Reuniting....in Seattle

"Reunited and it feels soooo good...." Marias sings as I write this post!

Marias and I haven't seen each other in 4 years and tonight we finally reunited for the first time since she left Kodiak. Since Marias left we have kept in close contact and we have taken such similar paths in our lives....with careers, birth, child rearing, friendships, etc.
She is a friend who has always, always understood me. No matter what I tell her.

Tonight I took the light rail to the airport from my hotel and waited for her to come through airport security. Marias was flying in from Petaluma. She walked through the security gate "border" in such cute boots, skirt and fun scarf with her enthusiastic smile and hug. We took the light rail train back to the city and chatted away, catching up.

1/2 hour into the train ride, someone eavesdropping into our conversation said he would be eager to buy a round of drinks to continue to listen to the details. He was preparing to depart as he admitted to eavesdropping. Marias and I got a kick out of that!! Did we ever laugh as we thought back to the thread of our conversation. It feels so good to catch up with her after years apart.

Yesterday I visited my friend, Pauline, who gave birth 10 days ago to a beautiful baby girl, Pyper.
Pauline moved from Kodiak last summer and her friendship has been a sacred one -introducing me to yoga, helping me with fitness goals. We've always shared similar perspectives on health, fitness and life in general. When she lived in Kodiak, we we went on runs, hikes. It was so fun to see her as a new mom with little Pyper...what a lucky baby she is. Pauline and her husband Andy are such incredible parents...and now they move to South Carolina in a few weeks. Hopefully she is going to visit Kodiak this summer so I can give gorgeous Pyper some more squeezes and catch up with Pauline more.

So fun to connect with these fabulous women in Seattle! Girl Power!!

Zoya

Pics:
Marias and I at Dahlia..
Pauline, Pyper and I.

Camera Realization

I just realized that ever since Thanksgiving I have had my Pentax point-and-shoot camera set at 1040 by 640 pixel dimensions for all pictures. No wonder I have been so disapointed with its pictures of late! I noticed something was definitely up when I took those mountain goat pictures while skiing the other day (see blog post for February 28th). But at the time i could not figure out what was wrong. I thought the '1040' picture setting was for the camera's video.

And then yesterday I took this picture (I take this same picture all winter long so I can compare how the snow cover changes), and I noticed that the picture is only 1040 pixels wide. I went back and looked at all the photos I've taken with the camera and noticed that the camera was still taking big res pictures at the Phoenix airport at Thanksgiving, but small res pictures at the pool a few hours later. So that is when I inadvertently changed it. I bet I was trying to change the video quality!

The funny thing is that I was convinced the camera had 'gotten old', and had almost completely shifted to using Zoya's Panasonic waterproof camera. I'd even been telling people that the Panasonic camera took 'WAY better' photos than the Pentax. Little did I know that it was all operator error. The good thing about all this is that I have brought new life and confidence to an old camera, and now Zoya can have her camera back. It also made me realize that cameras are only as good as their operators!
Patrick

Daddy's Island Lake After School Ski Program

Today after I picked the kids up from school/daycare I took them to Island Lake to go skiing before we went home. The photos make it all look worthwhile but I must admit it was all not as joyous as it looks. First off at the car there is the rush to get the kids in their boots etc and it was super icy getting down onto the lake. I had to carry the skiis down to the lake and then pack each kid down individually. I, of course, fell down while carrying all the ski gear. This made the kids laugh.

Then out on the ice just as it was starting to get fun, Nora stated, "I have to pee". Great - in a snowsuit on over her school uniform and wearing ski boots. Time to go home. Stuey wanted to prove that he had something over Nora and promptly dropped his pants and peed in the middle of the lake. He would not let anyone go ahead of him and kind of liked to break his own trail rather than following the set track. Of course he fell a bunch and so his hands got super cold (He'd taken his gloves off).

Anyway, we made it back to the car and I tried to help Nora pee with the snowsuit pushed way down, but of course she peed on the snowsuit. I was trying to hold her up while she peed and she was laughing like crazy. Hard to get mad when the kids are obviously having fun. Then they wanted to ski again when we got home, but by then I was DONE.

Still, I'd do it again. And they do seem to like skiing. We even circum-navigated all the way around the main area of the lake. But I must admit I do 'Jones' after those kids ski programs in Los Anchorage. Some day soon it will get easier, right?

Patrick

Seattle Trip

After a whirlwind of a week last weekend, and a day of seeing physical therapy clients, I am off to Seattle for a course.

In years past when I take classes in Seattle or Portland, I fly in the night before the class, take the class and promptly fly out. This year I decided to take a day of enjoying the city. My girlfriend, Marias, from Petaluma is going to fly up tomorrow. I haven't seen her in 4 years since she and her family moved from Kodiak with the Coast Guard. And today I'm going to see my girlfriend Pauline who recently had a baby girl.

Last night during my layover in Anchorage, my mom picked me up and we went to Spenard Roadhouse for dinner. I couldn't resist posting a picture of the veggie appetizer I got....mainly because we cook a similar dish at home. It was deep fried beet chips, deep fried brussel sprouts and lightly sautéed kale with garlic. The brussel sprouts were amazing and flaked apart in a crispy fashion. Its the best brussel sprout recipe my taste buds have ever experienced. Just goes to show that anything deep fried can be good!

Landing in Anchorage last night was spectacular. The ocean was flat calm and the mountains reflected the evening light over the Cook Inlet water and ice bergs.

Zoya

Some Final Thoughts on the Race

Aubrey took so many good photos of the race that I just had to do another post! Also, you've only heard Zoya's side of things - so this is my take on the race. To put it succinctly - lots and lots of double poling! Double poling is what I am doing in the photos above - except the last one where I have just finished the race and have finally stopped double poling. I double poled about 90% of the race. Zoya figures she double poled for about 50% of the race. I only did the classic 'back and forth running motion' on the uphills.

The Tour of Anchorage course is fairly flat - so there is a lot of double poling. At the start there is a hill, then another long hill near the middle, and finally a beast of a hill with about 2K to go in the race. But that's just about it. The whole race is supposed to be 25K but it is really a bit longer - maybe 26 or 27K total. Most of the race is along the Tony Knowles coastal trail and is pretty much flat as a pancake. It was a very FAST race. I found myself double poling as fast as I could and still having a hard time keeping up with pack.

Kodiak has had a lot of snow this winter and with no grooming our trails have been very soft. So when we tried to double pole in training our poles punched deep into the snow. I think this put us at a disadvantage during the race. I know I just did not have the raw speed and power to keep up. That said - I am happy with my race. I finished 8th overall and only 10 minutes behind the winner which really is not all that much. Funnily enough my time (1:37) in the 25K freestyle race (skate skiing) would have gotten me a silver medal for my age class, but in the classic race (usually slower times) it only got me a bronze.

Photos: Top - double poling during warm up immediately prior to the start. Second - double poling at the start. I skiied most of the race with the kid in the background 2045. He is just 13 and we switched off drafting each other trying to catch the pack in front (I dropped him immediately prior to the last hill). Bottom 2 photos are at the finish. Patrick

Tour Wrap-Up

The Tour is over. The race that Patrick and I anticipated and trained for all winter. Today my legs ached, and I moved slowly at work, but it is a good soreness.

This year along the course, there was more crowd support from friends and family both on the trail and off the trail than ever. There were friends and family cheering on at Westchester Lagoon (where Aubrey-friend/photographer was there taking pictures while cheering us on!), Earthquake park, and the finish line.

On the trail, there were friends and family doing the race we were able to cheer eachother on. What a difference it makes to have a little support from familiar, caring faces along the way. People would cheer to others, "Looking good!" "Go Bob!", or my favorite thing to holler "Woo-hoo!". People also give this support to strangers skiing. When passing someone I often say, "Nice job" or "great day!". People seem to appreciate this. There was good energy on the race course.

A guy from Wisconsin and I skiied the second half of the race together. His defining characteristic was a 3 inch icicle hanging from the mustache. In the end he finished several minutes ahead. But for most of the course I was ahead and he said I kept a good pace. I called him "Wisconsin" and at the finish line he waited for me and told me how he appreciated us motivating each to keep at good clip.
Patrick skiied most of the race with a 13 year old and they would take turns drafting each other. In the end Patrick ended up finishing ahead.

The first time I did the tour was 11 years ago and I have done the race 4 times total. Finally this year, I found a groove with the race course and am not feeling defeated by it anymore. I felt defeated because I was never able to really improve my time, which killed me inside. It was a big mental challenge.

But this year changed things. I took 25 minutes off my time and placed second for my age, leaving me feeling very pleased. I appreciate it more after years of just wanting to improve my time, to just do a little better. To find out I had placed for my age this year was beyond what I could've hoped to achieve.
What a fun weekend it was!

Zoya

Photos:
-Patrick and myself at the finish. 2 minutes prior, I had been crying tears of joy with Patrick when he told me I got 2:37!
-Patrick and Aubrey M.-the awesome ski photographer! She is an archaeologist and was at the Anthropology conference the week before in Seattle. Picture of she and Patrick was taken at the conference the week before.
-Big spaghetti feed dinner the night before at Will and Beth's house. Amazing baked ziti, elk spaghetti, apple pie, laughter and conversation...
-More skiing pictures taken by Aubrey.

Tour 2012

What a weekend!

Saturday 2pm: Picked Patrick up from the airport-he was flying in from Seattle from an archaeology conference.
Saturday 3:30 pm: went for a quick "warm up" ski at Hillside. I felt very stressed about which skis to use, snow conditions and the fact that I had slight pain in my right hip. I was in minor tears. Patrick re-assured me that all would be fine with wax/ski choice on day of race.
Saturday 6:30 pm: Dinnner with our cousins, Will and Beth and family friends. Beth and Will prepared an incredible spread of baked ziti, elk burger spaghetti, apple pie for dessert.
Sunday AM 9:00: 25K race start for my brother in law Todd, Step-dad Mike, Patrick and myself. Patrick locked his keys in the trunk of the rental car. Fortunately he had everything he needed for the ski race by the time the keys were locked in the car.
Sunday Noon: Race finish...Patrick skied his race in 1:36 (8th overall!!), me in 2:37 (2nd for my age group!). I felt great through the entire race and had tears of JOY at the end of the race. I've never had so much fun and felt so good doing a race!

My stepdad Mike beat me...and he had a personal best in the race as well! I am so happy for him. We both worked hard to improve our times.

Just as patrick and I boarded the airplane, the race results were posted on-line, and I found out I took second for my age group, which was a goal beyond my wildest dreams. I NEVER imagined I would place for my age group. I was so giddy with excitement the entire flight home.

Sunday 2:00 post race party at Julie and Ray's house. Hot tub, pizzas...Felt so good to celebrate the day with good friends.
Sunday 11:30 PM: Arrived Home to Kodiak. Safe and sound and overall good reports from Leona on the homefront with Nora and Stuey.

Zoya

Picture by our friend, Aubrey M. She took many photos throughout the race...more to come later!

Time to Race

My conference is over and I am on my way to Anchorage. It's Tour of Anchorage time!

This morning when I woke up I had already mentally checked out from the conference. So when I went to breakfast before heading out to the airport I was surprised to see all my conference friends eating breakfast too, and getting ready for another day of the conference. I'd already forgotten about the conference. But I sat with some of my fellow Alaskan archaeologists and talked shop and mentally 're-checked in' for a moment until I caught the shuttle to the light rail station and hence on to the airport.

But now that I am at the airline terminal the conference really is over. Now I am thinking about the Tour of Anchorage. Tomorrow at 9:30 AM I am in the 25K classic nordic ski race. I usually do the 50K skate race but this year I decided to do the 25K classic with Zoya. Classic skiing requires more finesse and technique than skate skiing and I have been trying to improve my classic technique all winter. Zoya and I even took lessons in Anchorage. So tomorrow we will find out how we did.

I always like to put my goals down in writing before the race - so here they are: I want to finish in the top 20 and I will be ecstatic if I finish in the top 10. Time wise, I hope to break 1:40 and will be supremely pleased if I break 1:30. In 2008 I also did the 25K classic and that year I was 6th overall with a 1:26 time. But that year I got to do a lot more double poling beforehand. This year the snow has been so deep that I have mostly worked out my legs while training and have not got the upper body strength so critical for the flat Tour of Anchorage course. Nonetheless, I am hopeful that I'll break 1:40 because in the Pia's Classic 30K race that Zoya and I did earlier this year I was at 1:35 at the 25K point in the race. So we'll see!

Photo is Barometer Mountain on the morning I left Kodiak to go to Seattle. This is the view as I walked into the Kodiak terminal after parking my car in long-term parking. Patrick

A puzzling February

Its 3AM on March 1st. Just got home from a birth and type this while savoring a short stack of chocolate chip cookies dipped in milk. After coming home from birth, it often takes me a good hour or so before I can fall asleep.

Patrick left for Seattle yesterday morning for an Archeology conference. I see he beat me to a blog post during his absence! At 8:30 last night I was called off to be with a first time couple in labor. Thankfully a sitter could come and stay and go to sleep at our house with the kids so I didn't have to call the back up doula. 6 hours later, an adorable baby boy was welcomed into the world.

February left me in a lurch...I"m VERY glad to see it far gone. Some months I"m sad to see go. And occasionally there is a month where I"m ready to move on.
February left me asking, "Really? Are you kidding?" several times to circumstances life presented. I'm typically a "live in the present" gal, but for some reason I"ve been eager to see March. And now its here. With a precious newborn baby boy and two joyous parents.

And with snow. We haven't had fresh snow for a while and as I drove home from the hospital, snow started lightly falling, as forecasted. We are expecting a few inches. Good things happen in March--upcoming ski race, a PT training in Seattle, I will re-connect with a long time girlfriend, Patrick's birthday....significant return of light, beginning of spring skiing later in the month.

So good bye, puzzling February. And heres to new beginnings in March.

Zoya

Picture; Stuey lately has been doing 200 piece puzzles by himself! He spends 2+ hours working on it and often refuses any help from us. It is great to see his determination with them. Nora enjoys doing them with him as well.

Sunset looking towards Kasheverof Mt. --Patrick took the photo.

Small Site Archaeology in Womens Bay

I'm in Seattle now and in 2 days I present a paper at the Alaska Anthropological Association meetings. I'm in a 'Population Demography' session and my paper (Amy S and Molly O are co-authors) is titled 'Small site archaeology in Women's Bay: A view from the Amak Site, Kodiak Island, Alaska'. Basically I am talking about what we found during the Alutiiq Museum's Community Archaeology dig last summer at the Amak Site. But I had to create a bit of a theoretical slant to the paper to make it fit into a demography session.

Demography is all about modeling prehistoric population change, and archaeologists often simply use the number of radiocarbon dates from different time periods as a proxy for population change. The more radiocarbon dates from say 3000 BP relative to say 5000 BP says the population was higher in 3000 BP. In our paper I argue that small special purpose sites like the Amak Site are more recognizable later in time - hence there are more sites to potentially radiocarbon date, but not necessarily more people on the landscape. Anyway that is the gist of the paper.

I do say a lot more than that, and get to show pretty pictures, but the above is my kicker that allows me to be in the demography session. I am quite glad to be in the demography session because it did force me to think about the site we excavated and the whole prehistoric landscape as a whole in a very different way. I think it is much better than just presenting a blow by blow of what we found.

Anyway, if you are in Seattle come to our talk at the Alaska Anthropological Association meetings hosted by the University of Washington. It will be at the Hotel Deca at 9:40 AM. But if you are stuck on Kodiak - don't worry because I will be adding to the talk and presenting it again at the Refuge 'brown bag series' later on in April (April 18th I believe).

The above pictures are the title slide and slide 18 of my talk. By slide 18 I should be wrapping it up - I only got 20 minutes to present a lot of data! Patrick

Billy Goat Gruff

Today when I was skate skiing along the rim of the canyon above the headwaters to Buskin Lake, I looked down and saw this guy. I took the bottom picture from a distance and then skiied to a point on the rim where I was only 50 meters or so away from him. We both stood there and stared at each other. I took some pictures and then the camera battery died from the cold. I assumed I got some great pictures, but it turns out the camera was on some low res picture setting. Oh well.

It's funny because yesterday I took a different camera because I thought I might run into the goats (I'd seen their tracks the day before). And then I ended up wanting to take scenic panoramics which that camera does not do well. So today I took the camera that takes better scenic panoramics. And as I left the car I remember thinking, 'now I'll see the goats for sure'.

But bad camera or not - it was VERY cool to have a staring contest with one horned billy goat. He was close enough that I could hear the snow crunching when he took steps. Patrick

April skiing in February

Here on Kodiak we have a lot of snow in the backcountry, and for the past couple of days the crust on top has been solid enough to hold me up on my skate skiis. We had conditions like this back in January too, but back then the snow was not deep enough to cover up all the salmonberries and bushes. Now it is - now you can ski anywhere. Usually we don't get these conditions until late March or April. But not this year - this year we got April skate skiing conditions in february!

Today I started at the golf course and skiied to the headwaters of Elbow Creek that feeds into Sheratin Bay. The top photo is of Pyramid and I took it yesterday while sledding with the kids. The second photo is of Pyramid from afar when I was halfway back home, and that's Buskin Lake way off in the distance on the right (I started at the golf course which is by Buskin Lake). The bottom photo is of the powerline to Terror Lake and the headwaters of Elbow Creek. This is where I turned back. Patrick

Sledding on the Big Hill

Usually the kids are content to go sledding on the tiny little hill in our backyard, but today they wanted something more. And so I decided to take them to the golf course, but when I pulled in to park at the golf course Nora and Stuey starting shouting, 'No, we want to go to the pass'. So to the pass we went - on to the BIG hill.

And it really is a big hill. As I took them up the hill I realized that the hill dwarfs anything I had to sled on when I was a kid. The hills at the pass to Anton Larsen Bay just look small because they themselves are dwarfed by the high mountain peaks all around. But seeing Nora and Stuey going on and on down the hill and getting small in the distance I realized that we were sledding some BIG hills. Stuey and Nora even went over a small, unseen cornice. Now that's big mountain sledding. Patrick

Best of Film Ski Pics

This morning I was looking for photos of Womens Bay for my upcoming talk at the Alaska Anthropological Association meetings in Seattle. I am presenting on the Amak site - the site we dug last summer near the head of Womens Bay. I wanted a photo taken from on high that would show the bay and shoreline and show where the site is relative to the sea.

So I went through all my old hunting and ski photos taken while climbing the nearby mountains. I went way back looking for pictures. Unfortunately most of the hunting photos had dead animals in them and the ski photos invariably had someone skiing in them. There were very few straight scenic pictures looking down over Womens Bay. But I did have a good time looking through the old photos.

I also realized that digital cameras have really changed how I take pictures - I take many, many more photos. Also, in the past I only scanned the 'good' photos - so my old photo files prior to 2005 are pretty skimpy. Anyway, I decided to post the 5 best ski photos from the waning days of film. I did not take the bottom 2. John Speer a visiting photographer took those.

Photos: For all the photos that I took here I used my old fixed lens point and shoot Olympus Stylus. John Speer had some serious gear. Top Gregg skiis some April powder off the backside of Heitman - and note Womens Bay in the background - so close to the picture I needed for my talk. Also note that Gregg is dropping a knee - I don't think he has done a tele turn in almost 10 years now. Second photo is of Steve on Sheratin mountain. The snow looks pretty skimpy because it was taken in early november. Third photo is of Gregg near the top of Shishaldin Volcano - that's 9000 feet of vertical below him. The 4rth photo is of me on 4rth of July Peak. Finally the bottom photo is of me leading a group of people up a cornice towards the top of 4rth of July Peak. Patrick

What I see driving to work

I love my drive to work. I am lucky to live in Kodiak, and my commute to work is exactly 7 minutes with virtually no traffic, but best of all are the views out the window. I actually could get to work more quickly if I took a shortcut near where Zoya works but I enjoy seeing the mountains when I go over the hill by the high school (top picture). So I take an extra 30 seconds every day to enjoy the view. It's worth it.

Lately the sun has been coming up before I get to work and I took some extra time this morning to drive out onto the bridge to Near Island and take some pictures of the harbor and downtown. I work in the white building with the green roof on the right side of the second picture from the top.

I think my favorite morning drives are in the dead of winter when there is a full moon setting over Pilar Mountain. That's a photo I've been trying to take for a few years now. I'll post it when i do! Patrick

4 years Later...an Open House

4 years ago I started thinking about opening my own physical therapy business and this fall it will be 4 years since I saw my first physical therapy clients. In the rush of having young ones and opening up, I never had an open house. Last weekend I decided to host one. It was a very small group of people who came by; felt good to finally do something a little more formal to introduce new people to the business.

In looking back at the photos from 4 years ago, its hard to believe that I opened up A Balanced Approach with Stuey just 18 months old. I was very determined to have a place on my own to practice. Prior to opening, I worked for the hospital for 8 years and thought that Kodiak could use another small PT clinic.

I was most nervous about billing insurance companies and seeing any re-imbursement. Thankfully, it was just a lot of hours of paperwork to become a provider with the insurance companies. And having excellent office managers to do the billing over the years! For that, I am so thankful for the excellent office managers that have been at A Balanced Approach over the years. I've worked with incredible women who keep things working smooth with scheduling and billing.

4 years later, I couldn't be happier with the independence my business has given me. In a world of rush, rush health care, I can provide care that is relaxed and caring....in an environment that is conducive to healing. And it has been so fun to provide another venue for fitness classes--I am forever thankful to the incredible fitness instructors who lead powerflex and indoor cycling classes!

The upside of owning my own business is if something isn't running smoothly, or I want to run a new program, I can just do it. I don't have to ask managers, middle management, etc. And when something is successful, it feels so good to see the final outcome!

The downside is that if there is a rocky spot in the business, then there is no one to blame but myself. I can't call out for help, or give up. It holds me fully accountable. I have to take action and make change to get through the bumps in the road. Then after getting through the bumps, there is large sense of accomplishment. Larger than if I worked for a big organization.

Zoya

Picture: Open house last weekend...MJ and Marian-two incredible instructors!
Stuey, Nora and myself when I opened up A Balanced Approach almost 4 years ago.

Hometown Livin': Some Moments you can't escape

My twin sister and I were born and raised here on Kodiak.
And as of last summer, we both live here now. There are definitely moments where I'd like to be more anonymous...be able to hide, mix in with the crowd.
That said, I've come to decide that the benefits of living in my hometown outweigh the negatives. And it is a true art of taking things in stride and keeping a sense of humor. You never know what people will remember from your past! Wow!

Small town Kodiak Quotes heard recently...

By Ella:
A Sports Coach From Our Middle School Days asked,
"Was it you or your sister who cried during the entire "Beaches" movie during the off island 8th grade basketball trip?"
-Ella confessed that it was her. (although it would've been VERY easy to pass that one off as me!!)
Wow. There are some things you just never can escape!


By Me:
Recently after dancing for 3 hours to live music at the Golden Anchor, I saw our appliance repair man at Walmart.

He commented, "Hey Zoya, I saw your sister dancing at the Golden Anchor." I blushed and replied, actually-that was me. Then I paused and asked him, "Well-actually-was she a good dancer or bad dancer? If she was good, it was me. If she was bad, it was Ella."
We got a hearty laugh out of that. I need to play the "twin card" more often in cases like that!
JUST KIDDING, Ella!! :)


Zoya

Picture: No, that isn't Kodiak. That is Lake Placid in Upstate NY in the back ground.
Taken during a family reunion sometime in the early 2000's.