February 10, 2021. We Really Don’t Need More

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If some item is getting low in our house, we replenish it before it’s gone. If we see that something is gone, we run out to the store and get it. Months ago my prospective landlord here said that while I was in quarantine, he would get food for me. I tried to plan by sending some staples to the cabin and getting a fruit and vegetable box from the CSA. Right now my supplies are low, but I decided to make due. Of course, when backpacking we can only eat what we can carry. But at home, I might run to the store just to replace a spice. How long can you go without going to the store? How creative can you be? What do you really need? I sure thought I needed a pizza cutter tonight, but I didn’t.

This is my dinner for four nights made from what I had. Home made crust, tomato sauce, kale, Bok Choy, pear and nuts. Who needs cheese?
The flag is up for the Iron Dog Snow Machine Race
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Published by joaquintrail

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8 thoughts on “February 10, 2021. We Really Don’t Need More”

      1. A long story: my cousin and best friend Aaltje lives in AK, has since the early 70s, and I would go up to visit. When I married #2 we moved up there. That didn’t last, few things harder than living in a teeny cabin with a manic depressive person, so he went back to SC but I stayed for another 4-5 years. Loved living in Girdwood, but it got lonely. My daughter was going to go to grad school in Fairbanks, close enough, but she went back to Holland and her husband to be. That left me with really cool neighbors (did a lot of xc skiing), plus my cousin whose husband is a raging alcoholic, so I rarely saw her. She worked graveyard shifts (nurse) in the hospital because the husband would be passed out by 9, and after she tucked their two daughters in she would go to work. And through it all she would be the sweetest person ever. Still is. Her husband is still a jerk and a raging alcoholic. He lives mostly in Ninilchik, but she just bought a fab new house in Anchorage and is there during the week so she can help her younger daughter with the kids. She goes to N. during the weekends. Their daughter Wout lives in Winters, is a research vet/professor at UC Davis, and before the pandemic Aaltje would come down a lot to take care of the kids while Wout would go off to Africa for research and Aaltje and I would go hiking. I miss her and I miss my neighbors and my cabin, but my two kids are back in SC and 4 of the 5 grandkids are here as well. The oldest grandkid is going to a Dutch university.
        My #2 husband did get his green card after we married, but he is now back in Australia and actually remarried. Poor wife 😉
        Aren’t you sorry you asked!

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      2. Thanks for writing all of that. Fascinating. Did you work in Alaska? Do you like the cold and the dark? It’s so important to be close to grandkids. In Native cultures they have formal etiquette for introducing themselves. It goes like this : I am Deborah Hansen the daughter of——- of the ——- clan this monologue includes the lineage on both sides of the family all the way back to great grand parents. So the child recognizes their eight great grandparents and their clans. This really grounds a person and lets them know who they are. Kids need to know their grandparents. I love how close you are to your children and grandchildren. I was totally involved in Dominic’s life. I provided all of his child care and volunteered in his classes. And then they moved to Sacramento last summer. I never see him because of the distance and Covid. Most of the time I have a broken heart. As for AK, I have a number of things I want to do in AK along with other arctic regions. I just read Barry Lopez’s Horizon. He writes exquisitely about everything but particularly about the Arctic.

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      3. I didn’t have a job in AK, but I bought my little cabin in Girdwood which dated back to the 50s and looked awful. Green shag carpet and downhill from there. #2 husband was very good at tearing things out and putting them back together. He told me later that half the time he had no clue how to do it and just went by the seat of his pants because he did not want to admit to me that he had no clue. We worked well together when he was “normal”. When not, he’d be out pub crawling (only two choices, he was well known in no time). After we fixed up that cabin, I bought another one as an investment and did most of that remodel myself since I’d put him on a plane to CA by then. I sold that, made some $, and then just enjoyed xc skiing with my neighbor Carla while her husband Jack would mess around in their kitchen and dinner would be ready by the time we got back. They both worked in the NICU at Providence hospital in Anchorage, but Jack’s passion was food and he has since quit and now has two restaurants. Carla is now a PA. She was thinking of going to med school but when Jack started the first Turnagain Armpit BBQ, she became the insurance carrier and kept her job. They worked 12 hr days for 3 days while I took care of their dog and then they would be off for the rest of the week so Jack could play with food and Carla and I could ski. They had a boat and in summer we’d fish. Great times. Was I bothered by the dark? No, but I hated driving from Anchorage to G’wood in the dark because the road along the Turnagain Arm was icy and unlit, and even with studded tires I dreaded that.
        I totally understand about grandkids. It is sooo too bad that Dominic is so far away. I remember you were very involved with his school. So fun and rewarding. I did Fridays with my kids because that was when they did spelling and I really wanted these kids to learn proper grammar! Did it make any difference? Hmmm.
        My grandparents on my dad’s side were first cousins (had to get permission of the Crown to marry) so rather than two different families trying to blend, they were already blended and it was a huge family with lots of aunts and uncles and cousins from all sides. My grandparents had seven kids, my parents had five, Aaltje was one of five, and the other two uncles had two and three, but the three aunts did not have kids. Two never married, one was lesbian and she and my “aunt” were one of the very first to get married in Holland when that was allowed. I think my aunt was already in her late 80s. She was fabulous. Lived till 100. I’m sure there’s a story why the other two aunts never married, but not known to my generation. The war? I’ll never know. It was a great way to grow up. My parents and Aaltje’s parents were best buds, and we saw each other constantly. They lived in a fabulous house, 20 km from us, “far away” for Dutch minds, but we had a car! My parents bought a Morris Minor when I was 8, the only car in the whole neighborhood. I got carsick every time.
        Your turn: what else besides writing are you planning to do in AK and the arctic??

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  3. The pizza looks good, I’m not sure that pears would go well with tomato sauce. This morning when I got up I noticed the temperature in McGrath was 14 degrees warmer than Fridley. That’s why I go to California in the winter.

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