there's no place like gnome.

It’s a dreary, dreary day in northern Wisconsin on the shores of Lake Superior.  Rainy.  Cold.

Class on the island wrapped up at 3pm this afternoon.  I left with a stack of mixed media journal cards, wrapped up neatly and creatively in pockets, folders, and books I created to keep them in.  My former life as a lover of bookmaking came in handy and impressed my instructor.

[Above: The class work, belonging to each of us, spread out.  As I added mine last, the instructor told me, “I need you to spread out.  Literally and metaphorically.”  Ha.  Mine is at the bottom.]  We bid goodbye as a class.  My classmates and instructor were really great, all in such unique ways.  They were great learning companions for the week.  Susan, a dear calligrapher by trade, gave me a hug as she was leaving and said, “I haven’t said this for about twenty years, but I would go to church to hear you preach.”  Sweet compliment.  I think it’s a gift to be able to challenge people’s perception of what a pastor is and isn’t.

It was a great week.  MISA is such a fun place.  A great community of people, awesome staff, and the coffee is always on.  [And there are always chocolate chip cookies in the cookie jar in each classroom.]  Classrooms were open all night and we were welcome to come and go as we pleased.  I would love to go back again for a class sometime in the future.

As of right now, I just got off the boat.  The cute, bearded captain got Sprocket and I safely back on the mainland.  Now I sit, rain jacket and all, at a coffee shop in Bayfield and wait.  I wait for friend, Sara, so we can begin phase two of continuing education: overnight kayaking.

We leave tomorrow morning and here’s hoping the weather improves.  Otherwise it is going to be a very chilly and wet couple of days.  Potentially miserable.  We go with a group; up to four new friends we will meet tomorrow.  I hope I packed enough warm clothes … I fear I was [now incorrectly] more concerned about sunscreen and sunglasses.

You’ll hear back from me after that adventure.  An adventure it will be.

It’s Wednesday at MISA.  Three days of class behind me; only two to go.  What have I been up to since I last wrote?  Let me tell you –

Class is all about reflective writing/journaling and different art techniques, all the while talking about our inner critics and inner heroes.  We all have them – voices that live inside of us.  Talking about them is getting a little new age-y for me at times but it’s okay.  It’s okay to go beyond the comfort zone.  [Right?]  While talking about the inner critics and inner heroes, we’re creating 5×7 cards that speak to us in some way – hopefully that somehow reflect our inner heroes.  They so far include art techniques and collage or found poetry.  Soon they will also include journaling on one side.

Found poetry is so far my favorite.  I’m a poet by no means [and don’t like reading poems either], but this I can get behind.  The object of found poetry is to take pages from a book or catalog and begin by simply cutting our words or phrases that catch our eye.  Words or phrases that stick out to us.  Once you have a pile of words and phrases in front of you, a poem appears.  You move words, phrases, start over, and move another word.  Sure enough, a poem [in the loosest sense of the word] emerges.  You trust the process and it’s a little crazy.  A little uncomfortable.  But super therapeutic in a way.  And plus I love the way the text looks cut up and rearranged, especially when using phrases from different books and typefaces.  Here is one of my poems from the day, mounted on watercolor paper I colored with ink –

Deep, right?  [Nope.  Not at all.  It will pale in comparison to my artful classmates tomorrow during show and tell … but I’m not supposed to compare.  It’s the thief of joy.  My poems are what they need to be.]

In addition to class, I explored La Pointe [the solo town on the island] tonight with a couple classmates and have also taken the ferry back to Bayfield to explore.  That’s what I did last night by myself and it was lovely.  I love taking the ferry.  I explored a bookstore, a quilt shop, and then parked at a coffee shop to do my class homework before eating at an outdoor bar. It was only a couple hours on the mainland but super fun to explore.  Plus, on the return trip, the ferry was captained by the cute, young captain.  Bearded, lovely, married-according-to-the-ring-on-his-hand captain.  [All the lovely bearded captains are.  Am I right?]

Do you want to know why?

First, it was a confirmation planning day all day with my favorite reverends – jD and Laura.  We drank coffee, wrote on big pieces of paper, and dreamed about what confirmation will look like at our churches this fall.  Big picture dreaming days with fun pastors are always my favorite.

Because I had friends coming to church, I had a reason to bake.  This chocolate-banana-zucchini bread got rave reviews.  It was pretty delicious.  Baking and sharing is my favorite.

After a favorite day at work, I drove to Owatonna because some of my favorite Dawson people moved there today.  My best-friend-forever, Carter, and his family are now only a 30 minute drive from me.  I see Legos in my future.

I came home to catch the last bit of The Bachelorette [where Brooks is my favorite].

Now I will iron some gumdrops and read a book before bed.  [I’d forgotten reading fiction was my favorite until recently.  After devouring a couple books in the last couple weeks, I’ve started in on Where’d You Go, Bernadette?  Delightful.]

Favorites, favorites everywhere.  Let’s hope this is a trend.

Life …
might …
be …
looking …
up.

Let’s not jinx it.

I’m going to tell you about my weekend.

It was wonderful.

I cleaned.  I strangely love cleaning on a day off.  It helps me feel productive and less guilty for the rest of my time at home spent … not cleaning.

I read.  I finished Insurgent [the second novel in the trilogy by Veronica Roth] and picked up a few books that I’ve been nursing along for a couple months now.

I picked strawberries.  It’s just not quite summer if I don’t pick strawberries.  I drove to just south of Faribault and picked eight pounds of delicious, red strawberries with bright green leaves.  I’d forgotten what a far cry locally picked berries are from the store-bought ones.  What am I doing with eight pounds of strawberries?  Eating them.

I quilted.  I finished the top of a banana baby quilt, sandwiched it, and then started in on the gumdrop quilt I told you about in my last post.  I just couldn’t wait and happened to have all of the supplies on hand.  I’ve been cutting and fusing and cutting and fusing lots in the last few days while watching Arrested Development.

I went shopping with Paige.  We met up at the outlet mall and shopped a bit.  I picked up a few needed items for my kayak trip.  [Headlamp?  Check.  Sleeping bag?  Check.  Wilderness wash?  Check.]

It was such a great weekend of all of my favorite things.  Up next is the second day of day camp tomorrow at Red Oak Grove – also one of my favorite things!  We’ll just erase the tense council meeting from last night from my mind and pretend only favorite things exist.

I went to Alaska and now I am home.  I still slightly loathe the second part of that sentence.

It was a good trip of family fun.  Boating on Ben’s new boat, kayaking on a glacial lake, and record high & sunny weather.  [We’re talking upper 80s with huge piles of snow still melting in parking lots, and Alaskan houses that don’t have air conditioning.]  We explored what there is to explore in Valdez [read: not much] including a couple museums and shops catering to tourists.  I learned that I like coleslaw [that kind that isn’t swimming in white goo] and you can make your own magic shell for ice cream using coconut oil and chocolate.  [Thanks to Ben’s girlfriend for both of those culinary discoveries.]  I devoured Mindy Kahling’s book.  It was also quite an experience to wake up every morning and see the mountains after a night when it never really actually got dark.

Though the downside is we don’t see him often, it’s quite convenient to have a brother who lives in Alaska.  Especially one who owns four kayaks and a boat and a house.  We were able to have a great trip doing loads of fun things that would have cost the normal traveler a bundle and a half.  Thanks for letting us visit, Ben.  See you again in your neck of the woods in another two years?  I sense a tradition beginning …

MSP > SEA > ANC

A favorite Anchorage place. I took this photo to make my older brother, Matt, super jealous.

Thai Chicken @ Moose’s Tooth

Rebecca the Rental. She was a feisty Ford Fiesta.

If you’re going to grafitti, I like this approach.

Enjoying the drive from Anchorage to Valdez.

Bridal Veil Falls outside of Valdez.

Valdez Harbor.

Ben is the captain. Ursula is his boat.

Sea lions. Sea lions!

A stop at Anderson Bay.

11pm, people. 11pm.

Kayaking at the Valdez Glacier.

We couldn’t get up close and personal with the glacier because there was still ice on the water. [It was chilly water!]

Perfection.

Lunch at a Thai food truck on the route back to Anchorage. According to Ben – best food value in Alaska. You always go to Glenallen hungry.

To Anchorage we return.

Today we went out on the boat. Ben’s boat. As the captain, he gave us the emergency speech as we rode out of the harbor. “If shit hits the fan, grab a life jacket. You’ve got about five minutes before your limbs start to stiffen. Make for the kayaks on the roof.”

We didn’t need any emergency strategies. The water was calm and the sky was clear. We stopped for a bit on Anderson Beach, saw sea lions duking it out on a buoy, and had a great couple hours on the water. Tomorrow: kayaking and more boating.

Alaska, that is.

There is no wireless Internet at the brother’s and so I type an ever-so-brief update via mobile. His neighbor, however, has wireless that pops up on my list of available networks. His network name? “Awesomer.” Because someone else in the neighborhood had already taken “Awesome” for their network name. Awesome.

We made it. We meaning my mom, sister, and I. Made it meaning traveled from Austin to Minneapolis, Minneapolis to Seattle, Seattle to Anchorage, Anchorage to Valdez. We are ready to not be in an airplane or car seat.

We are here. Staying with my younger brother and his dog, Jetta. Possible agendas for the coming days include boating, kayaking, and hiking. Oh, and confusing our bodies with the ever-presence of the sun. (It’s weird.)