Hope!

Howdy All,
Saturday Larry and I took a short road trip to Hope. Hope is on the Kenai Peninsula about 2 hours from Anchorage. People go there to hike and camp--one of my roommates Jackie, lives there with her husband and son. There are 13 students in the entire school--K-12, so you can imagine just how small the village is! Anyway, the area is magnificent--woods, whitewater river, ocean--sounds like paradise-aye! Well the village is a dump! It looks like each house has it's own landfill only no one has bothered to "fill it in"!! What a bummer--really, Alaskans just pile stuff up where ever--porch, yard, neighbor's yard, etc. I did get some nice nature pictures though.

Larry is getting ready for his McKinley climb--seriously--who does that! He goes for about three weeks starting on May 5th. He goes on "hikes" every other day and sends me photos from the top of whatever peak he's climbed. I'll try to download some of them--amazing. I don't go with him because he's faster than me (explanation follows). Besides, really, you all know me--I'd rather read a magazine!!

Most people in Alaska have some sort of whacked out, extreme hobby. If it includes the outdoors you can bet they are going to recruit you--I know this first hand because they did it to me until I figured it out--duh! These people love to recruit naive newbies because chances are they run, hike, ski, walk, bike, etc. slower--being new to the terrain and all. Here's the thinking--always go outdoors with someone slower that you--that way the moose and bears will get the slower party and not you!! See how it works--I wondered why I kept getting invited to things--hell, they have a whole club that works on this theory!! So, now I'm recruiting pokey people to go outside with me--LOL!

I start teaching poetry this week--ummmmmmmm--not really my thing! I told my 7th graders that we are writing "love sonnets" first thing on Monday--Ha--imagine a bunch of hormonal 7th graders writing love poems-LOL! I crack myself up!

By the way, It's light out from about 6am to 10pm--weird! I'm off to by "blackout curtains"--NOT!

It might get over 50 degrees this week!! Here's to Hope-ing!!

Beautiful!

The snow is almost all gone and is it ever beautiful here! Although I'm a bit confused navigating through town without my snow pile landmarks--LOL!
I'm house and cat(s) (5 eeek!) sitting in downtown Anchorage. The neighborhood is called Bootlegger's Cove--right on the Cook Inlet and one of the oldest neighborhoods. There's a trail that runs along the Inlet--The Coastal Trail. It's quite long and tons of people are out and about running, walking, skating etc. I walked to Earthquake Park last week--yep, Earthquake Park! Beautiful--We also have the solar system walk like TC on the trail.
The house I'm at is very cool. It's all been redone--kind of French Country and Spanish influences. There's a huge mural on the living room wall and terracotta tile through out. Better yet, the fridge and cupboards are stocked with all sorts of gourmet foods. There's even an organic market in walking distance--love it here!

Larry and I went to the theater this weekend--we saw Spamalot--very funny! We even had BIG BROADWAY stars up here in Alaska--John O'Hurley, the Dog Show guy!!!!

The days are getting longer 6:30AM to 9:30ish PM--Now all the Alaskans can talk about is getting the studs (not men--tires) off their cars and buying blackout blinds--complain, complain! I love the light!

Still having a blast!

Break-up!

No, I know what your thinking...but it's what the Alaskans call Spring up here. The name fits too--Not only is the snow melting and the ice on the inlet breaking -up, but all of the roads are broken up too! I thought I saw some deep potholes in Michigan--nothing like Alaska--I saw craters as big as the volcanoes and cracks that look like the earthquaked-- lol--of course everything is BIG here!

The days have been long and sunny--our highs have been in the mid 40's. I was out walking this week and almost ran into a moose--literally! YIKES! There he was, just hangin' out in the park--Mary's dog went into a barking frenzy--scaring the bejeepers out of me, Kris and the moose! After the initial fright...we yanked on the dog's leash and walked swiftly (understatement) away. Definitely NOT making any sort of eye contact with the beast!

This week was state testing for the Anchorage School District. What fun--the students were burnt out and the teachers exhausted--glad to be done!
I have been teaching writing and after correcting over a 100 papers I'm glad to report that something I'm doing must be working--for the most part everyone is getting it!


I'm watching the local news as I write this and of course not a newscast goes by without a reference or interview with my friend Sarah...so, it reminded about a local columnist in the Sunday paper--guess what he calls her.........Belle......isn't that perfect--she's been on the news 5X's tonight--I just threw-up a little in my mouth this last time! Speaking of throw-up, Sarah's sister-in-law, Todd's half sister, got caught breaking and entering. Not to mention--that Bristol's baby-daddy, Levi was on Tyra this week--damn, if it wasn't for testing I would have taken a sick day to watch!!!! Here's another tidbit--many residents of Wasilla are fondly nicknamed "Valley Trash"...sorta like "Trailer Trash" (do you capitalize 'trash'???). I think sometimes people can qualify for both titles! They might be called Valley Trailer Trash--that's so not nice...


People in Alaska have a lot of STUFF in their yards...it's amazing and interesting--kinda like a car wreck--you just have to look. I'll take pictures this weekend and post--you just gotta see it to believe it!

I'm house and cat sitting next week--I just can't say "no"! LOL Get this 5 cats-- it's a huge home on the Cook Inlet...but...it could ruin my reputation...you know English teacher, middle aged, stringy hair, cats......................

Speaking of hair.........ewwwwwwweeeeee.......you should see mine--YUCK! I haven't cut it since I got here! And I messed up the color and it's brown--nasty, ugly brown to be exact! I'll take a picture so you can all get a good laugh!!
I'm lookin' Alaskan!