House Blessing!

Fr. Elia Larson traveled from his church in Sitka to Petersburg the weekend before Theophany.  He served Great Vespers and then celebrated the Divine Liturgy with our family, the Stelmachs, and Lena Roundtree.  Here is a picture of Fr. Elia with us after our house blessing.

Out and About in Petersburg

We have a beautiful view of Petersburg Mountain and Wrangell Narrows.  Margaret took this picture as one of the barges go by.

Many animals cross our path.  Below are two such run-ins. 

Black-tailed deer are everywhere!

My husband asked, "Have any of you ever seen a porcupine at the top of a Christmas tree" before he pointed this one out to us.

On the way back from town, I snapped these photos.

And here are a few photos from our ride to the end of the island:

It was one of the colder days we have experienced so far (about 20 F) and the children were not dressed in the warmest fashion.  Margaret had moccasins on!

1008 North Nordic

Our rental in Petersburg, Alaska.  We moved here on Thanksgiving Day 2009. 

"Talking in Their Sleep" (winter poem)

"Talking in Their Sleep"




"You think I am dead,"

The apple tree said,

"Because I have never a leaf to show-

Because I stoop,

And my branches droop,

And the dull gray mosses over me grow!



But I'm still alive in trunk and shoot;

The buds of next May

I fold away-

But I pity the withered grass at my root."



"You think I am dead,"

The quick grass said,

"Because I have parted with stem and blade!

But under the ground,

I am safe and sound

With the snow's thick blanket over me laid.



I'm all alive, and ready to shoot,

Should the spring of the year

Come dancing here-

But I pity the flower without branch or root."



"You think I am dead,"

A soft voice said,

"Because not a branch or root I own.

I never have died, but close I hide

In a plumy seed that the wind has sown.



Patient I wait through the long winter hours;

You will see me again-

I shall laugh at you then,

Out of the eyes of a hundred flowers.



by Edith M. Thomas

Autumn Fires

"Autumn Fires"

by Robert Louis Stevenson

In the other gardens
And all up the vale,
From the autumn bonfires
See the smoke trail!
Pleasant summer over
And all the summer flowers,
The red fire blazes,
The grey smoke towers.
Sing a song of seasons!
Something bright in all!
Flowers in the summer,
Fires in the fall!

Congratulations Philip & Stephanie!

Benjamin, Margaret, and I attended a wedding this afternoon. (Actually, we couldn't find the wedding buried deep in the woods, but we made it to the reception!)

The kids danced almost every song. Margaret requested "To the Moon" by Savage Garden. The deejay misunderstood and played "In other Words {Fly me to the Moon}."