earthquake on saturday,
and now we're on the watchout for this!














Mount Redoubt

we made pasta.
it was hard work, but fun!
and the results
were scrumptious :o).

here's the recipe.
(but we added another egg
and some water.)

more
love love love
in the
mail mail mail:
goodies
from sweetest liz,
and bits-of-warm-life paintings
from lovely deb!

last night, i opened for emily kurn,
one of the very best singer-songwriters
here in anchorage. at the end of the show
we did a little harmony-singing jam session,
which was lovely lovely lovely!
(i miss singing harmonies
with my sisters, with the altarnatives,
with the annies.)
am excited to get to play more with emily,
including this coming thursday at taproot cafe.
we start at 7:30, and
it'll be crowded so get there early
if you want a seat. :o).























(photo by somewhereinAK)

I just woke up (at 9:09, apparently...
ahh, to sleep in!) to an earthquake!
Very strange. Click HERE to look
at details on the latest quakes in Alaska,
including the one that shook me awake.



















p.s. We didn't make pasta, yet.
That will probably happen
Wednesday or Thursday!

Tomorrow, we are going to make
whole wheat pasta! Yum. Will try to
document the experience with photos.
Until then, here's the (extremely simple)
recipe, from allrecipes.com:

* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
* 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
* 4 eggs
* 2 teaspoons olive oil

1. Stir together the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour and salt in a medium bowl, or on a clean board. Make a hollow in the center, and pour in the olive oil. Break eggs into it one at a time, while mixing quickly with a fork until the dough is wet enough to come together. Knead on a lightly floured surface until the dough is stiff and elastic. Cover, and let stand for 30 minutes to relax.
2. Roll out dough by hand with a rolling pin, or use a pasta machine to achieve the desired thickness of noodles. Cut into desired width and shapes. Allow the pasta to air dry for at least 15 minutes to avoid having it clump together.
3. To cook fresh pasta: Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the pasta, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Fresh pasta cooks very quickly. It will float to the surface when fully cooked. Drain, and use as desired.

p.s. Last night I went to a house concert to
hear these guys, which was SO cool!
They reminded me of the poetry of this guy,
which is also very cool. (He knew something
about living every day to the fullest,
and being grateful.)

Helllooooo! It's been a
crazy busy week of working,
house-sitting and singing, etc.
The world is a strangely wet and
drippy, here in the 40 degree
weather we've been having.
Last night I sang at the Anchorage
Folk Festival, and just uploaded a
live recording on myspace. It's one of
my very favorite songs, called
Love Song to the People in the City.

yesterday i ran into
good friend ian at cafe felix.
he showed me his photography website.
i was both impressed by his work
and wowed by the alaska (and new zealand!)
he so obviously loves.

when you're wondering why the heck
i live here, i recommend that you
take a minute to visit his site,
especially the "scenery" part of his portfolio.

why it takes
10 extra minutes
to get out the door:
wool hat

wool scarf

silk undershirt, shirt,
sweater, jacket, down coat

mittens


long underwear, pants,
snow skirt


wool socks
boots rated to -40

Tonight I'm attending this:
...after I ice skate here:

I just signed a petition started by Quincy Jones, asking President-Elect Obama to appoint a Secretary of the Arts. While many other countries have had Ministers of Art or Culture for centuries, The United States has never created such a position! Us artists need this, and the country needs the arts too--now more than ever. Please take a moment to sign this important petition and then pass it along. Thanks!

www.petitiononline.com/esnyc/petition.html

Just spent 2 hours on the park strip, raking snow to bury electric wire that connects 42 metal poles with large lit-up ice heads on the tops... Yes, a bit surreal. But interesting! (I felt like I was 'sowing' some kind of techno-vine, or something.) There are 14 ice and snow installations going up on the park strip, and they're all part of THE FREEZE PROJECT, a "month-long celebration of Alaska and life in the north." So very cool. ;) (Click picture to learn more about that particular installation!)

I love Wendell Berry. Some of you know, I've been 'praying' a poem that he wrote for a while, now, just livingbreathinglearning it every day. ("What we need is here.") Then over the holidays, in Louisville, I perused a new collection of his poems, The Mad Farmer Poems, that was just lovely. Two nights ago I started reading his essay Life is a Miracle, which, the first night I started it, gave me sweet peaceful sleep and has kept my mind sharp and awake ever since. I like the way he speaks-- it is speaking, more than writing. We see eye-to-eye on lots (the sanctity of soil and farms and wild spaces, the importance of paying attention, the awareness that what we need is here) but he challenges me in big ways, too. Here's a poem of his that Annie sent this morning. Happy reading.

VII

I would not have been a poet
except that I have been in love
alive in this mortal world,
or an essayist except that I
have been bewildered and afraid,
or a storyteller had I not heard
stories passing to me through the air,
or a writer at all except
I have been wakeful at night
and words have come to me
out of their deep caves
needing to be remembered.
But on the days I am lucky
or blessed, I am silent.
I go into the one body
that two make in making marriage
that for all our trying, all
our deaf-and-dumb of speech,
has no tongue. Or I give myself
to gravity, light, and air
and am carried back
to solitary work in fields
and woods, where my hands
rest upon a world unnamed,
complete, unanswerable, and final
as our daily bread and meat.
The way of love leads all ways
to life beyond words, silent
and secret. To serve that triumph
I have done all the rest.

"VII" from the poem "1994" by Wendell Berry, from A Timbered Choir: The Sabbath Poems 1979–1997. © Counterpoint, 1998.

Today we made bagels!

trying out the mixing bowl

a visit from Elise :)

veeeeeerrrry serious

Just had lunch with Andrea, a dear friend from high school. She is inspiring-- is an amazing mom of 2 gorgeous boys, works for the school system as their green campus coordinator, is on the building committee for her church (we got to go by and see the new church!), and manages to remain one of the most sane and kind people I know.

On the way back to Mom and Dad's, I tried out my new phone's video camera. Was listening to a CD that Annie gave me years ago, and the Dixie Chicks song that came on was perfect-- "Takin' the Long Way Home" (Sorry about the bird doo on the window...)

Today's visit to the Speed Art Museum was delightful :o). Aren't the kids' galleries the most fun??

a few last photos of 2008: a t-rex on the way back from TN, annie saving the day and bernheim forest in all its loveliness