Roots and wings

Packing is going slow ...

Just packing up my books has taken a couple of hours.

First, I had to read "The Zen of Running," a book my mom gave me that was published in the 1970s. It absolutely articulates the meditative state that running creates.

Then I found my journals from South America. I loved this quote from my journal:

"Sometimes I just want to be home, home with a log cabin and a semblance of a normal routine (try telling myself this when this actually what I have.)"

The best part of that quote is that I wrote it prior to my days in my lil' cabin ... I love how life manifests our deepest desires, and how I knew that while I would want the routine and cabin for a while, I wouldn't want it forever ... certainly we need a mix of roots and wings in life.

Now it is once again time to take flight ...

Amy

Marvelous Mile Hi

Today Zippy and I went out for a couple of hour jaunt along Mile Hi ridge ... a fresh dusting of snow, perfectly blue skies, biting wind and the place entirely to ourselves. Lovely! Still no skiing to be had anywhere, but at least it's starting to feel like winter.

A surprise send off

On a different note (than the post below) ...
I got a fabulous surprise send off from co-workers and freelancers yesterday ...
I was totally occupied with finishing up the community calendar and cooking a veggie burger ...
so I didn't really think much of it when people starting drifting into the office.
(There's always a lot of people coming and going around the Star).
All of the sudden everyone converged on my very surprised self.
They gave me a really sweet card, a bottle of wine and a skiing goody bag, filled with all the essentials, including wax, hand warmers, a snow crystal card, a binding repair kit and goggle defogger. (Very thoughtful!).
They brought out some really delicious cakes too - chocolate and tiramisu.
It made me feel all warm inside! As I said ... a fabulous send off.

To be a liver

It's a little unnerving to delete, recycle and throw away so much stuff in one day ...
It's also refreshing.
I spent the better part of the day today sorting through the last year and half. File cabinets cleared out, computer hard drives cleared out, e-mail inboxes cleared out (thousands of e-mails gone in a moment).
When it was all said and done I walked away with a CD player, four plants and two boxes - one containing copies of every single paper I oversaw as editor and the other filled with the pictures that hung on my office wall. I also loaded to maximum capacity a 4GB jump drive.
My office felt so vacant. The purple, orange and yellow walls, which I painted to help keep the short winter days bright, were all that remained of me.
Now it's the same process all over again, but on a bigger scale.
My lil' cabin it's time to say goodbye.
Simplifying - while not always easy - opens the way to great freedom.
It's a way to focus on what's important in life, release unnecessary attachments and allow beautiful moments to unfold spontaneously.
It's with that philosophy that I announce ...
I'm no longer a managing editor ...
I'm now a liver (not the organ, my made up noun from the verb "to live.")

A 'beary' interesting morning run

Zippy and I met a meandering bear this morning - while out on a run on the trails behind my cabin. I knew a grizz had been hanging around the area, so for most of the morning, I made a ruckus, shouting various combinations of "hey, hey, hey" and "hey-ho" into the frosty morning air. But as I closed in on the last five minutes of the run, my mind began to think about what I needed to do to get ready for work, and as a result lapsed in my noise-making efforts. Zipster and I were floating along quite peacefully, when we looked up to see the big bear, with blond highlights, strolling right down the path toward us. I did a 180 degree twirl with the focus of a prima ballerina, and Zippy and I made our retreat back the way we came, in search of another path. Zippy is really good around large wildlife, several close moose encounters this summer haven't so much as sparked a bark, and he hardly noticed the bear. The bear didn't really pay us much attention either. It sort of looked up when I called Zippy, but then quickly returned to its morning stroll.

An adorable, sleepy puppy

What mom could resist photographing such an adorable, sleepy puppy ... I'm sure I interrupted some good dreams of running through fields of beef patties ... that last look says it all.

Lean not to my own understanding

I'm here at my office on a Saturday afternoon, cleaning and clearing everything out. Two sticky notes with the following quotes cling to my computer monitor.

"Thoughts unspoken are not unknown to the divine Mind. Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires that they may be molded and exalted before they take form in words and deeds."
Science and Health 1:10

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thy own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he will direct thy path."
Proverbs 3:5

How beautiful to watch these ideas in action!

Amy

An 'oh wow' night

Tonight was one of those "oh wow" nights. I joined my Monday running group on an excursion along the ridge between South Fork and Ship Creek. The skies were crystal clear as far as the eye could see ... and boy could we see. Mount Redoubt (the volcano that made headlines in March and April) puffed off some steam to the south. Denali jutted up to the north, making the rest of the Alaska Range seem so measly. Mount Harp stood stoic, bathed in soft sunlight. Symphony and Eagle lakes peeked out through a moraine and tundra valley bottom. And to top it all off, an iridescent orange sunset swept across Cook Inlet and the Anchorage cityscape far below. Alaska at its finest, and the reason I won't be gone for too, too long.

Off to see what I can find out

I took a major leap Friday ... some may say off a cliff ... but I prefer to think of it as a leap of faith in life and the potential it holds. I turned in my two weeks notice at the Alaska Star and am headed to Jackson Hole for a winter of skiing, working and new adventures.

This weekend, as I've begun to think about preparations (what I'm going to take, how I want to travel down there, what I want to give away, what details I need to get in order, etc.), I've felt, well, me.

The side of me that loves randomness, adventure and a moment-by-moment life, has largely been stuffed into the back corner of a closet during the last several months. It's nice to take it out, dust it off and welcome it back into the fold. It balances out my responsible, dedicated and perfectionist side. When put together these two sides create a sort of wholeness.

I've learned so much from working at the Alaska Star, and the paper will always be near and dear to my heart. I believe strongly in the role of journalism in communities, cities, states, countries and the world ... and I am in many ways sad to no longer have that be part of my daily mission ... but when the voice from within speaks, it's always best to listen.

So off I go, in the words of Cat Stevens, "to see what I can find out."
amy

Wound up

Zippy, Gessy and I went up toward Reed Lakes off Arch Angel Road in Hatcher Pass a few weeks back. We had a good time hiking, picking blueberries and playing. Zippy got a little wound up ... I have no idea how that could have happened ; ) Summed up, a beautiful fall Saturday in Alaska.

Lost Lake and laughter

Last weekend, I headed out with a group of fabulous women to run the absolutely stunning 17-mile Lost Lake trail. It was my virgin crossing, and I finally understood why all the rave. When you get up to the pass, it opens up into this expansive rolling alpine tundra, dotted by lakes and flanked by glaciers. The overcast sky showed us some mercy, and stopped raining long enough for us to make the trip. We ended our excursion with burritos, and then coffee in Seward. The best part of the day? Laughing! With such a fun group of ladies, there were times when I was literally crying because I was laughing so hard.





Here's the link to see the Lost Lake photos individually in a Web album.

amy