no phone, no water

This house has been without phone service for 4 days now. Apparently there are 70 homes in our community without this vital connection to the outside world. The phone company says they have no idea why the lines are down and they have no estimated time of repair. We are not terribly isolated, but enough so that if there was an emergency, there would be no way to solicit help from police or ambulance. Some have cell phones, we do too, but there is no service in this part of the valley. We would have to drive 2 kms to the top of clay hill to make the call. Our home is located 40 kms north of Prince George, British Columbia. You can travel north from the highway that passes by our house all the way to Alaska. We live in a community called Salmon Valley, home to about 250 households, most are agricultural or rural hobby farms. The last 4 kms of Salmon Valley road often suffers power outages, snowed-in roadways, and phone outages. We (apparently) live on the wrong side of the track. It is very frustrating! To make matters worse, tonight our water is not working. We have a shallow well with an 'above ground' pump that sends water to a pressure tank in our basement. Right in the middle of the dad-guy's shower, the water quit coming.  He is in the well as I write to you, checking out the equipment and trying to trouble shoot the problem. It is 11:24pm. Tomorrow is a work/school day which begins at 6am. At this moment, I sure could go for a place in town.

squeezed

I feel squeezed like a lemon tonight. I even made some sour comments earlier to the Dad-guy as he got up and announced his nightly trip to the bedroom. It is very late and I have been awake and unable to sleep. So I spent some time going around and visiting you online, my blogging and facebook friends. I expect some of you might have protested if I were to pick up the phone and call you at this unsightly hour, but I felt comforted and close to you as I looked at your postings of thoughts, doings and photos from this last week. I could feel myself smiling, relaxing, feeling a bit, well, a bit like I could go to sleep. All I need now is a good bedtime story! Thanks for being there.

you know you need a break when...

My eyes are burning and my brain feels like a fog has settled over it. I have been staring at my bulletin board, admiring the squares in the background, then back to my monitor, it seems so bright! I'm trying to type with my eyes closed. Not bad, but I cannot keep it up forever. I need to stop for a while, take a break and everything will seem brand new when I return.

in the moment

I spent some time 'in the moment' today. As soon as everyone had gone off to work and school, I took the dogs and headed down the road for a walk. It was cool out, perhaps only +3. The moon,  full and round was still visible in the west. We walked quickly in the crisp air and I could hear the panting of the dogs, my clothing brushing on itself, a few brave birds, and...what was that? Large rustling from the bush to my left. Thanks to the heavy winds of last week, the trees were bare and I was able to see a cow moose get up from her bed to look at me. I am always amazed at how big they are! Their ears are no less than 8 inches high. They looked like awkward teenagers with their long skinny legs. I whispered a silent prayer that she would not see me as a threat. We were so close together, her and I, looking at one another. She made no aggressive move toward me and I could enjoy her beauty while the dogs and I walked past. My large dog let out a low growl and I hushed her. It was a beautiful moment !

This cow was standing outside our dinning room window last winter. She looks very much like the moose I saw today.

the bare bulb

Doesn't the bare bulb above someone's head usually signify the arrival of an idea? (my basement studio, Prince George, BC, 2007)

You might say so, but in this case it is the main lighting for my humble home studio. I am not complaining. Working under this bare bulb, I feel connected to generations of artists before me who also created work under dim lighting. I can't even imagine myself in any space that does not have either a lighting problem, a leaky roof, or some sort of heating issues. Let me show you some of my home studios over the years.

View from my bedroom where I worked, down the stairs in the late 70's

This is the room where I drew horse pictures, and horse pictures....(1970's)

In my apartment in Stony Plain, Alberta, 2 friends look at the work I was doing in the Visual Art program at Grant MacEwan in Edmonton, Alberta. (early 1980's)

My studio in our basement suite in North Vancouver, BC. I was attending my 1st year of college in a Graphic Design and Illustration program.

Still in College and pulling an all nighter. This painting was due first thing in the morning. You can see I have a ways to go to complete it.

Sitting and wishing I could go home for a nap. My studio space in the 2nd out of 3 years in Capilano College, North Vancouver, BC

Painting 'en plein air' (which means outside) in Prince George, BC, (2005)

Let's Stop

A desperate plea from my oldest child who wanted to be polite in front of guests, so instead of speaking out he discreetly slipped me this little note.  You can see my scratched out and erased answer sideways in the left margin. I figured if he was going to be childish, so was I. Sometimes it's hard to tell who the adults are in this house.

eh?

I dunno. You tell me. This sign, where I live, for months! No one knows what it means.

More Alaska

I finally had time to catch my breath and edit some of these photos for you to see.

Exit Glacier

The colour and cold wind coming off of this glacier was incredible! On the trail which takes you to this glacier there were markers indicating how much the glacier had receeded over the years. It was over a kilometer from 1965, the year after I was born until the base of where the glacier now sits.

Matanuska Glacier and Al

It was a hike worth making to get up close to the glacier and he even tasted the ice.

Glacier Calving (big ice chunks falling off into the ocean).

We cruised for 3 hours on a catamaran to see this glacier.

The seas were calm that day so no one got motion sickness.

Father/Daughter bonding while the son fishes.

Most of the fish in this river were spawning salmon that were no good to eat.

But apparently there were some fish who were not spawning, but were waiting for the eggs to drop so that they could eat them. Those are the fish you want to eat.

Lighthouse at Ninilchuk

It was early morning. We woke up after camping the night here and saw this beautiful lighthouse.

We couldn't see it the night before when we pulled it because it was raining so hard.

Octopus at Sealife Center in Seward.

He was in the right place, I had my camera handy, the rest is history. Nice colour!

On the Road Between Palmer and Glennallen.

We saw a lot of this. Mountains and glaciers at every turn.

In fact, part of this highway is called the Turnagain Arm because it is so beautiful that you just want to turn look again.

mother of invention

"Driving a minivan is like driving your living room around." ... a quote from my husband as he weighs his new vehicle options. Lets face it, he's right. Most new minivans have dvd players, independent climate control, cushy bucket or bench seats... I remember the old days when I was riding around in my parent's Oldsmobile. This second-hand Delta 88 was quite the ride! The back seat was so spacious, not to mention the back window ledge which was a common place for me to ride. I used to squeeze myself up there on my back and look straight up at the sky whizzing by. And when I got bored of that, I'd look out the window at the grass that was nothing but a blur. I'd try to pick a stick or clump of grass to focus on as it passed just to see if my eyes could move that fast, then complain, "Mom, I feel car sick." As I held in my cookies, my attention would turn to my brother who would be using the huge buckle for the seatbelt as an electric razor, sound effects and all. We had no idea what they were really for. One time, free from the restraint of a car seat I move closer to my mom. I could see the back of her head as it wobbled in front me. I wondered...what would happen if I just gave her a slap on the back of that head? I found out. I am sure it was incidents like that which preceeded the invention of car seats and popularized the use of restraints for kids and not a safety issue at all.

First Facebook Post.

I have added the Wordpress application to my Facebook account. Apparently when I post here at Wordpress, the details of my post should show up in Facebook. It seems like a good idea and a way of increasing traffic. I do enough talking to myself at home, I am hoping to have an audience online... Now the pressure is on to have interesting posts.

Amazing

I have been sick, a usual side effect for me when I travel. The aftermath is always a series of me resting and reorganizing my world. I think the reorganizing is as much mental as physical. Traveling changes my view of the world and it takes some time to digest it all and redraw those paradigms, those maps I previously had to describe the world. Alaska was a place desperate for tourist dollars. Each business, cruise, or little stand by the road pleaded with every passer-by to stop and drop some cash. The season is limited and locals struggles to make what they can before the flurry of outsiders head back home again. But outside of my cynical view, I also saw areas of vast wilderness. It sounds like a cliche, but there really is no other way to describe the space. This photo was taken on a glacier cruise of a place called '3 hole rock'. As the boat slowed in front of this view, everyone was silent. Even with the world of sat-tv, internet, and iphones, people can still be awestruck by nature. Amazing.

damp, but not dampened.

I allowed the hundreds of people to pour their gazes over my face as we slowly moved through the line. I was unable to see the end, just a snaking cord of strangers who glanced, then looked away. This was the last of many lines I had to negotiate before entrance through the gates of homeland security and onto the flight that took me to Anchorage. For those who know me, you know that I am not good in crowds. The energy pulses off of each body and assaults me until I want to run to freedom, wherever that might be. It's a huge contrast to the amount of space in the unpopulated areas of Alaska. My family has been traveling for 3 days by motorhome from one spectacular location to another. Today has been a day of new experiences starting with a visit to Sea World in Seward. Not like the ones in California where carefully coreographed routines are played out by bored sea mammals, this place was very natural and allowed us to view creature behaviour without disturbing them. Later we braved the 3 mile hike to Exit Glacier while the rain poured on. We were not disappointed. My daughter was struck by the deep azure blue of the crevases and the cool wind that forces its way off the glacier and down the path of its retreat. I smiled contently and watched through water-spotted lenses as the kids ran down the mountain. Tonight we are clean, dry and relaxed thanks to this wonderfully run RV site, which also has wireless internet access. Tomorrow we take a 6 hour cruise to the whale feeding grounds and the tidewater Glaciers. If I run into another wireless location, I will let you know how that goes. The weather report is calling for more rain...in fact, rain all week but I will not let it dampen my trip!

one more thing...

If you know my guy, the Dad-guy, please wish him a happy birthday today. Yes, today is his special day!

North to _____

If you are Canadian, you will likely be able to finish that title. Alaska. As I had posted on my 'other' site, I am leaving today for Alaska. I will try to post while I am gone. It will depend on how many campsites we hit with 'wireless'. Yes, the Dad-Guy has actually printed out a map via the internet of where those sites are. I can just see it now...me..."but honey, the view is better over here!"  him..."there's no wireless, I can't log in to my Facebook account!"  Pity!

a dash of high hopes

Quiet, peaceful countryside. Folks wave to one another as they pass on the road, the one road which leads in and out of this community. It is about 11 kilometers long, paved and winds gently downhill, over a set of train tracks until it ends in someones yard. Beyond that is the Fraser River which travels in a semi-circle around the farms and acreages near the end of the road. I live in that semi-circle.

My neighbors to the west are an older Jehovah's Witness couple who have been raising two of their grandchildren. On the east is a mystery. It is a 5 acre property that was once inhabited by an older couple, retired from sod farming. There is a modest, but well kept house and a large shop, fully insulated and wired. Several groups of people come and go from this place whose gate is always locked. They stay anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours before leaving the gate carefully locked once again. There is a pattern to their visits. The shiny black truck comes each day around noon for 1/2 an hour. Every second week a couple in their 50's, wearing dark glasses and driving an old, noisy car come and mow the lawn. About every 30 to 40 days, a brown pickup truck sporting a canopy, all with tinted dark windows brings its drivers out. The rough looking couple (in dark glasses day or night) will arrive for 3 or 4 days, back up to the shop and load mystery items into the truck for 2 hours. Some months they have help. A woman in her 40's, wearing the required dark glasses and driving a blue mini-van (again, tinted windows), comes out and helps. Once the bustle settles down, the black truck is seen each day again. None of the occupants acknowledge me if I wave or look into their faces as they occasionally pass me on the road.

When the place sold several years ago, I had such high hopes for friendship. But the place lays quiet most days, its curtained windows and gates sternly closed to the activies within.