I take a break from the Loft to take Margie to town and to eat at Abby's

Yesterday, I had to drive Margie to Anchorage so she could babysit the boys. Thanks to the Martin Luther King holiday, I was able to keep her for an extra day this week. She had to be there no later than 9:30 AM, so we were headed out of Wasilla by 8:30 AM.

Crews were busy cleaning snow from the roads.

We followed the waning moon toward Anchorage.

I found Kalib and Lynx studying each other as Al Sharpton pontificated in the background.

I lingered through much of the day to nap and take care of some things, then I began the drive out of Anchorage. I stopped for gas with one mile to go before empty.

A moose ran alongside the freeway.

This cop had pulled someone over. Now he was getting out of his car to go talk to the driver. Maybe he was going to write a ticket. I don't know. Perhaps he just wanted someone to talk to. Perhaps he wanted to make a bet on who would win the Super Bowl this year.

Maybe he wrote the driver a ticket, or gave the driver a warning and said, "don't do that again!"

Whatever "that" was.

Speeding, I would suspect.

But I don't know.

Things are not always as they appear.

Whatever it was, the driver probably did not think it was fair. "Unmarked car!" the driver probaby muttered to the driver. "Is this what I pay my taxes for, so cops can prowl around in unmarked cars and ticket people who would not even have been speeding if the cop had been in a marked car? Unfair! Unfair!"

I'm pretty sure that's what the driver muttered to the driver.

Come dinner time, I could find nothing handy to eat. So I went to Abby's, where I discovered that I, the camera man, was on camera. And see that aloe vera plant in the window? What I did not know when I took this picture is that it was gift for Margie and me, from Arlene Warrior.

When we visited her just before Christmas to pick up the atikluks, we admired her aloe vera plants. And now she had given us one.

This morning, I did not want to cook oatmeal and Caleb was watching TV, which was OK, because I had planned to go to breakfast at Abby's anyway. Here is Shelly, reflected in the window, just before she cooked an omelette for me.

Abby was not there.

I took a walk. This dog came and barked at me. I don't know this dog. I don't know why he would bark at me. I am good to all dogs.

A C-130 Hercules flew over.

When I went to the post office to check my mail and get Visa photos taken for my upcoming trip to India, I found a bill from my doctor for the visit that I had made in early November when I was diagnosed with shingles. I decided that I had better go pay it right away before I forgot again and while I still had some money left.

Along the way, I got to photograph two school buses at once.

It was a terribly exciting day here in Wasilla.

So exciting I damn near had a heart attack.

The doctor's office is just ahead. 

Now that I have updated the near-present a bit, I will return to working on my David Alan Harvey Loft series. 

I test out my new iPhone 4s camera as I make one last delay on the Loft missionary post: baby and mom, cat, me, four young writer studies

I received advice from two grandmas today, both in response to the fact that I had twice delayed the post I was making to cover what I experienced as I attempted to do a photo essay on Mormon missionaries working in New York City for the David Alan Harvey Workshop.

GrannyJ said this in a comment left on my last post:

"Writing- especially writing that is so close to us- takes as long as it takes. You cannot rush the process. And I love the daily moose, dog and shoveler - while I wait."

Grandma Nancy wrote this to me in an email:

"I too process things through my fingertips -- my mind just works that way. Sometimes it gets incredibly long, and sometimes I simply have to stop because it gets too painful to continue."

I decided that these were words of wisdom that I could take comfort in to justify my delays - especially because I am going to delay one more day. I am almost there, and I could have pushed it and completed it before I went to bed tonight.

But I don't want to push it. So I am going to delay one more day. Instead, I will show you the first test shots that I shot with my new iPhone 4s. The very first image that I took with it was of Lynxton in his mother's arms. I shot it this morning in Anchorage, right after I drove Margie into town so that she could spend the week babysitting.

I am certain that you have figured it out already, but it is the image at the top of this page.  

The second image that I shot with the iPhone 4s is this one immediately above, of the cat Chicago, resting on my chest. The third is the same scene, from the opposite angle. I am also trying to rest, because I have experienced one of those infamous "writer's block" moments and I think maybe I can break it with a short nap. For this images, I used the second iPhone 4s camera - the one that allows you to frame yourself in the monitor. I like the feature, but was surprised to see that it produces a much lower resolution image than does the main camera.

Even though I don't think I ever really fell asleep, I believe the little rest did help, because I was able to produce something right afterwards, but it didn't help enough. So, at 4:00 PM, I left my computer, went outside, damn near froze, then jumped in the car and headed for Metro Cafe to see if a cup might bring me around and help me get more done.

I damn near froze because it was - 17 F (-27 C), I had on only the lightest of jackets and a stiff wind had suddenly come up. I knew the wind had been forecast to pick up, but it was also forecast to bring in warmer air, so I was a bit surprised. Here is study #12 of the young writer, Shoshana.

It was amazing to watch the temperature as I drove toward Metro. It stayed at -17 all through the flat down where we live, but as soon as I started to go uphill, it began to rise, fast: -13, -10, -7, - 4, 0... of course it did it one degree at a time, but when I pulled into Metro it had risen all the way to +3. (-16 C). 

So here is study # 1001 of the young writer, basking in the warmth as she prepares my order.

 

Study of the young writer, Shoshana, #2002: She opens the window.

 

Study of the young writer, Shoshana, #671: one day, she and I will make a book together - you watch and see.

I took my time going home, so I could listen to all the speculation and news coming out of New Hampshire. When I got home, the temperature had climbed all the way to +4, right here at the house. It looks like this latest cold snap has come to an end.

Hopefully, there will be another coming soon.

I like the camera in the iPhone 4s. 

I think it is going to change my life.

I guess it already has.

Brief interlude from Loft into near present: Kalib forgives me - three studies with Thomas the Train; his brothers; the cold road

Even as I blog my Loft Workshop experience, I want to keep this blog rooted in the near present (the absolute present already being the near present the instant we perceive it). So here are some studies of Kalib and his brothers, who spent Sunday night and all day Monday with us.

Kalib - Thomas the Train, Study # 6982 - Kalib forgives me:

Sunday night, Kalib very nicely asked me if I would get Thomas out. I did, and set him back up.

Kalib - Thomas the Train, Study # 7: slowy, Kalib says:

 Several times, just for fun, I tried to make Thomas go fast around the tracks - as fast as Thomas could go. "No, grandpa!" Kalib protested each time. "Slowly! Slowly!" Then he would go to the controls and slow Thomas down to as slow as Thomas could go without stopping - because Kalib loves to study Thomas as Thomas goes slowly by.

Kalib - Thomas the Train, Study # 2424: Kalib did not cry:

Kalib keeps his eye on Thomas for as long as he can, but once Thomas goes by, he studies the cars that follow. Kalib has come to understand the situation. When it came time to put Thomas up and take Kalib and his bros home, Kalib did not protest. He did not cry. He did not pout.

Kalib gave me a hug. He knew that Thomas would be here waiting for him, the next time he comes to visit.

Jobezilla study # 54: He did not get to wreak havoc.

Jobezilla went to sleep very early. He slept through the entire running of Thomas the Train. He did not get to wreak havoc. He did not get to send Thomas or his cars flying all about.

Upon arising, he did, however, get to the still assembled tracks and tear them apart. He bent some of the connecters, but I am certainly I can easily bend them back.

Lynxston study, # 9,999,999.999999: He sleeps in Rex's cradleboard:

Lynxton was awake for awhile, and he looked so damn cute I could hardly stand it - but I could not find my camera, which I had hidden away for safe keeping so that Jobezilla could not get to it. When finally I did find it, Lynxton was asleep in Rex's cradleboard. If any of you have access to the February, 1980, issue of National Geographic, you can see a picture of Rex in this very cradleboard, made for him by his Grandma Rose.

He is not sleeping in the picture. He is wide awake. He has a serious look on his face. I always thought National Geographic used the wrong picture, in this case. In one of the others, he was smiling big - as he was prone to do, just like Jobe is now. His mom and grandma look happier, too. But they had the ultimate say, not me, and I was just happy to be having my work featured in National Geographic. I thought my career was set, that the money would forever thereafter always be there to do any job that I wanted to do.

Lynxton's Aunt LeeAnn has made him his own white buckskin cradleboard, but she and Lavina did not manage to connect before Lynxton left Arizona back to Alaska on December 10. The new cradle has not yet arrived.

Come Monday, yesterday morning, Lavina was most anxious to get her boys back. She kept sending texts to Caleb telling him that she could hardly take the separation and was thinking about jumping in the car and coming out to get them immediately.

This made no practical sense, however, as I need to take Margie into Anchorage so she could spend the rest of the week babysitting. She could not ride back with the boys, because once they are buckled into the family car, the family present, there is no more room for Margie.

Having spent the night battling shingles and thus sleeping little (yes, the damn shingles still hangs on - not as bad, but bad enough to make good sleep hard to come by) I was slow to get going. Then, I had committed myself to starting the Loft Workshop series yesterday and it took me a little longer than normal to get that post put up.

So we got a late start to town, about 5:30. But here we are, in town, exhaust condensing in the chill air, ready to drop the boys off and then go to a movie.

Now we are in the driveway of their parents. The temperature is - 8, F (-22 C). On the colder stretches of highway coming in, it had been close to -20 (-29 C). Compared to Interior and Northern Alaska, this may be relatively warm, but it is still deadly. 

What a responsibility it is, to drive these little people around!

Even in warm weather, for the highway is always deadly.

What a responsibility!

God help me to always live up to this responsibility; God help me to shun road rage - even when the other driver is a total jerk who should be banned from the road.

The movie was "The Descendants" with George Clooney. I would highly recommend it but with this warning - however different your home situation might be, it will put you back in the hospital or hospice rooms, or perhaps your own bedroom, with any loved one or cherished friend that you have ever been at the time of their passing.

It will put you right there.

And if you are like me, come one or two scenes, the memories will be so strong, coupled with the knowledge that you are not yet done with this life and so more such scenes await and that they could involve absolutely anyone that you love, so strong, that tears will leave your eyes and roll down your cheeks. You will not be able to stop them.

Afterwards, I dropped Margie off to babysit, gave out hugs all around and drove home. Here I am, about to go under the Palmer overpass and enter greater Wasilla.

When I pulled into my driveway, the temperature was -18 and dropping. The house was empty of humans, but there were cats moseying about. The last logs in the woodstove had nearly depleted themselves and were little more than glowing goals. The air was very chilly.

It was after midnight and I did not wish to rebuild the fire, just to heat up a house that would be empty, except for me, sleeping. I spent two hours on my computer, acccomplishing nothing, then went to bed. I piled the blankets on.

When I first climbed into bed, the blankets were so cold as to chill my entire body, feet included, but in time my body-heat warmed them up. The cats came, and burrowed their way into the blankets with me. I was so tired I wanted to do nothing but sleep, sleep, sleep - and for awhile I did. Then the shingles began to manifest themselves.

The air grew so cold as to penetrate even the thick pile of blankets I had covered myself with. Finally, somewhere between four and five AM, I got up and turned on an electric heater. I hate to do that, because the heaters really burn up the wattage, but I just could not go through the process of building a new fire at this time of morning.

I did not sleep good until it was time to get up. I did not get up. I stayed in bed until 11:30, then got up, threw a couple of logs into the fire that Caleb had built after he returned from his night shift, before going to bed himself.

Then I went to Abby's for breakfast. It was midafternoon when I returned home, the warmest part of the day. The temperature in the driveway stood at -16 (-27 C). I have not checked, but it some of the colder parts of Alaska, I would not be at all surprised to learn that temperature are 30, 40, or even 50 degrees colder than this.

So I am way behind. But still, I will post another Loft workshop entry.

This one will be easy. It will cover our first get-together, really just a short social gathering. So for this one, I do not have much to work with. It won't be that hard to get up.

So check back in about four hours. Maybe five. Possibly six.

Right now, I am going to go to Metro and get my afternoon coffee.