The ruminations of an artist on art & life...art quilts, beading, knitting, drawing, painting, printmaking, bookmaking are all my passions, I love to explore creating....

Friday, June 12, 2009

(Sometimes) you can go home again


I've now landed--for the next 3 months or so--in my old home town: Port Alexander, Alaska. Never heard of it, right? (unless you know me personally). It is a small remote Alaskan village on the southern tip of Baranof Island in Southeast Alaska. Sitka, a town of about 8000 and an early outpost of the Russians in Alaska, is on the same island---about 120 miles away. However, one can only travel from Sitka to Port Alexander by boat or small floatplane--I arrived, after an hour flight over spectacular mountainous scenery, on a floatplane---the regularly scheduled twice a week "essential air" flight.

I lived here in Port Alexander for about 18 years in my youth--from 1971 (or 2?) until 1989....so it has a special place in my heart. Port Alexander currently has about 40 or 50 residents (I may be off on this--could be less)--when I lived here it had about 120 folks--counting the children. Back then, most folks made their living commercial fishing---along with the few local jobs--the teacher(s), school janitor, the post office manager, sometimes a fish & game job or two, and some jobs for the city (city clerk, maintenance), the store owner, one job taking daily weather data--but mostly fishing.

Now some folks commercial fish and some own small sports fishing lodges. I Have been hired to cook for the Laughing Raven Lodge--owned by longtime friends of mine, Laughing Raven is a family run lodge--operated by 2 older adults (Pete & Sue), and their grown daughter and son-in-law (Molly and Ryan) with help from their 2 year old, Sage.

one view from the lodge....


and here are some photos of the Lodge wrap around porch/deck...



and the trail to the lodge...the terrain here is a RAIN FOREST--the Tongass rain Forest to be exact...the largest National Forest in the nation. This forest is very lush and green and wet, so the only feasible "trail" is a boardwalk--and boardwalks meander all through the woods here connecting the town...



I have my own little rustic cabin, located between the guest house and the main lodge....

the view from my cabin....

ferns grow everywhere in this climate....
so I will blogging from the land of the northern lights and the midnight sun for a few months...still knitting and crafting between cooking so I will be sharing some Alaskan stories and images and recipes and as well as my usual art and crafts.

Today's quote: " The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness. " ---John Muir

5 comments:

Leah said...

What a beautiful place to be!! I hope it fills you with inspiration!

Mary Timme said...

Ummm! I bet you don't know that I have a quilt made from a Photo of that rainforest. I'll have to send you a photo sometime.

It is neat to hear of small Alaskan villages and seeing them is a real treat. Must be a lot of upkeep on that lodge in the climate

Carole Baker said...

Welcome back to Alaska. I enjoyed seeing the pictures. I saw Bonnie the night before she left for Sitka, gave her some bear spray.

Sarah said...

So pretty! My in-laws just came back from a trip to Alaska and had nothing but awesome things to say about it. Their descriptions did it no justice. Your pictures are BEAUTIFUL!

marain said...

So beautiful! I am sure you will enjoy it very much!