Make a Joyful Sound

During our stay in Hoonah, I became friends with Terri Budke. She was in Canterbury Tales and is one of the town’s two Librarians. Terri is also Chris Budke wife, the pastor of the Abundant Life Christian Fellowship.

The week before Easter she texted me on my phone and asked, “Are you just dying to sing somewhere for Easter?” My instant reply (well sorta instant, I’m not very fast at texting) was an enthusiastic “yes!”

All my music was packed and on the way to Oregon, so Terri and I brain-stormed through some titles in their hymnal. I ended up singing Old Rugged Cross, Christ Has Risen and the Lord’s Prayer all a capella.

Steve and Andrew put on their Sunday best, but for me it was the first time ever that I wore hiking boots and jeans to Eater Sunday service; all my pretty dress up clothes were on a barge somewhere floating on the Pacific Ocean.

It felt great celebrate Easter with my family and friends, and to sing such beautiful songs on such a special day. Thanks Terri for invite and for allowing me to end my Hoonah experinence on a high note :)

A Different Kind of Easter Egg

On the way home from church, a middle-aged Hoonah native, whom I recently saw move into a school bus with a wood stove inside, stopped us on the street and invited us to join the community down to the dock to pick up free Herring eggs.

I tried herring egg salad once. The taste of the eggs was completely disguised by the ranch dressing that Mildred, the school cook, sopped over the lettuce. Eating the eggs became a sensation of creamy, miniscule, rubbery beads in my mouth. Not awful, but to me, senseless.

My goal of following the flocks of people down to the dock was not to bring some eggs home, but to experince the event. There was a sense of urgency and quick movement in the streets that I have never felt before. When I arrived, the line waiting for the boat dock was long. People carried empty boxes and or garbage sacks, with extra sacks stuffed in their jacket pockets. One gentleman made his way down the pier pushing a hand cart with two plastic storage bins stacked on the base. I had imagined that, like salmon, the fishermen would be splitting the herring open and pouring the guts into the people’s bags. I was wrong.

The “Julie Kae” came from Sitka, where in preparation for the Herring spawn, the fishermen lay down fifty feet of hemlock branches in the spawning beds. This year when the Herring arrived, the small fish left thirty feet of spawn. The fishermen pulled up the branches, piled them in the middle of the ship and floated all the way to Hoonah Easter morning to share the bounty. The captain of the ship gave all the eggs away for free and accepted no money for gas.

I stood back on the pier and watch the cheerful frenzy. It was like a family reunion with everyone politely pushing their way to the buffet table. Huge branches were being pulled up and out, one-by-one from the ship. I stood awestruck by the sheer number of eggs held on the bows, millions may be an accurate guess. Some of the braches were immediate carried off the dock and away others were placed on the dock. One owner found a little space of deck and started to cut the branches into smaller pieces, before laying them in his box. I watched him as he took a large chunk of eggs ate them with revelry on the spot. One lady asked me if I wanted to try some…I smiled. It didn’t seem polite to tout my vegan beliefs at the moment…so I said, “Sure.” I literally took a couple, which is hard to do considering they are so tiny. Without ranch they were tasteless, miniscule, rubbery beads in my mouth. Not awful, but to me, still senseless.

The folks of Hoonah cleared the ship in less than a half hour, yet all the while sharing laughter, smiles, thank you and waves of appreciation to each other and to the kind captain. I overheard the captain’s mate saying that it took all day to give away this many branches in Sitka.

The “Julie Kae” brought a different kind of Easter egg to Hoonah; one that is connected to the wildlife of Alaska, one that has, for generations, been seen as a cyclical gift from nature and one that through the generosity of a stranger will nourish spirits and bodies of fellow Alaskans.

Happy April!

Steve is busy at work posting jobs for new staffing positions and making sure all things are in order for the next superintendent to take over. Andrew is getting ready for his State tests and enjoying time with friends. For me, the days are all about packing and practicing La Boheme.

April Fools Day was entertaining. I told Andrew that Mrs. Bidiman called and said that school was cancelled and he could sleep in. Andrew swapped Steve's morning coffee in bed for a mug of lime juice. Steve told Andrew that he threw up all over the bed from the lime juice. I told Steve I was pregnant. (just kidding...I didn't want him to have a heart attack) Andrew told Mrs. Bidiman that he decided to stay in Hoonah for the rest for school year. When Steve came home from work, Andrew and I hid behind the TV and after he couldn’t find us…jumped out and screamed “April Fool’s.” Not advanced trick playing…but for Andrew the day was full of giggles and smiles. For me that is worth it.

Hoonah is still getting snow, and so consistently that Andrew continues to have fierce snowball fights, wears his snow gear all day and has started a morning ritual of “belly” sliding down the snow trench in our back yard before he leaves for school. While Andrew loves the enduring snow, Steve and I are sick of it! Our dinner prayers have consistently included a subtle pleading for sunny weather.

I have officially decided to home-school Andrew for the duration of the school year while in Oregon. He is weeks away from completing his third grade year and even with Mrs. Bidiman’s recommendation that he attend forth grade next year, the Medford school district requires Andrew to undergo a series of tests including psychological. I think that it is silly to have him go through all that just for a few weeks of public education. I have met with his teacher about curriculum and, thankfully, Steve will be guiding me through the process.

The highlight of the week was that our friend, Bob Hutton, invited Andrew and Steve to go snowmobiling. They had a great time cruising the roads, digging snow “forts” and playing with Hagu, Bob’s beautiful Siberian Husky.

My Favorite Pictures of the Week

Fields of Snow

Andrew's favorite sport is baseball, and when he returns to Medford he will step right into Minors baseball season. Helping him get ready to play well is tough in Hoonah. There are no fields or parks that aren’t under four feet of snow, no poles to attach his Derek Jeter "Hit-a-Way" to, and I don’t care how dedicated you are…playing catch in 32 degree, snowy weather is hard on the fingers.


The one day this week that we did have some fair weather, we headed to our “beach” with the baseball gloves and ball in tow.

It was uncomfortably windy and cold. Steve and Andrew played as long as they could, but after the ball rolled in the water a few times and their hands started to turn blue, we packed up and went home to take the seventh inning stretch in our warm living room.

And there was light...

The daylight hours are wonderfully longer now. On a clear morning, the sun peaks over the horizon at 6 a.m., turning the snowy mountaintops hues of pastel pink and purple. The frigid water, except for the rough wake fanning from a lone fishing boat, softly ripples from the incoming tide. The morning sun outlines the depths and shallows of the underwater landscape; some expanses are placid and reflect the whitish-blue of the mountains, other areas are darker; wavering between shades of the cloudless canopy and shadowy bottom.

At 7:30 p.m., the sun takes a slow, sweet departure from the village. The events before, during and after the lingering farewell are a desperate act of memorizing or recalling the elusive backdrop. No earthly device or word can capture or describe the beauty. The black night gives way to sliver moon and fickle Venus, and a personal hope that tonight the two heavenly bodies will find strength to hold back the clouds, the rain and the snow; to keep clear the path for the sun to reign down and present its celestial bliss once more.

Andrew - The Young Photographer

A couple years ago I purchased a “Young Photographer’s Notebook, A Guide to Nature Photography” from the HearthSong catalog for Andrew. The time never came for him to try it out, until now. I just so happened to tuck it in one of the many book boxes I shipped to Hoonah and this week Andrew has started to read the small book and fill the pages with images of Hoonah from his perspective.

Assignment #1:
Take a horizontal photograph of a subject in nature. It can be anything you think would make a good photograph. This will be the starting point of your notebook.

I showed him how to download the pictures into the computer and then how to edit them. He chose to crop some of his shots. Here is his final pick.

He learned briefly about the parts of the camera and Depth of Field, Aperture, Lens, Focal Length, Foreground and Background. He read about horizontal and vertical holds and how to steady your hold by using a tripod or a even a tree. There is a glossary of 37 photography words; including “Hot Shoe,” the bracket on top of the camera where you can attach flash unit and one of my favorites “Fill Flash,” use of flash to fill in the shadows on your subject on a sunny day.

There are ten assignments giving a short introduction to the concepts of Composition, Light, Landscapes, Patterns, and Animals. The thin notebook concludes with some fun ways to digitally manipulate photos and some other ways to use photos; turn them into a puzzle, use them as a gift tag or on a card for a friend.

He played with the camera and took a great shot of Barneby, a secret shot of the neighbor walkaing up the street and even got me to say cheese for the camera.

Assignment #2:
Take a vertical photograph of a subject with a simple background, one that is not too cluttered. Get as close as you can to the subject so you can to fill the frame. Here is what he picked. It will be fun to see the world through his eyes.