Our visit with Dan & Elizabeth

Lingonberries (low bush cranberries)

End of season fireweed

We were lucky enough to have a wonderful visit with Dan & Elizabeth (from Michigan) this fall. They were recipients of a grant to do a sabbatical of sorts related to their independent radio work. They were able to go to Old Harbor with Sven and the kids for their Alutiiq Week and they interviewed many locals in search of some story ideas. But they found a lot of time to take on local fall harvesting activities, one of our favorites being lingonberry picking on Pillar Mountain!

Eilidh and Daddy go seal hunting

Sven and Eilidh went out for a seal hunt with Andy C. and Coral in late summer. Eilidh documented the process of harvesting a seal and sea otter for Coral (the skin) and the elders (meat and fat). Great trip and Eilidh was very proud to be helping her daddy. And she was delighted with the process of delivering seal meat and seal oil to elders in town. All photos here are Eilidh's.

A Weekend in Hawaii

Thank you Grandma Mary... When she found out that Sven was going to Hawaii to deliver a keynote speech at the Western Museums Conference she said, "Why don't you take your wife?" Smart woman. And then when I found out that MY mom was going to be visiting in Kodiak I immediately took up the grandmas on their idea (why didn't WE think of that?!). So it was short (3 nights, 4 days) but it was worth it- and the direct Anchorage- Honolulu flight of 6 1/2 hours made it a breeze. Honolulu was lovely- Aloha day parade, great beaches, fantastic food, but the people were the thing that surprised us the most. So wonderful, down to earth and 'island style'.

Morning Swim

Fish's good friend Tracy from Grad. school who now lives in Honolulu with her lovely family!

Climbing Diamond Head early in the morning- trying not to get trampled by the 200 Japanese tourists in fancy shoes.

Freckles!

Ummmm..... so long story.... All was well until I decided to stick a lava rock in my backpack (which apparently is very bad juju). Sven and I, and our poor friend Ed who rented the car, decided to do one last swim trip before we headed to the airport, and of course the backpack locked itself in the trunk with the keys. An hour of waiting in the dusk for the road side service people to come left us feeling very hopeless, until a lovely friendly guy drove up with all of the right tools and got us in (and would accept no $). We were all very relieved, as this left us exactly enough time to get to the airport.

But alas, the keys were not in the trunk, and it rapidly dawned on us that in fact the keys must be in the ocean where Ed had been taking some huge waves. Darkness descended and we sat in our beach clothes on a curb and started talking about how we would reschedule our flights when the service guy pulled in, looked at our faces and said, "Hey, I drive fast- I'll get you to the airport!". Sure enough, we ran into Honolulu Airport, sand flying off our toes, water bottles clanging to the ground, Sven's wood knocking over not-so-friendly tourists, with literally 5 minutes to spare before our flight was closed. After cutting to the front of the security line we arrived to a packed, annoyed looking plane. But we were happy, in all of our dishevelment and salt-encrustation. All was well, and all was redeemed by people's kindness....

And there go the keys....