Kodiak Daily Mirror Piece~ Mountain Views: Best reader helped with ‘marshmellows’

MOUNTAIN VIEWS
by Zoya Saltonstall
June 3rd

Less than two weeks ago, I lost my No. 1 Mountain Views reader: my mom.

My mom passed away after a sudden illness and I was right alongside during her final months and days.

Over the years, my mom always cheered me on from the sidelines about my writing. As the saying goes, “she had my back.” She would occasionally text or email telling me how she enjoyed different blog pieces or newspaper column pieces. Her one main criticism was when I misspelled the word “marshmallow”. On my family blog I went through a period when I routinely spelled it marshmellow. Mom emailed me letting me know I spelled it wrong and the spelling of marshmallow became a running joke between us.

The past two months as I spent time with my mom, I took a break from writing my Mountain Views column, but not from writing. Words were scribbled down in my journal book in the form of flash memoirs: moments in time, conversations, sensations. The considerate body language of doctors as they delivered very hard news, conversations during car rides with my mom on sunny days, beautiful art work on medical building walls which brought me peace and sadness at the same time. Support from hospice nurses which routinely wowed me. The kindness of strangers on airplanes who offered caring words or rubbed my back as I cried in deep grief.

Writing this first column after my moms’ passing is a hard column to write, knowing that she won’t be reading it. Not writing the column would be harder indeed, as my mom would want me to continue to write. Writing is a big part of who I am.

On Memorial Day weekend my family and I went to Afognak for four nights of camping. Sleeping on the mossy earth, listening to the sea otters break occasional shells on their chest, watching the tides come and go was just what I needed to rest and heal. The winds in the trees and the lapping of the ocean were a perfect salve for my sad heart.

During that camping trip, I enjoyed many s’mores with roasted marshmallows with my kiddos. There is such simple delight of enjoying the white gooey stickiness that appears from between those graham crackers as well as the smiles that accompany that moment. The joy those simple marshmallows bring. That’s right — marshmallows, with an “-allow.”

That correct spelling of marshmallow is for you, mom.

Kodiak resident Zoya Saltonstall is a mother of two and a physical therapist. She loves Labrador retrievers and chocolate.

 

Nice Catch

At last night's firepit barbecue we tried to occasionally feed the dogs in the hopes that it would keep Brewster from wandering.  Why go for hotdogs at the beach if you can get them at home?  It did not work - in an unwatched moment Brewster slipped off and we later found him begging for hotdogs at the beach.  I guess home cooked hotdogs have a tough time competing with the exotic beach cooked hotdogs.

Still - nice catch Sheba!

Patrick

Taking the Cousins Skiing

This past week I met my cousins' daughters~Rose and Maeve for the very first time. My aunt and uncle brought them up to Alaska for a week of sightseeing. Patrick took them up Pyramid and Rose loved the skiing. They are from Colorado and spring skiing in Kodiak was exciting for them.

Zoya

More Petroglyphs

A couple of days ago I went on another survey to Afognak.  It was only a day trip and the main goal was to re locate and check on some petroglyphs.  Twenty years ago I was the last person to look at the petroglyphs when I visited with the original researcher who found them - Don Clark.

Don Clark drew the petroglyphs back in 1964, and then in 1995 with his help we relocated them again.  They are covered in barnacles and mussels and extremely difficult to find.  Even in 1964 before the land sank 5 feet during the Great Alaskan Earthquake they were still under water at high tide.  So after subsidence they ended up really low in the intertidal zone - hence the thick cover of molluscs.

On this visit it took us almost 45 minutes to re locate the pecked images.  We looked and cleaned the rock in the right place the first time, but just could not see anything.  I was worried that I had the location wrong, and we had basically given up when I went back and carefully re-examined the first place we had looked.  I cleaned up the rock and thought I saw a mouth.  But I was more than a little worried that I was making it all up.

Then after checking on a nearby site we returned to the petroglyphs, and suddenly the one face was very visible.  Wow!  It just popped out out of nowhere.

As you can see Don Clark did a very good job drawing the same face in 1964.  I think it just needs a bit more of a smile than he drew, but in every other detail it is very close.

What's cool is that I think it might represent the face of a woman.  To my eyes the lines below the mouth represent an Alutiiq woman with chin tattoos.  Patrick

Visitors

Family time is good for the soul, but a of crowd of friends is just plain fun.  We got to do a little bit of both during our trip to Afognak over Memorial Day weekend.  Our friends showed up en mass late in the third day to fish. Suddenly Lipsett Point was a very happening place.

Stuey and Nora each had friends to play with, and the grown ups were catching lots of fish.  We had a barbecue on the beach, and the next day went on a long hike. And then everybody left and we were back to family time.  Best of both worlds. Patrick

 

 

 

Family Time

On this past trip to Afognak we did have visitors who came for a day to fish and hang out on the beach (more on this in a later post).  But for most of the trip it was just us - Mom, Dad, Nora, Stuey and Brewster the dog. 

In the old days when we were alone as a family we used to have a difficult time keeping the kids entertained.  These days that is not an issue. Nora does her tidepooling, Stuey shoots his slingshot, Zoya does her writing, and dad explores with his camera.  Brewster chases squirrels and sleeps.  We all go on family exploring trips. 

Unplugged family time.  Ahhhhh  Patrick

Burying Nora by the city in the sand

Zoya helps Stuey saw wood

Nora's nest

Nora collects the wood and transports it to the woodpile by the stove

Tidepooling

One of Nora's favorite activities was wading in the tidepools.  There is a great big tidepool in front of the North beach that is full of pink coral.  It is almost waist deep in places and even has some eel grass.  At dead low the water in the pool warms up and it is a pleasant place to explore, and even swim.  Patrick

Baby sculpin?

Nothing to do with tidepools but it is a pretty picture

Nora's tidepool garden has some nice rock art

Dog in camp

On our last trip to Afognak we brought along Brewster the dog.  It was the first time we'd brought along a family dog, and he did great.  The only difficult part was getting him in and out of the floatplane.  But once in the plane he relaxed and acted like the frequent doggie flyer. 

The first night in camp he was on sensory overload running after squirrels and reacting to every fox or sea otter noise.  He would stand in the teepee entrance and just stare.  Finally he gave up and went to sleep.  He spent the night curled up on Nora's pillow.  And then after that first evening he was the mellow camp dog.  Patrick

 

 

 

Subsistence Reds

Stuey tends the net and watches for hits while I ferry fish

There are not that many photos for this post and really none of the fish, but that's because the fishing was a rush and there was no time for photos.  In something like 4 hours we caught 60 red salmon.  Wow! It was all work and no play and lots of fish slime.

Mike P arrived with the net and family, and set the net before coming to shore. The fish started to hit immediately.  Mike still had to anchor the boat and take his family to shore in the only raft. So I had to pick the net from the inflatable kayak.  We like to bleed them while they are still kicking, and thus it is important to get to the fish quickly.  

I was going up and down the net and filling the kayak with fish, and then rushing over to Mike who would bleed the fish and put them on ice.  Stuey helped from his kayak by watching for the fish strikes and telling me where to go on the net.

By the time the other boat arrived and Mike could join me on the net I was totally slimed. My kayak had a couple of inches of slime and fish scales in the bottom, and I was just sitting in it.  

When I was done I cleaned off in the hot tub and and then borrowed new pants from Zoya.  I never bring along a spare pair.  Zoya's pants fit me but had tiny pockets.  

Later on Mike P grilled up some fresh salmon

Patrick

Finally things slowed down enough that we got some salmon on the grill

Pulling the net - no need for any more fish!

Kayaking with the kids

The highlight of our recent trip to Afognak was going kayaking with the kids.  Brewster wanted to go too and actually went swimming while trying to follow us.  This is only the second time we have managed to get Brewster to go swimming.  To keep Brewster from drowning Zoya took him for a walk to Graveyard Point while the kids and I went exploring up the bay in the other direction.

It was awesome to have totally self-sufficient kids along as we explored the rocky coastline.  We found a small pocket beach and looked for glass balls (Japanese net floats) amidst the driftwood.  We did not find any glass balls but did find a more rare wooden net float.  There was also the remains of a dead bear.  His claws were very scary looking, and leg bones looked very human like.

The kids are getting to be quite proficient at kayaking.  Patrick

 

Stuey with modern net float and Nora with a much older one made of wood

 

Stuey and the boys show off their kayak skills