The thrill of moving off the island has been my focus as of late. Island life has its benefits, however, after a while it gets tough to find them. Just putting this out there, I can deal with cold, but I LOATHE the Aleutian winds. It is one thing to dress in layers, but it is another to walk out that door and have the wind literally try to rip the door out of your hand. Pair wind with ice covered surfaces and you become an involuntary human sail. Gross! I have experienced winds in the past but at a tamer level out west and abroad.
A mailbox, an address, even the thought of seeing strangers is quite exciting. In the beginning it was a tough adjustment getting used to this place. Things an outsider like me, had grown up with became "niceties", not an option or even an expectation out here. You have to adapt, adjust. Granted, this is the same everywhere, but here it was shockingly different than any place I have ever been. One becomes accustomed to either hunkering down and staying indoors, or taking it as it is and putting rain gear on hoping not to have the sideways nature of the precipitation drizzle down your neck. What is life if experienced on a couch? Or in an altered state for that matter, whether induced by substances or overeating trapped indoors, held hostage by unpleasant winds and or torrential rains?
Looking forward to the move.
Pretty sure I will NOT be continuing this blog. Once moved north, I'd like to start another. Alaska is too cool of a place not to write about. Let me know if you are interested in further pursuing my perception of the world.
Perhaps the next one will be public.
All venting aside, I have been blessed to live in such a beautiful place. There are
MANY unique and beautiful pluses that make the windy nastiness somewhat bearable. Enjoy the photos!
Note: on the Native Youth Olympics, if the students "qualified" a few of them were able to compete with other state qualifiers for the big even in Anchorage.
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| Native Youth Olympics. How high can you kick the ball with one foot, while one hand remains planted on floor? |
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| Native Youth Olympics. How high can you kick without falling down? Higher than over 68 inches for her. |
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| Native Youth Olympics. Double foot kick. The ball must be moved by both feet. |
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| Grab the stick from your opponent. Foot-to-foot with others pushing their feet against you and your opponent for maximum support. The one in green won. |
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| Greasing the "fish". The wooden rod symbolizes a salmon. Can you hold your grip as it struggles to get "away"? |
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| I pull, you pull. Winner yanks it out of the other's hand. Each pull in opposite directions (no push them pull). The guy in red shirt won. |
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| Chilly beach walk. Super low tide. Inspecting a baby dungeness crab. The red cheeks are very windblown. At this point we had been on the beach 10 minutes maybe. |
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| The underside of a sand dollar. |
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| Sand dollar dimple. Dig and you will find a sand dollar, then again, you might find a clam instead. |
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| Fierce wind. I have on a synthetic tank top, a long sleeve performance fleece, followed by a wool sweater, topped with a synthetic filled vest. On the bottom insulated windproof pants. I still had to put on a jacket to cut the wind. I will not miss the wind. |
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| Spit Beach field trip. How cute is this baby starfish? |
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| Starfish. With the tide low, the beach was littered with them. To find them the kids had to move seaweed aside to find them clinging to rocks. |
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| Beach combing field trip. So fun, I shall miss the ocean and class field trips to it. |
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