Sorted by date Results 76 - 83 of 83
My husband, Gary, and I sat visiting with two couples after dinner one June evening several years ago. At the time, we were operating Nabesna House B & B out of our home in Slana. One gentleman asked, "Is there more road construction on Highway number 1?" He was greeted with a couple of blank looks and then we had to ask, "Which road is number 1?" This was our fifth summer to accommodate bed and breakfast guests and the questions were usually in regard to traveling north or south on the Tok...
It was 45 years ago this month that I married Gary in the front yard of my home in Glennallen. As the wedding party stood and all the guests sat facing toward the grove of poplar trees, frogs croaked and ducks swam in the pond off to one side. In other years the trees were leafed out and the grass was green, but that year spring was slow. But, I didn't care. I wanted to get married in May and the 26th was the last Saturday of the month. At times during the preceding months, when preparing for a...
Since our move back to Palmer from Slana in 2011, I try to ride my bike around our subdivision on a daily basis unless the roads have ice and snow or if it's very windy. One day while riding in early spring of 2013, reflecting sunlight in one of my neighbor's back yard caught my eye. The next day, I slowed down to discover the source - a very large pane of glass leaning against a shed. My bike rides serve several purposes. They are great exercise and I thoroughly enjoy being outdoors while...
My husband dropped me off at the Anchorage airport for a flight to Denver early last November. It wasn't until after I'd gone through TSA that I learned my flight was delayed for two hours. I wasn't ready to sit and read and I found myself restlessly wandering the aisle checking out the stores between my gate and TSA. After I enjoyed perusing the Alaskan books on display at the front of the bookstore, I decided to treat myself to a specialty coffee. While standing in line, I noticed the sign for...
One early January afternoon a few years back, I picked up a small box from the dining room table where my husband always piles our incoming mail. I was surprised to see the return address of one of my mother's cousins in California. We only correspond at Christmas time and I hadn't heard from her the past two years. Elsie had never before sent me anything larger than a letter, so I was immediately curious about the contents. Inside a folded letter lay on top of a tissue wrapped bundle. Upon...
In late November I sat with my son and his friend enjoying the ambience of the historic Paramount Theater in downtown Denver. We waited with quiet anticipation along with the rest of the sold out crowd. After a while the house lights went down and a spotlight followed three men as they walked across the stage. First Nikos Kilcher sang a beautiful song he had written for his wife, then brother Atz Lee sang his song titled "Rain" while playing his double bass. Father Atz Kilcher followed up by...
Form Christmas letters. Whether they arrive by snail mail or email, people seem to either love or hate these annual family newsletters. Let me just state up front that I am a fan. Because my mother embraced this particular tradition, her children and grandchildren now have a wonderful treasure of family history. Dad arrived in Anchorage in January 1940 from Montana and Mom came to Seward in 1951 from New York. They married in 1954. As far as we know, Mom wrote her first Christmas letter while...
While growing up in Glennallen, I was involved in 4-H and took several classes including basic sewing. The year I turned eleven (1966), I decided to make cloth placemats and napkins for our family of six to use for Christmas. Mom paid for the fabric I picked out at our local grocery/department store, owned by the Martin family. I cut out the placemats and napkins according to the 4-H pattern, which called for all four edges of the napkins to be fringed as well as two edges of the placemats. I...
