Pink, Community, Hope

PINK. This past week has been ripe with rich and honest conversations in our family. Leadership, diversity, respect, human, courage... I suspect many of you have been exploring similar fodder. During one such chat of ours that included ideas about skin color, Indigo declared, "well if you think about it, we're all pink on the inside." Indeed.

Our favorite coffee shop in Seward, Resurrection Art (in an old church), had some foggy windows today... and a pink sunset on the mountains beyond.

COMMUNITY. Some friends and I had planned to hook up in Anchorage on Saturday for the Women's March. As it continued to dump snow on Friday night and digging out our cars, let alone driving them, became less and less likely, we began to text about the potential of rallying some folks here in Seward, maybe even with skis on our feet, to do our own version of a march. Someone threw out an intersection near the Sea Life Center; I threw out 2PM; and the social media world took its course...

Indigo (and Lily) lead the charge as upwards of 100 people sing and chant and chat their way along an ocean path.

Purple and green on the outside, and pink on the inside.

HOPE. As the sun set and folks headed home, our little family retreated to the back yard to the snow cave Indigo and J had worked on during the morning. Candles lit, puffs of breath warming the small space, our little world felt safe and strong and whole.

The entrance.

All together.

And then this morning, the sun came out and all the new snow glittered and flashed. J and I had a "date day" and climbed the mountain behind our house, taking in views of the bay and then skiing down through the fresh three feet of powder, laughing and shrieking like little kids. A needed reminder that there is so much beauty in this world...

Descending from heaven...

A gift near the top of our climb - what appears to be the "track" from a bird, touching down for a moment before taking a few wing beats to lift up again...

And finally, in the spirit of keeping friends and family close (and not having so many holiday cards return to sender), here is our new address in Seward:

PO Box 2066, Seward, AK 99664

Studs, Cleats and Skates

STUDS. I  know what you're thinking. And yes, my hubby is a total Alaskan stud muffin with a hearty helping of wild blueberries in the mix. But in this case, I'm talking about tires. You see Seward, being a coastal town, tends to rock temperatures right around 32 degrees F, sometimes slightly above, sometimes slightly below. The upshot is we can get dumped on with rain only to have it freeze solid and smooth within hours. Enter ice. So we need to put sharp pokey things on the bottom of everything that touches the ground if we want half a chance of staying upright and moving forward.

Even the fat bike gets studded out!

Double studs! (J gets ready to commute to work.)

CLEATS. Hanging by our front door is a mesh bag filled with ice cleats. Mandatory protocol before going outside, you slip the rubber edges around the bottom of your boot and away you march. In some cases, we march to some pretty spectacular places!

Getting dolled up to go out, AK style!

Hiking up Victor Creek - miles of icy wonderland.

We've found ice falls in yellow, blue, green, white and clear...

SKATES. And of course the very best ice transportation of all... skating! Even when they're covered in snow, the frozen lakes of Alaska serve up some spectacular skating; the snow is so light and powdery, you just fly right through it. I can't imagine a more blissful way to move on this remarkable planet. Added bonus? It rarely gets crowded.

J enjoys some solitude skating near the Barber cabin on Lower Russian Lake

Weeeee!

SNOW! So I had originally planned to share a picture of Ice Cream Newton's studded tires as part of the post. But during the past 24 hours, the old girl got a bit covered up... Looks like we get to trade out our sharp pokey things for some long slidey things for awhile!

Now THIS is how an Alaskan winter should look!