Summer's here: hikes and flights and authors oh my!

The bell rang one last time for the school year and the students let out a celebratory whoop before flooding the halls to hug all of their friends goodbye.

We teachers herded and prodded them toward the exits. Waiting outside in the gentle Alaskan sun we watched them load the buses, and then waved farewell as the buses pulled away. "I won't miss you!" I called out as I did the parade wave for what seemed like forever. And as soon as all 10 buses were out of sight the staff of Mears Middle School let out a celebratory whoop too!

You guessed it, Jen has officially finished her last week of school this year. Now that summer feels like is has officially begun we've got plenty of adventures, large and small, underway.

On Thursday Matt took a trip out to Platinum, one of his communities, where he had a rare clear day for his flight. He said the views of anchorage and the surrounding mountains were stunning. As the plane descended toward Anchorage glaciers came into view, all three volcanoes along the Alaska Range, and he even could see all the way down the Kenai Peninsula into the Gulf of Alaska. It's pretty cool that he was on the clock AND earning airline miles while he got to see all this natural beauty.

While in Platinum he spoke with his contact there about goose hunting, which is happening big time right now. Black Brants and Emperor Geese are apparently flying (and being hunted) in in abundance.

As we learn more about subsistence food cultures (and the horrors of industrial factory farmed food) we are very intrigued by this way of life--envious even. But we are not yet hunting ourselves, just unsuccessfully fishing so far. Hopefully this summer we at least become mediocre anglers. Mom and Dad Paterson have recently purchased Matt a new fly rod that will certainly give a good start!

On Saturday Matt and I attended the grand opening of the new Alaska Writing Center called Raven Place. We have both been volunteering to help get the little house clean and ready to go for the summer season; it rents as a guest house in the summer and in the autumn and winter will house writing workshops and such. It's run by 49 writers, and it's very exciting to be a part of this project from the beginning.

The guest speaker was Heather Lende, author of If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name and her latest release, Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs.

She read from Take Good Care and I was awestruck by the honesty and raw emotion in her writing. She basically writes about life in small-town Haines, Alaska, where she lives. But it's fascinating and perceptive and very thought provoking.

In her first chapter she talks about the blessing of the ships in their harbor, a friend who lost her son in a shipping accident, literally being hit by a car, and losing her mom to cancer, and then ended it all with this incredible connection to the Aurora Borealis. I wish I could quote it all here, but that's what libraries are for, right? 

I'm looking forward to reading the signed copy of this book in the next few months and promise to report back on it. I'm glad we are finding our way into little bits of communities like 49 Writers up here in this big city.

Matt and I also realized that we have seen more authors up here in the past year than ever before in our lives. We've seen Nikki Giovanni and Heather Lende, and I've seen Chris Crutcher. All three times we got signed books, which are the first books I've ever had signed by authors. I guess that's one of the perks of living in a city!

Today Matt, Jack, and I hiked the Powerline trail. Even though all snow has been melted for weeks down here in the city, and short 20 minute drive up into the Chuguach Mountains brought us to patches of snow, ice, and mud. We had a messy but beautiful hike, and even saw a moose. I think just a few more spotting of those huge beasts and we won't even be fazed by them any more.

Daytime highs are around 55, and at night it's been getting down to about 45. Plenty of light invades every corner of this place right now though, so growth of grass and trees is simply stunning. In some places literally overnight things grow more than you can imagine. I'm looking forward to putting in my garden this next week!

I cannot WAIT for my trip to Glacier Bay National Park in late June. The trip has been made even better by the addition of my best friend Angie. She has always wanted to come to Alaska, so I'm excited that we'll be able to explore this corner of the Last Frontier for the first time together. Check out the map below: can you just imagine what I'm in for? The "A" label is Blue Mouse Cove, where we're hoping to paddle around & camp for a few days. We start in Gustavus (lower right-hand corner) and take a park water taxi into the park (they'll drop us off and pick us up). I could go on and on, but I'll spare you my excited babble and leave off for another time.


View Larger Map

Until next week,
Jen (& Matt)

Book image from: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41bbMkVNoUL.jpg

A change in how I'm posting: welcome to weekly updates! Also: what we'll be doing this summer.

Alright, alright, so I'm probably among the worst bloggers ever because I don't post enough! The problem is I'm always waiting for something noteworthy to write about, when really I feel like I'm just going along living my normal 'ol life. But I've decided that I can find Alaskan things to write about each week, they'll just be smaller, and perhaps a little more subtle.

I've also been inspired by one of my students who blogs now as a result of my evil homework requirement that students write for an hour outside of class each week. He blogs every Sunday, he just sits down and does it. And the result is a reliable post that reflects the ebb and flow of his life.

So that's my new goal: more reliable posts that reflect the ebb and flow of our Alaskan (and just regular ol' Matt and Jen) life. My hope is to give readers and family a more consistent idea of what the heck we're up to!

So . . . this past week I've been winding down the school year. My students and I have just four more days together. I am so, so excited for summer, as are my students. I'm pleased to report that I will be teaching next year at my same school, Mears Middle School, in the same teaching position. I work with a fabulous team of teachers and have really grown to love my working relationship with them.

This summer is going on record in my books already as the best summer ever. We've got some great adventures planned, and even better, we're going to get to spend some quality time with people we really love. One thing about living way up here: our loved ones are so far away, and it takes 5-18 hours to fly to see them depending on where we're headed. Luckily, our current location is enticing many of them to come visit this summer.

My mom comes to visit the first week of June to help me get my summer started off right. We'll be hiking and kayaking and yoga-ing as we hang out just like we used to when I lived in Co.

Our first big adventure will be a LONG trek down to the Florida Keys to vacation with my family. We are really looking forward to spending a week in the sun. Even though spring has technically arrived in Alaska we're still not seeing the sun more than a few days a week, and even then the highs have been only up to 50 degrees.

After that Jen is going to venture down to Glacier Bay National Park with our neighbor Tracy (in case you can't tell I am literally jumping up and down as I report this). It's actually a bit of a trek--we'll be flying down to Juneau, taking a hopper flight to Gustavus, and then taxiing (via boat) into the park to kayak and camp for three days. Tracy said odds are excellent that we'll see: gray whales, orcas, bears, moose, seal pups, tons of sea birds, lots of glaciers, and more! I can't wait to see it all and report back! I am especially thankful that Tracy is including me in this summer adventure. She's taken this trip 15-16 times and so I know I am in capable hands.

At the end of July Matt's entire family, including his aunt Jenifer, is coming to visit us!! We are going to hang out in Homer and Seward and plan to fish, hike, kayak, climb glaciers, and enjoy each other's company in the midnight sun.

Can you see why this will be the best summer ever? I can't wait! A few quick notes on life before summer: Matt's gotten another community to work with: Pelican. That will be his first Southeast Alaskan community. He is very much looking forward to his first visit to the SE this summer. You can see an updated map of his communities below. Jen has been volunteering for 49 Writers by helping them with their new writing center (she's responsible for planting and upkeep of the flower boxes out front). She's even been featured in their blog!

Until next week,
Jen.


Click on the blue markers in the map above to get the community names!
View Matt's Communities in a larger map