Alaska

The scent of fire


The scent of fire,

Beach fire, burning, hissing,

wet and hot all at the same time.

Water boils from the logs,      images-1

they heat up and burn all at once.

The scent of the ocean,

the sound of the dogs dragging rocks around the beach.

Airplane fuel, halting laugh,

the sting of the sand as the helicopter lands on the beach.

Watching the fire get doused by the incoming tide,

safe in a blanket on grandma’s deck.

Squirrels bombing us with green pinecones

as we played in the woods, on the way to John’s Beach, so far away.

Concrete tube on the beach, half hidden in the sand, coated on the inside with mussels, play ’til the tide comes back in.

Singing by the beach fire,

laughing and playing as the sun goes down,  it’s 1 a.m.

in July the sun doesn’t go down for long…

 

 

A Long Way from “Home”

Here I sit in my home office, everyone settled and here I am working on building my blog- love sharing photos so here is one from “home.” Which feels very far away tonight.

Home in this photo is just outside Ketchikan, Alaska. This is the place which calls to me. I miss the community born of true reliance on one another. If you go hunting and have trouble or don’t come back when you should- it is going to be your friends and neighbors or Search and Rescue coming to get you- which is also full of your friends and neighbors… Small town rules, what are they? In my opinion they go a lot like this…

Be good to everyone, you never know who will be saving your butt!

Don’t talk badly about others, you are probably within earshot of their mom or sister!

Be generous and honest, always, because it matters.

Recognize talent and beauty and call it out- bring it the attention it deserves.

Try not to get too irritated with the fact that everyone knows everyone else’s business because it is a small town- these are the things the rest of the world misses! People in big towns- most often complain of feeling disconnected and out of touch- they want what you have-neighbors who know all the details whether you want them to or not!

To Southeast Alaska, I miss you every day, but love where I am- less rain- however I hear you calling and wish Alaska Airlines didn’t charge so much to get there. I can usually fly to Miami for less than going to Ketchikan- go figure.