Soldotna to Homer "A journey of images "

Soldnotna on the Kenai River

Sterling Highway

Mount Redoubt

Ninilchik

Russian Orthodox Church at Ninilchik in Winter

Anchor Point

Bald Eagles on the Beach

Homer .

Inside the "two Sisters Bakery "



Inside Islands and Oceans Maritime Centre

Homer Spit in Winter

Homer Spit from the air

On the Spit

Thank you

Alaska



Dish of the Day .Oil ,Funky Monkey salad ,Russian Orthodoxy and Scrabble

The Oil dock on the Cook Inlet Kenai

This trip has been full  of appetising new and diverse experiences ones we can savour . Our spiritual food choices have been broadened as we have tasted the Alaska experience leaving us with opportunities to read and learn more on our return.

This post is a bit like a meal of four courses . Our starter is the beach walk near the oil refinery (pictured above). The second course a convivial meal with friends ,the third a taste of the importance of history within Alaska and the concluding sweet the enjoyment of relaxed company during evening games of Scrabble!

So enjoy your meal those who are following this Kenai Peninsula meal at home.It may spur you on to new experiences of the good neighbourly kind wherever you find the opportunity.

The Friendship of the dog owners is a good place to start.It brings us together from all walks of life , backgrounds and ages.We have the love of dogs in common and such is the nature of our friendship with Soly (from Venezuela) Amanda and Jan from the lower 48 now choosing to live in Alaska........and Mary in Alabama who follows by the technological contact of facebook and e mail .Such is our connectedness.The opportunity to have this kind of friendship can be found wherever you live. We are here now celebrating our wedding anniversary because of such a friendship .

Our venue for this walk was the beach looking at the oil platforms and refinery dock on the inlet.Around 6 dogs provided our company. So spirited were they on this grey day that it was difficult to count exactly how many. Imagine a breezy grey day but nevertheless an energising one .As the dogs played we talked about recent good reads and human relationships listening understanding and sharing with each other. Plenty to muse over.The volcanic mountain tops across the inlet stood guard silent since the 60's .

Digital photography of Alaskan landscapes to be found at www.kenaiImages.com

The second course was to be found at the "Funky Monkey " cafe where Amanda graciously treated us to a meal. .We laughed as our English accents were likened to those in "Mary Poppins" of course and of course we hyped it up with the occasional toodle pip and tally ho! .So much so that a couple of ladies realised our enjoyment and offered to take a photo of us all .I will post it on our return but all I can say is that Keith looks pretty pleased with himself surrounded by four ladies of all ages ! The owner of the Funky Monkey is a digital landscape photographer.A sample of his work is above.The salads were amazing . I had a Funky Monkey special green leaf salad ,walnuts ,dessicated coconut pineapple and raspberry dressing.

The third course is a visit to the Kenai Russian Orthodox Church where we were greeted by a retired previous priest at the church who was over 80.He introduced us both to the importance of the Russian presence in the peninsula and an understanding  of the contrast between liturgy and worship as between his and our Anglican church.He was himself originally from the lower 48 and was married.Icons embellished the walls of this tiny church as his words underlined the importance of the Russian presence in Alaska in centuries past.The Russians bothered to learn Native American language and so were able to mission alongside and gained a respect in doing so.Still members of the Kenaitze tribe worship here.The altar area is hidden behind doors until services and only priests can officiate there. Recently the foundations of this little church have been strengthened.It can once again stand proudly yards from the waters of the Cook Inlet where harsh winds sometimes blow and increasing darkness calls in the long harsh Alaskan winters. 

The game of Scrabble provides the final course of this meal."Hey familiar to you at home. Not the way they play it here?" Keith and I have played Scrabble on a number of evenings with our Alaskan hosts but according to Webster's dictionary !! We have had so much fun comparing the American and English vernaculars laughing all the way.I realise now Nick and Kate that I no longer have a competitive edge -well not after playing with Stan the Russian strategist (Boris Spassky look out) ! Jan who has such a wide- more- than -4 -letters vocabulary and a facility for gamesmanship beyond belief and Keith who with hours of computer experience of playing Scrabble is ready to make the most of the limited opportunities the "little ole Webster's dictionary" can afford colonists from across the pond.LONG LIVE THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY DEAR FRIENDS NEVER FEAR WE WILL THRASH YOU WHEN NEXT WE MEET IN BLIGHTY !



Alaskan Chimes

A clock in the hall on a drive in Soldotna chimes Big Ben notes on the hour reminding us of home. Our door bell 7000 miles away chimes to the same notes saying someone is awaiting hospitality .Jan and Stan our friends in Alaskan have greeted us with such hospitality that we are beginning to understand the majesty of this place its rhythm, distinctiveness and "chimes. "

These are the melodies of Soldotna a town on the Kenai peninsula in Alaska in late May as Jan and Stan prepare to leave us and walk the Cotswold Way at home .

There are twenty hours of daylight here .We go to bed at around 10.30p.m with spectacular layered sunsets above the silent volcanoes across the Cook inlet easily visible from our bedroom window. We wake sometimes as early as five to bright silver birches against azure skies and soft gentle bird calls as the Alaskan Spring heralds rapid growth and also trumpets nature's short frenetic busy season . Around the lakes wild lupins ,roses and geraniums are bursting into life .Fleshy wild hostas boast confidence with their luscious leaves.Fiddle heads ( bracken ) curl and await picking and frying !

Chiming to Alaska time means walking dogs at "six mile post on Funny River " with friendly canines of all breeds and ages and of course the fellowship of their owners who they have taught of the ways of the kindred spirit . Hi there Jan ,Ellen ,Amanda and Soly .( not forgetting Jim who has now returned to the lower 48).

It is conversation which flows in streams of spontaneity ,honesty, trust and genuine kindness.Above all it is flavoured with fun , laughter and an enthusiam for living things in pure mountain air that refreshes the soul. Here we are close to our roots as human beings and our relationship with nature's beauty both inward and around us.

Scouty is our JRT leader .This sleek ,princely long legged terrier scents the air and lives up to his name.He scouts the land on either side of the wooded path reminding us of the closeness of bears and the pepper spray in our backpack which is at the ready in case of an encounter with a grizzly.Scouty almost laughs as he goes about his business of protecting us sniffing out the mischievious rabbits that tease his concentration. BUT WAIT suddenly he returns wounded ! In his back left pad three porcupine quills pierce his flesh like sharp needles ,two are in his side and one in his front left paw .Jan holds him and quckly Amanda and I remove them .This is a chime of the wilderness that sings the need of adaptation of us all to our surroundings .Quickly our protector is relieved of his pain to be replaced with a  soreness. It has happily dispappeared by the next day.

Alaskan Chimes include the phrasing of notes of  optimism and ingenuity and the capacity of human kind to adapt to harsh conditions  .Everything is crescendo.Denali the second highest mountain in the world guards this land in majesty providing a feast which tempts these English eyes with glimpses of pyramidal peaks ,morraines ,braided rivers ,log cabins, boreal forest ,taiga ,moose ,caribou ,bald eagles and tundra.Homesteaders and Native American alike are to me now  symbols of hope and the life that chimes in this wilderness.They shall linger in this heart for all the years to come.

This post is dedicated to Nicole a young Kenaitze woman who blessed me yesterday at a beach potlach with her tenacity and capacity for hope .

Thank you Alaska long may you and our new friends continue to chime your hospitable harmonious notes of welcome !! 

Kenaitze potlach

Thursday May 26th Experiencing a potlach

The Kenaitze Indian tribe are ATHABASKAN and came from the plans of America to the Kenai peninsula . We visited the Elders lunch today on the beach at the Kenaitze fishing ground.Edward a young native American responsible for the cultural education programme had set two seine nets ready to catch early season salmon when only Kenaitze are permitted to fish the Cook inlet of Kenai at the mouth of the Kenai river.These nets are connected to a square rope system with a pulley at three corners so that an open mouthed net can be set and then retrieved from the water.

Three young children Kenaitze themselves watched and learned fishing in this manner as part of their cultural heritage .Edward then showed them how to clean and prepare the salmon ready for cooking over an open fire . In the process we had an anatomy session finding out that apart from the gills a salmons heart and lungs are found in its head .

A potlach is a native American gathering of sharing .Traditionally the best provider (hunter) became the leader because of a proven capacity to provide for his community more than any other. Today the potlach was for the elders of th tribe at the traditional fishing ground .Elders were respectfully served food first .We spoke to members of the tribe who also had English ancestors from Lancashire and Jordan's Hill.We decided that our contribution to the meal should b a homemade English trifle sprinkled with crumbled cinnamon roll.

The oldest member of the tribe was 95 years old and had been sent to boarding school at age of 8 . I shall post pictures of the potlach when we get home but the memories of easy conversation and smiles will linger for many years to come .



Soldotna Alaska

Dear Everyone ,

After a day that for us lasted 31 hours we are sitting here in Soldotna with our friends Jan and Stan  and I am writing our first blog from latitude 49 .

In flight during the trip from London Heathrow yesterday flying over Hudson Bay I recorded the following :-
Speed 486 miles per hour ,altitude 35999 feet ,temperature -59 degrees  at a distance of 3,223 miles from London . On the flight map I could see the Great Lakes ,Superior ,Huron ,Michigan ,Erie and Ontario. .The cities of Wisconsin ,Michigan,Detroit detroit and Boston have appeared. and the States of Minnesota ,Iowa ,Nebraska etc .All this and we know our long planned trip is a reality.

In flight meal Pasta salad cheese roll butter and chocolatee chip Cookie. We are in seats F26 / 27 .We observe solid ice to the east over Hudson Bay and smaller ice floes melting from main pack ice  .

At Minneapolis Airport 6.15 pm writing this 22 hours already into this day. At security after we had landed at 5.15 pm .Keith's knee set off the security alarm for a second time and so we rested to restore our heart rates to normal .

The day ended some 9 hours later at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel in Anchorage and a wonderfully comfortable bedroom and a jacuzzi .

More later ,....

Ready ,Steady ,Go -Freedoms Way

Well this time tomorrow we shall be 4 hours into our journey somewhere over the "pond" as Jan and I have come to refer to the Atlantic Ocean and Freedom's Way will be calling ! Finan and Tilly have been lovingly dispatched to the company of Tilly's sister Mary Mae and Pippa her Mum and the 8 other dogs who are part of the pack she was born into.They have their snug travelling cage to camp in and blankets which doubtless have our scent on them . Those looking after our house are here and luggage stored ready in the car for the airport trip tomorrow.

In the direction of "Freedom's Way "

Last week I ordered the Anchorage Daily News on my Kindle and have gradually begun to acclimatise myself to Alaska news ,the highest helicopter rescue over 19,000 feet from Mt McKinley at the weekend ,Denali National Park bans the use of snow mobiles because snow is melting fast and the death of an entrepreneur by the name of Carr who at the height of the development in the 50's founded a chain of supermarkets which are now owned by Safeways but part of Alaskan life -a bit like Sainsbury's in the UK.

We are really looking forward to the scale of Alaska ,the affinity of human life to nature ,the legacy of native American history, links with Russia and experiencing a different sense of community.

So dear friends Ready Steady GO see you all in Alaska 

Love 

The Silver Hoody and her husband  



 

Soon to be dispatched

Well this labradoodle pup cradled in my arms  will be off to his new home very soon ! As will we dispatched to Alaska ! The excitement is mounting and final bits and bobs are almost in place ,checking important travel details ,clothes ,housesitters and dog kennels .

Labradoodle Dandy

Not long now but as a distraction from our excitement we visited a family of 10 labradoodle pups today aged 8 weeks !!