Suburban

In my 7th grade Reading class today...

Crystal is reading aloud from the text, "The roots of the Arctic Poppy spread out like a Suburban-"
"We have a Suburban!" Filip interupts.
"Shhh, let her finish," I tell Filip, giggling to myself, having read ahead.
Crystal continues, "... like a Suburban strip-mall." She pauses, finished with the paragraph.
"It's black!" Filip excitedly adds, totally missing the point of the simile that Crystal just read.
I explain to the class what a strip-mall is, in Homer terms, and how that relates to the root system of the Arctic Poppy. They get it, but the term suburban still eludes Filip.

It was my smile for the day. I love these kids. Their small town world view. Their inability to imagine a city large enough to warrant suburbs. They are sweet. They are innocent. And, for now, they are mine...

Oh, and as a side note: Filip is Russian and Crystal is Philipino - it's quite an eclectic mix we have here at the end of the road in rural Alaska.

Another Day, Another Fish

My friend, Cap'n Steve invited me to go Halibut fishing again today. I took along a friend, Shelly, and the three of us had a terrific time! We left the dock around 8am, loaded with bait and headed for a spot 15 miles out Kachemak Bay, almost to Cook Inlet, just off the coast of Flat Island. The water was a bit choppy at first but them calmed down and we set our bait on a pile of Halibut right away.

While we were out there, chatting and fishing, I learned that the village of Nanwalek used to be called English Bay. I have heard both terms in town before and had no idea that they referred to the same place... one is the Native name and the other is... you guessed it... the English name. Nanwalek is known for its exceptionally high rate of HIV which could be due to several factors including its isolation (it is only accessible by boat or small plane), lack of community education, and obvious lack of birth control evident in the number of young, single expectant mothers in the population. We fished off the coast of Nanwalek for most of the day. A charming looking village from the sea - not a place people want to live, though.

As the day progressed, Shelly caught several cod and even a shark in addition to several halibut. I pulled also pulled in my share of halibut and so did Cap'n Steve. The wind picked up around noon and since we were drift-fishing, the Cap'n had to reposition the boat a couple of miles about 4 different times.

However, the big excitement of the day was a humpback whale who was nearby most of the day. We first heard him blow and that made us look up and realize that he was very close by. I had never been close enough to a whale to hear him blow liket that. It was truly amazing. He surfaced many times as he circled around us for several hours, following the birds who were following the fish. Whales are such amazing creatures. I had to put down my fishing pole and just go sit on the bow of the boat and watch in wonder.

As if that wasn't enough fun, I got to drive the boat back to the harbor - 20 miles of open sea and me! Wow, what I would give to have my own boat! Cap'n Steve always acts like I'm doing him a favor when I drive the boat, but I know that he's just doing it for my own enjoyment. What a great friend!

We also encountered many sea otters throughout the day and when we were headed back into the harbor, a seal greeted us. The Time Bandit was docked near the fuel dock and as I was fumbling for my camera (I was sitting on the bow, supposed to be readying the line to throw to the girls at the fuel dock), I dropped the line in the water and it quickly swept back toward the boat motor. EEEEK! I called for Cap'n Steve to kill the motor so I could get the rope before it wrapped around the motor. Success! Thankfully Shelly kept my secret that it was dropped because I was getting a picture of the Time Bandit. LOL. They both enjoyed a good laugh at me taking pictures like a tourist all day. But, these are the days that I will remember for the rest of my life and want to share with my grandkids (did I just say that?)!

Seriously, having a chance to fish with friends on Labor Day this year... well, I just can't think of a better way to spend a day! And, to top it all off... Shelly's son works at the Coal Point Fish Processing Plant so she gets all her fish for free, which meant that today, Cap'n Steve and I also got to drop our fish off for him to filet, vacuum pack, and flash freeze for us for free! Now, that's my kind of fishing!

"THERE ARE MANY TYPES OF SHIPS. THERE ARE WOODEN SHIPS, PLASTIC SHIPS AND METAL SHIPS. BUT THE BEST AND MOST IMPORTAINT TYPES OF SHIPS ARE FRIENDSHIPS."