Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Touch O’ Green, Crab Fest, Turds, and Dickens

I finally finished Oliver Twist last week. It only took a letter from the library reminding me it was way way overdue. Wait, I mentioned Dickens last in the blog title, well, as homage to Dickens I’ll start with the last first, and work my way through the plot (blog entry) as I please.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading it. The movies are similar, but they’ve altered a few major plots, in some ways okay, but in some ways not so good. First, I think they indicate Nancy betrays Oliver, she does not. Also, at the end when Sikes is running after he murders Nancy, Oliver is not with him, in fact, unlike the two film versions I’ve seen, he does not get captured after he gets shot.

Dickens uses fancy words, here’s some I didn’t know:
Imprecations
Profligacy
Loquacious
Assiduity
Paroxysm
Ineffable
Rueful
Propensity

Taken out of context the words don’t seem as fancy as they are in the sentences. Here are some chopped up sentences:
'Wolves tear your throat!'……As Sikes growled forth this imprecation, with the most desperate ferocity that his desperate nature was capable of,…

With many loquacious assurances that they would be agreeably surprised in the aspect of the criminal,….

The doctor then communicated, in reply to multifarious questions from his young friend, a precise account of his patient’s situation; which was quite as consolatory and full of promise,…

He applied himself, with redoubled assiduity, to the instructions of the white-headed old gentleman,….

‘Your prerogative!’ sneered Mrs. Bumble, with ineffable contempt.

…., Mr. Bumble took his hat from a peg, and putting it on, rather rakishly, on one side, as a man might, who has felt he had asserted his superiority in a becoming manner, thrust his hands into his pockets, and sauntered towards the door, with much ease and waggishness depicted in his whole appearance.

Why only parts of sentences? Well, they can be quite long. The first sentence in Chapter XXVII is a full 16 lines long.

Mostly, I like Dickens’ descriptions, some are really graphic:
It was a cheerless morning when they got into the street; blowing and raining hard; and the clouds looking dull and stormy. The night had been very wet: large pools of water had collected in the road: and the kennels were overflowing. There was a faint glimmering of the coming day in the sky; but it rather aggravated than relieved the gloom of the scene: the somber light only serving to pale that which the street lamps afforded, without shedding any warmer or brighter tints upon the wet housetops, and dreary streets. There appeared to be nobody stirring in that quarter of town; the windows of the houses were all closely shut; and the streets through which they passed, were noiseless and empty.



As you can see in this crappy pic of Pillar Mountain taken out back, me leaning over the railing, is a li’ touch o’ green pokin’ through yesteryear’s dead grass. The image of Pillar Mountain is about to dramatically change – we’re getting wind turbines right atop Pillar. You can see an artist rendering on KEA’s website www.kodiakelectric.com, but I don’t see any specific info, which I was hoping to find.



Crab Fest – yeah! Oh wait, it rained. Nevermind. Never did get any crab. It sold out everytime we went. I had plenty of kettle corn though!
Also, I entered the Crab Fest art show, even though the piece pictured below (not Ohr's, below that) did not turn out. Disappointing. Oh well. I sold just one piece. I am still a broke artist! At what point do I give up?


The other evening ago I was changing Abby’s diaper, and she didn’t want it back on. Since it was almost time for bed, and to let her butt air out, I just let her run around nude. I do this in the evening sometimes. This time was special. She was playing, and I started talking to Jr., and then he said ‘Oh my G--, what is that?!’ pointing to the floor. It looked like small dog turds. Oh wait, its Abby turds!!! I laughed and laughed. I was laughing so hard Abby was looking at me funny. I guess she was playing, squatted, and let it out.
Every time she poops I tell her, “Abby, you’re supposed to say Mommy, I went poop.” No luck yet.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Mustache Aficionado


Shawen had to go to Anchorage yesterday, and since he had several hours before his appointment, he got a bus pass and went downtown. He was walking around and noticed several men with very interesting mustaches - long ones sticking straight out, long handlebars, styled beards, and they were people of different nationalities as he noticed by their accents- one was Australian, one German, etc. Lo and behold there was an International Mustache and Beard convention. There was a parade and everything. I cannot believe I missed this! I am sooo disappointed. Mustaches are fun. Check out George Ohr's.


Pots by George Ohr, made sometime between 1879-1910. He liked to haphazardly apply glaze, so someone said he said. Often they are streaky, but bright. He also used gunmetal, and many other glazes. Towards the end he was doing unglazed pieces. He reported amde tens of thousands of pots. His first pottery burned down and he lost abo. 10,000 pieces. He of course got and refined his own clay from the river. At certain points, Joseph Meyer was also in the pottery.


George Ohr, the Greatest Potter on Earth (or Elsewhere)

Shawen had walked quite a ways yesterday. He said that people were kind of looking at him funny. I said, "Shawen, you're wearing that stupid camouflage sweatshirt. There's no such thing as a limping hunter!"

Shawen was still limping by the time he got back to the airport, and since he had even more time to kill he went through security to eat dinner. He had been walking for so long that his feet, and subsequently his shoes were hot. He was taking them off at security and said, "Man, my shoes are smoking!" Shawen looked up at the security person with an 'oh crap, what did I just say expression?!' The TSA guy just looked at him and rolled his eyes.



Saturday, May 16, 2009

Toys? Books? Furniture?

Anyone have any old toys, books, or children's furniture they don't want anymore? Abby will take it!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

An eerie fog rolled in yesterday sunny afternoon.

This type of pic is what every family in Kodiak has posted on their blog right now - beach time! This is not a common pic for Abby, she does not sit. Only to eat. That is it. Oh, and when I take her on a walk in the stroller.  I take her on a walk just to make her sit.  It calms her down and I exercise - win win.

Abby will not let me wash her hair, well, she did, but she screamed and cried, not in a I'm defying you way, but in a I am terrified way. I think this may take years to solve. I wish I hadn't let it get so bad, but what do I know about the horrors of getting water in the eyes? I had no idea it scared her that bad. Not fun. Zoila put her hair up - too cute! - too bad Abby won't let ME do it.

Omg, could this be an actual Brownie family portrait?

Friday, May 8, 2009

Old Harbor

I spent that least few days in the Village of Old Harbor. I have been here three years and had not been to a village, but I got to go this year because I am working on gathering legal paperwork for the BIA and I had a very short but necessary meeting with the tribal council about NAGPRA. It is Alutiiq weeks in the villages and this year's project is model kayaks. I sanded some model kayak parts while I was there, and watched Alfred and the other elder men, i.e.. Sven, put the models together.

We had great weather. I didn't really get to do much though. No hiking or exploring or anything like that. I was mostly at the school. And when I was done with my project I left. I did get to eat sea lion. Yes, they are an endangered species, but natives can still hunt them for subsistence. I also had really fresh king crab, and lots of fish.

On the flight back I got an extended tour. The flight went to Akhiok and then back to Kodiak. It was great to be able to see the south end of the island. I didn't think I was ever going to be able to see it with my own eyes. I only know it by maps. We landed in Akhiok and the really fabulous pilot Eddy arranged for me to go to the school and see some old Russian Orthodox icons, papers, and books that are in a display case there. We then took off and I got to see Olga Bay, Cape Alitak, and Aiulik peninsula. There were TONS of game trails. Holy cow. I saw one bear moseying along. It is gorgeous down there. If it was warmer I would seriously live there! Although all the bear trails were a bit intimidating.

Near Cape Alitak there is this big long spit, it was really neat formation, it looked like paradise. Sorry, no pictures of anything, I forgot my camera! I took it out of my bag to get a pic of Abby, and forgot to put it back in! Not sure a pic would capture my enthusiasm about being able to see that part of the island. On the way back I also got to see where the villages of Kaguyak and Eagle Harbor were, also got to see Refuge Rock. Kaguyak was destroyed by the 1964 tsunami. They had just finished building a new church, and it was all washed away.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Pandemonium

There was a rumor circulating that someone here in Kodiak got the swine flu, which was not true. Shawen and I were talking to a neighbor about it and Shawen joked around that in case of a pandemic when we run out of food we will have to eat people. He then realized his joke was not so funny, and said" wow, I have been playing way to much Resident Evil". Why is human cannibalism so taboo? There are several cultures that did / do eat other people. Other species also eat each other. The first time I saw an eagle I was in Pasagshak. I was looking at a bird and then an eagle swooped down and caught it. As I have been walking around town recently, e.g. Near Island, there are spots of decimated bird feathers, some of which are still attached to a bit of skin, gross, but the point is eagles eat other birds, and they are our national bird!
P.S. This post is supposed to be humorous, I am in no way condoning cannibalism.