I don’t know about you, but for me, a day of clear skies and a gentle breeze can sometimes bring a suitcase. What I mean is when I wake up and see a “beautiful” summer day, I feel that I would be an ungrateful clod if I didn’t get out and take advantage of the […]
Category: Mostly Alaska: Life as an educator and citizen
Stories about teaching and living in Alaska
Shanghaied!
My husband called me at 3:00 a.m., furious. “I’ve been Shanghaied!” he shouted. Here’s the back story: when I was principal in Kake, Alaska, Husband often came up to spend some time with me. During one of his visits, I had a conference to go to in Juneau, and we decided to fly there together. […]
Adventures with log trucks
Like many communities on Prince of Wales Island, Coffman Cove got its start as a logging camp. When we moved there in the early nineties, it was well into its first decade as a city with a population of about three hundred. In 1991, the Coffman Cove cut-off consisted of twenty miles of what was […]
A zen for all seasons
Whenever I need a moment, I drive to a tiny overlook in the west side of Craig. There is room for two cars, but more often than not I have the space to myself. One of my favorite things about Craig is how small it is: I can drive to this spot, almost all the […]
The tenacity of salmonberries
The salmonberries move in when the trees move out. In Southeast Alaska, and no doubt other parts of the Pacific Northwest, salmonberry bushes are a common sight, especially in areas that have been clear cut by logging. (Here in Southeast Alaska, the trees will grow back naturally, and the berries will in turn subside, but […]
Welcome to Port P
Port Protection, Alaska is a community of about fifty souls, many of whom are ex-patriots of urban living, who migrated to the end of the road and a little further. Port P, as it is often known, is almost to the very northern end of Prince of Wales Island. To get there from the rest […]
Where’s Calvin?
The seventh graders and I were setting up for a bingo fundraiser. During class I took them out in the school van. First, we went around town collecting food donations from families. Then we took the donations to the bingo hall, which was very close to the school. While we were there, we stayed to […]
In which I share pictures of a dear friend
A few months after I bought this car that I keep rattling on about, I walked into the Alaska Gifts store in Craig and spotted a perfectly color-coded mascot: Notice that in certain light she creates a disco-ball effect: She rides with me everywhere I go, and I like to think she has a sense […]
In the days of sideways rain
Sixty-something, partly cloudy, with a light breeze. While this phrase could arguably be used to describe me, this time it is, in fact, a description of recent weather here in Craig, on the outskirts of the Southeast Alaskan rainforest. I am fond of saying that there are two kinds of weather in Craig: straight-down rain […]