Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

    I was walking with my daughter and granddaughter down at the cannery a few weeks ago. It was cold but sunny  and a little exercise was just what the doctor ordered to shake off the feeling of cabin fever. I looked down at the gravel on the beach and noticed splashes of color scattered along the shoreline by the water's edge. Kaylahni also noticed it and started picking up flowers that had washed ashore. I'm not sure where they came from. Obviously someone had tossed them into the water- I assume after the flowers had pretty much already wilted. However, that didn't stop my granddaughter from gathering them up. I wasn't sure that it was a good idea to do that. What if the flowers were from a memorial service somewhere? However, Jen didn't seem to have a problem with it, so for the remainder of the walk the mostly dead flowers made the rounds with us. I assumed that they would get tossed once we got to the car, but no, they were transporte...

          I'm still trying to get used to this new computer, so I don't know how this is going to turn out. For a change I really don't have much to say either, which is kind of odd since I can be such a windbag at times. Perhaps I should take up the bagpipes I'm so long winded on occasion. I like the way they sound, but I don't relish the idea of having to wear a skirt when I'm playing, especially if it happens to be a windy day.Can you imagine having to stand outside in the summer with all the gnats and mosquitoes flying up your kilt? I guess you wouldn't mind a little breath of wind then. I suppose it's probably unheard of for a bagpipe man to wear panty hose if it's too cold out. I imagine leotards would be looked down upon too.  I'm not all that fond of funerals, which is where I usually hear bagpipes being played. I might be popular at a St. Patricks day parade, but if the route was too long I'd have to stop and find...

Well, here I am again, in my usual state of confusion and uncommon frustration. I'm using a new laptop that I had purchased, or more accurately will purchase when I get the bill from my son-in-law. I needed the laptop for the boat so I can download a GPS program that is more up to date than what I have now. Anyway, not only am I trying to get used to this new computer, I'm having issues with  the internet. I know, I know, it's shocking. Somehow I managed to get one picture downloaded for this blog post. I don't know what I did to download it, and I don't know where the other ones are that I took. I'm sure they're floating around inside this black  box, but I don't know the magic words to make them come out. Kind of like my brain when I'm searching for a word. Having a dictionary or thesaurus won't help at all if you don't know what word you want to use to begin with.   Some years back there was a movie called The Prince of Tides. I remem...

 For the better part of thirty seven years I've been blessed to live in one of the most beautiful places on earth. I know that every area has it's own brand of beauty, but for me, this area of Alaska, the Tongass National Forest has no equal. It has the best of all worlds for me- forests, streams, bays, mountains all things that I love. Because of the remoteness of the area and the difficulty of getting around, there isn't a large population inhabiting the surrounding towns. The whole 17,000,000 acres is only home to roughly 70,000 people, and those are spread out over a handful of towns up and down the Southeast Panhandle. At thirty some thousand souls, Juneau, the state capital, is the largest town. Some of the other towns with relatively large populations are Ketchikan, Sitka, Petersburg and Wrangell. Then we have Craig, Hydaburg, Tenekee, Angoon, Hoonah, Kake, Metlakatla, Thorne Bay, Gustavus, Elfin Cove and Pelican. I'm sure there are othe...

  Today is an anniversary for me. It's one that I suppose on the one hand I would rather not be acknowledging, but then again, I guess that I'm quite happy that I can. Thirteen years ago, on February 26, 2000, I was on an airplane that crashed into Lynn Canal. Obviously I survived, so I guess for me at least, that's something to celebrate.   Alaska, because of it's vastness and the fact that so much of the area is roadless, relies heavily on air travel to cover the long distances between villages and towns. I think per capita we have more small planes than any of the other states. Much of the commercial air travel is on small planes- Cessna's and Beaver's and whatever other small types there are. Because there is so much air traffic conducted in these small planes, and since the weather here can be so unpredictable, there seems to be a large number of airplane accidents- probably more than you would read about elsewhere. The nice part is that a good bit o...

   I'm back here at the library again. I'm blessed to be seated at Julian the computer, but for some reason he has the slows today. Years ago there was a commercial for Nestle's Quick- the chocolate powder that you stir into a glass of milk to flavor it. Anyway, it showed these kids moving in slow motion until they had a glass of Quick- it fixed the slows and they moved at super sonic speed. I wish someone would invent some Quick for computers. It's so frustrating to have something brilliant to write about and the computer won't co-operate. I know how I am- I'm apt to forget whatever witty quote I was about to produce if I don't act on it immediately. Blasted slow computers! I wanted to download a few pictures from the inside of my refrigerator for general discussion purposes, but this computer wouldn't do it, so I have to assume it's for the better anyway. No doubt if the EPA or mayor Bloomberg or some other government watchdog were to get a pee...

 I was at a loss as to what to write about today. Several days ago the morning broke bright and sunny so I grabbed my camera hoping to get a shot of Ears Mountain with the fog lifting off the top and the sun highlighting the snow. As it was, by the time I got the camera, the scene had changed so I couldn't get the shot I wanted and I ended up getting a few pictures of some other things. Because the sun has been such a rare occurrence this year, I thought I would document the blue sky over Hill Street, where I live. As you can see, or maybe you can't really see, so I will tell you, like so much of the rest of Hoonah, the houses are an odd collection of tastes and lifestyles. There are white folks and natives and a combination of the two who live here. There are fishemen and a carpenter and social worker and a bookeeper and retired folks and some folks who don't work at all, and I'm not sure if they ever did. How the heck they stay alive is anyone's guess.  There ...