Heather Lende

HEATHER LENDE

Haines is not a postcard, but it's home

I think it was John McPhee who said Anchorage looks like it blew in on the wind, like a spore, from Trenton.

HEATHER LENDE

Saints abound, like bears in the shadows

We sang my favorite hymn in church again recently, the one about the saints of God.

HEATHER LENDE

Racial, cultural change make for better world

It seems the whole world is changing the way it views race and culture. That is true in the Chilkat Valley communities of Haines and Klukwan too. Haines is about a quarter Alaska Native, mostly Tlingit Indian. The rest of us, except for about a dozen people, are white.

HEATHER LENDE

Ralph the Big Brother not just any Joe

I would like to hear less about Joe the Plumber and more about Ralph the Big Brother. I don't think I'm alone, if the turnout for the Big Brothers Big Sisters Dream Big Luncheon in Haines last Thursday is any indication. A third of all Haines and Klukwan elementary students now have what we call "Bigs" -- adult or teen mentors who meet with them once a week or more.

HEATHER LENDE

Saying goodbye unmasks part of circle of life

I missed the Orionid meteor showers. It was raining and blowing so hard I couldn't see the rocks on the beach, much less any shooting stars. I know it is not technically correct to say shooting star, but I still do. With all its zip and sparkle, shooting star has a much lighter step than clunky old Orionid meteor shower.

HEATHER LENDE

In times of stress, sing out, help out

Joanie is volunteering on the radio this morning. "Playing music that I like, and I hope you do too" is how she puts it. I'm singing along, loudly, with Nanci Griffith as she promises to travel back to Georgia and take me with her.

HEATHER LENDE

Local issues are the ones we follow with the most interest

There's a blanket of fog on the river, fresh snow on the mountains and a bluebird October sky above it all. It's the last week of moose hunting season. Almost 30 bulls have been taken, and fresh shrimp are in at the dock. The summer pizza place is closed, the last cruise ship is gone and it smells like wood smoke.

HEATHER LENDE

Ketchikan offers dose of humor, strong coffee

Ketchikan has, as we used to say about one of my daughters when she was a teenager, an edge. I mean that in a good way.

Gutting a moose binds us to the land

The moose is down on all fours, kneeling, with his big head and ungainly antlers resting on a green, moss-covered pillow of a stump.

HEATHER LENDE

Gentlest of farewells still hurts those left behind

I didn't think I could sleep in a wooden rocking chair, but I must have. I woke with a twitch and heard my neighbor breathing, quietly and slowly. Then he stopped, and I counted: "one one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand ..." I got to six one-thousand and was holding my own breath when he finally inhaled again.

HEATHER LENDE

Here's wishing Sarah ran with our team

The Lady GuDivas, my masters women's running team ("master" is a nice athletic word for people over 40) had a lot of time to chat as we took turns running relay legs from Skagway to Whitehorse on the Klondike Highway Friday night.

HEATHER LENDE

Reflecting on Alaska in spotlight

Totem Park in Sitka, with its trails winding among the towering spruce trees and somber totem poles, with the waves lapping the shore, the gulls calling and diving on one side, a fishy river plugged with spawning salmon right in the middle, is my favorite place for a high school cross-country meet and one of my favorite places anywhere. Sitkans have been walking or running on its paths for centuries.

HEATHER LENDE

Blueberries can draw us together

You might think that if your almost-18-year-old daughter is barely speaking to you because you are keeping closer tabs on her than she thinks necessary, you definitely would not make her fresh blueberry pancakes on the first day of her senior year in high school.

HEATHER LENDE

More sweet than sour in long run

HAINES -- It is darker every morning, and it looks like I may not get a red tomato in the greenhouse. They say this is just about the coolest, grayest summer we've had since someone started paying attention to that sort of thing. Now, as it winds down, I have that same old feeling I have every August -- that time is passing and I haven't used it well. I'm not talking about growing ripe tomatoes. I mean bigger things, like doing good things with people I love, which may be why I've packed so much into these few days.

HEATHER LENDE

Fearless bear joins the party

I know that you should never surprise a bear. What I don't know is if I did the right thing when a bear surprised me. I am pretty sure, though, that when a bear is close enough to your daughter to splash her, you would also wish your can of pepper spray were a hand grenade.

HEATHER LENDE

New skills boost fun outdoors

I was doing great backing up the truck and the attached boat trailer. I was almost a natural, the instructor said. All I had to do was not turn the wheel so hard, not think so much and trust the mirrors. I needed to become one with the pivoting trailer.

HEATHER LENDE

Southeast fair warms the heart

Pizza Joe Parnell wore his basketball referee shirt to officiate the fishermen's rodeo Saturday afternoon during the 40th Southeast Alaska State Fair here Saturday, and he periodically reminded fans to support the sponsor, Olerud's, a combination sporting goods and grocery store, by buying lots of "guns and butter."

HEATHER LENDE

Hoping for message and music

Tomorrow it will be two weeks since I put a duffel bag in my Subaru and grabbed a stack of CDs so I'd have Sheryl Crow and Merle Haggard for company as I drove for two days from Haines to Anchorage to attend college for the first time in 27 years.

HEATHER LENDE

'Useless' skills can be handy

It has been a windy summer, hard on flowers but easy on kite surfers. From the waist up they look like skydivers attached to bright, parachute-like kites with harnesses and lines. From the waist down they look like surfers on stubby boards. They wear wet suits to take the sting out of the 40-degree water.

HEATHER LENDE

A day to set aside politics

It finally warmed up last week and almost got sunny, just in time for the Fourth of July and Sen. Ted Stevens' visit the next day. The mayor got him here by hand-delivering to the senator's Washington office a brochure detailing our festivities honoring the 50th anniversary of statehood and the Alaska military tradition at Haines' hundred-year-old former Army base, Fort Seward.

HEATHER LENDE

Giving fish the gentle treatment

Two big canners loaded with 64 half-pint jars of smoked salmon hiss and rattle on the stove while I watch them closely to be sure the pressure dial doesn't dip below 10 pounds. If it does, I'll have to start all over again, and it has taken me the better part of three days to get this far.