Reporting From Fox Meadow

It's 43 degrees and raining outside.  Very gray all around except for a thin carpet of grass and the green fingers of spruce pointing to the sky.  The mountains across the bay are completely shrouded.  I have often thought about the reaction of first settlers when they arrive at such a  spot as this---- how their breath was probably taken away when, after seeing nothing but gray, the clouds lifted and there before them was a knock-your-socks-off scene.  I think God planned that the weather here should be fickle and sometimes frustrating so that the scenery is REALLY appreciated when it emerges.

We have been in our new space here in Homer for two days now, schlepping boxes and suitcases from car to house, trying to find the best place to store everything, doing a record-breaking grocery shopping, opening a bank account, visiting gas and electric service centers.  You get the picture.  It's been more than ten years since we have moved, but the process comes back like riding a bicycle.  As of today Nels and I have been married 43 years and have moved 14 times!

We are by no means settled but are working at it with something a bit less than vigor.  You'd be surprised how exhausting it is to drive 5,000 miles!  The house is great.  It has everything we need and more, and it is very attractive.  The weather has been typical for June here, as I understand----very cool, overcast, sometimes rainy.  The temperatures have been mostly in the 50's and the clouds heavy during the day.  But late in the day they start lifting slowly to reveal more and more of the mountains  so that by evening they are fully visible.  There is still lots of snow on them.

Of course the evening is very looooonnnngg here.  It's the most uncanny thing to be reading at 11:00 PM with the window shades up and no lights on in the house.  Suddenly you realize how late it is and that you should be going to bed, but the bed-time cues are absent.  Waking up through the night is confusing.  You look at the clock and it says 2:00 but there's light seeping in around the window shades.  We are at 59 1/2 degrees north latitude here, whereas Pennsylvania is at 41.  This takes some time to get used to, but we haven't had a hard time sleeping.

Yesterday we went into town to do errands.  Grocery shopping was an adventure.  There's one main grocery store---ShopRite.  We spent several hours there and thank heaven Nels went with me as I was really overwhelmed by all we needed to get and sticker shock.  Some of the prices were not bad; most were shocking.  We knew that's how it would be, but experiencing it was an order of magnitude more intense.

Then there was the bank experience.  The clerk asked us our mailing address which we gave.  Then she wanted a "physical" address, which we didn't know.  She said that was ok, just give her an approximate!!  So we said ten miles out East End Road, and she was satisfied!  I have no idea what that was about.

So far we haven't been out much but are about ready to change that.  The people we have had contact with have been very friendly and nice.  We really look forward to more activity this weekend and going to church.  The compound here has our house and three smaller cabin duplexes, most of which are rented.  We have dogs of all sizes and colors around the property belonging to the cabin residents.  Alaskans love their coffee, ice cream and dogs!

Every morning we look for moose around the property but haven't seen any yet.  We'll keep watching.  It's not hard to stare at the scenery here.