Visiting with Friends

Monday was a bank holiday in England. The temperatures were 10°C below normal range - so
instead of being in the high 60s F they were under 50 F (10C) and the wind was constantly
tugging. And down into the 30s at night.   But the sun was out.

 SA, a Pakistani civil servant friend, who is in town for two weeks, met us at the hotel accompanied by a former student of his K, who also graduated from the same program as my son in Singapore.

We walked around Russell Square, sat on the bench for a bit, then decided it would be a lot warmer in the Penn Club where we were staying. We solved all the problems of the world over a couple of hours.

At three Gene Dugan picked us up

and gave us his special walking tour of London. Gene,m formerly of Anchorage, now has an Irish passport along with his US passport and is standing (not running) for election to the local council as a Green Party member. The elections are Thursday and I'll try to do a post on them as well. Gene is the second local council candidate we've met.

Our tour included the Greater Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) for children whose patron saint is Peter Pan. James Barrie left them the rights to Peter Pan when he died.
[UPDATE:  February 17, 2011 - GOSH emailed a new web address link which I've added.  It would be nice if others did that when they change the url.  GOSH, Thanks.]

Gene worked here for a while and showed us the gem of a chapel in the hospital.
Although they have chaplains of many denominations, the chapel is clearly oriented towards Christians. But it is beautiful.

We stopped into one of the many betting shops. I just wanted to see what was inside. There are also casinos here.

We did have to check out the Ethical Society.

Gene's tour included a few big name attractions as well as the quirky.  We saw the Tower of London

 Which had signs in more languages than I'd ever seen before.  But not Arabic which I thought strange.

(Double click to enlarge the photo)

 Then across the Tower Bridge to South London, where we saw some kids  taking advantage of some architectural features perfect for making leaps on their bikes.

Eventually, we made it to Gene and Jay's home, where Jay was waiting and we had a delightful
dinner and conversation that we were sorry to break off, but they had work and school in the

morning and we had a train to catch. We're on the train now as I type, but there's no wifi so I'm
not sure when I'll get to actually post this. There was sun out this morning, but it's grey now
again.

We're headed to visit with Doug who visited us in Anchorage in 2008. Doug and I first met in
Amsterdam when I was a student in Göttingen. We traveled a bit together the following summer
in UK and then I visited him again on my way back from Peace Corps Thailand when he was
teaching English in Uganda. Our reunion two years ago after almost 40 years went well and
we're looking forward to spending a few days with him exploring outside London.

 [It's Wednesday already.  I finally gave up on making the wifi work and so I'm doing this from Doug's computer.  Nice afternoon enjoying nature and small town England.  But the level of traffic is, for the roads, pretty high. More later.]

St. Paul's Cathedral from Tate Modern

We met some friends from Anchorage who've moved to London for drinks at the Tate Gallery bar that has this spectacular view across the Thames River to St. Paul's Cathedral.  The top picture is the bar with the Cathedral in the background.  The rest are pictures from where we were sitting as the sun went down.

A Feeble Attempt to Prepare

I went to Loussac library yesterday in an attempt to get somewhat prepared for this trip that begins in two day.  Part of me likes the idea of just letting things happen.  Part of me knows that you there are lots of interesting things to see and do and if you aren't prepared you can miss great opportunities.  And a third part says, "You're going to see people first, and places second.  Let the people point out what there is to see."

We did talk about a trip to Poland.  Our daughter pointed out that there is a first growth forest in Poland she'd like to see.  The travel guide says it was protected as a place where the kings could hunt.  It's a national park now and they also have the largest herd of European bison.  But it's way on the eastern side of Poland.  What about Krakow?  That sounds like a fascinating old city and some of my relatives come from that area.  But it is an 8 hour train ride each way from Berlin.  Maybe we're better off using our time to poke around Berlin.  My first trip to Berlin was in 1964 and the wall was a very real presence.  I was able to go into East Berlin while my Berlin hosts were not.  We were there again a year after the wall had been opened.  It's presence was still everywhere, but you could cross over into the east.  And finally, we were there in 2001 when lots of construction had blurred the old border much more.  Every time I've been in Berlin, my host was Götz, a relative by marriage.  He has died since then.  His daughter is still there and we will see her.  She was about seven when I first met the family.  And, of course, my daughter is there.  But she's supposed to be working on her dissertation and I suspect her sense of Berlin is still limited. 

Then we have five people we want to see in and around London.  And my father's first cousin in Brussels.  And my friends from Göttingen days, HG and I, who live in a tiny town in Northwest Germany.  I've made contact with everyone and they know we are coming, but we don't have dates set other than arriving and departing Berlin.  And I got to talk to HG today via Skype.  It was like we've been talking everyday. 

And the sun is shining brightly in Anchorage, it's in the mid 40s, and so I'm off to do more errands. 

There Can Be Civil Disagreements

Last week I chided fellow blogger Phil Munger because I thought his name calling and language choices seemed to do more harm than good in his quest to interpret events through his vast experiences in different field. 

It's not the first time I've suggested the left needn't copy the tactics of rightwing talk radio.  I think the left needs to stand up and challenge every distortion and error, but you can be firm and polite at the same time. 

Phil reposted my post and one by another Anchorage blogger Mel.  And while we offered criticism of what he was doing (not of him), he took our comments graciously and has responded with a new post.  While some of the comments over there did not rise to the same level, many were thoughtful as well. 

Phil has every right to post what and how he wants.  But as I said last week, what someone can do and what they should do are not necessarily the same thing.  While I think Phil came to the right conclusion, I'd feel the same whatever decision he came to.  My real concern is that he handled the criticism with grace.   Thanks Phil. 

Bread Dough, Friends, Graves, Poems, Rain, Thai Food (listed in alphabetical order)

Today, we hosted our first visitors who actually came over for a meal. We only have four chairs and while our 3 foot square table has a leaf on top that flips over, there's nothing to support it when it's open.  So we had a couple over for brunch.

I found another bread recipe online - this time whole wheat - and checked to see what would happen if I put the dough in the refrigerator overnight.  In Anchorage, I would use the bread maker and it would be all done in the morning on its own.  The several sites I found said, leaving the bread in the fridge overnight works.  And I learned two new words - proof (meaning rise) and oven spring  (meaning how much the bread actually rises while it is baking in the oven.)  The sites said bread left in the fridge overnight had better flavor and much more oven spring.

It worked.  It didn't rise much in the fridge overnight, but I got up early and took it out to warm up and went back to bed.  I got up two hours later and kneaded and flattened it (it said this would get it all warm faster) and rolled it back up into a lump and put it into the slightly warmed oven to rise.  Then an hour later kneaded it again and put it into that always recommended well oiled pan.  I also put in some chopped ginger, currents, and walnuts, and then on the once more flattened dough put a layer of guava jelly and rolled it up and stuck it in to rise again. It didn't rise as much as I would have liked in 40 minutes, but it was getting late.  Fortunately, the oven spring thing  worked and it really did 'spring up' in the oven. 

Our guests had asked what they could bring and we'd said, "A Poem."  And they did, several.  They read  Antonio Machado's "Last Night"; Sharon Olds' "The Race" and "The Space Heater."  (wonderful chain of words at the end) Another was called "The Dress."    It seemed to me to be a sly observation about the communication minefields couples face, but also how other things get us safely through them.  But I'm not sure. I'd like to read it again. And there was one more that painted a picture of love and hate necessarily merging.  Wonderful gifts to the brain and heart all.

We then walked up Basin Road toward Perseverance Trail.  It was raining and blustery and the trail got muddier and we had places to go so we weren't gone long. (Or maybe it seemed short because we were having such good conversation.) And then a quick change into drier pants and off to tea and three berry pie with other friends a short walk away. 

And here are three more pictures that probably won't fit anywhere else.  As I ran through the Evergreen Cemetery Saturday afternoon, I remembered that I'd read somewhere that Joe Juneau was buried there.  And as I came upon the next grave, there it was.  Richard Harris was buried to the left of the path in an identical grave.   Wikipedia tells us:

It is interesting to note that the town did not take up its current name right away; originally it was known as Harrisburg, Pilzburg, and Rockwell. Apparently, Joseph Juneau was able to bribe (buy votes from) enough of his fellow miners for it to be changed. Even though the city doesn't carry Harris' name anymore, Harris Street remains in Juneau. Richard lived the rest of his life in Juneau, his children and descendants stayed in Juneau for many years. Both Richard Harris and Joseph Juneau are buried in the city's Evergreen Cemetery.

Would you rather live to 60 and have the state capital named after you?  Or live to 74 and just have a street named after you?  Personally, I glad Juneau became the name of the town, because there's already another state capital Harrisburg.


We got picked up by another friend Saturday night and driven out to Chan's Thai Kitchen.  We had a good meal and good conversation.  This is, I'm told, the only Thai restaurant in town and it's way out by the university. [HarpboyAK corrects me in the comments, noting Suwanna Cafe in the Jordan Creek Mall.]  And the portions are pretty big.  But last Saturday night's Thai dinner was much more sublime.  But it was at someone's home.

Small World, More First Friday, New Friends, Feeding Ravens, etc.

This is a catch up post.  After the museum Friday, we went down to the Canvas, which in addition to its First Friday exhibit of Magil Pratt's Miniatures, a bunch of which had red sold stickers on,  also had a pottery sale and we got a couple of little bowls to give us a little bit more in our minimalist Juneau household.  I also ran into someone I know from Juneau who lived in the house where we're living.  Our basement apartment was already here when she was a child.  

Then down the block to the Silverbow where an exhibit of pictures sponsored by the  Juneau Homeless Coalition.  Here's Gail, Lance, Teri, and Gil.

Scott Ciambor's Zen caught my eye.  This wall had landscapes of the homeless.  Here, under a bridge.












We ended our art crawl with dinner at Silverbow.








Our friend Sharman was down from Anchorage last weekend and in the four days she was here, we ran into her three different times before we met her for dinner with her Juneau friends last Sunday.

Last night we had dinner with the Juneau friends who live three blocks down the hill in a wonderful ol house with high ceilings, wood trim, and lots of green plants, and, last night, lit candles. 

A delicious dinner with good folks and cats.  












Today, I took a lazy run over the bridge to Douglas to get this picture I missed last week when I discovered - at this spot - that my credit card was missing.  Grey and drizzly, but still a great view back toward Juneau.

And then I stopped at the Foodland on the way home and as I came out there was someone feeding the ravens.  Not sure this is a good idea. 

And as I made it to the stairs up the hill I ran into Lisa Demer, the ADN reporter who's in town for three weeks replacing Sean Cockerham.

Tonight we're headed to dinner with people we've never met, but  I met their daughter a while back - a former Peace Corps volunteer whose parents, she told me were volunteers in Thailand 1967-69, the same time I was there.  The teacher Joan volunteers with gave her a note with their phone number and a message they wanted us over for dinner.  Small, small world.  But no, I didn't know them in Thailand, but they did know one of the people in my group who was near them. 

The bread is almost done in the oven, the Saints are up by fourteen with just a few minutes to go, and we need to go pretty soon.

Don Bantz - New APU President

I just learned through APU that Dr. Don Bantz, Provost at the Evergreen State College in Olympia, has been named the new President of Alaska Pacific University.   I'm personally delighted to hear this because I've known Don since about 1978 and I think he'll do great things for APU and Anchorage, and, I expect, the APU and UAA relationship.

Don lived in Anchorage for many years and was the Executive Director of the Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center back in its early days.  He has his PhD in Public Administration from the University of Southern California.  Click the link for Dr. Bantz' official background information, plus that of the other candidates.

I'm getting ready to go to the AIFF Martini Matinee, but I need to call Don and congratulate him.  

I would note that all my bog coverage of the APU Presidential Search came from APU information and not from any of the candidates.  But I did take this picture when he was in Anchorage for his interviews.

Hour and a Half to Go

Getting ready for the folks to arrive for Thanksgiving dinner. I think we'll make it despite my dawdling.

Whoops, the embroidery is inside out.  Better go change that.

Happy Birthday Dad - Goodbye Sylvia

Today's my dad's birthday. He'd be 98 if he were still alive. He was born into a totally different world. Before electricity, cars, airplanes had taken over the world. His father was a wine merchant who would travel around Europe filling up people's wine cellars. He lived through WW I in Germany, often hungry. Then, without going anywhere, he landed in pre-Nazi Germany. He was lucky. He had an aunt in Chicago, a sister of my grandmother, who sponsored him to come to the United States. After several years of working on this, he arrived in 1934. By the time the US got into WW II, my father was a citizen and in the army. He got a good break, not sure why, and was stationed in Key West, Florida. So my mom, whom he'd just married, could go along.

After the war they moved back to Chicago and then to LA where my mother's brother had ended up. But the marriage between two German Jewish refugees didn't work out. But they maintained very amiable relations for the rest of his life and I stayed with my dad many weekends as I was growing up. When we were together, his time was totally spent on me and we had a lot of great adventures, especially when we went off for two weeks in the summer. He introduced me to so many things that are still important parts of my life - the outdoors, foreign films, art, theater, critical thinking, to name a few.

He's been gone 21 years now. And tonight, as we are getting ready to go visit my mom in LA, we learned that another close family friend (relative through marriage on my wife's side) died in her 90s. You can't be surprised when someone dies in their 90's and logically you can't be too upset. But it still tears a hole in your soul when anyone important in your life dies. Sylvia had a good and rich life til the end. She was bright and caring and alert and someone I always looked forward to seeing. I did stop by and visit her and Mose on my last trip to LA. I'd been hoping to see her again this trip.

I've got a little more to do before going to bed and taking off tomorrow. If all goes well, we'll get to visit with our daughter for a couple of hours at Seatac.

More Fun Guests

A friend of a friend and her sister arrived last night. This is their first trip to Alaska and they planned something a little different from most first trips. They're headed off to the ferry to Valdez from Whittier today. Then to McCarthy in Wrangle-St. Elias National Park where they will spend most of the time before driving back to Anchorage. Since the road to McCarthy is notorious for causing flat tires, they couldn't rent a car from a 'normal' car rental place and had found High Country which was the first stop from the airport.




The huge full moon had just come up as we rode the rest of the way home in two cars.







I woke up 'early' to find that J had gotten up even earlier and made a nice breakfast for our guests. I told them I needed this picture in case they didn't show up on time and I had to show the police their picture. Fortunately, their sense of humor was as warped as mine. Or maybe they were just being polite guests.


Well, the moon seemed that big. Would you believe. . .

Saturday Market, Len's Cap, Flower Displays, ANMC, etc.

Having visitors means getting to be a tourist at home.




The sun and blue sky were glorious and we spent some time at the Weekend Market downtown. We walked past the Anchorage walrus.


And watched the juggler at the market a while









Then after a pit stop at home we went to the botanical garden where we met, yes I did check, and his name is Len and he's visiting from Massachusetts.















It was Garden Club day at the Botanical Gardens and in addition to the regular flowers, club members had entries into the flower show. It also meant admission into the botanical garden was free. And we each got a blue ballot to vote for the "People's Choice" in two different categories.








The first category was design, where people had put their flowers together in some sort of display. You can see they varied greatly.













Picking just one was hard, but I liked this one and when I saw that this was made from recycled tin cans, that decided it for me.









This one was sort of strange. But I guess if you're into shoes. . .








The second category was 'horticultural' which meant just the flowers (well there were also some vegetables) themselves without fancy displays. This category was even harder, until I found this flower which I thought was a hibiscus. But apparently it was something else, but I didn't write down the name. This one was just perfect.

There's obviously a lot of luck in this. Which of your flowers is just right on the day of the contest? And is it one that will stay fresh for two days in water?







Then we stopped at the Alaska Native Medical Center to see the building and the art work. Here are a couple of glimpses.

































We went home to barbecue some salmon and have dinner on the deck.






Then off to Glen Alps where we walked to Powerline Pass where we could see moose off in the distance and back to the view point where we were just in time to watch the sunset around 11 pm.







Today we take them to the infamous Sheffield Depot to catch their train to Seward - which apparently is back in operation after being blocked by a rockslide on Tuesday - and their cruise to Vancouver.