Happy Holidays

Sometimes things finally come together and good times just happen. My 'lost' for 36 hours family members finally showed up in Juneau, Alaska after a snowstorm from Salem to Seattle pretty much decimated their trip to join me in Douglas AK for Christmas.

One set went from Salem to Portland to Seattle, to Fairbanks, to Anchorage, to circling but not landing in Juneau, to Sitka to Juneau, again. They missed my birthday, they missed Christmas, and didn't arrive until late on December 26th. I could call it 'the flight to nowhere', as that it was certainly seemed like to them...but eventually, they ended up at their destination...and that mostly certainly was a 'flight to somewhere' as it was truly wonderful to see everyone again!

Others went to Pdx on the 22nd for a fruitless takeoff, but managed to fly out late Christmas Day. Another departed on the 26th after a horrendous drive to Portland and arrived in the middle of the 26th. They ended up making 7 different trips to Pdx for different people and we ended up with 5 pickup times in Juneau from our orignally organized 'all at once' plans! But at least they all made it eventually!!!!

Since their arrival yesterday, they have already taken a hike, and gone off on snow shoes or cross country skiis to the Mendenhall Glacier. They are definitely making up for lost time to do two adventures in a single day!!

I continue to care take my parents and enjoy just how much fun my kids and husband are having...in spite of two of them having gone 36 solid hours without almost any sleep, only one meal, and being in 6 airports.

Christmas and my birthday were wonderful, in spite of missing my 'lost' family and we are all grateful to be together now! My folks are doing well, love the activity and we temporarily adopted a classroom mourning dove who sits in her rather large cage in our living room cooing, who-whoing and cackling.

We have a dove in the living room, a sweet little squirrel visiting almost every day out back, and a house filled with 9 people living here, and 15 more family members who come in and out with conversation, activities, and just plain good times for all.

So...all is well in our crowded, but fun filled Alaskan home! Hope your holidays were joyful, as well. Drop me a comment line and tell me what you all did this week...I'd love to hear from you, all

pdx/sea-tac airports:weather delays and cancellations

Unless you owned a snow machine, traveling in and out of the Portland OR or Seattle WA airports has been a virtual nightmare for the past three days. Flying out of the airport to Seattle, Alaska, Chicago, Boston, New Year or Florida...a near impossibility.

My family has now made two harrowing trips up the I-5 corridor trying to get to Pdx to attempt to make flights for their travel to Alaska and only my youngest daughter (who came up 'early' on the 19th) has had a scheduled flight go out.

My husband, daughter, son, and daughter-in-law all left Salem at 3:30 a.m. for a projected 9 a.m. departure time...allowing multiple hours for the usual 1 hour drive. With unbelievable black ice freeway conditions, four wheel drive, chains and a heavy pickup truck, they still had to stop 3 times to de-ice windshields and free up frozen windshield wipers and avoid multiple accidents, delays and snow covering inches of black ice.

After finally reaching Pdx, they discovered the entire airport was shut down for the 3rd day in a row and all flights in or out...cancelled. And yes, they did check the flights before leaving for the airport and the computer notices were not updated, nor did they received the request email or cell/text messages of cancellations as advertised online and in the news :(
After multiple phone conferences and warnings of an 8 hour re-scheduling line in the airport, they did call the 1-800 number for Alaska Air and talk to an airlines worker who was struggling to assist the multitudes of stranded passengers as she walked with communication devices in hand through the crowd.

My husband reported that every available surface was filled with sleeping, talking,or crying passengers. After several hours they snagged 4 available seats on future dates...one set on Christmas day and the other set for Dec. 26th which involved flying another 1,000 miles farther north of Juneau to Fairbanks, spending the night in the airport there, then heading south again to Juneau.

With 65,000 homes without electricity in Portland to Salem corridor, with massive traffic snarls, cancelled flights everywhere and all of us wanting to be 'home' for Christmas and with family, my family, my young nephew trying to get home for Christmas from Idaho, and hundreds of thousands of others ...are now having to just be hopeful that their next flights will magically open up, weather conditions drastically change and new possibilities exist for togetherness.
Meanwhile, I am here on Douglas Island, Alaska with my parents and my youngest daughter (who did make a flight) and many other family members who live in Douglas, Juneau or Anchorage and we will gather...with slightly different plans, a different outlook and more and bigger wishes for a Merry Christmas and A Happy Christmas Eve birthday for both myself and my sister-in-law.
shown above: news photo of travelors caught in weather and flight delays at pdx
additional flight talk http://www.oregonlive.com/traffic/pd...tway/index.ssf and http://flightaware.com/live/airport/KPDX/departures plus http://www.flyertalk.com/
note:
'Fly talk' on why flights aren't going out is that it seems that while both airports do have de-icing equipment, both are low or totally out of the de-icing fluid which they usually stock for a week at a time. This weather has been going on for ten days or so across the U.S, and they haven't been able to get re-supplied. Airlines that have it, are hoarding it, and airlines that need large volumes (like pdx or sea) don't have enough to operate their schedules.
There may also be complications due to short supplies of runway anti-ice, which is scarce in North America due to a potash miners strike in Canada.

"thankful for those who rekindle my inner spirit"

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit. ~ Albert Schweitzer (1875 - 1965)

Beautiful Quiltdiva Julie and her blog Me and My Quilts, Exploring the Possibilities, ignites me and fill me to bursting each and every time I visit her lovely and inspirational web blog.

She has just tagged me to visit the 4th photo file in a collection and then find its 4th photo and post it. I have shared it above, another version of a previous photo from

  Full Moon + Low Tide + Fire + Alaskan Beach = Magic 

I have also included a lovely quote (which Julie also shared) and which so perfectly matched my photo #4!

I am now tagging 4 more people to do the same on their own blogs. I am tagging 4 more women who not only inspire me but ones who have supported me as I walk my challenging journey here in Alaska, caring for my parents.

And now, I am preparing for the almost last minute arrival of my own family (from Oregon to Juneau) beginning tomorrow and continuing through Christmas as we all gather here on Douglas Island, to share the Christmas holidays.

As Julie has quoted at the bottom of her blog:

“From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that we are here for the sake of each other - above all for those upon whose smile and well-being our own happiness depends, and also for the countless unknown souls with whose fate we are connected by a bond of sympathy.

Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received.” ~ Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

There are many women (and a few men!) who have been there for me in this lifetime, some more than others. But in the blogosphere, a few surprises have come into my life and I delight in them as Internet friends as well as bloggers. Julie, of course, is one.

So playing Tag, I'm IT , or in this case YOUR'RE it, too!

1. Paula, The Quilter , the knitter, the giver of many gifts and with such a good and caring heart.

2.Shasta our new High Road Quilter, who has a knack for being able to climb high mountains while endlessly climbing over sticks and stones that seek to block her journey.

3. dee who sits in front of her brand new HDTV and still has each and everyone of us plugged into her remote to share her caring and generous heart from an endless pantry of love.

4.Tanya who crosses oceans again and again to reach out with hands of friendships and God's endless blessings to each and every one of us she 'meets'.

5. And last but absolutely not least, I have added my dear new friend, quiltmom Anna...who has given endlessly from a knowing and loving heart...again and again and again from her Canadian heart point.

And no, I'm not good at traditional math, but there is a new concept called Heartmath, and that one I do know. So, five tags are now 'it'. You go, you 'it' girls!!!!

Full Moon + Low Tide + Fire + Alaskan Beach = Magic

The full moon of Dec. 12th was the biggest and the brightest of the entire year. Because of the moon's elliptical orbit, the extremes of lunar distance from the earth are known as its 'apogee' (farthest away) and its 'perigree' (closest to us). On the 12th, the Moon became full after a scant 4 hours...making it 14% bigger and 30% closer to earth....than its lesser moons.

With the Douglas Island tide at its very lowest point and my beautiful Sandy Beach fully open for viewing, walking and dancing in the full moonlight, my sister-in-law and I went out onto the beach to celebrate the beauty, magic, and power of this amazing full moon.

We knew it was a truly magical moment when we discovered a beach camp fire fully built and lit...just waiting for us...with no one else around to enjoy it.

Bundled up in her Scottish wool coat, my own parka, and an inner kayaking jacket...I was ready for the amazing cold air and brisk walk. We did a brief ceremony of joy and gratitude and with arms spread wide, we danced and called in its magical powers of abundance...'fill us up, fill us up' as done in ancient times.

Walking as far out as we could, we were dozens of yards away.... on the channel side of the little Treadwell Mine pump house......which was now fully exposed for viewing, along with the old dock pilings.

We said a prayer for the 5 young people recently involved in a tragic gun accident in Juneau and sent blessings to the family of the 14 year old now who did not survive, and to the other 4 families, as well.

We talked about the 'power of 5' and how its energy leads us into taking dangerous chances we might otherwise walk away from. With groups of 5 we are more likely to participate and less likely to condemn, and more likely to make poor choices. In groups of 3, psychologically one is more likely to speak up and against.

So, tonight as we celebrated the lunar magic and beauty, we also felt sorrow over our shared loss and grief of this polarities of this season. As the winter light fades, and the days lengthen...we must call in our own bright lights and fill up the heavens and the earth with their power, their joy, and their beauty.

Sewing in Alaska

I can't seem to come 'home' to Alaska and not end up in a classroom working with children. It is a genuine delight in my life and one that allows me a breath of creativity in endless sea of caretaking and responsibilities for my parents.

On Friday, I walked over to Gastineau Elementary and joined a group of second graders as they worked with crayon leaf rubbings, acrylic paints, and of course...fabric and thread ...to create art pillows for Christmas.

My sister-in-law (Making Kuspuks) allowed me the privilege of showing the children how to sew a simple running stitch in order to attach their artwork to their pillow fronts. Sitting in a huddle, they listened with rapt attention as I described needles and thread, stitches and knots. By letting them pull the needle through, they all developed the desire to be next and to try on their own.....and in no time at all, each was eager to begin.

I was amazed at how easily they were able to understand my directions and examples and quickly create wonderfully freeing stitches of their own. Their stitches not only ran...they skipped, jumped, rolled and hollered out loud with joy.

At the end of this day, our sewing time was voted to be as much fun as their field trip to see the "Nutcracker" .......which they had all dearly loved!

Links to Making Kuspuks last year in 2008:
How to make a kuspuk
Kuspuks Make Front Page News
Juneau Empire Photos: Parka party 01/18/08 video

Links to Making Kuspuks in 2009
Sewing Kuspuks Again!
Kuspuks

Shorter Days and Longer Nights

It is snowing in Douglas, Alaska this morning and the freshly fallen snow blankets everything with a lovely glistening coat of white. I am reminded of all of the winters of my childhood. Having to wear snow pants under my school dresses as I bundled up in hat, mittens, warm winter coat and trekked off down the road to my little elementary school. We weren't allowed to wear pants to school yet...back in the fifties and early sixties and braving Taku Winds of over 100 m.p.h. on top of the snow made for an interesting walk on some days!

How lucky school children of today truly are with so many more freedoms, experiences and knowledge that opens up whole new worlds to them. I was never given the chance to learn my own native history, geography or even geology yet the small town that I grew up in held the largest gold mine in the world at one time and amenities denied to many larger cities in the U.S.

Now, we are still a small but growing town and a suburb to Juneau, Alaska's capitol city. (Never mind that Governor Sarah Palin is rarely in town and will only show up for one day in December for the Governor's Mansion's Christmas Open House ;)

Busy with caring for my parents, I am delighted to see an almost daily improvement in my Dad and a return to our 'new normal' in my Mom. It's completely dark now at about 3:00 in the afternoon, so with shortened days and the longer nights of my exhausted state of insomnia, you'd think I'd be online more often. But with dial up Internet problems, I am lucky to get online twice a week and love finding comments and a few emails from fellow bloggers.

P.S.Thanks to Mary for letting me know there was a break in my link in my post Free Quilt Patterns + How to Add a Widget . Could someone who adds a widget to my list of over 2,500 free quilt patterns please let me know if I have correctly repaired the broken link or not? I'll give you a hyperlinked post thank you for your trouble ;)

shown above:
My little elementary school, now a "Juneau Montessori" school, still braving snowy days......only now school children arrive in mini vans and four wheel drive SUV's.......and any child is allowed to wear pants to school ;)