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The Hunt for the Northern Lights
Every once in a while I look up, and I’m reminded that I live in Alaska. That reminder may come in the form of a stunning view, or as a large mounted animal head (they’re everywhere), or as a sign along a hiking trail that only I seem to find funny. (Another sign I couldn’t…
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Life on the Outskirts
“The Hunt” Act I: “It’s not at the restaurant,” my husband Mark says, starting to panic. He had used my cell to inquire about his own, which he thought he must have left at the restaurant where we had dinner an hour earlier. “And you checked the couch?” I ask, because 9 times out of…
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Living Danger-ishly
Small Plane Culture: My son Anders and I are on a small propeller plane returning to the Peninsula from Anchorage where Anders just got braces. Yes, we flew to Anchorage for an orthodontist appointment. I am seated right behind the pilot. If I leant my head forward I could nap on his shoulder. But I…
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Can Cat People Become Dog People?
The Safeway cashier has stopped scanning my groceries. She stands staring just past my right shoulder at nothing. Her eyes are filled with tears. “I’m sorry,” I say. The cashier nods absently, but mostly she remains paralyzed by a memory that clearly weighs heavy on her. “She saved my life,” she tells me again,”I’ll never…
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Springtime is Break-Up Time
Things are thawing out here in Alaska. I’d say we are just a day or two away from being able to extract my son’s homework from the driveway, which is now three months past due. Spring, Alaska’s Ugly Season Spring here is referred to as, “The Break Up.” This is the time of year when ice…
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The Roadkill List
The dead moose is a twisted heap on the side of the highway. He is huge, maybe 900 pounds. Looking at him you have to ask; how many servings of moose meatloaf could you make out of this moose? If you’re not asking this, you’re probably not on the road kill list. Alaska has a “Road…
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#quarantinelife – Are Your Neighbors Doing it Better?
Jay Leno finally spots my husband in the second row. It had just been a matter of time. He stops searching the audience and points. “Hello sir, what’s your name?” Leno asks. About half the audience in the packed comedy club answers on my husband’s behalf. “Mark!” This startles Leno. “Well, clearly you have been called…