RED MARBLES...

RED  MARBLES...  I  was at the corner grocery store buying some early  potatoes.  I noticed a small boy, delicate of bone  and feature, ragged but clean, hungrily appraising a  basket of freshly picked green peas.  I  paid for my potatoes but was also drawn to the display  of fresh green peas. I am a pushover for creamed peas  and new potatoes.  Pondering  the peas, I couldn't help overhearing the conversation  between Mr. Miller (the store owner) and the ragged boy  next to me.  'Hello  Barry, how are you today?'  'H'lo,  Mr. Miller. Fine, thank ya. Jus' admirin' them peas.  They sure look good.'  'They  are good, Barry. How's your Ma?'  'Fine.  Gittin' stronger alla' time.'  'Good.  Anything I can help you with?'  'No,  Sir. Jus' admirin' them peas.'  'Would  you like to take some home?' asked Mr. Miller.  'No,  Sir. Got nuthin' to pay for 'em with.'  'Well,  what have you to trade me for some of those peas?'  'All  I got's my prize marble here.'  'Is  that right? Let me see it' said Miller..  'Here  'tis. She's a dandy.'  'I  can see that.. Hmmmmm, only thing is this one is blue  and I sort of go for red. Do you have a red one like  this at home?' the store owner asked.  'Not  zackley but almost..'  'Tell  you what. Take this sack of peas home with you and next  trip this way let me look at that red marble'.. Mr.  Miller told the boy.  'Sure  will. Thanks Mr. Miller.'  Mrs.  Miller, who had been standing nearby, came over to help  me.. With a smile she said, 'There are two other boys  like him in our community, all three are in very poor  circumstances. Jim just loves to bargain with them for  peas, apples, tomatoes, or whatever. When they come back  with their red marbles, and they always do, he decides  he doesn't like red after all and he sends them home  with a bag of produce for a green marble or an orange  one, when they come on their next trip to the  store.'  I  left the store smiling to myself, impressed with this  man. A short time later I moved to Colorado , but I  never forgot the story of this man, the boys, and their  bartering for marbles.  Several  years went by, each more rapid than the previous one.  Just recently I had occasion to visit some old friends  in that Idaho community and while I was there learned  that Mr. Miller had died.  They  were having his visitation that evening and knowing my  friends wanted to go, I agreed to accompany them. Upon  arrival at the mortuary we fell into line to meet the  relatives of the deceased and to offer whatever words of  comfort we could.  Ahead  of us in line were three young men. One was in an army  uniform and the other two wore nice haircuts, dark suits  and white shirts.....all very professional looking. They  approached Mrs. Miller, standing composed and smiling by  her husband's casket. Each of the young men hugged her,  kissed her on the cheek, spoke briefly with her, and  moved on to the casket..  Her  misty light blue eyes followed them as, one by one; each  young man stopped briefly and placed his own warm hand  over the cold pale hand in the casket. Each left the  mortuary awkwardly, wiping his eyes.  Our turn came to meet Mrs.  Miller. I told her who I was and reminded her of the  story from those many years ago and what she had told me  about her husband's bartering for marbles. With her eyes  glistening, she took my hand and led me to the  casket.  'Those  three young men who just left were the boys I told you  about. They just told me how they appreciated the things  Jim 'traded' them. Now, at last, when Jim could not  change his mind about color or size.....they came to pay  their debt.'  'We've  never had a great deal of the wealth of this world,' she  confided, 'but right now, Jim would consider himself the  richest man in Idaho.'  With  loving gentleness she lifted the lifeless fingers of her  deceased husband. Resting underneath were three  exquisitely shined red marbles.  The  Moral: We will not be remembered by our words, but by  our kind deeds. Life is not measured by the breaths we  take, but by the moments that take our breath......  Today  I wish you a day of ordinary miracles ~ A fresh pot of  coffee you didn't make yourself...An unexpected phone  call from an old friend...Green stoplights on your way  to work....The fastest line at the grocery store...A  good sing-along song on the radio...Your keys found  right where you left them.  Send  this to the people you'll never forget.. I just  Did....  If  you don't send it to anyone, it means you are in way too  much of a hurry to even notice the ordinary miracles  when they occur..  IT'S NOT  WHAT YOU GATHER, BUT WHAT YOU SCATTER THAT TELLS WHAT  KIND OF LIFE YOU HAVE LIVED.

SUNDAY...SO FAR...

Our zero degree weather of yesterday morning began to turn colder yesterday afternoon.  By bedtime last night, we were back to -22° where it still is this morning. 

The boys have rebuilt the sides of the hockey rink, and in the milder zero-ish temps, they have begun to flood it.  Yesterday, I heard that they were also flooding the nearby road and field. 

Thomas N has gone to Anchorage/Wasilla to pick up a new tractor trailer for their logging truck.

Kathy Casey came home from helping her mother after her mom’s hip surgery.  But, then, Kathy turned right around to go into Fairbanks to do some long promised babysitting for Jewel, her daughter. Sooo, yours truly is taking her place on Sun. cook crew, and I have been asked to make my legendary curry. A recipe I got from my sister Karenza when we both lived in Spain.

Oh, and and about the sick cow… it improved, then it got worse.  Then it got better again.  It is still fine at this point.  I don’t know what he did for it.  I think he got medicine for her, and he had to help it eat by stuffing hay down her throat.  One morning, while jamming hay down her throat (that is what they have to do to make them eat to make their stomach start doing the four stomach thing), the cow chomped down on Rich’s (cowman) hand.  He had an actual through-the-skin bite mark from this cow.

Garth and Kim’s first and new email address is gkmilliron@gmail.com.  Go ahead and surprise them with some mail.  J

Lonnie Miller has recently returned from Skagway where she was visiting her daughter Brooke.  At the end of October, Brooke had her first baby – Eli.  Lonnie says the new little family is doing really good.  Kylie, who is pregnant with twins, has been put on bed rest for awhile and maybe for the rest of the pregnancy.  I see from fb that even though bed rest isn’t the most fun thing to do that Kylie is managing to handle this season of her life.

Allyson and I with some young girls – Annie, Kathryn, and Kerri are on supper tonight.  They have asked us to dress miss matched for supper tonight.  I think prizes will be given out for the best miss match.  My students do this often on Fridays.  I am always amazed at what they come up with.  

Trotzkes have gone to the states and then on to Guatemala for a couple of months.  All their kids were down to Paul’s house for Thanksgiving, but I never did see any of them.  Maybe next time. 

So Big Pat is off to the frozen Arctic, to the town of Barrow (look it up on the map, close to the Artic Circle)...so we kids are left to fend and tend the fires back home.

Oh yeah! I am making my curry dish for about 100 folks...Wish me luck...! more another day...did I say that already?

Anyhoo, Have a great Sunday! 

RECENT EVENTS AT DRY CREEK, ALASKA

Wow! And Wow again!  

The last couple of weeks have been ridiculously busy but fun.  

I actually had promised myself to write to you all last night, but then my house turned into a zoo and I gave up.  

Last night the girls (teenage girls) decided that they were tired of the boys and they were going to have a girls’ night.  Last time that they partied co-ed the boys whined about the food and about the entertainment the entire night.  So, the girls found a place to go (Jennifer and Jarred’s basement) and cooked up 2 pans of fudge and got a girly movie and took off.  They really thought the boys were going to suffer, but they did not.  They came over to my house where Rebekah (Chris’s girlfriend) made them popcorn.  After dressing up in their new scarves and sweater vests (and other clothes), they proceeded to record some songs that they plan to upload to utube where they will then be linked to their Facebook page.  They had lots of fun, they did not suffer, and they were very loud!

So, last week, the temperatures plummeted suddenly.  We went from a balmy zero to a shocking -20° and then on down to between -35° and 40°.  I really was unprepared.  I didn’t realize it was so cold, and I continued to run around without gloves or hat.  I finally took some time to find these items; it seemed necessary.  These temps stayed like this all week till yesterday when a cold wind blew in blowing the snow off the trees and warming the temperature.  The wind disappeared in the night leaving us at 0° again. 

Big Pat has been wistfully waiting for his ski trail to get more snow. Since I use the same trail for snowshoeing, I am waiting in vain too. There is just not enough snow...tussocks still stick up too far and make it hard to navigate.

In the days before Thanksgiving, we had parent teachers’ conferences (always so fun!  errr. NOT).  I get to tell parents things about their kids, and since I still have Annie in school, I get to go hear how wonderful she is.  Also around this time, Mary and Lee Persinger came for an overnight visit.  They were going to stay an extra day here but ended up not doing that due to a death of a family friend in Whitehorse. 

Then we had Thanksgiving.  The kids with Bro Andy and Rachel Trotter did their traditional pie making on Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving.  Some guests were arriving on Wednesday night while the rest showed up on Thursday.  There were a lot of guest cancellations that week due to some abnormally warm weather with rain resulting in extremely slippery roads.  Kelsey and Erica came home for the weekend.  Toby and Flori came out as well.  Jake, Phanta, Zayden, and friend Darryl came out for a day.  Toby and Marie Williams came for the actual Thanksgiving meal, as was the Paul Basalyga family with Woan Chuei.  Of course, Chris’s girl, Rebekah was here.  I think that was all our guests. 

This one was X tra special for me, 'cause May and Pat were here. May missed it last year cause she was in Blessington Ireland, and Pat was gone in Anchorage...Sarah Jep, was kept busy with photos, poor gal, everybody and their brother wanted some pics, since we don't get to be dressed up very often. Pity I did not get more of my fam. but did get some real nice ones and they are on my FB profile. Thanks Sari! Ur a GEM...

And, last weekend some of the kids from here had the bright idea of having some kids out from Whitestone.  Of course, nothing can be done in ones or twos or in small groups.  Four of the Whitestone kids came out to visit and play – Allison Wenger, Juliana Brown, Jon Selveggio, and Luke Wheeler.  All of our young people HAD to be together with them for most of that visit – supper, games, sledding, etc. 

Ok, so I have more things to say but I should work on cleaning my house while all my boys are out working on the wood project.  I made a list, and I promise to write again yet today!

And, I have so many pictures of everything, but I can’t seem to make myself get anything done so don’t hold your breath for pictures.  

Pat and self finally went out on HIS old ski trail. I trudged behind him, but I'd much rather be on my snowshoe trail, it will have to wait until the snow comes more copiously. Perhaps it never will...got a good workout nevertheless...

Took Rob to get his yearly blood tests. All looks good. Annie was told she has something called "connective tissue disorder"...just cause she  is rather double jointed...oh well...guess she'll be OK.

Hope e'body had a GREAT thanksgiving. We did!

Blessings

Have a great Saturday.  I’ll check in later

MY LITTLE BROTHER

THIS IS A CREATIVE WRITING ASSIGNMENT WRITTEN BY MY DAUGHTER ANNIE FOR HER SENIOR CLASS. I THINK IT IS A PARTICULARLY SENSITIVE AND CANDID DESCRIPTION OF HER YOUNGER BROTHER ROBIN...OUR SPECIAL DOWNY...

THANKYOU ANNIE FOR BEING SUCH A SWEET BIG SIS TO HIM!

************

ROBIN:

Everything about my younger brother is absolutely unique.  That among many other things is what I love the most about him.  Being abnormally small for his age, Robin looks as though he is still nine or ten years of age, his tiny hands have somehow managed to stay an adorable size and are so flexible they are like playing with little rubber toys.  The almond shaped eyes which sit innocently beneath his slight unibrow are absolutely enchanting.  They are so FULL of just so much; everything about them is playful and happy to the point of having never known anything but carefree youth.

The times that I really love to watch my little brother is when he is playing with his many assorted toy cars.  There is a large step in my living room which separates my parent’s area from the rest of the house, and usually in early morning or evening I find Robin there zooming his cars back and forth across the step.  He makes the most hilarious sound effects, sometimes he crashes the cars and makes a loud “BOOM!” with his lips, or sometimes they zoom off the step and he whispers, “Ahh!” as they fall to the carpet. 

But what really is the most hilarious action that he does is chatter to himself insistently.  If he could be anything he wanted to be, it would probably be a story teller or narrator.  The words, phrases, and stories he comes up with are so original and thrilling.  Sometimes he’s sitting by the step and he will nod his head vigorously and say in his ‘John Wayne Voice,’ “Hey man, how’s it goin,” or, “Don’t you talk to me like that.”  Sometimes if I’m really lucky I’ll even catch him say, “You want a piece o me?”  That is probably one of my favorite phrases that he says.  At that point, however, May usually comes and takes him to the bathroom for a shower.  He does put up much protest; sometimes I can sit back and enjoy as he tears through the house with a jubilant grin upon his face and May desperately claws to catch him.  Though, these daring escapes generally end up with his running into the bathroom anyway and locking the door. 

Despite all of these amazing perks of having Robin as my little brother, I would have to say that my favorite attribute is definitely the look his face gets when he is happy.  When he’s not pretending or using his fluent language of Makes Believe, the real Robin is pretty beautiful to look at.  Those eyes of his are so hard to describe for me…it’s as if I have the words to tell about them I simply don’t know how to present them.  They’re not a special color, not amazingly huge, they’re just Robin, they glitter with life like bright stars and constantly seem to be smiling at you not matter what is happening.  It’s almost as if those eyes know all the wonderful secrets of the world and are trying to tell me something that I could never begin to understand.  

True, Robin’s not the smartest child in the universe, but with him it’s not about the knowledge…its about the understanding.  I don’t know what I did to deserve such a precious gift as Robin, but whatever it was I’m thankful.  Because even if he never becomes a Nuclear Physicist or something like that, he will always have a special perception of the wonder that nobody else can see.

***************

Ani Buongiorne

LWA

Creative Writing

Nov. 2010

EMBRACE YOUR CALLING...

Wonderful insight from my friend Miriam Kauk, on what it means to parent a child with special needs.

http://einstein-syndrome.com/2010/03/03/embrace-your-calling/

moosings...

I started a letter to you all yesterday, but never got back to it.  Sorry about that. 

Last week, we had mild weather all week except for one night and day where the temperatures dipped to -3*.  And, we did get a half inch of snow after I was wishing for it in my email last week.  This morning, we woke up to a little more snow still.  It is piling up ½ an inch at a time every couple of weeks.  I can still see dirt and rocks below the snow, but they aren’t being tracked in anymore.  Nice weather for November, for sure!

Marilyn’s sister, Donna, who has been fighting cancer for several years and who came to visit this fall, died sorta unexpectantly this week. I think one is never prepared for this. She was here in September and had such  a wonderful visit, even squeezing in a bush plane ride around this area and over the mountains which surround us. From what everybody says, Donna was a wonderful person, and a favorite aunt.

Kathy Casey has reported that her mom is doing very well with her hip replacement esp. after receiving a blood transfusion.

Erica is back out visiting and “watching” her dad’s house while he went to Fbks to be at the Christmas show. 

Last week, our beef bull got sick pneumonia and they had to give it shots.  It still is having some problems.  One of the dairy cows had her calf when it was unexpected.  The calf died and the momma cow is now sick. And, one of our horses, Bandit, out-of-the-blue started acting sick and before we could treat him, he had died.  So not a very good week for our animals it seems.

Tommy is home from his trip to the states. 

Nicholas VanderHart is taking drum lessons each week from Derek Haukas who lives at Eagles’ Ridge. 

Oh, big news… The Garth and Kim Millirons put in internet last week!!!!  The whole farm might have it soon!  I’ll post their new email address later, when I get it again. 

Have a great week. 

SAT.

Folks,
Pat is back from his Copper River piano tuning trip. Uneventful and peaceful if full and very busy week! In his own words! Us gals kept the fort and fires burnin back home. Nothing much to report. Spent an uneventufl day in Delta shopping at Fort Greely Base with my MIL Floan. Then came back home to a rather good supper of moose burgers with all the fixins'. Pat drove in just as we were taking the burgers out of the oven...perfect timing honey! Good timing too for a 5 hour drive... THE FORD TAURUS DOES IT AGAIN! LOVE THAT LIL CAR.

Oh..almost forgot, just as we were driving into Delta, we were suddenly immersed in a flash BLIZZARD, ALMOST HAIL like conditions, foggy and very poor visibility. I had just finished telling Flo how I loved the strange lighting in the sky and how crisp and lovely the morning was for driving....and then WHAAAMMM....we were struck by blizzardy, nasty weather. Just as suddenly it disappeared and the sun came out again!
Weird huh?
So...in a way...it was an uneventful day...
have a grt rest of the week end...

MT. Rushmore from the Canadian Side

ISN'T THIS TOO FUNNY??

Week end noos...

I have a few extra moments this morning, maybe so I thought that I’d write a little.  We’ve had a couple days this week of 30° weather after the wind blew through.  And, we’ve had a few mornings of 1°.  This morning, it is 13°.  I sure wish we’d get just a little more snow so the dirt and rocks would quit getting stuck to people’s shoes before they come indoors!! Also, 'cause Pat and self want to start using our  ski/snoshoe trail...but just not enough sno...

Tommy G our cowman, called last Tuesday to say that he and Penny (his sis) had arrived safely at his mom’s.  I see from facebook that Meg (Tommy's oldest)  has now gone down there too.  And that they all went to some NBA game. Glad they are having a good fam reunion of sorts...trying to get the aged parent into a nursing home situation.

I got a detailed report last week on how the community of Delta reached out to Andrew and Melannie Cummings helping them get situated at home in an almost brand new home!  Very impressive. Their new baby has been diagnosed with Down Syndrome. They will have their hands full with that plus their other 3 kids all under 10...God bless them! I am expecting a call sometime, perhaps I can be of help in the DS area...

Erica, my niece,  did make it home safely to the farm this week.  After arriving, she found out that her husband, Robert, won’t be shipped for two more months.  She was a little sad.  The plan was that he was being shipped right after she arrived in AK.  Kelsey, her sister and my other niece,  came home for a long weekend this weekend. They both left today Sunday before my very scrumptious supper of Chinese marinated beef and veggies with raspberry sauce and whipped cream on coconut flavored pound cake...as dessert. This was my cook crews Sunday supper, all went well considering that we only have two adults on the crew and two young school girls. Thanks ladies! you were awesome...

I realize (after Flori told me) that in my long farm report that I said that the horses said certain things.  Well, the horses don’t talk, obviously.  Tony spoke about the horses to say….  Last week, that sick horse, Fin, died.  The night of his death, my kids wouldn’t allow me to play any chipper music – only slow melancholy songs were allowed.  Can you believe them?  When the horse was alive, Tony would let it out of his pen to graze wherever he felt, hoping that grazing and walking around would help him improve.  It was strange to look up from my work and see a white horse in my yard eating my grass.  Later, it became adventurous and was even grazing up near the schools. Sad story and totally preventable death, but I will not get into that, to protect the perpetrators...hummm...they owe us a horse as far as I'm concerned...a totally preventable and dumb lack of experience mistake...

Kathy Casey leaves today for a week or so of being with her mom.  Kathy’s mom recently had a hip replacement surgery.  Lynn has been with their mom for a week or so, now it’s Kathy’s turn.  And, their visits will overlap so they will get to see each other. 

Bonnie’s mom has been under the weather for several days last week with they’re not sure what.  We are praying that she will feel better soon. 

Big Pat is going to Glennallen and somewhere else in southern Alaska for his yearly piano tuning tour. He will be gone for a week...what's that saying about "when the cat's away the mice will play?"...hummm...anywayz that's what we'll do I guess...the cabin gets rather small and cramped when everybody is here...now that Pat and May are back...

Last week was a blur so I’m not sure I have all the news.  But, for now, this will have to do.  Have a great week.

MOOSINGS FROM THE LAST FRONTIER...: END OF FALL EVENTS....

MOOSINGS FROM THE LAST FRONTIER...: END OF FALL EVENTS....