Breakup in the Time of the Coronavirus

Breakup in Alaska refers to the breaking up of the ice, literally when the ice leaves the river, beginning a season that the river can be navigated. "In town" breakup means a time when roads and sidewalks become temporarily unnavigable themselves, an unpleasant time for recreation, since skiing is done, it's too slushy to bike (for me anyway), and walking is wet, uneven, and mostly not fun!

In this time of the Coronavirus, it's seemed more important than ever to be outside, and for the past 5 weeks, it's been great to take an hour or two or more each day to get fresh air, think of new ways and new places to be on our skis or fat tire bikes. But now the skis are put away, and the studded tires will soon come off the fat tire bikes. In the past week it's been strictly walks - and the trails are not in great shape - neither are the sidewalks. And do you wear the recommended face mask to walk? Or just if we're picking up bread from the bakery? Even though it's a handoff outside in the parking lot? Yesterday we picked up coffee from the back door for wholesale delivery at Kaladi's to avoid going to the larger grocery store when the Amazon coffee delivery was put off til mid-May. These parking lot handoffs are starting to feel illicit!

We still have snow, and at the same time, it's time to clean off the deck, anticipate a time when it will be warm enough, especially in the bright sun of afternoon, to want to sit out there - not quite yet, but you can feel it coming! The afternoon walks are feeling repetitive, though the birch forest trails are still beautiful, and Kira still loves bounding in the snow, seeks it out even when there is bare pavement. In the last two days we've walked downtown, along Ship Creek (bare pavement!) and along the Park Strip and winding around through Bootlegger's Cove and downtown (footing not too bad, pools of water in spots.)

And, we have our masks, our new ways of venturing forth in the world. We don't venture forth much, instead, hunkered down with each other and with Kira - a world of entertainment in herself!

A Fat Tire Bike to Knik Glacier

Okay, this one is Brian's not mine. Although I would have loved to have gone, not quite in good enough shape to keep up this year. Brian has been wanting to do this bike in, and the pictures say everything. He did take a wrong turn or missed a turn on the way out, so I'm glad he made it back, since he was out there pretty much alone. 

And, a few days before this, we did BOTH ride from the Hillside trails back to our house, about 90 minutes on mostly frozen trails. That was fun, and we had intended to go again this week, but with the thawing and re-freezing after people and bikes mushed up the sloppy snow, probably not! 

A Slow Sunday . . . and Sewing Face Masks!

It seems that in the time of Coronavirus, Sunday mornings have gotten even slower . . . longer reading of the New York Times in bed . . . with coffee . . . no rush, especially knowing that it got so warm that the slushy snow wasn't going to be good for much outside.

No pictures, but the crabmeat quiche made for a good late breakfast, and we decided to move ahead with the face masks that are now requested to be worn outdoors (when going to a store we assume, not just if we're biking or skiing.) I found two bandanas that I've had for a while, a pillowcase for good lining, and a pattern with a pocket for an additional filter if desired. The one thing that we didn't have, and that no one seems to have is elastic, but we found some old cording that Brian had from years ago and used that for around the ears.

I wore mine to try it out when we walked to Fire Island Bakery to pick up our order (in the parking lot, enforcing social distancing), and Brian tried his and tried to get Kira to participate when we got home!

Kira was far more interested in laying in the sun on our deck and watching for the pesky squirrel that's eating the bird food.

And I got to pick up a donation of sourdough starter from Corrie Whitmore that she thoughtfully taped to her porch wall so that we could come and pick it up! I can't wait to make something with it! Pancakes? Bread? All in all, another good Sunday!

It's Been Three Years . . . and We're Back!

I've been regretting that I didn't keep up with this blog posting, and I've especially thought in the last few days that during this coronavirus thing we're going through that it may have been useful. Brian and I have still gotten outside for at least an hour each day, and we've taken short trips, around an hour or less, to do outdoor things.

On about March 11, we went to a movie and a quick dinner before with a visiting friend, but since that time, we've only been together the two of us, one trip to Natural Pantry for replenishing fresh food, and our outdoor recreation, alone. So we've been "Hunkered Down" as Anchorage has termed it rather than "Shelter in Place." And even before that, we were largely doing that anyway since returning from our trip to upstate New York 2/14 and a quick trip for me to Seattle returning 2/16.

Days have been kind of long, probably similar to how it is for a lot of you, but I've worked from home a lot for my Wisdom Course accountabilities - on the phone or Zoom meetings online - and I've been enjoying cooking, writing, and watching things on Hulu or Netflix that I'd never explored. A couple that I've really liked: The Morning Show with Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon, 10 episodes for Season 1; Fosse & Verdon, 8 episodes, I have one left - it's really good; a documentary on Baseball that I don't think I've finished (PBS); and the new documentary on Hillary Clinton, 4 episodes - loved this - and I have one left to watch! And we've been doing a little of this mid-day too!

What I've been cooking: Moosemeat chili, lots to freeze, banana bread, homemade pasta, very good salmon with a little soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and sesame oil baked at low temperature, and recently almond cookies. I was talking to my son about cooking stir fry and asked if he remembered the Chinese dinners we used to make when he was a child, always ending with homemade almond cookies that I would keep in the freezer for the occasion. He said he hadn't remembered until I said that but then he could even remember the taste right in that moment! He remembered when we made pasta too years ago and asked me to leave him the pasta maker in my will!

And not to make this too long, I have to show you some of the pictures we've been taking outdoors - the weather has been extraordinary, and yesterday we took our back-country skis along a stream an hour south of here in Portage - on the way to Whittier, where Brian did a little maintenance work on Kakwik, the boat that we share with Carl & Diane. With the social distancing requirements, the boat isn't going in the water yet, and it remains to be seen if it will go in this season for shrimping! The day was gorgeous though, and I appreciate that Brian thinks of these perfect things to do with the snow conditions.

I continue to appreciate living here in Alaska!