Dreaming In Color

I made myself a pinky promise after my last post.  I would try to do better with posting more frequently.  I wish I could verbalize my lack of motivation to write this past year.  As I have seen before, and currently, my fellow bloggers find themselves in the same place sometimes.  For me there is a range of reasoning....some justified, some mystified, and some...as I stated in the last post...just complete frustration that has continually mounted.  Such to the point where I have had to practice the old saying, "if you don't have anything nice to say sometimes it is best not to say anything at all".  However, life....and the world, is far from rosey and this blog is about reality.  If you want a story where everything is portrayed through flowery strawberry flavored glasses, go to Netflix and get a movie!  Hollywood is grand at giving you fantasy.  I still can't believe that Netflix  pulled that hideous price increase amdist an economical meltdown last summer.  There is something to be said about corporate America bending us all over when we are already chafed from the ride, as it is.

On a brighter note, this winter, as every winter, us Alaskans tends to see a lot of nothing but white!  In fact, there just isn't a whole lot of vibrant color in this neck of the woods 9 months out of the year.  Tree's are dormant except for the Spruce, which lack much life either.  Snow and ice prevail.  The cold air paints it's own foggy vision of the sights we see daily.  The one thing we are looking forward to is the coming of summer, one of the most spectacular seasons afforded to so many who have done nothing but hibernate, for so many months now.

A few posts back I shared some shots of a trip dad and I took out into the bush this past summer.  We were accompanied by our guide, Tyler, who if you remember was the nephew of my long time friend from high school, Brad.  He was staying with us at the beginning of summer and he was going to work at the lodge for the summer months.  The story that got lost in my absence, was that Tyler started out as Bob's bitch on fly outs.  When Bob, the president of the lodge and pilot/guide extraordinaire, discovered Tyler's natural ability to flow into the whole wilderness scene, he hired and trained him as his guide, so Bob could focus on piloting.  Into the summer, Tyler got his guide license and began to take the yoke of the plane as he learned navigation and the basics of flying the canyons and ridges of the bush.  Tyler eventually lived the summer out at the lodge, where he was the after hours on call guy for guests, 'the guide', fish processor and all around grounds guy.  It just made more sense considering what he was doing, to be there on site.  Not to mention the extra money he raked in as on call and the tips he got!

He is due back this April for another summer as our guide and who know where that will lead, and there is talk that he will be here to stay this time.  Although, he thought that the temps back in September were cold.  He moaned when the temps were in the 30'sF.  That, to him, was "winter" where he comes from!  He is in for a cold dose of reality this coming winter!! lol 

Anyways, I had more to share with pics and all and then went dark!  So, in the name of kind of a tribute to the end of summer past, and a praise to the summer God to come, I will show some of what was never seen.  There may be even more to muster up as I scan the archives, so stay tuned!

Some of the pics are of a visit to Dick Proenneke's cabin at Twin Lakes.  If you have no idea who he is and have a flavor for the true Alaskan spirit of wilderness survival and living in the desolate solitude of nature alone, you owe it to yourself to check out his DVD,  "Alone In The Wilderness" and get a taste of who this remarkable man was and his years of living alone, in the very place we are sharing with you, through pictures our own adventure into the bush last summer.

One highlight of the trip was meeting up with a husband and wife team, rangers, who were canoeing on the upper lake.  Our pilot Everett landed the plane, we introduced ourselves and broke bread right there on the beach with them....litterally!  Everett had picked up a loaf of fresh bread from the local 'The Moose Is Loose' bakery that morning, in hopes of running into them to deliver a gift, of kindness, a tradition that bush pilots will do often for those who remain in the solitude of the Alaskan wilderness.  We shared some of our lunch that day with Kate and Monroe, gave them a taste of some of the things they do not get out in the bush.  A plane drops them in the bush with all they need as they pack in the essentials and supplies in the spring, and that is it until they pack out in the fall.  So, simple things like a candy bar, for instance, or salami & cheese or carrots;  the things you and I take for granted...it's a rarity for them.  That is where a pilot will bring some the givens of civilization, out to the one's who live in the wild.  Then there are folks like ourselves, who show up and invite them to share our lunch, listen to some stories and commence in friendship!