Quilts, Quilts, Quilts...

The past several months I've gotten back into quilting. I had 4 projects all in various phases and they are all officially completed!
The first was a quilt for my nephew Leo. Ella had been slightly begging for a quilt for him for some time, so Leo got his as a Christmas present. It was fun picking fabrics for a boy--the fabrics ended up having a celestial theme and I loved the lime green and orange...

The second quilt I started 4 years ago, for my sister Bonnie. I picked the fabrics and started her quilt shortly after I had Stuey. I worked on it some, and then-as with many quilts, I got busy and it was on hold. There was some correcting I had to do to it as well, which I kept putting off (ie seam ripping and re-doing). It felt so great to finally finish it and mail it off for Bonnie's birthday!

The 3rd quilt is one for our kitchen. I've made around 12 or so quilts, but none for our couch. So I got some fabrics that I loved and made a couch quilt. I"m loving having the fun colors in our kitchen (thats right--the couch we spend most of our time on is in our kitchen).

The fourth is a quilt I completed in December...for our friend Sophie who celebrated her 1st birthday.

One change with these 4 quilts is I outsourced the actual quilting. The quilting is the stitching that is done on the top which holds the top layer to the middle and bottom layer. It was hard for me to do--to bring them downtown to have someone else do the quilting on them. But this is the step which I always have the least enjoyment with and dread doing. My dread of this step prevented me from completing quilts in a timely manner. In a discussion with a physical therapy client who is also a quilter, she mentioned that some people will really appreciate the lovely professional quilting on it, and it can accentuate the beauty of the quilt. So I decided to send these off to the local quilt stores to get the quilting professionally done and am really glad I did. When they came back all quilted, I put the bindings on and they were ready to go!

I'm not sure what I'll do on future quilts...to quilt or not to quilt them? That is the question....

On to more quilting projects this spring...I"m always a happier person when I have a few quilting projects in the works. Thats what Patrick always tells me, at least!!

Zoya

Our Little Burritos

At night Stuey and Nora say, "Tuck me in like a burrito" when I put them to bed. This involves tucking blanets tightly around them, pouring imaginary enchilada sauce and saying "yuuummmm". The kids laugh and love it!!

The other night we had a package of deer burger we didn't know what to do, and decided to give a go of making samosas. One google search later led us to a fairly simple recipe which was a two person effort. The dough had to be spread VERY thin (1 cup of flour and water for 24 somosas!) which made filling them challenging. I rolled out the dough, then patrick filled and deep fried them. They were delicious and as I took bites, I could only think of Bruin burgers...from crab festival! So yummy. We want to try making them again in the future, but with a recipe which involves a little more flour.

Zoya

Photos:
April sunrise on Mill Bay
Nora and Stuey "quilting". Lately I've been quilting and they have made paper quilts for all the beds.
The Empanada adventure....

Kodiak Outdoor Film Festival

Put it on your calendar. The submissions are all in and the Kodiak Outdoor Film Festival is ready to go.

6 PM, this FRIDAY APRIL 8th at the Kodiak Harbor Convention Center

Get ready for a night of pizza, prizes and a silent auction. This year you can even purchase beer to enhance your viewing pleasure. The festival is put on by the Island Trail Network and the event is free for members. So become a member of ITN and enjoy one of the perks of membership - movies made by your friends highlighting all the cool things you can do outdoors on Kodiak. And best of all free Big Al's Pizza!

If you want to join beforehand you can sign up to be a member on the ITN webpage.

http://www.islandtrails.org/join/

Last year the crowd was WOW'd by a great variety of films - ALL LOCALLY PRODUCED! Come support Kodiak's only local film festival!

See you there. Patrick

Birth Camp!! Eugene!!

This past week I took my annual trip to Eugne Oregon for the annual Midwifery Today Conference--where midwives, doulas, childbirth educators learn about how to promote normal, healthy birth. Topics offered included, "Shoulder dystocia and malpresentaitons, 3rd Stage Management, Prevening Preterm Birth...

The thing I love about this annual conference is its a chance for all health care providers to all work towards the same goal--HEALTHIER BIRTH. There were lots more OB nurses this year than I ever remember before...nurses wanting to make positive changes on their L&D floors. I met a wonderful gal, Jen-who is an OB nurse in a hospital in Corning, NY--not far away from Ithaca where I went to college. Jen is absolutely fun, excited about helping moms have healthy births and we hung out lots between going to sessions together and eating meals in between. It was really fun to connect with her. She has such positive spunky energy and I think the moms and babies in Corning NY are VERY lucky to have her as a nurse! She really thinks outside the box.

The presenters I went to were all experienced midwives-most with 25+ years of experience. The most famous one was Ina May Gaskin. She wrote "Ina May's Guide to Childbirth" which I have several copies of in my clinic and refer to her teachings a lot. She has been a midwife for 30+ years, has written many books on birth and is a strong advocate for healthy birth--The Farm, is where she works and teaches in Tennessee. She gets asked to teach at medical schools and help promote normal birth.

I say 'normal birthing' to mean physiological birthing. What happens in birth if midwives, doctors, nurses don't intervene (aside from intermittent occasional monitoring of mom and baby) because many nurses and MD's in today's trainings never see a birth that is without intervention--so there isn't any concept of what a normal uninterrupted birth looks (or sounds) like. Why does this matter? Because unnecessary interventions into birth can cause trauma (physical or emotional) trauma to the mom. And the more medicine intervenes when its not necessary, the more moms and babies get sick during labor/birth. (I cannot emphasize enought.... there ARE times when medical intervention are vital for the health of the mom and baby. It is the overuse of the interventions that is the challenge)

For example, a mom who has an epidural has a 30% higher chance of needing a vaccuum extraction to help birth the baby. This can be very hard on a moms pelvis and pelvic floor muscles. This isn't to say that every epidural causes problems, but some epidurals can cause temporary or long term damage to the woman's body. As a physical therapist I work with women who have post-birth trauma to their back or pelvis from a traumatic childbirth. Pelvic floor trauma can also cause urinary incontense, chronic pelvic pain and sexual dysfunction.
Emotional trauma presents in the form of post-traumatic types of syndromes. Women who felt like they didn't have a say in their birth experience and chain of events lead to unexpected outcomes for them or their baby. This can stay with a woman for days, months or the rest of her life.

Birth can be a powerful, positive experience but it can also be traumatic if a woman isn't allowed to birth as she desires. Medical interventions can (and do) save lives, if not over used. What has happened in our culture of birth, they have been significantly overused and has resulted in a 30+% rate of ceserean section. This means 1 out of 3 women is having major abdominal surgery to have a baby, and this isn't a healthy trend for our birth culture. (the world health organization recommends somewhere between 10-12% cesarean rate for most countries).

On a positive Kodiak Birth note, I looked up the 2009 Birth vital Statistics for curiosity--Kodiak was at an 8.4% Primary C-section rate--this is good progress! The last 5 years, it was inching upwards of 11 percent and now we have the second best rate in the state. (Providence Anchorage has a primary cesarean section rate of 33%! Ouch!! That is seriously high!! Granted, they are getting the high risk moms flown there...which impacts the rate somewhat, but not THAT much? I'd be curious to learn more about their number). There is variability in the c-section rate depending on the year--but it was 4.8% in 2000 and 6.3% in 1999. I think we could get back down to 5% with a little more effort, in whatever form that would be. More Childbirth education, doula support?

I also met up with Patty and John Mahoney who live there now. We went out to dinner and went to their house afterwards where I saw all the wonderful improvements to house and yard they've made since I was there last 2 years ago. My time flies!!

Also--I very much welcome any and at all comments about birth in Kodiak and Alaska. I always enjoy the discussion with friends and family about birth. Share your thoughts, ideas, concerns, etc as a comment...or send me an e-mail! How can we make birth better and better in Kodiak or Alaska or the USA or the world?

Zoya

INA MAY!!! Her books are (have been and always will be) such an inspiration to women all around the world.
Jen and I!
Elizabeth Davis (yes she is holding a placenta with umbilical cord)
Patty and John in Eugene.

Cruising the Crust in Spring

I love spring and crust cruising on skate skiis back into the backcountry. The snow pack is getting close to its peak so there is a LOT of snow and most of the bushes are covered up. And the warm weather has created a crust on top of the snow that allows you to skate ski everywhere as if the whole backcountry is one big groomed skate ski trail.

But it does beat you up! There are a lot of ups and downs. Today I crust cruised back up behind Pyramid Mountain. To get to the valley where I wanted to ski I had to first climb almost 500 feet, and then do a rapid descent for 400 feet. I think I ended up climbing around 1200 vertical feet total. I was one sweaty mess when I got back to the car.

Nonetheless, riding the crust whenever it was flat or slightly downhill was sublime. Watching the scenery go by and hitching and dodging this way and that with no effort. Pretty darn good! Patrick

More Fishin'

These days here on Cliffside Fishin' is all the rage. Yesterday the plan had been to ski from the golf course to Buskin Lake and try to catch Dolly Varden Trout at the melted inlet to the lake. However, the weather was NASTY so we tried Mill Bay beach instead. Once on the beach I even dared to put real hooks on their lines. But no fish bit - not even a sculpin. Still, everyone got to practice casting and at least no siblings hooked each other.

Nora has a cast where according to her she 'can get it WAY out there'. Stuey has even learned to back up the beach to get the line in faster. When there finally are fish willing to bite I think these guys will be ready. Patrick

A Visit to Mr. Otter

Monday I took the kids for a cross country ski out at the golf course. There is plenty of snow and I've been feeling a bit guilty about not taking the kids cross country skiing more often this winter. I'm worried they will never learn or like to cross country ski. The fact of the matter is that it is a lot of work to get the kids all gussied up in their ski gear and then they usually only want to ski for 10 minutes or so. It is often easier just to go sledding.

However, on Monday afternoon I tried something different. The kids set off on their skiis and were having fun, but I decided to try something new. We'd go exploring and visiting. The last few days the kids had been playing 'tree house' in the backyard so I thought I'd employ the same sort of game on skiis at the golf course. So I pointed out a tree in the distance and said, 'let's go visit Mr Otter.'

The kids loved it! We got to Mr. Otter's house and I pretended I was Mr. Otter and gave them each a snow cone (snowball). And then off we went to see Mrs Beaver, Mr Rat (only rotten cabbage to offer), Mrs Weasel, Mr Muskrat, Gump the man who watches Santa's house on Kodiak (and who fed us oats), nasty Mr Wolverine who would not give us anything to eat, Bruno the Brown bear, and finally Nanook the Polar bear. We went from tree to tree all over the golf course and even when the wind picked up and it started to snow the kids did not want to stop. It ended up as their longest ski to date by far.

I guess the take away message is that I should not worry or stress about them learning to cross country ski and just take them exploring a bit more often (but on skiis of course). Patrick

Goin' Fishin'

Ever since Stuey's fishing pole broke last fall (after a summer of HARD use), he has asked, "how about a new fishing pole?". The past month I told him he could get one when the snow melted. So over the weekend when the snow was almost vanished from our yard, Sara took he and Nora down to Macks and they got him the fishing pole he has been waiting for. Stuey was thrilled...beyond thrilled. They went to the beach and tried them out--by the time they got home, the line was tangled and it took a good 20 minutes to untangle. Thus begins fishing season here at the Saltonstalls....months of casting a pinecone or stick in the yard...simple pleasures.

Zoya

Sunday Snow

Yesterday I went up Pyramid and went downhill skiing. Lately, I've been mostly cross country skiing - trying to catch the last of the snow at sea level before it disappears for the summer - so it felt slightly novel to go up the mountain to catch some powder. And the conditions were pretty darn good. About a 1/2 foot of powder and graupel on the North side of the mountain and sun warmed corn snow on the south side.

I climbed up the mountain by myself, but as usual when spring skiing on a beautiful sunny afternoon on Pyramid I was joined by lots of friends. I ran into Paul Z, Tia and Danny up for a family ski and Gregg and Lisa too. Up on Pyramid on a day like sunday is sort of like going to a Christmas Party. You really never know who you will meet and everyone you do meet you are really glad to run into. I guess like minded people climb mountains and go to the same Christmas parties together. Patrick

Playing Outside

This weekend was an outdoors kind of adventure. Nora and Stuey have discovered "playing house" in the small alcove of trees we have next to our house. They have little trails, "bedrooms", "bathrooms" (a boys and a girls), a kitchen, etc. Yesterday the kids played outside in the barely-40 deg temps for close to 2 hours. It was magnificent! I remember playing house for hours and hours and hours as a kid and its fun to finally see Nora and Stuey at an age where they are enjoying it also!

Yesterday we went sledding on the mountain across from Pyramid. The hill was steep, sleds were fast and there were lots of sqeals of delight from the kids.

There is still so much snow in the mountains! I'm getting excited about the prospect of downhill spring skiing. I didn't go at all last year and regretted it. Not sure how I let that happen...

I can feel spring in the air--snow is almost melted around our house, (just one tiny patch left) and our driveway is finally drying up.

Zoya

Kodiak's Tsunami

Japan's recent earthquake and disastrous tsunami got me to thinking about the earthquake and tsunami that rocked Kodiak 47 years ago. I found these images in the Alutiiq Museum photo archives - they were all taken by Nick Nekeferoff. The Good Friday Earthquake in 1964 was about the same size as the one in Japan (around a 9.2) and like in Japan it was the series of tsunamis following the quake that did most of the damage.

When I was looking through Nick's photos I was surprised how close the roads were to the water. And I suddenly remembered that during the earthquake the city of Kodiak also subsided approximately 6 feet into the sea - Hence, the higher sea level. If you look closely at the third (Old powerhouse after the quake) and fourth (old powerhouse prior to the earthquake) you can see the change in sea level quite dramatically. Prior to the earthquake the bottom of the snow line illustrates your typical high tide. Afterwards the high tide is quite a bit higher! It's kind of cool to think that that building on the left is now one of our favorite Kodiak restaurants.

The top photo is of Potato Patch Lake (taken from where Marion Owen used to have her garden) and one of those buildings floating in it is the old Beachcombers Bar. I gather the beach at Shahafka Cove was covered with bottles of booze and there was quite the party on the beach afterwards. They replaced the old beachcombers floating in the lake with the hull of a boat. The beachcombers was still a bar when I first came to Kodiak in the mid 1980s but closed shortly there after.

The second photo shows the Old Donnely Building where the USFWS Visitors center stands today. At the time it was a post office, but when I first moved to Kodiak it was the KANA building. Today the waterfront here is dominated by the ferry landing and canneries.

Looking through all these old photos and hearing about what's happened in Japan has me wondering what would happen if Kodiak got struck by another series of tsunamis. The scary thing is that I don't think we are prepared for another tsunami. I've heard people say that Kodiak only has a big quake every 400 years or so and that we don't need to worry about another tsanami. And while it is true Kodiak will probably not get hit by another 9.0 for a long time - we do have to worry about tsunamis and large earthquakes on the order of an 8.0. Three Saints Bay the first Russian settlement on Kodiak was wiped out by an earthquake on the scale of an 8.0 and tsunamis don't even have to be generated by a local earthquake. So you bet we should worry. This could happen again.

And if it did happen again, my biggest concern would be all the canneries. I think they would all get demolished just like the ones in Japan did. And while we don't have any nuclear power plants to worry about - I do wonder how hazardous all the cannery refrigerants are. Should we be worried about an ammonia cloud over Kodiak? How about a chlorine and bleach mustard gas cloud? Doomsday scenarios for sure, but I just hope the canneries and the City of Kodiak have considered the possibility of another tsunami. Patrick

Tracks in the Snow

The top 2 photos was what our driveway looked like in the morning. If you are a good tracker you could figure out that an adult walked out to the car side-by-side with a child. The simple story is that I walked out to the car holding Nora's hand, and then tucked her into her booster seat. And then it was off to preschool.

By afternoon the sun was out and the kids biking down the hill in the sunshine. Typical March weather in Kodiak - sun, snow and MUD. Our driveway is a swamp. I also noticed that the crocuses are peeking up out of the snow. Springtime in Kodiak. Patrick

Focus, Mom

Yesterday I was helping set the counter up for Nora to paint. She got her paints out and some paper. I was behind the counter, cleaning and putzing around. I realized that Nora needed a glass of water and I turned around to give it to her....right at that moment she said, "Focus, mom". I started laughing...as did she. I replied, "Did you just say, Focus?". She said "yeah! I needed my paint water". Some of the things she says take me by surprise! Its fun to be able to laugh at yourself--my kids surely help me do that!

Zoya

Photos:
A tower Stuey built when I was gone last week.
Birthday photos from Patrick's 46th!
Strike a pose!! Sara and the kids.