personal training in a different city before. Since last summer I've been doing personal training in Kodiak at A Balanced Approach  with Marian and have LOVED it. She challenges me, encourages me and helps me discover what I am able to do.


On my trip to Portland, i thought it could be a good thing to try out a personal training with a new trainer. And to keep my on my training program for Tour of Anchorage. Especially with all the yummy Portland food.

I googled "Portland Personal Trainer" and up came "The Art of Personal Training" studio. It looked friendly, well maintained. And fairly close to my hotel.

Do I do it, I asked myself? Do I send the e-mail to make an appointment? I knew that I would then be committed. Committed would be good. So I sent the e-mail, letting the owner know I was looking for 2 personal training sessions during my Portland stay.

And it was done. And then just a month to feel a little nervous when I thought about what I had committed to.


The 2 sessions were fabulous. On the first day my trainer, Peter, showed me an amazing assortment of exercises which would focus on cross country skiing muscles. Since this is the year of "Nearly-No Snow-in-Kodiak" its been all about cross training. I've signed up for the Tour of Anchorage ski race and am most definitely doing it in one month.

At one point, during a 3 minute run on the treadmill, on a steep incline, I thought I was going to get sick. Or die. Or both in that order. But with only 20 seconds left and Peter cheering me on, saying, "Imagine this is your final hill of the race Zoya!"…how could I stop? Really. Disappoint Peter with only 20 seconds to go? Not going to happen.

So I powered through and nearly collapsed on the floor after.

Then he did this cool personal training stretching thing which was new to me where he stretched my hips, hammies, quads, calfs….perfect end to the session. I felt like silly putty-not able to really move after the treadmill episode.

The next day, I was still able to walk and not in too much pain, thank heavens. I had a different trainer, RJ who worked more on upper body strengthening and cardio.

And I silently thanked my workout gods to not have any treadmill runs with incline in on that second  day. :)

I'm so doing that again when I travel!


Zoya

Hard Snow

Here on Kodiak the day before I went off to Idaho we got a few feet of new snow on the mountains.  Before I left, I managed to get in one heavenly, deep-powder run on Pyramid Mountain.  And then while I was away it rained and rained with some freezing rain thrown in.  I came back to a solid sheet of very hard and dense snow.

It's not all bad - at least all the rocks are covered and I can ski.  I went skate skiing in the mountains and yesterday I bounced around on Pyramid in downhill gear.  We still do not have quite enough snow to cover up all the brush and it is very bumpy.  Needless to say, but the skate skiing was very exciting!

If this was Anchorage I think our conditions would classify as 'no snow for skiing,' or maybe, 'very icy with lots of debris and rocks'.  But I'm not that picky.  And hey, there has been some sun, and at least its been cold. Some snow is better than no snow.  Patrick

Arctic Survival Skills Patch

Cozy under the emergency space blanket!

Looking at survival kits and first aid kits together. 

In my search for fun outdoor based girl scout patches, I found the Fairbanks Council Arctic Survival Skills Patch. Right away, it struck me as a useful, interesting patch. The requirements:

Do six of the following activities, including the starred requirements.

1. * Find out what hypothermia and frostbite are. Know the steps to prevent them in different weather and water conditions. Know the procedures to take if either of these occur. Demonstrate them.
2. Know basic compass and map skills, and demonstrate them by following an orienteering course.
3. * Invite a Wildlife Specialist to a meeting to inform you about such things as bear protection and wildlife awareness (as appropriate to each area).
4. What is stress? How can stress interfere with survival? Discuss feelings such as fear and loneliness. How do you deal with tensions like thirst, hunger, and pain?
5. Shelter, food, water, warmth, and clothing are basic survival necessities. Show how you can provide these for yourself and consider their order of importance.
6. Arctic wilderness provides its own challenges. Think about and discuss characteristics of water, plant life, geographic conditions, and weather of the arctic that would help or hinder you.
7. Make a basic survival kit. Know how to use each item properly.
8. Plan and carry out an overnight camping trip to implement the survival skills you have learned. (Remember to turn in your troop trip application and a list of what your survival kit consists of.)

I enlisted the help of a troop father, Ryan. His twin daughters are in my troop and he volunteered to help take our troop through the patch. He is a retired coast guard rescue swimmer and is now a firefighter. Through his work as a rescue swimmer, he had extensive arctic survival skills training and was excited that our troop was undertaking this patch. 

On our first meeting to chip away at the skills, we all learned so much. I learned all the many uses of parachute cord (rope) and how it has 15 strands of very strong string inside of it. 

We learned about emergency space blankets and the different applications for them. 

We learned about the 3 stages of hypothermia ANd that 50% of heat loss is through our head-so put a hat on to stay warm. (Or take it off first to cool down!)

The girls were mostly captivated by the knowledge. I realized just how interesting of a topic survival is!

Zoya

Portland Recharge

Food cart Ethiopian food on a rainy day. Totally hit the spot…new flavors and spices. 

I just read Patrick's blog post about his reunion trip with his 5 college roommates.

In contrast I'm on a trip to Portland totally by myself. And so happy about it. Patrick's trip and my trip are total opposite from each other-his was to reconnect with friends. Mine is to have a few days away by myself to recharge.


Typically I always travel for either a class or to see family/friends. Last December there were some airfare wars for Anchorage-Portland flights and i thought I should jump on it for a little 3 day getaway. As the time neared, people asked "What are you doing in Portland? Visiting friends?"

"No" I replied…"not visiting anyone. Just want a trip with nothing planned and no commitments to people." People seem surprised. Several girlfriends are completely encouraging.

This trip has been just that. Perfect recharge time. I think with being a mom, a business owner and a physical therapist, time away from it all for a couple of days is golden. Good for my soul.


I love Portland. I heart Portland.
This city has it going on with great public transport, wonderful food, friendly, clean, safe.  I'm staying at the same hotel I stayed at in October (Hotel Lucia) and its just  3 blocks away from seemingly everything. I am completely happy. Having down time to read. Do a little writing. Spend hours in Powell's Bookstore.  Try new food trucks and restaurants.

Stuey calls me about 5 times a day…his soft little voice asking "Momma? Where are you? What are you doing today?" He tells me the details of his day, that he had  hasbrbrowns for breakfast. Whether or not he had a dream. What his dream was about. Who was in it.

Nora gets on the phone for a few minutes to say hi, but then Stuey steals it back from her. Bless her heart for not getting too upset at her brother who hogs the phone.

The only prescheduled thing I had on my agenda was 2 personal training sessions, which I'll write more about later…

Zoya

Roommate Reunion

Over the weekend I flew south and spent some time skiing with my roommates from college.  It was sort of amazing how quickly we reverted to our old selves.  Or as one of the roommates termed the phenomena, 'muscle memory'.  Kind of amazing that such a large group of us got together over a 1/4 century after graduation, and it was even more amazing how little anyone had changed.  

Older, grayer for sure, and no one wanted to stay up until 4 AM in a bar, but all the jokes and personalities remained the same.  About the biggest change is that every once in a while someone would drop out to call work or home on their cell phone.  That NEVER happened back in the day.  Patrick

Road tripping from Boise to Sun Valley, Idaho

Buying frozen pizza for dinner - by the time we got to Sun Valley all restaurants were closed

Toasting old times

Breakfast in Sun Valley

Ah yes - the ubiquitous cell phone.  Eric and Lanny texting the wives

Lanny and Eric on snow

Tomas the knuckle dragger - 'What's the worst thing about snow boarding? Telling your son . .. ..'

Tom, Larry and Eric

Scott cooks up the steaks

Roommate reunion dinner

Fancy dinner in Ketchum

Today everyone but me seems to be wearing a helmet while skiing

Sledding at the Pass

Generally we go sledding at the golf course.  It has a long hill and you can cross country ski at the same time.  But if we want a STEEP hill and REALLY fast sledding we go to the pass.  Only on that hill there is no skiing down in skinny cross country skiis!

On Sunday it was fast enough that I was even thinking that just perhaps, you know maybe, we should have been wearing helmets.  Most of the time, half way down the hill the sleds would turn sideways and we'd wipe out.  To make it to the bottom you had to either balance and weight the sled perfectly or drags your hands and steer.

At the bottom there is a big berm to keep everyone from sledding out onto the road, and if the sled made it that far it would go straight up and dump everyone out. It was a good time.

Patrick

Last of the Greens?

I took this picture just before dinner a few days ago.  I could not believe how green and vibrant our garden kale remained near the end of January.  It was actually growing.  But I am happy to say that today it looks beaten back and close to dead.

Here on Kodiak we finally experienced a few days of continuous sub-freezing temperatures.  I am pretty sure the cold snap finally killed the mint and parsley, and the kale is looking dark, wilted and droopy.  I am going to try and eat it all quick!  Patrick

Snow Scenics

The last time I climbed Pyramid it had snowed and then ice-rimed on top of everything.  All the bushes had a layer of ice that caught the morning light.  It was a spectacular sight that I tried desperately to catch it on film.  And I failed miserably.

How does one capture that glinting, low-level light that sparkles?  Everything was aglow with sparkles when I took the pictures.  But when I looked at them at home the glint and sparkle was gone.

I guess it is one of those things that you just have to experience. Nothing better than climbing Pyramid after an ice storm!  Maybe it is just something that can only be experienced and never photographed.

Patrick

This one was pre rime storm, but the dog silhouettes in the fog sunrise do look cool