Donna Moore's Posts - CrimeSpace2024-03-29T14:12:31ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoorehttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/60986087?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://crimespace.ning.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=DonnaMoore&xn_auth=noWhat I Read in Maytag:crimespace.ning.com,2009-05-31:537324:BlogPost:2009742009-05-31T19:53:07.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
http://bigbeatfrombadsville.blogspot.com/2009/05/what-i-read-in-may.html
http://bigbeatfrombadsville.blogspot.com/2009/05/what-i-read-in-may.htmlIt's A Fair Cop, Guvtag:crimespace.ning.com,2009-05-21:537324:BlogPost:1993962009-05-21T20:00:00.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
Today the police turned up at my door. Again. Now, I don't know about you, but whenever a policeman turns up at my door and says "Are you Donna Moore?" I always start to panic. Of course, it's to be hoped that a policeman isn't going to turn up at your door and say "Are you Donna Moore?" That's an altogether different problem. My immediate response is to think a) Oh my God what's happened to everyone I love, followed swiftly by b) What the hell have I done? and sometimes c) Has someone sent me…
Today the police turned up at my door. Again. Now, I don't know about you, but whenever a policeman turns up at my door and says "Are you Donna Moore?" I always start to panic. Of course, it's to be hoped that a policeman isn't going to turn up at your door and say "Are you Donna Moore?" That's an altogether different problem. My immediate response is to think a) Oh my God what's happened to everyone I love, followed swiftly by b) What the hell have I done? and sometimes c) Has someone sent me a strip-o-gram?<br />
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Now, it just so happens that every single time a policeman has turned up at my door I've been on the decidedly underside of dressed.<br />
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The last time I had a brush with the law, it was early one Saturday morning. There was a knock on the door and it was a policeman who had come to interview my ex and I. I was in my pyjamas so he said he'd give me a few minutes and then come back. I must have looked pretty scary because he didn't turn up until half an hour later. When he finally arrived I said to him "Sorry if my appearance scared you so much that you gave me enough time to go out to the dancing."<br />
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What had happened was that a couple of days previously an elderly man was knocked over in the street and he died. Complicating matters was that it was a police car which knocked him over, so, obviously, they have to do a REALLY thorough investigation. The policeman said that it was like doing a murder enquiry, even though it wasn't a murder. He had to fill in forms for both John (my ex) and I.<br />
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He said "We'll go to the first person first" and turned to John.<br />
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"Excuse me" I said "But who's to say HE'S the first person?"<br />
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He looked a bit shocked but laughed and said "OK, you can go first then ...it's just that he was sitting nearest to me."<br />
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Weak, very weak. He asked name, address, age, telephone number, where I was born (I bit my tongue before saying Newport Pagnell Gas Station - pump 4, and just answered the county)and height. As he was writing down my height I said "Oh god, you're not going to ask my weight are you?" Luckily he said no. Then he asked whether I was known by any other name. I didn't think that Tootsbinswanger or Tillie Tinkelpaw was relevant, so I kept schtum. I hope I don't get hauled up for withholding evidence.<br />
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Then he gave me the form to fill in the next bit - you had to circle your hair colour, eye colour, build (oh God - the ignominity of having to circle 'fat'; but 'pleasantly plump' or 'the tubby side of voluptuous' just weren't on the form. Skin type 'pale' (I decided not to go for 'spotty' even though a huge zit had appeared on my chin that very morning - I just hoped that it would disappear in a couple of days and NOT be a permanent distinguishing feature). Then there was a question that asked for tattoos/piercings/peculiarities/ scars.<br />
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"Do you have any extra sheets - I can't fit all my peculiarities in on 3 lines."<br />
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Then it was John's turn, or "Person number 2" as the policeman called him from then on. I liked that. I used that from then on.<br />
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While person number 2 was filling in the form the policeman said "I'll now be able to go back to the Equal Opportunities officer and tell him that I did everything correctly."<br />
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"How humiliating." person number 2 said.<br />
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"Yes, you've learned a valuable lesson here today" person number 1 said.<br />
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Meanwhile, person number 2 was agonising over his form "Do I have light brown or dark brown hair? Is it straight, or short? Or straight AND short?"<br />
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"Is there a box for old-fashioned?" I said. "If not, straight and short will do."<br />
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And I could see him visibly sucking in his stomach when he got to the 'build' question. 'Slim' was the look he was going for I believe. I caught a glimpse of his form as he handed it back. God help the police if they ever need to search for John. They'll be looking for someone who looks remarkably like Johnny Depp, when Johnny Rotten would be more accurate.<br />
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Then the policeman's cell phone rang. Imagine this big butch bloke in a uniform (steady), and his cell phone's trilling away with Britney's 'Ooops I did it again'.<br />
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"How disappointing," I said. "I would have expected you to have the theme tune from The Bill or The Sweeney."<br />
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"I have. When the station rings it plays The Sweeney."<br />
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So there you have it. If I ever come to write a story about a police investigation I have some background research. I'm not exactly sure that it's any use though :o) He probably went out of here thinking "Two dodgy characters if ever I saw them. Pale and Fat was a bit mad. Tall, Slim and Good-Looking is obviously a pathological liar. And what the hell were all those books with 'murder' in the title?"<br />
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But I digress, today was my second brush with murder. I woke up at 5.30 with a horrendous migraine, took a migraine tablet and went back to bed. The pills zonk me out so when there was a knock on the door I scrambled into my furry black dressing gown and shuffled to answer it, looking like a grizzly bear just out of hibernation. Two police persons stood on my doorstep. "Can you come back in 10 minutes?" I slurred. Yes, Donna - great impression. Anyway, they came back the obligatory half an hour later, by which time I had discovered what it was all about. I went into the kitchen to make a cuppa, happened to glance out of the kitchen window to see a body covered in a white sheet in the next garden. I knew it was a body because a foot was sticking out.<br />
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They told me the man had died at around 9pm. "I was watching The Apprentice and doing the ironing" said I. Constable Monroe and I had a nice little chat about The Apprentice (none of which went down in my witness statement). The crime fiction fan in me wondered if he was just asking me questions about it so as to prove I WAS actually sitting in my living room in front of the TV rather than in the next back close killing a man wearing at least one trainer. My witness statement will doubtless be the dullest witness statement ever "Witness was ironing her smalls...scrub that...better call them her larges, given the size of her bottom...at the time of the murder." However, I do like to think I've given them a major clue by something that didn't happen. "I WAS in my kitchen at 9pm exactly" I said.<br />
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They looked at me suspiciously. "What were you doing and how do you know?" "I was fetching the iron, and when I walked back into the living room The Apprentice had just started. And I didn't hear anything." Yes, I can see the headlines now "Woman witnesses absolutely nothing."<br />
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As they left, I managed to offend one of them. "You've got a lot of books" he said, stopping to look at one of my bookshelves. Then he looked at his colleague in a significant way. "Are they ALL about murder?"<br />
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"Mostly," said I, sweating profusely "I write about it too." I could have bitten my tongue off.<br />
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"Well, we are Constables Monroe and Begley," he said. "You can use those names in your next book if you like."<br />
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"That's a good name," I said to Constable Begley. "I think I'll use that."<br />
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"What about MINE" whined Constable Monroe. I could see him mentally adding 'Witness was suspiciously unco-operative' to my witness statement.<br />
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If I'm arrested, please could someone bring me bail money and a file with a cake in it.<br />
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Three hours later and the body has now been taken away and a woman is out in the back close with her 2 children, hanging up her washing. Only in Glasgow...And I'm sure one of the things she hung up is the sheet that was covering the body...I Came THIS Close To A Beartag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-10-27:537324:BlogPost:1639932008-10-27T12:33:06.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWpU--SzlI/AAAAAAAAAbM/N7bo1c3XM6U/s1600-h/RIMG0143.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261797917619048018" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261797917619048018" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWpU--SzlI/AAAAAAAAAbM/N7bo1c3XM6U/s320/RIMG0143.JPG" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;"></img></a> ...oh yes I did. And its breath stank of fish.<br />
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No post yesterday. I had a horrendous migraine, so didn't get a chance to do anything.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWp3PcvvxI/AAAAAAAAAbU/SArhFn4-5m4/s1600-h/RIMG0088.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261798506157293330" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261798506157293330" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWp3PcvvxI/AAAAAAAAAbU/SArhFn4-5m4/s320/RIMG0088.JPG" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;"></img></a> So I managed to cram two days events into one. I went shopping to Nordstroms. Ah...home.…
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWpU--SzlI/AAAAAAAAAbM/N7bo1c3XM6U/s1600-h/RIMG0143.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWpU--SzlI/AAAAAAAAAbM/N7bo1c3XM6U/s320/RIMG0143.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261797917619048018" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261797917619048018"/></a> ...oh yes I did. And its breath stank of fish.<br />
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No post yesterday. I had a horrendous migraine, so didn't get a chance to do anything.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWp3PcvvxI/AAAAAAAAAbU/SArhFn4-5m4/s1600-h/RIMG0088.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWp3PcvvxI/AAAAAAAAAbU/SArhFn4-5m4/s320/RIMG0088.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261798506157293330" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261798506157293330"/></a>So I managed to cram two days events into one. I went shopping to Nordstroms. Ah...home.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWqWTLH-NI/AAAAAAAAAbc/-8mwRbnqrYs/s1600-h/RIMG0084.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWqWTLH-NI/AAAAAAAAAbc/-8mwRbnqrYs/s320/RIMG0084.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261799039733070034" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261799039733070034"/></a><br />
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Oh, this is the front window of my hotel by the way. I was welcomed by the image of death in the window. I don't think it was anything personal.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWsrzJmPUI/AAAAAAAAAb0/HoLQ86Bqq-k/s1600-h/DSC_8500.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWsrzJmPUI/AAAAAAAAAb0/HoLQ86Bqq-k/s320/DSC_8500.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261801608117108034" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261801608117108034"/></a>Today the lovely Karen and her husband and son came to take me out for the day.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWr9jNsllI/AAAAAAAAAbs/jcEO_IUYz-s/s1600-h/DSC_8518.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWr9jNsllI/AAAAAAAAAbs/jcEO_IUYz-s/s320/DSC_8518.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261800813565351506" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261800813565351506"/></a><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWr9BIwInI/AAAAAAAAAbk/hp9HHFjCfBk/s1600-h/RIMG0130.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWr9BIwInI/AAAAAAAAAbk/hp9HHFjCfBk/s320/RIMG0130.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261800804417806962" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261800804417806962"/></a>We took a scenic drive and we went to a rehab centre for Alaskan wildlife. The bear in the photo above is a recovering crack cocaine addict.<br />
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And I touched this moose. It was sitting right next to the fence and I reached in and stroked its fur.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWuPsSsRVI/AAAAAAAAAb8/b9Ww7ndsnDA/s1600-h/RIMG0183.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWuPsSsRVI/AAAAAAAAAb8/b9Ww7ndsnDA/s320/RIMG0183.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261803324263122258" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261803324263122258"/></a><br />
It is so cold here that even the waterfalls freeze over - like this one. Luckily, I was wearing the usual 17 layers of clothes. In Aniak the day before I left it was so cold that the hairs inside my nose froze. That was a really weird feeling and no, I don't have a picture of it.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWxjazEyvI/AAAAAAAAAcM/e6yjAXTweRk/s1600-h/RIMG0155.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWxjazEyvI/AAAAAAAAAcM/e6yjAXTweRk/s320/RIMG0155.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261806961699375858" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261806961699375858"/></a><br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWxjDntLwI/AAAAAAAAAcE/jmtCkYa2jQo/s1600-h/RIMG0120.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWxjDntLwI/AAAAAAAAAcE/jmtCkYa2jQo/s320/RIMG0120.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261806955477675778" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261806955477675778"/></a>And for today I will leave you with some pictures of the glorious scenery we saw today. I'm now off to try and sit on my suitcases so that I can close them. See, I knew that eating all that food would come in handy.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWzkU_-ajI/AAAAAAAAAcc/mKHSCjMj_hI/s1600-h/RIMG0173.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWzkU_-ajI/AAAAAAAAAcc/mKHSCjMj_hI/s320/RIMG0173.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261809176345995826" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261809176345995826"/></a><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWz6HsCXPI/AAAAAAAAAck/jpGAhKWkCnw/s1600-h/RIMG0176.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQWz6HsCXPI/AAAAAAAAAck/jpGAhKWkCnw/s320/RIMG0176.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261809550729829618" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261809550729829618"/></a><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQW0MBuuzaI/AAAAAAAAAcs/JGCk2P8WTrw/s1600-h/DSC_8617.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 213px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQW0MBuuzaI/AAAAAAAAAcs/JGCk2P8WTrw/s320/DSC_8617.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261809858368163234" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5261809858368163234"/></a><br />
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More when I get home. Tata for now.Aqutak For Breakfasttag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-10-24:537324:BlogPost:1637032008-10-24T17:30:00.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQIIa2vNqyI/AAAAAAAAAaw/Jbi9rqXjtPo/s1600-h/RIMG0060.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260776572185324322" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260776572185324322" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQIIa2vNqyI/AAAAAAAAAaw/Jbi9rqXjtPo/s320/RIMG0060.JPG" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;"></img></a><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQIEsdoGtHI/AAAAAAAAAaY/zxz1kkzjUY4/s1600-h/RIMG0004.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260772476635755634" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260772476635755634" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQIEsdoGtHI/AAAAAAAAAaY/zxz1kkzjUY4/s320/RIMG0004.JPG" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;"></img></a><br />
Well, I am just waiting for my flight to Anchorage. It was snowing heavily yesterday and when I rang Penair to find out what time I needed to check in and how bad the snow needed to be before they stopped the planes flying the guy at the airline said "Do you…
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQIIa2vNqyI/AAAAAAAAAaw/Jbi9rqXjtPo/s1600-h/RIMG0060.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQIIa2vNqyI/AAAAAAAAAaw/Jbi9rqXjtPo/s320/RIMG0060.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260776572185324322" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260776572185324322"/></a><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQIEsdoGtHI/AAAAAAAAAaY/zxz1kkzjUY4/s1600-h/RIMG0004.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQIEsdoGtHI/AAAAAAAAAaY/zxz1kkzjUY4/s320/RIMG0004.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260772476635755634" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260772476635755634"/></a><br />
Well, I am just waiting for my flight to Anchorage. It was snowing heavily yesterday and when I rang Penair to find out what time I needed to check in and how bad the snow needed to be before they stopped the planes flying the guy at the airline said "Do you need a ride to the airport?" People are so nice around here.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQIFNB1ulZI/AAAAAAAAAag/nii3RgNgj-k/s1600-h/RIMG0061.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQIFNB1ulZI/AAAAAAAAAag/nii3RgNgj-k/s320/RIMG0061.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260773036112385426" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260773036112385426"/></a>Yesterday I was lamenting the fact that I had not had aqutak (pronounced a-GOO-duck) this trip. This morning as I arrived at the High School one of the teachers came up and said "Donna, there's aqutak in the kitchen for lunch, but you can have some for breakfast. So I did. And it was yummy. Here is the recipe - take a white fish, boil it, squeeze all the water out of it until it's dry flakes, add a pound of lard, a pound of sugar, a bit of condensed milk if you're feeling decadent and fluff the mixture up until it's light and airy. Then add loads and loads of berries. Eat, and listen to your arteries as they harden. It really doesn't taste of fish or lard. The berries burst on your tongue (I think this one is blueberry and salmonberry). It was scrummy. Of course, the downside is that I now have to declare a stomach full of aqutak when I weigh in at the airport.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQIHOO7O7uI/AAAAAAAAAao/bHpDQZ34HfE/s1600-h/RIMG0014.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQIHOO7O7uI/AAAAAAAAAao/bHpDQZ34HfE/s320/RIMG0014.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260775255828262626" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260775255828262626"/></a><br />
I did, apparently, miss out on a delicious dish - moose nose soup. The recipe appears to be 'cut off a moose's nose and boil it with some water and vegetables. Mmmmmmmm. Delish. This is Pizza Hut Alaska Bush style. Esther makes the most delicious pizzas here. Apparently she can never have a day off.<br />
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Yesterday I was speaking to two of the teachers from Stony River which is the furthest upriver school. They were saying that they like coming to Aniak because they see fruit and veg here (remember the price of that celery?!) There is no store in Stony River - they have a flying grocery store come in. One banana costs over $1. I would miss fruit and veg if I lived here. I seem to be existing on meat, meat and more meat.<br />
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I went down to the shore yesterday and took pictures in the same place as I did when I arrived. So here are the before and after pictures in the same position to show how the river has now completely frozen and the change of weather in 8 days.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQIJMweSP4I/AAAAAAAAAbA/KwcEmaPW9oE/s1600-h/RIMG0044.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQIJMweSP4I/AAAAAAAAAbA/KwcEmaPW9oE/s320/RIMG0044.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260777429497167746" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260777429497167746"/></a> Kuskokwim River 16 October<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQIIu44jN-I/AAAAAAAAAa4/HMfY5NSje-M/s1600-h/RIMG0036.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQIIu44jN-I/AAAAAAAAAa4/HMfY5NSje-M/s320/RIMG0036.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260776916358739938" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260776916358739938"/></a> Kuskokwim River 23 October<br />
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One of the teachers from here in Aniak paid me the highest compliment yesterday. There is one High School girl who sat through 2 exercises not wanting to do anything. I found out later that she has a very troubled home life, and not much to hope for. Then, during the third exercise she really got interested, started smiling, and ended up writing 2 stories for me. The teacher said that everyone at the school was amazed, and the teachers have started viewing her differently becuae of what she did in that class. That made me happy. And now, I think I'm going to try and sneak some more aqutak and then call the nice man at the airport to give me a ride.<br />
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More from Anchorage.<br />
Tata,<br />
DonnaNeedless To Say...I Criedtag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-10-23:537324:BlogPost:1636352008-10-23T18:30:08.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
But first...Donna Messes Up.<br />
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So, last night I finally got back to Aniak after being fog-bound in Kalskag. Before we left, all the teachers left me in the school in Kalskag to answer the phone (so, Ewan, you were right - first I was a pilot, yesterday afternoon I was a teacher's assistant (one of the teaching assistants didn't turn up so I got to spend all afternoon with one class). I read to them, helped them with maths (oh-oh - the poor kids are going to fail their next test, and drew a…
But first...Donna Messes Up.<br />
<br />
So, last night I finally got back to Aniak after being fog-bound in Kalskag. Before we left, all the teachers left me in the school in Kalskag to answer the phone (so, Ewan, you were right - first I was a pilot, yesterday afternoon I was a teacher's assistant (one of the teaching assistants didn't turn up so I got to spend all afternoon with one class). I read to them, helped them with maths (oh-oh - the poor kids are going to fail their next test, and drew a picture of a vampire spider for Halloween), and then I was school receptionist. Strangely enough, no-one who called was remotely surprised to hear a very English voice answering the phone with "Hello, Lower Kalskag Elementary School."<br />
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We arrived in Aniak and came to the school and had something to eat, and I spent time with the lovely sisters Juliana, Kendel, Miranda and Emily. At this stage I did not know where I was staying. Emily, who I was staying with, has broken her wrist so she and her boyfriend Ronnie had gone to Anchorage to have her wrist operated on (another problem of living in the bush - you can sometimes wait nearly a day before you can get to hospital).<br />
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Well, it turned out that I was still staying at their house. Ronnie had left a message at the school saying "The door is open, help yourself to anything in the fridge." Yes - bad idea (Paulie Walnuts - you will be pleased to know that there is a chunk of cheese in there the size of a small house). They left for Anchorage on Sunday and their house has been unlocked ever since - one of the lovely things about living in the bush.<br />
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I didn't really want to stay there on my own - a bear might come in and eat all the cheese, so Sue came to stay too. Being the big city girl I am I locked the door when we were inside...and forgot to take the lock off this morning and locked us out. With visions of having to break a window to get my suitcase Sue and I set off for the school. I managed to get hold of Ronnie's sister (everyone knows everyone else here) and she's going to go round and unlock it again - or maybe just break in - I'm not quite sure.<br />
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Today is 'in service' for all the teachers from all the Kuskokwim villages in the Kuspuk school district (Ewan - if you like the word Kuskokwim, you would love Chuathbaluk, which is pronounced Chuccchhhbalucccchhh as though you are getting something horrible out of your throat. It's really hard to pronounce and I keep getting people to repeat it to me. It means 'Big Blueberry Hill' in Yup'ik and non natives just call it Chewy). Schools are off and all the teachers and teachers' aides are here, so there are about 40 or 50 all gathered together. They have training sessions on various things and a bit later this morning I am doing a session on creative writing.<br />
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Just now the Superintendent spoke and as part of his speech he presented me with a Certificate which says:<br />
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"Certificate of Recognition - On October 14, 2008, the Kuspuk School District Board of Education would like to recognise Donna Moore for a multi-year Writing Literacy Partnership between Scotland and 10 village schools along Alaska's Mid Kuskokwim River that inspired students to write their own creative stories. You believed in them, gave them praise and confidence and they will always remember you for that."<br />
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I just cried in front of 40 or 50 people. How embarrassed do I feel?!<br />
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By the way 'The Bush' in Alaska is any community not on the road system. There's a guy here from Texas who has come to speak to the teachers about a computer system they use. He was telling me this morning that when he was arranging his transport he spoke to the administrator from the school district and said "So, when I get to Anchorage should I just hire a car?" She laughed uproariously and explained that he would need to fly to Aniak. "So, when I get to Aniak should I just hire a car then?" Oh, the poor, poor fool :o)<br />
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And Aniak has more roads than anywhere else. Kalskag is the next biggest and has a couple of roads but most people still travel by ATV or snow machine. There are some trucks there - they either bring them in by barge in the summer, or drive them down the ice road (the river) in the winter. But once they break down, they just die there and stay there forever. Parts of Kalskag are a truck graveyard.<br />
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I forgot - in Sleetmute I ate raw turnip and it was yummy.<br />
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Tata my lovelies,<br />
DonnaGoodbye Sleetmute, Hello Kalskagtag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-10-23:537324:BlogPost:1636132008-10-23T06:10:31.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQAODc304WI/AAAAAAAAAZA/ICY018RJMBc/s1600-h/RIMG0559.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260219817221480802" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260219817221480802" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQAODc304WI/AAAAAAAAAZA/ICY018RJMBc/s320/RIMG0559.JPG" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;"></img></a> Some of my favourite sisters from Aniak - Juliana (age 12), Miranda (age 7), Kendel (age 10) - photo taken by Miranda's twin sister Emily. Miranda and Emily have both written me stories, Juliana is a wonderful poet, Kendel loves books. Lovely, bright and funny girls.<br />
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By the way, did I mention that I flew a plane? :o)…
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQAODc304WI/AAAAAAAAAZA/ICY018RJMBc/s1600-h/RIMG0559.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQAODc304WI/AAAAAAAAAZA/ICY018RJMBc/s320/RIMG0559.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260219817221480802" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260219817221480802"/></a> Some of my favourite sisters from Aniak - Juliana (age 12), Miranda (age 7), Kendel (age 10) - photo taken by Miranda's twin sister Emily. Miranda and Emily have both written me stories, Juliana is a wonderful poet, Kendel loves books. Lovely, bright and funny girls.<br />
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By the way, did I mention that I flew a plane? :o)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQANO28fssI/AAAAAAAAAYw/CjyoXVYEBsc/s1600-h/RIMG0527.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQANO28fssI/AAAAAAAAAYw/CjyoXVYEBsc/s320/RIMG0527.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260218913687319234" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260218913687319234"/></a>Yesterday's commute to Lower Kalskag Elementary School was a huge one - 30 seconds across the snowy playground. Karen had told me that the students had been awaiting my arrival yesterday and were disappointed that my plane was late. A lot of the older students in Sue's class (age 11-13) had written me e-mail and stories last year so I was looking forward to seeing them.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQAQlLV1_hI/AAAAAAAAAZg/83qn5m0bk2I/s1600-h/RIMG0470.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQAQlLV1_hI/AAAAAAAAAZg/83qn5m0bk2I/s320/RIMG0470.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260222595654352402" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260222595654352402"/></a>But first it was off to the younger classes for the morning. Then, at lunchtime when I went in for lunch I got hugged to death by Sue's class :o) I spent a couple of hours with them in the afternoon and we had fun doing some exercises. Again, they showed great imagination and humour and really came up with some great stuff. They were excited to see their books and one of the boys, Joey, said "I think I will send it to my grandma". So I gave him another copy. I told them I was doing another competition and he said "How much do I have to pay you to let me win this time?" LOL.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQAR_07bQlI/AAAAAAAAAZo/7uH75xlXUZU/s1600-h/RIMG0463.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQAR_07bQlI/AAAAAAAAAZo/7uH75xlXUZU/s320/RIMG0463.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260224153006064210" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260224153006064210"/></a>For the final hour of the day it was off to the youngest class. One of the little girls, Julia, had fun impersonating me. I think she has a future in entertainment. She's 6 and she managed my accent perfectly. "How do you know our names?" said one little girl, amazed, when I said "Why don't you come up next Axenia?" Their names are written in big lettters on the front of their desks :o)<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQASAL4RaiI/AAAAAAAAAZw/iK0NQaQO-fE/s1600-h/RIMG0474.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQASAL4RaiI/AAAAAAAAAZw/iK0NQaQO-fE/s320/RIMG0474.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260224159166851618" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260224159166851618"/></a>After school Sue came to take me for a walk with her dogs. We tromped through the forest, saw moose tracks, I fell over in a snowdrift. It was lovely. We then walked down to the river. Down here it's completely frozen over and they will soon be able to drive on it. It was amazing to see this really wide river just stopped in its tracks.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQASAWLukOI/AAAAAAAAAaA/aZlXcEqOR1M/s1600-h/RIMG0504.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQASAWLukOI/AAAAAAAAAaA/aZlXcEqOR1M/s320/RIMG0504.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260224161932808418" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260224161932808418"/></a>Then it was over to Sue's for burgers over a fire pit in her back yard. Yes, we ate outside at 20 degrees below freezing. I am so intrepid. I am also bloody freezing. Some of the children came over - Levi, Menzo, Russell, Eliza and Richard. They had no gloves. I was wearing 2 pairs of gloves, scarf, hat, and 3 sweaters. They kept saying they weren't cold - what are their hands made of out here? It's not human flesh, at any rate. They put hotdogs on sticks and cooked them in the fire, and then toasted marshmallows. I did Eliza's because she is only 5 but I burned them to a cinder so Menzo (age 6) had to take over, raising his eyebrows at me. He's promised to draw me a snow machine, a sled, and a big truck that apparently I will like a lot.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQAO1ogyJpI/AAAAAAAAAZI/qpGioAo2ZyQ/s1600-h/RIMG0522.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQAO1ogyJpI/AAAAAAAAAZI/qpGioAo2ZyQ/s320/RIMG0522.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260220679339517586" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260220679339517586"/></a>Levi told me he will be 13 in January. When he's 13 he told me his mom is going to allow him to chew. I thought he meant chewing gum. What he actually meant was tobacco. The children roam about the village at all hours. A lot of their mothers go to bingo and the children are called 'bingo orphans'. Children change hands a lot. They are sort of 'adopted out' from family to family. Most girls have their first child at 14 or 15 and have a couple of children by the age of 18. For the most part the children are well looked after and very much loved - by everyone in the village. However, there are a number of registered sex offenders here. Mostly, again, due to alcohol. There are about 400 residents in the village. When I asked Karen what percentage of families have problems with alcohol she said "All of them." FAS is a big issue. It's quite easy to spot the children who show signs of it. A lot of the children are very bright. Others have real difficulties.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQALwtE9FKI/AAAAAAAAAYo/yvCdulHFx8E/s1600-h/RIMG0491.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQALwtE9FKI/AAAAAAAAAYo/yvCdulHFx8E/s320/RIMG0491.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260217296130741410" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260217296130741410"/></a>Apart from anything else a lot of the families live in one room. When mum and dad are up all night drinking, fighting and shouting at each other then there's not much chance of you arriving on time at school the next day, let alone concentrating on your school work. But the happy faces I saw today mean that someone is doing something right. They have good things happening in their lives too, and the teachers here are amazing.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQASALJwxDI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/v56MwNjohRA/s1600-h/RIMG0497.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQASALJwxDI/AAAAAAAAAZ4/v56MwNjohRA/s320/RIMG0497.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260224158971774002" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260224158971774002"/></a>Today I was supposed to be flying out of Kalskag first thing to come back to Aniak, but Aniak was snowed in, so I went back to the Elementary School for more hugs. I also got a trip around Kalskag with Earl who has lived there all his life and he told me all sorts of things about Kalskag then and now. Kalskag is actually split into two villages - Lower and Upper and they are 3 miles apart. The Elementary School is in Lower Kalskag, the High School in Upper. Each village has its own clinic, shop, tribal council, and post office. There are no doctors, no police. The only village with a State Trooper is Aniak. Most of the villages are trying to recruit VPSOs (Village Public Safety Officers) who are essentially the first responders to any crime or emergency - to stabilise situations and protect crime scenes until the State Troopers can get there. However, it's difficult to get people - the State Troopers are not well liked, and if you are a native Alaskan VPSO then a lot of the people you are supposed to be arresting are your relatives and friends.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQAPi5zgbnI/AAAAAAAAAZQ/7wUj6dbrhlc/s1600-h/RIMG0514.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQAPi5zgbnI/AAAAAAAAAZQ/7wUj6dbrhlc/s320/RIMG0514.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260221457075564146" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260221457075564146"/></a>Lower Kalskag is predominantly Russian Orthodox, Upper is predominantly Catholic. Russian Orthodox weddings can last 2 hours ~(and some of the Elders moan that the priest is too quick "In my day a good wedding lasted 4 hours"!! Everyone stands - men on one side, women on the other. And that's also how people are buried - although more and more, married couples are being buried side by side. The ground here is permafrost at 12-18 inches below ground. So even in the summer when they dig a grave, they need to use a jackhammer!<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQANjppgrjI/AAAAAAAAAY4/GAk_4aIHj2s/s1600-h/RIMG0535.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQANjppgrjI/AAAAAAAAAY4/GAk_4aIHj2s/s320/RIMG0535.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260219270895283762" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260219270895283762"/></a>Many houses still use a honeybucket (which is basically a bucket with a seat on top. If you're lucky, your neighbour goes to the wood to empty his, if you're unlucky, they empty it out in the back yard. Even some recently built houses, while they had a bathroom built in, there is no plumbing. So the toilet, sink and bath can't be used. Sometimes they boil water and use the sink or bath, and just let it out under the house (most of which are on stilts). It would cost about $2m to put in a proper sewage system here (getting the equipment to the village, the pipes need a lot of insulation, plus the difficulty of burying the pipes given the permafrost), so only a few houses have proper working bathrooms.<br />
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There is no fresh milk in Kalskag, people use dried milk or long life stuff. There is very seldom fresh eggs either. Fruit and veg is even more expensive, and even less fresh than in Aniak, because it has to come that much further. When Karen and Dave go to Anchorage they go to Costco and spend $200 on stuff...and another $200 transporting it to Kalskag. Yeast and Vanilla Extract are kept behind the counter in the shops - yeast because it is used to make illegal alcohol. Vanilla extract because it has alcohol in. Karen was warned to watch her mouthwash if people visited.<br />
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Today I went to the airport 5 times. I finally got out. Oh the ignominy. Usually when asked my weight at the airport I can at least answer discreetly at the check in counter. Well, in Kalskag you basically drive out to the plane, stick your luggage in the hold yourself and then get in the plane. So there we were, about 8 of us sitting in the plane and the pilot asked us each in turn how much we weighed. "Donna Moore - how heavy are you?" (What I actually heard was "Donna - how much do you weigh fatso?" )I whimpered. A woman who was bigger than me said she weighed less, so I am afraid that I shaved 20lbs off my weight and then worried all the way back to Aniak (a 10 minute flight) that we would crash into the Kuskokwim because we didn't have enough fuel because I had lied. I could see the accusatory faces of my fellow passengers as they eyed me up and down. I DID warn the pilot about my heavy boots though.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQATc9lyQiI/AAAAAAAAAaI/vIKHJHLjBp0/s1600-h/RIMG0550.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQATc9lyQiI/AAAAAAAAAaI/vIKHJHLjBp0/s320/RIMG0550.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260225753059050018" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260225753059050018"/></a>Here are Kendel and Juliana at the back and Miranda and Emily in front. I now have a list of things they want from Scotland - chocolate, books, necklace like mine, candy.<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQAUKuTBtFI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/gwEQ6ztrrjg/s1600-h/RIMG0566.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SQAUKuTBtFI/AAAAAAAAAaQ/gwEQ6ztrrjg/s320/RIMG0566.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260226539227821138" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5260226539227821138"/></a>This is your captain speaking...tag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-10-22:537324:BlogPost:1635602008-10-22T04:24:49.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SP5-moY0YTI/AAAAAAAAAYA/jjNeU7nL39A/s1600-h/RIMG0361.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259780616956961074" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259780616956961074" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SP5-moY0YTI/AAAAAAAAAYA/jjNeU7nL39A/s320/RIMG0361.JPG" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;"></img></a> Yesterday I flew a plane. No...wait...let me say that again because I'm not sure you heard it correctly. YESTERDAY I FLEW A PLANE!!!!! Just call me Biggles.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SP59xLYUiTI/AAAAAAAAAXw/REp7i6Kwz_I/s1600-h/RIMG0278.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259779698637179186" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259779698637179186" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SP59xLYUiTI/AAAAAAAAAXw/REp7i6Kwz_I/s320/RIMG0278.JPG" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;"></img></a><br />
I was supposed to be flying out of Sleetmute on Sunday, back to Aniak so that I could fly to Kalskag…
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SP5-moY0YTI/AAAAAAAAAYA/jjNeU7nL39A/s1600-h/RIMG0361.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SP5-moY0YTI/AAAAAAAAAYA/jjNeU7nL39A/s320/RIMG0361.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259780616956961074" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259780616956961074"/></a> Yesterday I flew a plane. No...wait...let me say that again because I'm not sure you heard it correctly. YESTERDAY I FLEW A PLANE!!!!! Just call me Biggles.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SP59xLYUiTI/AAAAAAAAAXw/REp7i6Kwz_I/s1600-h/RIMG0278.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SP59xLYUiTI/AAAAAAAAAXw/REp7i6Kwz_I/s320/RIMG0278.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259779698637179186" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259779698637179186"/></a><br />
I was supposed to be flying out of Sleetmute on Sunday, back to Aniak so that I could fly to Kalskag first thing on Monday. However, a couple of the planes were down with mechanical trouble (the duck tape had come off the window or something :o) ) so they were going to fly me out on Monday instead. "Your plane will be there at about 11 or half 11 or maybe earlier." So on Monday morning I was all ready by 10 and decided to go for a last walk down to the river. I called in at the school to be met by a message "They're sending Steve in the school plane for you. When you hear it scurry out to the runway." Oh, those pesky check-in procedures.<br />
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So I waited and waited and eventually at 1pm the plane came. This was fine. I was due to fly out of Aniak at 3.15 to go to Kalskag. Steve had to pick up a water sample in Chuathbaluk which was about 45 minutes away. Since I love take offs and landings out here, that was excellent news.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SP5-mc9wtPI/AAAAAAAAAX4/spmXKxb0oto/s1600-h/RIMG0359.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SP5-mc9wtPI/AAAAAAAAAX4/spmXKxb0oto/s320/RIMG0359.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259780613890684146" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259780613890684146"/></a>So, there we were. I sat next to Steve, put on my headset and we took off. It had been snowing lightly in Sleetmute and the sky was grey, but as we got to about 5 minutes out of Sleetmute the weather cleared up and it was lovely. "Would you like to fly the plane?" said Steve. I twisted around in my seat, just in case there was a co-pilot stretched out in the back who I hadn't noticed. "ME??? Steve, I don't even drive a car!"<br />
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"It's easy. Just steer us along the course of the river. Move this." he pointed to what I shall call the steering wheel, since I don't know the technical term (they didn't teach us that in flying school)."to the left when you want to go left, and right when you want to go right. Pull it back when you want to go up and push it down when you want to go lower." Or was it the other way round...? This dial tells you where we are - try and keep that in the middle except when we're turning. This dial tells you what height we're at. Try and keep it around 900 feet except when we're going through the hills. If the fog rolls in, take it lower so that you can see the river." I looked at him. "Sometimes it gets so foggy that you can't see one side of the river from the other." I whimpered. "I'm not expecting that to happen."<br />
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So I took control of the plane. I FLEW THE DAMN PLANE! For about half an hour I was in control. Keeping at a steady 900 feet...OK, at first it was an UNSTEADY 750 to 1300 feet (looking at TWO dials AND where I was going was really tough, you know...I flew along the line of the river. At one point Steve said "You're doing great. Just follow the river and you'll get to Aniak. Wake me up when we get there."<br />
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Because the river meanders and twists there were a couple of times where we took a short cut through the hills. I swear I thought I was going to crash us into the trees. "How do you aim the plane when you're not following the river." Steve set a dial for 250 W and said "Keep it at that setting."<br />
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"THREE dials? You want me to watch THREE dials?" So I did. We flew in between hills and then back along the river.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SP59fGJ0J1I/AAAAAAAAAXo/-zIEB7aN8Sg/s1600-h/RIMG0317.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SP59fGJ0J1I/AAAAAAAAAXo/-zIEB7aN8Sg/s320/RIMG0317.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259779387996514130" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259779387996514130"/></a>"Just point the plane at that patch of white there. That's the runway in Chuathbaluk."<br />
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"You're going to take over now, right Steve?"<br />
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"Nope, you're doing just great." He went onto the radio and said we were 5 minutes out of Chuathbaluk. "Now bring it down steadily at about 100 feet a minute." I concentrated hard. "Donna, that's 300 feet in 30 seconds. We're going to be there 3 minutes early." Whoops. As we came in over the trees I reluctantly handed control back and Steve brought it into land.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SP5_NJE5KwI/AAAAAAAAAYY/CvthxVwFgLE/s1600-h/RIMG0397.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SP5_NJE5KwI/AAAAAAAAAYY/CvthxVwFgLE/s320/RIMG0397.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259781278566787842" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259781278566787842"/></a>As he was taxied along the runway ready to take off again he said "Do you like roller coasters?" "Oh yes," I said. So he sped along the runway towards the trees at the end. As I opened my mouth to say "There's a squirrel sitting on that branch and I can see the whites of its eyes and it look as petrified as I am." the plane lifted sharply into the air and my stomach did a back flip. I'm very glad I didn't have that piece of blueberry cheesecake for breakfast.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SP5_MgpIixI/AAAAAAAAAYI/3rGYT6KV7_I/s1600-h/RIMG0389.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SP5_MgpIixI/AAAAAAAAAYI/3rGYT6KV7_I/s320/RIMG0389.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259781267712936722" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259781267712936722"/></a>He then flew about 50 feet over the river so I could see the ice floes. This far down the river they have stopped, blocked up at Aniak. The ice is all lumpy at the moment, made up of little separate floes. At some point the weather will warm up, the ice will melt a bit, and it will smooth out.. He then sped up and did the stomach churning bit again. This time, I went weightless and came out of my seat. "That's cos I got us to 2 Gs" he said "Do it again! Do it again!" I squealed.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SP5_MpsabnI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/J-yTBXKoF0M/s1600-h/RIMG0391.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SP5_MpsabnI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/J-yTBXKoF0M/s320/RIMG0391.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259781270142611058" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259781270142611058"/></a>Flying will never be the same again. I took a few photos but not as many as I usually do becaause, I'm not sure if I mentioned it but I WAS FLYING THE PLANE!<br />
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I had to wait a while for the flight to Kalskag as they took me off the earlier one and put me on one at 4pm. It was really a novel experience for the airport manager to say "Donna - there's a phone call for you."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SP6AzL1b8WI/AAAAAAAAAYg/9BnisNBDcnI/s1600-h/RIMG0457.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SP6AzL1b8WI/AAAAAAAAAYg/9BnisNBDcnI/s320/RIMG0457.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259783031653921122" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259783031653921122"/></a>I arrived in Kalskag and was taken to Karen and Dave's house. Lovely people - I stayed with them last year. Dave made dinner - Caribou and bear. Yes, I have added Winnie The Pooh to my growing list of epicurean sins. Dave caught the bear. It was a black bear so I made sure to get its credentials before I ate it, as bear meat takes on the flavour of whatever it had been eating. Luckily, this one wasn't found at the town dump but sitting in the blueberry patch with its furry little lips all blue and juicy. And it tasted dee-lish-us. And very tender. Why do I sound like Hannibal Lecter?<br />
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Tata my lovelies.<br />
DonnaA Day With Marytag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-10-20:537324:BlogPost:1634872008-10-20T19:50:35.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPwFJe4AWWI/AAAAAAAAAR0/PsWHHN7Tl5M/s1600-h/RIMG0195.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259084125326825826" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259084125326825826" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPwFJe4AWWI/AAAAAAAAAR0/PsWHHN7Tl5M/s320/RIMG0195.JPG" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;"></img></a> This is Mary Effemka, who is one of the loveliest people it has ever been my pleasure to meet. She is a cook at the school here and when I left last year she gave me a lovely note and gift. I saw her briefly on Thursday as I arrived and she left for an in-service day and I was sad that I wasn't going to get to see her for longer. But she stopped by the B&B on her way home…
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPwFJe4AWWI/AAAAAAAAAR0/PsWHHN7Tl5M/s1600-h/RIMG0195.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPwFJe4AWWI/AAAAAAAAAR0/PsWHHN7Tl5M/s320/RIMG0195.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259084125326825826" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259084125326825826"/></a>This is Mary Effemka, who is one of the loveliest people it has ever been my pleasure to meet. She is a cook at the school here and when I left last year she gave me a lovely note and gift. I saw her briefly on Thursday as I arrived and she left for an in-service day and I was sad that I wasn't going to get to see her for longer. But she stopped by the B&B on her way home last night and asked me to come and visit her today. I had brought her some gifts from Scotland, which I gave her when I saw her as I wasn't sure when my plane was coming to pick me up, but luckily there were no planes out of Sleetmute on Sunday, so I was pleased to get a chance to spend some time with her.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPwEJ7m0IMI/AAAAAAAAARk/lI1S0eSGGd8/s1600-h/RIMG0167.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPwEJ7m0IMI/AAAAAAAAARk/lI1S0eSGGd8/s320/RIMG0167.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259083033527722178" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259083033527722178"/></a>So I set off for her house this morning. It was gorgeously sunny but the coldest day here yet. It called for scarf, hat, 3 sweaters and 2 pairs of gloves.<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPwGtBaHpVI/AAAAAAAAASM/lm95fiCb3Ok/s1600-h/RIMG0200.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPwGtBaHpVI/AAAAAAAAASM/lm95fiCb3Ok/s320/RIMG0200.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259085835403765074" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259085835403765074"/></a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPwGJstDI3I/AAAAAAAAASE/y_wt_D_OYTU/s1600-h/RIMG0194.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPwGJstDI3I/AAAAAAAAASE/y_wt_D_OYTU/s320/RIMG0194.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259085228550595442" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259085228550595442"/></a> When I arrived she was waiting at the window for me to arrive and welcomed me into her home which was as warm as toast and smelled of cinnamon, as she was baking.<br />
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<br />
She has hundreds of photos all around the walls. These are photos of her parents and sister in the 1940s (the picture on the right) and pictures of her husband's family. She's a widow now - her husband killed himself earlier this year. She was telling me that it is tradition when someone dies that you not sleep alone in the house where they have died for a year after their death. Most of the time she has one of her grand-daughters to stay with her at night, but as they are away in Anchorage at the moment, last night she went over and stayed with a neighbour. On the one year anniversary of his death there will be a big 'Feed' and then she can stay there alone again.<br />
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She had made me fry bread - which is like funnel cake/doughnuts, twisted and dipped in icing sugar and we sat and drank tea and chatted. Yup'ik people speak very slowly and thoughtfully and it is really relaxing being in their company. She was telling me all about her family, where she grew up, her childhood, and how things have changed since she was young. I stayed for hours. <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPwDymA06II/AAAAAAAAARc/XunbHI4V-MM/s1600-h/RIMG0205.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPwDymA06II/AAAAAAAAARc/XunbHI4V-MM/s320/RIMG0205.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259082632594253954" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259082632594253954"/></a>She gave me a beautiful gift - a little handmade tray made of bark, a candle in a pretty egg-shaped pot, and some fancy soap. She also gave me the most wonderful note that made me cry (yes, Vincent, I KNOW everything makes me cry but this was really special). It says, in part, "...I don't want to be at the airport if Donna go. I have no self control when my tears start falling." Every time I think about it I tear up. And while I was there she said to me "I'm afraid you won't ever come back." I told her that somehow I think I'll be back one day :o)<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPwIKoffBQI/AAAAAAAAASU/fYBc3RjVzQ8/s1600-h/RIMG0186.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPwIKoffBQI/AAAAAAAAASU/fYBc3RjVzQ8/s320/RIMG0186.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259087443623085314" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259087443623085314"/></a> After I left Mary I had another wander around the village. This is the road up to Blueberry Hill...or Cranberry Hill as Alfreda calls it, since there are no blueberries there :o) There was the wonderful smell of woodsmoke throughout the village today as there was a slight wind.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPwJ70fl9WI/AAAAAAAAASs/pV-imJR7Xes/s1600-h/RIMG0271.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPwJ70fl9WI/AAAAAAAAASs/pV-imJR7Xes/s320/RIMG0271.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259089388169983330" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259089388169983330"/></a> I then walked right down to the other end of the village and cut through to the shore and walked back along. This time I took a couple of videos with my camera so I hope they come out OK.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPwI0yx9fnI/AAAAAAAAASc/rez5CPnanoM/s1600-h/RIMG0182.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPwI0yx9fnI/AAAAAAAAASc/rez5CPnanoM/s320/RIMG0182.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259088167939440242" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259088167939440242"/></a><br />
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I shall be sorry to leave Sleetmute. It is a very special place. Harsh but beautiful - in all sorts of ways. A place of many contradictions. <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPwJLxjCKqI/AAAAAAAAASk/p0stzjzFgGQ/s1600-h/RIMG0207.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPwJLxjCKqI/AAAAAAAAASk/p0stzjzFgGQ/s320/RIMG0207.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259088562745387682" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5259088562745387682"/></a><br />
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On the other hand, I've been eating about 5 meals a day, as everyone keeps feeding me, so it's probably a good thing that I am going! This is for Ewan - yesterday I had eggs, bacon and toast, frybread and cookies, moose stir fry, moose steak, mock lobster and sirloin steak...OK, that was SIX meals. They'd better not push me down a hill or I will become a huge snowball.Snow Is Very Cold...tag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-10-20:537324:BlogPost:1634862008-10-20T19:48:22.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
...when you fall flat on your face in it.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPt_r4mqpvI/AAAAAAAAAQE/J47DTy6NMCA/s1600-h/RIMG0127.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258937381790852850" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258937381790852850" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPt_r4mqpvI/AAAAAAAAAQE/J47DTy6NMCA/s320/RIMG0127.JPG" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;"></img></a> This will be a post with a lot of random stuff that I have forgotten to mention before. Yesterday, being a Saturday, there was no school. So Alfreda and Samuel had said that they would take me for a walk around the village. So I walked uptown to pick them up, then we went downtown, then we went back uptown again. It's a very small…
...when you fall flat on your face in it.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPt_r4mqpvI/AAAAAAAAAQE/J47DTy6NMCA/s1600-h/RIMG0127.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPt_r4mqpvI/AAAAAAAAAQE/J47DTy6NMCA/s320/RIMG0127.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258937381790852850" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258937381790852850"/></a> This will be a post with a lot of random stuff that I have forgotten to mention before. Yesterday, being a Saturday, there was no school. So Alfreda and Samuel had said that they would take me for a walk around the village. So I walked uptown to pick them up, then we went downtown, then we went back uptown again. It's a very small place but we stopped to play with the dogs, throw snowballs at icicles and visit with people, so it took us about 3 hours.<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPuAeRdZDKI/AAAAAAAAAQM/CFoD3Lcw_ls/s1600-h/RIMG0022.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPuAeRdZDKI/AAAAAAAAAQM/CFoD3Lcw_ls/s320/RIMG0022.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258938247456296098" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258938247456296098"/></a><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPuBmw8L7-I/AAAAAAAAAQU/3-FiU9v6xso/s1600-h/RIMG0036.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPuBmw8L7-I/AAAAAAAAAQU/3-FiU9v6xso/s320/RIMG0036.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258939492857540578" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258939492857540578"/></a>There are 3 or 4 houses where the teachers live, and the B&B/store where I am staying, and then there are about 20 other houses. The total population of the village is about 80. 17 of those 20 houses have families with alcohol problems. All 20 have lost someone to alcohol - whether it's suicide, accident or murder. A number of villagers are in jail for arson or manslaughter - all alcohol related. One of my students from last year is in a treatment centre after trying to kill himself. He ended up shooting part of his face off.<br />
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Someone once asked the lady who owns the B&B whether it was not depressing that there are so many alcohol related deaths but she said that she was surprised there are not more. She said that when she hears partying late into the night she's always happy the next morning when there ISN'T a report of someone falling into the river and drowning, or being found frozen to death at the town dump. <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPuIhmfEEmI/AAAAAAAAAQ0/z-dPVr7NOr4/s1600-h/RIMG0024.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPuIhmfEEmI/AAAAAAAAAQ0/z-dPVr7NOr4/s320/RIMG0024.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258947100733084258" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258947100733084258"/></a><br />
A couple of weeks ago, 2 of the villagers went down to Aniak to pick up a new ATV that one of them had bought with the family's Permanent Fund Dividend. Down in Aniak they picked up the ATV, got drunk, and then tipped the boat over on the way back. Luckily they were OK but the new $7K machine is now down at the bottom of the Kuskokwim.<br />
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This is a damp village. They're allowed to drink alcohol, but not sell it. As a result, there's a lot of bootlegging. Scotch that would cost $11 in Anchorage costs between $60 and $100 here.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPuHw7yOQkI/AAAAAAAAAQs/5Ulo-S1hsdQ/s1600-h/RIMG0003.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPuHw7yOQkI/AAAAAAAAAQs/5Ulo-S1hsdQ/s320/RIMG0003.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258946264636998210" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258946264636998210"/></a> This is a picture of Susan's husband Doug, and his friend Scott. I forgot to mention that Doug has some brilliant phrases. He told me a Marine Corps toast that I'm not sure I should repeat here, given the fact that my mum is reading it :o) He has been up here since he was 23 and before he met his wife he went to the lower 48 to meet another woman he had been corresponding with. He'd never seen her before and he said that when he met her "She looked like 7 bags of a**holes and they'd taken out all the pretty ones" :o)<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPuHULRAtSI/AAAAAAAAAQk/npkeE7zITwM/s1600-h/RIMG0002.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPuHULRAtSI/AAAAAAAAAQk/npkeE7zITwM/s320/RIMG0002.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258945770576459042" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258945770576459042"/></a>Here is my transport of Friday night. It was excellent fun. After Sam and Alfreda and I had roamed the village I dropped them off and then walked down to the shore.<br />
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I keep being drawn to the river. It's about 1/8th of a mile across and even in the few days I have been here, it's freezing up more and more. <a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPuJruPoy7I/AAAAAAAAARM/dxut25nXQNU/s1600-h/RIMG0095.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPuJruPoy7I/AAAAAAAAARM/dxut25nXQNU/s320/RIMG0095.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258948374126185394" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258948374126185394"/></a><br />
This part is now frozen half across. As I stood on the shore I could hear the ice shifting and creaking and banging together and the sound echoes around. Apparently the river is completely frozen down below Aniak. So I'm hoping that when I get to Kalskag on Monday I will be able to go out on the river.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPuJJ7poEfI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/lvRUADgcg90/s1600-h/RIMG0136.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPuJJ7poEfI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/lvRUADgcg90/s320/RIMG0136.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258947793609298418" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258947793609298418"/></a>I walked back through the snow along the shore. At one point I walked up the hill to take photos of an abandoned house. I was carefully trudging upwards when suddenly a dog barked right behind me. I jumped and fell flat on my face, and slid, face first, back down the hill! It was REALLY REALLY cold. You'd better appreciate these 2 photos. You have no idea what I went though to get them!<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPuJKY4vzFI/AAAAAAAAARE/NaOW_R3QIGQ/s1600-h/RIMG0133.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPuJKY4vzFI/AAAAAAAAARE/NaOW_R3QIGQ/s320/RIMG0133.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258947801457347666" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258947801457347666"/></a>"I Had The Bestest Day"tag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-10-18:537324:BlogPost:1632902008-10-18T19:21:28.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPozIPTS4OI/AAAAAAAAAPE/7ModVTGVkiQ/s1600-h/RIMG0380.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258571731547906274" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258571731547906274" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPozIPTS4OI/AAAAAAAAAPE/7ModVTGVkiQ/s320/RIMG0380.JPG" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;"></img></a><br />
After a peaceful sleep in what has to be the quietest place on earth, and a yummy breakfast of eggs over easy it was time for the long commute to school. It was all of a minute's walk!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPozel8LctI/AAAAAAAAAPM/VrL1Lus8P6E/s1600-h/RIMG0320.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258572115582087890" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258572115582087890" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPozel8LctI/AAAAAAAAAPM/VrL1Lus8P6E/s320/RIMG0320.JPG" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;"></img></a> Only two of the Sleetmute students were in this morning. A lot of the…
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPozIPTS4OI/AAAAAAAAAPE/7ModVTGVkiQ/s1600-h/RIMG0380.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPozIPTS4OI/AAAAAAAAAPE/7ModVTGVkiQ/s320/RIMG0380.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258571731547906274" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258571731547906274"/></a><br />
After a peaceful sleep in what has to be the quietest place on earth, and a yummy breakfast of eggs over easy it was time for the long commute to school. It was all of a minute's walk!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPozel8LctI/AAAAAAAAAPM/VrL1Lus8P6E/s1600-h/RIMG0320.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPozel8LctI/AAAAAAAAAPM/VrL1Lus8P6E/s320/RIMG0320.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258572115582087890" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258572115582087890"/></a>Only two of the Sleetmute students were in this morning. A lot of the families have got their dividend cheques so they are off to Anchorage. So Samuel (age 9), Alfreda (age 7) and I read stories and played games until the other students arrived from the other upriver schools - Stony River and Red Devil. The students from Crroked Creek had their plane cancelled so they couldn't come. So this morning I had 5 elementary children. I read them a couple of stories and we did the Magic Door exercise. We did a forest, then a planet and then Alfreda said "please, please please can we do another one. I want to do a cloud." So they all picked their own location. I told them there was going to be a prize for the best thing brought back from behind the magic door. So we had fairies, bunnies, and crabs from the forest, stars from the planet, baby dragons...all sorts of good things. It was excellent fun and the childrens' imaginations really shone through.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPoz8ishwMI/AAAAAAAAAPU/6TSWcTD12Cw/s1600-h/RIMG0340.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPoz8ishwMI/AAAAAAAAAPU/6TSWcTD12Cw/s320/RIMG0340.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258572630107209922" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258572630107209922"/></a><br />
At lunchtime one of my favourite students from last year, Vernon, came to say hello. He has a story in the anthology so I gave him a copy of it and made him promise to write me another one. He and his friend should have been at school but they had to chop wood for their families. School is not really a priority for some families out here.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPo0q2yfrvI/AAAAAAAAAPc/Is93Uv7BAyk/s1600-h/RIMG0322.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPo0q2yfrvI/AAAAAAAAAPc/Is93Uv7BAyk/s320/RIMG0322.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258573425774931698" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258573425774931698"/></a>In the afternoon I had the High School students for a couple of hours - 4 boys age 14 and 15 and 1 boy age 19. I thought "Oh-oh - this is going to be fun - 5 grumpy teenage boys who don't want to be here." Well, that couldn't have been further from the truth. They were funny, polite, intelligent, interested, worked hard and were great fun to work with. They taught me some Yup'ik words, we did several exercises and we had a lot of fun. We did exercises on plot, character and setting. Here's the start of one of the boys' pieces on setting - <span style="font-style:italic;">"The sound of a small creek keeps the silence out. The crunching of small paws on the fallen leaves..."</span>. How lovely is that? This is a picture of them all - Brad and Robert (brothers) Logan (or Pink as he calls himself!),Andrew and Eric. Great kids. They all promised to write me a story and I've told them I shall be after them if they don't.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPo1P3VfBMI/AAAAAAAAAPk/t4UBXtlhkoI/s1600-h/RIMG0359.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPo1P3VfBMI/AAAAAAAAAPk/t4UBXtlhkoI/s320/RIMG0359.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258574061576848578" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258574061576848578"/></a>After school I went for a walk around the village. Alfreda came running after me and showed me around. "This is Nicolai's house, this is Samuel's, that one is Mary's." On the way back she said "Do you remember whose house this is?" "Errrr, no..." "It begins with an S. Now do you remember?" This is Alfreda standing in front of a honey bucket outhouse.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPo2EpVTXXI/AAAAAAAAAP0/yf_qTS6GW4s/s1600-h/RIMG0361.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPo2EpVTXXI/AAAAAAAAAP0/yf_qTS6GW4s/s320/RIMG0361.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258574968351055218" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258574968351055218"/></a>In the evening I went to Susan's house for dinner. Her husband Doug is ex Marine Corps, Vietnam vet, and a guide and trapper. And one of the funniest people I have ever made. Says what he means, straight down the line and extremely well-read. He's a history buff and knows all sorts of fascinating stuff. After dinner I got to ride on the snow machine! Susan took me out on hers. She has a little wooden sled behind it and first of all I stood on the back of that (like you see mushers doing) and that was great fun. Then I actually got to drive it which was even more fun :o) The scariest part was rounding the bottom of a hill when I thought I was going to tip it over. It felt as though I was going really fast but since I didn't ever need to use the brake a one legged centipede would probably have had no problem passing me!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPo2EQAe9WI/AAAAAAAAAPs/jZmHYXmT3z0/s1600-h/RIMG0375.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPo2EQAe9WI/AAAAAAAAAPs/jZmHYXmT3z0/s320/RIMG0375.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258574961552848226" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258574961552848226"/></a>It was sooooo cold. I was wearing 2 pairs of gloves and the tips of my fingers still started to burn with the cold. The river was flowing more slowly this evening - a sign that it's starting to freeze up and getting jammed some place down river. I bravely stood on the iced over river and here is the proof. Back at Susan's we sat and drank whisky and chatted and laughed for a while and then they gave me a torch to come home. "It's next door - I won't need a torch" said the big city girl. They made me take one and I'm glad I did. It was pitch dark, despite the almost full moon. The stars are so bright here because there is no artificial light diluting the starlight.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPo2E0rGVPI/AAAAAAAAAP8/lgvVnkA7P8U/s1600-h/RIMG0351.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPo2E0rGVPI/AAAAAAAAAP8/lgvVnkA7P8U/s320/RIMG0351.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258574971395265778" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258574971395265778"/></a><br />
As we were walking round this afternoon Alfreda said "I liked going through the magic door." "Did you?" I said, "Was it fun?" She nodded and said with a big beaming smile, "I had the bestest day." So did I, Alfreda, so did I.Serene In Sleetmutetag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-10-17:537324:BlogPost:1631442008-10-17T05:54:49.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPgdjpECWvI/AAAAAAAAAOE/gDUjmF6bkNE/s1600-h/RIMG0091.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257985063110466290" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257985063110466290" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPgdjpECWvI/AAAAAAAAAOE/gDUjmF6bkNE/s320/RIMG0091.JPG" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;"></img></a><br />
This is the beautiful Kuskokwim River from the air. It's wide and winding and has loads of narrow tributaries running off it. But I am running ahead of myself. I got up this morning and packed for my afternoon trip to Sleetmute. Ronnie's little boy came over for a few minutes in the morning before he went to his grandma's (Oma). He's 2 and a half and very bright. He has a…
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPgdjpECWvI/AAAAAAAAAOE/gDUjmF6bkNE/s1600-h/RIMG0091.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPgdjpECWvI/AAAAAAAAAOE/gDUjmF6bkNE/s320/RIMG0091.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257985063110466290" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257985063110466290"/></a><br />
This is the beautiful Kuskokwim River from the air. It's wide and winding and has loads of narrow tributaries running off it. But I am running ahead of myself. I got up this morning and packed for my afternoon trip to Sleetmute. Ronnie's little boy came over for a few minutes in the morning before he went to his grandma's (Oma). He's 2 and a half and very bright. He has a costume for Halloween which he is very excited about as it's a pilot's outfit and he loves planes (apparently he can recognise every plane that lands here!) Emily asked him what he was going to be for Halloween and he said "Scared" :o)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPgfoa7EYRI/AAAAAAAAAOM/q-xKWPYQ1OE/s1600-h/RIMG0187.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPgfoa7EYRI/AAAAAAAAAOM/q-xKWPYQ1OE/s320/RIMG0187.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257987344237355282" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257987344237355282"/></a>Then it was off to Aniak High School. It was a day full of emotion. This morning I had the Seniors for about 2 and a half hours solid. I thought they were going to be sooooooo bored but we had fun. One student started off as a bit of a grumpy teenager. We did 3 exercises and for the first 2 she basically sat there uninterested and uncommunicative. When I went round to speak to the students in turn as they were writing, I included her in, but didn't make her write anything. Then, all of a sudden, on the third exercise she suddenly started to participate and to enjoy it! It was a good fun exercise. I got them all to write a sentence to start a story and then with each sentence we passed the papers round and they had to write another sentence in the next story. There were 7 students and the one who started the story finished it. So each story was eight sentences long, and they were all surprised about the direction the stories went in. The recalcitrant student was also in my next class, with the Juniors, and she wrote me a GREAT story, and then went and typed it up and gave it to me. The teachers were shocked as they said that they could never get her to write anything, so that was really nice. I found out later that she has had a really tough life with not much to look forward to. She's a lovely girl and I hope things get better for her.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPghvyI7RUI/AAAAAAAAAOU/elyGOel6m6o/s1600-h/RIMG0273.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPghvyI7RUI/AAAAAAAAAOU/elyGOel6m6o/s320/RIMG0273.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257989669751833922" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257989669751833922"/></a>In the Junior class one of the girls made me cry with something that she wrote relating to her own life. A beautiful, sweet girl who remembered me from last year. We did an exercise where they filled in a sheet I had drawn up detailing various questions about a character - so physical aspects, favourite food, hobbies, best character trait, worst character trait, bad habits, likes and dislikes and the last question - what is your character's secret? She wrote something for me, and as I read it she had a tear rolling down her face and my eyes filled up. We talked about what she had written. At the end of the class we read some of the pieces out. Most of the students didn't want to read their pieces themselves but they were happy for me to read them out to the rest of the class. She said she wanted me to read it. I asked her if she was sure as it was very personal but she insisted that she was sure. I read it and it touched the whole class. I could feel my voice shaking as I read the last bit and it was hard not to burst into tears. We had some funny ones too. One boy had written about a character who was a Martian. His bad habit was 'eating humans'. His hobby was 'eating humans'. His secret was...he was a vegetarian :o) They all burst out laughing at that one!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPgiswvsGyI/AAAAAAAAAOc/TtjaYYQETrw/s1600-h/RIMG0200.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPgiswvsGyI/AAAAAAAAAOc/TtjaYYQETrw/s320/RIMG0200.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257990717349567266" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257990717349567266"/></a>Then it was off to the airport to check in to fly to Sleetmute. "And how much do you weigh, Donna?" I'm adding another 5lbs each time I get asked. I did the heavy boots thing but the lady checking me in said "I've already added an allowance for bad weather gear." Oh, OK - looks like I'm not going to be getting away with THAT one any more. I sat next to the pilot. Safety demonstration - "Don't touch the red button, miss." This picture shows my plane, plus my method of transport to the B&B in Sleetmute. Yes! My first ATV trip of the week, and hopefully not my last.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPgjMuDTOXI/AAAAAAAAAOk/930S-iKwEHc/s1600-h/RIMG0204.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPgjMuDTOXI/AAAAAAAAAOk/930S-iKwEHc/s320/RIMG0204.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257991266382330226" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257991266382330226"/></a>At the...ahem...airport in Sleetmute, Mary the cook who gave me the ornaments made of tea bag covers last year was getting ready to leave for a cooks in-service day. She said she was hoping to see me on Saturday when she gets back. I hope so - she is a truly lovely lady. I have a gift for her from Scotland, and also the tea bag covers I have been saving up all year. She gave me a hug and we waved her off.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPgj69HkAPI/AAAAAAAAAOs/qxnC27sxT9k/s1600-h/RIMG0292.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPgj69HkAPI/AAAAAAAAAOs/qxnC27sxT9k/s320/RIMG0292.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257992060700721394" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257992060700721394"/></a><br />
This is my Bed and Breakfast. It's lovely and the views over the river are stunning. Henry and Bambi who run it are really nice. Over dinner we talked about all sorts and I learned more about the area, about how people live, and about the wildlife. After dinner, I dressed myself in 17 layers of clothes, including, scarf, hat and 2 pairs of gloves and took myself down to the river to watch the sun set.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPglGr_iVWI/AAAAAAAAAO0/5Qfd2W2qrio/s1600-h/RIMG0255.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPglGr_iVWI/AAAAAAAAAO0/5Qfd2W2qrio/s320/RIMG0255.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257993361773712738" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257993361773712738"/></a><br />
It was stunning down there. I watched the ice floes as they sped along. Some go faster than others and they join up with the ones in front, making bigger ice floes all the time. That's what makes the creaking and crashing noises. As I walked on the snow at the edge of the water my boot scraped against something and I looked down. It was ice! I was no longer walking on the shore, I was walking on the edge of the frozen river. Needless to say, I quickly moved back onto terra firma!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPgl2n-F4iI/AAAAAAAAAO8/l77Ze6yRQRo/s1600-h/RIMG0225.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPgl2n-F4iI/AAAAAAAAAO8/l77Ze6yRQRo/s320/RIMG0225.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257994185327632930" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257994185327632930"/></a> I walked for ages. It was so peaceful. Bloody freezing! But peaceful. I walked back up, gazing longingly at peoples' snowmobiles as I passed them. Tomorrow it's off to Sleetmute school. The 6 pupils here are being joined by pupils from the various upriver villages, so I should have about 25 students in total tomorrow. More tomorrow night hopefully. Excuse the errors in theis post. The wireless connection is a bit dodgy and keeps going out so I am hurriedly typing everything and not checking it for errors.<br />
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Toodle-oo the noo.<br />
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DonnaA Lovely Bit Of Fish, Thattag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-10-16:537324:BlogPost:1630792008-10-16T16:00:00.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPdlCLtUB_I/AAAAAAAAAN8/rgcvwzh6o5g/s1600-h/RIMG0056.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257782178155333618" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257782178155333618" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPdlCLtUB_I/AAAAAAAAAN8/rgcvwzh6o5g/s320/RIMG0056.JPG" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;"></img></a><br />
A brief interlude as I am not sure how much (or even whether) I will be able to post over the next few days. Straight after school today (High School this morning, Junior High this afternoon) I am getting on a tiny plane for Sleetmute and I am not sure if I will have internet access. So I thought I would post a wee update on yesterday evening before I head off, just in case. I…
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPdlCLtUB_I/AAAAAAAAAN8/rgcvwzh6o5g/s1600-h/RIMG0056.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPdlCLtUB_I/AAAAAAAAAN8/rgcvwzh6o5g/s320/RIMG0056.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257782178155333618" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257782178155333618"/></a><br />
A brief interlude as I am not sure how much (or even whether) I will be able to post over the next few days. Straight after school today (High School this morning, Junior High this afternoon) I am getting on a tiny plane for Sleetmute and I am not sure if I will have internet access. So I thought I would post a wee update on yesterday evening before I head off, just in case. I am looking forward to my plane ride - the snowy scenery will be stunning as we fly low over the river.<br />
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Ronnie cooked a silver salmon he had caught and it was absolutely delicious. I had 3 huge pieces. I'm sure I am growing scales. And Emily had made apple pie and ice cream. When I get asked THIS time how much I weigh before I get on the plane I'm going to have to add an extra 20 pounds. Still, at least if my excess weight makes the plane crash into the river I am round and will float.<br />
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We had visitors last night - Trenton (age 8) and Dre (age 6). Trenton is my little friend from my last visit and Dre is his cousin. Dre was in my second grade class yesterday and is just this cute little boy with no front teeth. They kept us amused playing with Emily's Wii.<br />
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When we took them home, Ronnie took me on a tour around the village. There are 600 people living here. I couldn't see any street names but Aniak has two areas - downtown and housing. We went past the Pizza Hut...no, wait, make that pizza hut. It's this little wooden shack where Esther makes the most delicious pizza (food reference for Ewan). I'm hoping to get a photo of it during the day.<br />
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Because it's so dark here the stars seem extra bright. As we drove round we saw a fox and Ronnie gave me some bear tips for my trip to Sleetmute. He says that a lot of them will be hibernating right now but there will still be some around - especially the young males who are too stupid and macho to hibernate. So, it's a cross-species thing then? So I just have to rememebr one thing - if I come across a black bear I have to fight back (I'm going to stick a brick in my handbag just in case), and if I see a brown bear I have to lay down and play dead. Not that I'm going to have much choice - if I see a ten foot bear coming towards me I shall just keel over in shock anyway. Apparently, brown bears kill their prey and then go off and leave it for a week or so, so if they think I'm dead they will just remember where they left me and toddle off to...well...to do whatever a bear does in the woods. Or, if I make a lot of noise they might just avoid me. Since my singing makes everyone else run away, I'm thinking that it might work on bears too. I've been practising Blitzkrieg Bop in the hope that they are not big fans of The Ramones.<br />
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We drove down to the river and listened to the creaking and shifting of the ice for a while. I asked Ronnie how fast you can drive on the ice when the river is frozen. He says he has done 90mph on it! Remind me never to go driving on the ice with anyone from Aniak. Apparently, I have to come back in the summer so that I can go on a boat trip. They warned me about the mosquitos here though - seemingly known as Alaska's airline.<br />
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It's now 8am and we are soon going o be heading off to school. It's pitch black outside and completely silent. I hope I will be able to post from Sleetmute, but if not, expect the most ginormous post when I get back :o)<br />
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Oh - and apparently I sound like Ratatouille :o)<br />
<br />
Tata,<br />
Donna xAh...this is what it's all abouttag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-10-16:537324:BlogPost:1630302008-10-16T01:35:31.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPaU6GJoVQI/AAAAAAAAANk/Q8aaC9icCAg/s1600-h/RIMG0031.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257553340805960962" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257553340805960962" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPaU6GJoVQI/AAAAAAAAANk/Q8aaC9icCAg/s320/RIMG0031.JPG" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;"></img></a> Today was a glorious day for all sorts of reasons. This morning it was off to Aniak Elementary School and I knew I was in for a treat. I had such a lovely time with them last year. I packed up my rucksack with books, candy, pens and pencils, as well as copies of the anthology of childrens' stories, as I was going to be seeing some of the students who have stories in it. I was…
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPaU6GJoVQI/AAAAAAAAANk/Q8aaC9icCAg/s1600-h/RIMG0031.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPaU6GJoVQI/AAAAAAAAANk/Q8aaC9icCAg/s320/RIMG0031.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257553340805960962" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257553340805960962"/></a> Today was a glorious day for all sorts of reasons. This morning it was off to Aniak Elementary School and I knew I was in for a treat. I had such a lovely time with them last year. I packed up my rucksack with books, candy, pens and pencils, as well as copies of the anthology of childrens' stories, as I was going to be seeing some of the students who have stories in it. I was looking forward to their reaction.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPaN_BIVN-I/AAAAAAAAANE/w4Ue62O5mw4/s1600-h/RIMG0015.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPaN_BIVN-I/AAAAAAAAANE/w4Ue62O5mw4/s320/RIMG0015.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257545728776288226" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257545728776288226"/></a>My first port of call was the Kindergarten and first graders. I read them a story about a boy who goes into the forest looking for his teddy bear, and then I had them all step (one by one) through a magic door into the forest, tell me what they could see and hear and smell and then pick up something to bring back for the class. They brought back flowers, leaves, pizza, cookies, soda and an elephant. We had several pizzas but only one elephant :o) It was great fun.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPaQL0PC1XI/AAAAAAAAANM/hoDY3foBaCY/s1600-h/RIMG0068.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPaQL0PC1XI/AAAAAAAAANM/hoDY3foBaCY/s320/RIMG0068.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257548147676337522" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257548147676337522"/></a><br />
Later that afternoon, when I was sitting in the classroom a group of them came in and gave me a present on behalf of Thomas and Gwen (the teachers) and all of the children in the class. It was stuffed full of goodies - books, pens, bookmarks, erasers...it was a real treasure trove of wonderful things. Best of all were the hugs I got from all of the children. OK, so I cried :o)<br />
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It was amazing how, walking the hall of the school, there were so many students who remembered me, which was lovely. After the Kindergarten and 1st grade, it was off to a class I had never seen before - the pre-schoolers - a class of the most gorgeous little 4 year olds. I read a couple of books to them, we did the forest thing again and one little boy shot an imaginary bear when I told him I would be afraid of it! One of the books I have has sound effects so, while they started off sitting by my feet, by the end of the story they were all crowded around - it was hilarious.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPaScuUTbRI/AAAAAAAAANU/yf3qzFem6Cw/s1600-h/RIMG0018.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPaScuUTbRI/AAAAAAAAANU/yf3qzFem6Cw/s320/RIMG0018.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257550637168815378" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257550637168815378"/></a>Next was the second grade class. We did an exercise where I had written down two sets of words and cut them up and they picked one from each pile and put the two words together and that was their story title. They then wrote a story for me based on that title, and then read out their stories - Fantastic Kitten, Angriest Dog, Invisible Mountain, Messy Marshamallow, Sparkling Baby. It made for some fun stories. I also showed them a copy of the anthology. They were too young last year to write stories but they were really excited by the book because it had stories from people they knew. One little girl was thrilled because there was a story by her sister in the book. I read them 3 of the stories that were written by people in their school. I wish I could have got those students in to look at the enthralled little faces as the stories were read out. It was so lovely.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPaT-MGp51I/AAAAAAAAANc/mWhFNW3B-fo/s1600-h/RIMG0020.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPaT-MGp51I/AAAAAAAAANc/mWhFNW3B-fo/s320/RIMG0020.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257552311611942738" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257552311611942738"/></a><br />
Then it was off to a class where 5 of the students had stories in the anthology. I got them all to sign my copy of the anthology, they got me to sign theirs. They all read their own stories. Here they are holding up their copy of the book. They are currently in the middle of writing another story and I went round and helped them all with their stories. One of them in particular is soooooooooo good. They are going to send me them for the competition I am doing again this year.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPaWh4VghVI/AAAAAAAAANs/QiMbXYE3k6g/s1600-h/RIMG0039.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPaWh4VghVI/AAAAAAAAANs/QiMbXYE3k6g/s320/RIMG0039.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257555123804079442" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257555123804079442"/></a>At the end of school Emily came to pick me up. Today is so gorgeous that I took a walk down to the river when we got home. Away from the river it's chilly, and definitely glove weather, but it's not too bad (-13 celsius). As I went over the small hill that leads down to the river it got colder and colder. I have never been so cold in my life - so cold it hurts to breathe. My camera froze up. Luckily I managed to get a couple of photos before it did.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPaXpRjzGOI/AAAAAAAAAN0/QORpB7rIWhA/s1600-h/RIMG0043.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPaXpRjzGOI/AAAAAAAAAN0/QORpB7rIWhA/s320/RIMG0043.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257556350345615586" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257556350345615586"/></a>The river is pretty fast flowing - right now, the ice floes that you can see a fairly whizzing past. In another couple of weeks, the river will be totally frozen over and can be driven on. I walked right down to the edge of the water and already there is about 2 feet of thick ice at the edge. I gingerly put one foot on it to see if it held - it did. The snow at the edge of the water is about 6-8 inches deep. I walked along the side of the river through unbroken snow. It was so quiet, the only sound was of my Dr Frankenstein feet squeaking and crunching through the snow. I'm very glad of my ugly boots. Out there, my feet were the only part of me that was warm!<br />
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And now, I am sitting in the cosy little house next to Buzz the cat who is purring away with his head on my lap. This is definitely the life.These Boots Are Made For Walkingtag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-10-15:537324:BlogPost:1629092008-10-15T14:39:00.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
So, as predicted I arrived at the airport to be greeted by the dreaded words "So, how much do you weigh Donna?" I showed the nice lady my boots and we agreed that they were, indeed, very heavy looking. I then toddled off to the gate. When flying inside Alaska, you don't go through the usual security procedures. You just go and sit in the gate. This, presumably, is how the man sitting next to me managed to have an item of carry on luggage that I have never seen before. An axe. A big, shiny…
So, as predicted I arrived at the airport to be greeted by the dreaded words "So, how much do you weigh Donna?" I showed the nice lady my boots and we agreed that they were, indeed, very heavy looking. I then toddled off to the gate. When flying inside Alaska, you don't go through the usual security procedures. You just go and sit in the gate. This, presumably, is how the man sitting next to me managed to have an item of carry on luggage that I have never seen before. An axe. A big, shiny looking, yellow handled axe. That was all he had - obviously travelling light. The gate area was also full of men in camouflage who smelled of moose. Most of them looked me up and down as though I was a plump and juicy prey that they wanted to chase through the forest - and not in a good way. I could almost feel the shotgun pellets whizzing past my head.<br />
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There were also a couple of fishermen there on their way to Dutch Harbour. One was lamenting the fact that he had forgotten to bring a sheet and last time he slept on the ship's bed without a sheet he got an infection because of the dirty mattress. The other one said that last time he'd slept on that ship the mattress was covered in fungus. Lovely. I moved away, scratching myself. Remind me never to go fishing. Or sit next to fishermen.<br />
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As we queued up at the gate to get on the plane the lady who had checked me in upstairs waved away my outstretched passport. "I remember you from upstairs - the lady with the heavy boots." On my flight was one of the high school students from Aniak. He'd broken his leg playing volleyball and then had to wait for a Medivac plane to take him to Anchorage. Ouch. When anyone here is pregnant they have to leave the villages a month before they are due to give birth and go and stay in Anchorage or Bethel. They CAN stay but they need to sign a disclaimer that they understand they will not be evacuated in an emergency. It's beautiful here but it's a tough life in many ways.<br />
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I was slightly worried about the weather. It was snowing quite hard and the only way you knew there was a runway outside was the faint lights shining through the 4 inches of snow. The visibility was also pretty bad in the air. Planes were taking off and then disappearing within seconds. Back home, the whole country would have ground to a halt. Here, it is all just business as usual.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPVLz3SYAzI/AAAAAAAAAM0/fhGPdOVn-xI/s1600-h/RIMG0014.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPVLz3SYAzI/AAAAAAAAAM0/fhGPdOVn-xI/s320/RIMG0014.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257191494411354930" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257191494411354930"/></a>So, as we flew into a blizzard we had the safety demonstration "Ear plugs and sick bags are in the seatback in front of you. Anyone want a drink, just let me know." There was a breeze coming in from somewhere, but I was too afraid to ask where. I just kept my gloves on for the whole flight. We landed in Aniak - again in 4 inches of snow and walked into the terminal building (posh name for a shed) where Emily was waiting for me. She drove me to my home for the next couple of days.<br />
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We then went back to the school district where the school board was having their monthly meeting and wanted to meet me. So I had to say a few words about my trip last year and what I was intending to do this time, and I also showed them the anthology which they thought was great. They have lost over 40 students this year. High fuel prices and lack of jobs have meant that quite a few families have taken advantage of the extra high Permanent Fund Dividend they received this year to move into the cities. As a result, one of the schools in the area has less than the regulation number of pupils to stay open, so at some point it may have to close. As you can imagine, the closing of a school signals a bit of a death knell to a village, which is a real shame.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPVRFfuwCoI/AAAAAAAAAM8/P-QqnvaT42k/s1600-h/RIMG0007.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPVRFfuwCoI/AAAAAAAAAM8/P-QqnvaT42k/s320/RIMG0007.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257197294883703426" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5257197294883703426"/></a><br />
After the school board meeting, Emily let me sit in on her teleconference class which was excellent. The students can join in from schools in the school district by video conference and computer. They all have laptops as part of a program out here. We then went off to the only shop in the village. A pack of celery is $4.99. Another negative of living here - fruit and veg is excessively expensive. On the positive side, Emily left the truck in the parking lot with the engine running to keep it warm, just as she had left the door of the house unlocked when we went back to the school board meeting. How wonderful is that? If you stand still in Glasgow, someone will steal your shoes from your feet while you're still wearing them. I can't imagine leaving my home door unlocked or the car with the engine running.<br />
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This morning I am off to the Elementary School. I can't wait.<br />
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Tata for now.<br />
<br />
DonnaSorry Kids, Christmas Is Cancelled - I Just Ate Rudolftag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-10-15:537324:BlogPost:1628492008-10-15T01:32:40.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPQyXYcwtxI/AAAAAAAAAMM/L3GHT15vdv4/s1600-h/RIMG0020.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256882042329675538" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256882042329675538" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPQyXYcwtxI/AAAAAAAAAMM/L3GHT15vdv4/s320/RIMG0020.JPG" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;"></img></a><br />
This is for Ewan, who thinks I am mentioning food far too much - my pizza last night was reindeer and feta cheese and it was delicious, although I feel vaguely guilty about tucking into Rudolf. Lunch today was Alaskan King Crab, halibut, oysters, scallops and salmon at this place, which is a really quaint Alaskan restaurant.…
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPQyXYcwtxI/AAAAAAAAAMM/L3GHT15vdv4/s1600-h/RIMG0020.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPQyXYcwtxI/AAAAAAAAAMM/L3GHT15vdv4/s320/RIMG0020.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256882042329675538" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256882042329675538"/></a><br />
This is for Ewan, who thinks I am mentioning food far too much - my pizza last night was reindeer and feta cheese and it was delicious, although I feel vaguely guilty about tucking into Rudolf. Lunch today was Alaskan King Crab, halibut, oysters, scallops and salmon at this place, which is a really quaint Alaskan restaurant.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPQy63sil_I/AAAAAAAAAMU/b64e8MxJ_mw/s1600-h/RIMG0023.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPQy63sil_I/AAAAAAAAAMU/b64e8MxJ_mw/s320/RIMG0023.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256882652012779506" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256882652012779506"/></a>Inside it are lots of stuffed things (including ME by the end of the meal). This, I am sure, is the closest I will come to a bear during this trip. And then for dinner tonight, I had Rudolf sausage, and various cheeses at the presentation thing - of which more later.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPQ0BhQv0FI/AAAAAAAAAMc/TD0P0J-HAVo/s1600-h/RIMG0017.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPQ0BhQv0FI/AAAAAAAAAMc/TD0P0J-HAVo/s320/RIMG0017.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256883865761337426" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256883865761337426"/></a> Karen came to pick me up this morning and we did a bit of shopping. We went to Office Depot so that I could pick up loads of pens and pencils for the children. I have about 300 now, so, with the chocolate and biscuits, that should be enough for all the children to get something. It was a gorgeous day. Fancy having this scenery as the backdrop to your working day.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPQ058XUy_I/AAAAAAAAAMk/sFhFcGqGO1A/s1600-h/RIMG0028.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPQ058XUy_I/AAAAAAAAAMk/sFhFcGqGO1A/s320/RIMG0028.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256884835109358578" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256884835109358578"/></a><br />
This evening was the presentation thingy. I was VERY nervous - which was not improved by getting to the place where it was being held and seeing the size of the screen. But it went OK. People laughed, no one fell asleep, and I only almost cried once during my speech.<br />
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One of the older students, Nick, was there along with his family. They have now moved to Anchorage and he was able to come along. During my time in the villages last year, when I had said that I was going to be holding a short story competition, Nick had been dubious about whether he was going to be able to write anything. He had a book on his desk and I asked him about it. It turns out he is a big fan of fantasy and science fiction. So I told him he should write me a story that HE would like to read. So he did. It was a huge, sprawlig epic of a story. And then he wrote me another. And another. And he's still writing me stories.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPQ2V15ExHI/AAAAAAAAAMs/fxvUgmKq7Sg/s1600-h/RIMG0031.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPQ2V15ExHI/AAAAAAAAAMs/fxvUgmKq7Sg/s320/RIMG0031.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256886413919831154" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256886413919831154"/></a><br />
I gave him a couple of copies of the anthology of the childrens' stories and got him to sign my copy (I'm going to get all the children to sign their stories in my copy). His mum said that she had never read any of his writing so she immediately opened the book and read Nick's story. It was lovely. After I had done my presentation Nick got up and made a short speech. Here is what he said:<br />
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"I wish to thank Donna Moore for helping me discover the joy of writing. I have never thought that I would like to write until she challenged me to write a story. I had so much fun with it that I wrote another story. She has been a key to a door that I never knew existed. I can’t thank her enough for showing me what I can do with my writing ability. I have not always liked writing until she showed me that I can do it. When I write I lose myself in the story and everything that is going on. Sometime I don’t even think about what I’m writing I just write. When I write I feel like a part of me is being put on paper. I am almost sure if Miss. Moore hadn’t visited the class I wouldn’t ever have started to write. Thank you Miss. Donna Moore"<br />
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How brilliant is that?! I am not ashamed to say that I cried. And I'm not the only one - a couple of the people who were there said that they shed a tear or two. And I am tearing up again just writing it down!<br />
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So it was a very memorable and lovely day. But I am sincerely sorry about Rudolf. Please forgive me. On the plus side, I let Donner and Blitzen and Prancer and Dancer and ...errrrr...the other ones...live.<br />
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Tomorrow it's off to Aniak. I am already practising my checking-in speech at the airport. Because it's a small plane they not only weight your luggage, but they weigh you, too. "Hi my name is Donna and I weigh a hideous number of pounds, but look, my boots are huge and really heavy." There - I think that works :o)North By Northwesttag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-10-13:537324:BlogPost:1625362008-10-13T03:30:00.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPK6Y_5MKRI/AAAAAAAAAL8/rXfuyk0Yz3I/s1600-h/RIMG0012.JPG"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256468653725722898" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256468653725722898" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPK6Y_5MKRI/AAAAAAAAAL8/rXfuyk0Yz3I/s320/RIMG0012.JPG" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;"></img></a> Well, I am now in Alaska and it is snowing! Woohoo! The Dr Frankenstein snowboots (why do they not come in a kittenheel?), ugly hat and all that strange stuff I got from that weird outdoor shop are going to come in useful after all. This was the scene from my hotel room on arrival - it has since got even deeper!…
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPK6Y_5MKRI/AAAAAAAAAL8/rXfuyk0Yz3I/s1600-h/RIMG0012.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPK6Y_5MKRI/AAAAAAAAAL8/rXfuyk0Yz3I/s320/RIMG0012.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256468653725722898" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256468653725722898"/></a>Well, I am now in Alaska and it is snowing! Woohoo! The Dr Frankenstein snowboots (why do they not come in a kittenheel?), ugly hat and all that strange stuff I got from that weird outdoor shop are going to come in useful after all. This was the scene from my hotel room on arrival - it has since got even deeper!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPK7-srj0DI/AAAAAAAAAME/GzZhRPTltLU/s1600-h/RIMG0004.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SPK7-srj0DI/AAAAAAAAAME/GzZhRPTltLU/s320/RIMG0004.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256470400914935858" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5256470400914935858"/></a> But more of arctic Alaska in a little while. First of all some more bits on balmy Baltimore. It is really strange to come from somewhere where the night before I was sitting outside eating crabcakes on a warm evening by the bay. Carl, Maddy, Dame Judith and I went out for dinner to a wonderful seafood place on the bay. The crabcakes were delicious and they did a thing called a wine flight - which was basically a taster menu of wine which was an excellent idea and really delicious.<br />
<br />
The rest of Bouchercon passed in the usual blur. The best thing about it is the people. I always know that I am going to meet up with old friends (my long suffering room mate Jan, all the 4MAers of course, and some of my favourite people who it's great to catch up with - Declan Burke, Christa Faust, Ken Bruen, Twist Phelan, Rosemary Stevens, Reed Farrel Colman, Russel McLean, my poker buddies who humour me and put up with my stupid questions), the huge treat of meeting people for the first time - the big treats this year were Angie-Johnson Schmidt, John McFetridge and Peter Rozovsky. And then there are the people who I just don't see often enough. It's been years since I'd seen Eddie Muller, so getting to spend time with him was wonderful (and he STILL always manages to make me cry!). I'm sad to have left, but happy to be in Alaska for the next part of my adventure.<br />
<br />
I'm not sure how this happened but, after sending 2 boxes of books and candy to the Bush, ready for my arrival, plus a box of books to Karen's, my luggage was STILL overweight. I had to pay excess baggage, natch. The lovely Karen Laubenstein picked me up from the airport and delivered me to my snowy hotel. The room I was given turned out to be Murder Central (ground floor, last room on the corridor, next to the fire exit so, after a few minutes thought I toddled off to Reception to see if I could get moved (yes mum, don't worry - I'm now in an alternative room!)<br />
<br />
I am now going to order pizza and sit by the window and watch the snow fall.<br />
<br />
Toodle-oo for noo.<br />
DonnaOne-Eyed Donnatag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-10-10:537324:BlogPost:1622832008-10-10T18:23:11.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
Well, it was the first full day of Bouchercon yesterday. I didn't make any panels in the morning, instead learning the ins and outs of the US postal system to send some books to Alaska in time for my arrival. The theory was that it would make my over-the-weight-limit luggage back into normal territory again. Sadly, I have replaced the books I sent with more books, so my cunning plan was foiled. I also went to Walgreens. For some reason I LOVE American drug stores. So I spent $100 on crap I…
Well, it was the first full day of Bouchercon yesterday. I didn't make any panels in the morning, instead learning the ins and outs of the US postal system to send some books to Alaska in time for my arrival. The theory was that it would make my over-the-weight-limit luggage back into normal territory again. Sadly, I have replaced the books I sent with more books, so my cunning plan was foiled. I also went to Walgreens. For some reason I LOVE American drug stores. So I spent $100 on crap I don't need (and half of it I don't actually know what it is - it just sounded good).<br />
<br />
Then it was back to an afternoon of panels - all excellent. Judy has done an excellent job with the panels. There were loads I wanted to go to. Unfortunately, I could only be in one room at a time and just had to make some tough choices. It's brilliant seeing everyone again - some I see regularly and others who I haven't seen for years. The mystery community just has to be made up of the nicest, funniest, sweetest and most supportive people imaginable.<br />
<br />
We went out to dinner last night at what was, apparently, a tapas place (although unlike any tapas place I've ever been to). Before we went I asked my long suffering room-mate Jan which skirt she thought I should wear. "Do you want me to be brutally honest?" she said. Oh-oh.<br />
<br />
"Actually Jan, maybe not, maybe you could--"<br />
<br />
"That skirt makes you look REALLY big through the hips. Really big. I know that's not what you want to hear, but..."<br />
<br />
"No. That's just what I want to hear, thank you. I would hate to go out and for people to say 'Oh my god, look at those hips. Still, at least it takes the attention off her face, the poor girl."<br />
<br />
So I changed my skirt, screwing the huge-hipped skirt into a ball and consigning it to the trash.<br />
<br />
"There," I said in my slim-hipped skirt, feeling lithe and slim and with the hips of an eel. "That's me."<br />
<br />
"Aren't you going to change that skirt after all?"<br />
<br />
Soooooooooooo - it wasn't the skirt. It actually WAS my hips. As I turned sideways through the door to allow my hips enough space to squeeze through the doorway I mused idly about whether the have one lettuce leaf or two for dinner.<br />
<br />
When the concierge in the hotel found out where we were going he said he would order us a couple of taxis. "It's 12 blocks and the ladies have high heels. Besides, it's getting late." It was half past 7. Apparently, the mean streets of Baltimore can get really mean after dark. I probably shouldn't have said that BEFORE I left Baltimore. My mum will now have put away the thoughts of me being eaten by a bear and will be fashioning new nightmares of her daughter becoming a drugs mule (although with THESE hips it would be more like a drugs camel), donning a jaunty bandana and joining the Crips.<br />
<br />
The restaurant - <a href="http://www.pazorestaurant.com/food.aspx">Pazo</a> - was excellent. The cocktail menu was to die for. I had a raspberry martini followed by a white chocolate martini which was pure bliss. Oh, and we had food too. I could not resist the dijon mustard ice cream. That it came with steak tartare gave me pause for about a nano-second. It was delicious. To follow, I had the tenderest steak I have ever eaten (cooked, this time), with blue cheese butter and creamy mashed potatoes. I could feel my arteries hardening as I ordered it.<br />
<br />
Then it was back to the bar in the hotel for a few drinks, before heading off to the usual late night poker game. I play poker only at Bouchercon and Left Coast Crime and, as a result, I have to have the rules explained to me all over again (I've still not quite grasped the hand rankings ("Oh, you mean my pair of twos DOESN'T beat that Royal Flush?") Worse, there are about a million different versions of it. I can just about manage, when it's my turn to deal, to deal Texas Hold 'Em (I've seen it on the telly after all :o) ) But then someone will say "Let's play Upsy Daisy Omaha One-Eyed Jacks Are Wild But Only On A Wednesday When There's An R In The Month And The Wind's Coming In From The West Ocho with the Eight Rule Bet Declare Bet." And I am none the wiser when they explain it.<br />
<br />
Despite this, last night I won. Not only did I win but I more than doubled my stake and cashed out quids in...well...dollars in. One of these days they are not going to believe that I don't actually know how to play and then where will I be? By now, my mum not only has me down as a gang member, but a card sharp. She will be lying prone on the sofa with my father wafting smelling salts under her nose and offering her a small glass of sherry.<br />
<br />
This morning I was up bright and early for a half past 8 panel. This morning's panels were excellent and I went to one every session, and got a couple of books signed. This evening it's out to another restaurant - this one apparently one which does great crab cakes (can't come to Maryland and not have crabcakes). Then it's back to the bar for a wee chat, and then another poker game. A couple of my poker buddies have told me they are going to win their money back off me tonight. We shall see.<br />
<br />
So that's the news from Baltimore for today. Chin chin for now. More tomorrow hopefully.<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
<br />
DonnaThe Dodo Has Landedtag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-10-09:537324:BlogPost:1622522008-10-09T21:18:55.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
Well, I am here safe and sound in Baltimore. And I know that this will come as a shock to anyone who knows me, but SO IS MY LUGGAGE! Yes, this time it didn't take a wee side trip to somewhere else on the way. And the whole trip went very smoothly, despite arriving in Amsterdam 5 minutes after my plane to Washington started boarding. I have to say that I love Washington Dulles Airport. They have these little sheds on wheels with pneumatic lifts that look like trailer trash tanks and which take…
Well, I am here safe and sound in Baltimore. And I know that this will come as a shock to anyone who knows me, but SO IS MY LUGGAGE! Yes, this time it didn't take a wee side trip to somewhere else on the way. And the whole trip went very smoothly, despite arriving in Amsterdam 5 minutes after my plane to Washington started boarding. I have to say that I love Washington Dulles Airport. They have these little sheds on wheels with pneumatic lifts that look like trailer trash tanks and which take you from one place to another. It was like being on the set of a science fiction film. OK, a really crap science fiction film from the mid 60s. I thought I'd stepped onto the set of Thunderbirds. I was waiting for Virgil to tap me on the shoulder and say "F.A.B. Lady Donna."<br />
<br />
The flight itself was a sort of good news/bad news scenario. On the plus side, I had 2 seats to myself so I could spread out and not dribble over anyone when I fell asleep. On the minus side the guy in front of me had marinated himself in the vilest cheap aftershave imaginable. It kept wafting back in a sickening miasma of foulness. Every now and again though, another smell took over. This, by the way, is not on the good news side of the equation. No. The guy <span style="font-weight:bold;">behind</span> me had, apparently been eating stale cabbage the night before. Every now and again the waves of flatulence would meet the waves of Eau De Nasty and do battle. Right in front of my nose. Still, I should look on the bright side - it could have been worse - the guy in front might have been wearing an aftershave called <span style="font-style:italic;">FART</span>.<br />
<br />
Sorry mum - I know I'm going to get in trouble for using the word 'fart'. When I was young you told me that I was only ever to use the verb 'to pop' in relation to breaking wind. Well, I'm sorry, but popping does not even begin to do this guy's flatulence justice.<br />
<br />
Anyhow, onto more savoury matters. The lovely little trailer tank dropped us all off at immigration where the queue was full of huddled masses wishing to be let in. So I went to the loo, which meant that I was then at the end of the queue and, consequently, the last person to be let into the US - not the last person EVER you understand, just for that batch. At least, I don't THINK I've spoiled it for everyone else although, given the immigration official's response to me, maybe I have. For some reason, I always babble aimlessly when faced by people in uniforms. Except chefs.<br />
<br />
"You've come from Amsterdam?"<br />
<br />
"Well, not <span style="font-style:italic;">technically</span>. I started off in Glasgow and had to go east to Amsterdam to come west to Washington - isn't that silly? I live in Scotland, but I'm actually English, but I've lived in Glasgow for the last 19 years. I don't have the accent though."<br />
<br />
"Amsterdam," he said, writing something down. He then asked me where I was staying in Washington. "Well, I'm not actually staying in Washington. First I'm off to Bouchercon in Baltimore, which is the biggest crime fiction convention in the world. Then I'm going to Anchorage - I'll be there for a couple of days and then I'm off to--" He held up his hand.<br />
<br />
"Ma'am, I meant what is the address of the place you are staying? And ma'am, if you could keep it brief I'd be grateful. I finish my shift in an hour."<br />
<br />
He then turned to my Customs declaration form. As a visitor to the US you are only allowed to bring $100 of goods into the country. I had decided to be truthful on my form a) because I am rubbish at telling lies and b) because anyone who opened my suitcases would know that there was more than $100 of stuff there. So I had been truthful about the childrens' books, the gifts and the chocolate. He looked at the form and then looked at me in horror.<br />
<br />
"You've brought $75 of candy and cookies into the country? Are they all for you?" I opened my mouth to protest indignantly. "No, it's OK ma'am. I'm not sure I want to know."<br />
<br />
Eventually I was let in and went to get my shuttle to Baltimore, which took 3 hours or so, as we went all around the houses. I arrived, checked in and then went into the restaurant all smelly and horrible after hours of travelling with Mr Stinky and his friend Mr Even Stinkier. It was lovely to see all the 4MAers again. This is why I love these conventions. I get a chance to hug and spend time with some of my favourite people.<br />
<br />
I said before I came that I wasn't going to come home with ANY books. Nope. Not a one. I wasn't buying any books. So, here's today's book haul:<br />
Laura Lippman - HARDLY KNEW HER (in book bag)<br />
John Harvey - DARKNESS AND LIGHT (in book bag)<br />
Gyles Brandreth - OSCAR WILDE AND A GAME CALLED MURDER (book bag)(mum - that one's coming home to you)<br />
<br />
John McFetridge - DIRTY SWEET<br />
Duane Swierczynski - SEVERANCE PACKAGE<br />
Henry Chang - CHINATOWN BEAT<br />
Richard S Prather - TAKE A MURDER, DARLING<br />
<br />
<br />
Tata,<br />
DonnaAll Points West To Alaskatag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-10-05:537324:BlogPost:1619542008-10-05T16:00:00.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
Well, it's time to dust off the old blog in preparation for my upcoming trip to Bouchercon in Baltimore and then on to Alaska (well, it was a good excuse since Baltimore <span style="font-weight:bold;">is</span> on the way to Alaska, right?)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SOjbFmp7kkI/AAAAAAAAALM/YKFyrX6J81Q/s1600-h/Plane+Trip+4MA+dinner+2609+341.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253689854649930306" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253689854649930306" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SOjbFmp7kkI/AAAAAAAAALM/YKFyrX6J81Q/s320/Plane+Trip+4MA+dinner+2609+341.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;"></img></a> When I told my mum I was going to be going back she said "Will you be doing that BLUG thingy again?" So here,…
Well, it's time to dust off the old blog in preparation for my upcoming trip to Bouchercon in Baltimore and then on to Alaska (well, it was a good excuse since Baltimore <span style="font-weight:bold;">is</span> on the way to Alaska, right?)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SOjbFmp7kkI/AAAAAAAAALM/YKFyrX6J81Q/s1600-h/Plane+Trip+4MA+dinner+2609+341.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SOjbFmp7kkI/AAAAAAAAALM/YKFyrX6J81Q/s320/Plane+Trip+4MA+dinner+2609+341.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253689854649930306" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253689854649930306"/></a>When I told my mum I was going to be going back she said "Will you be doing that BLUG thingy again?" So here, especially for my mother, is 'that blug thingy'. (I know I'm going to get into trouble for that when she reads this but, ah well, I shall soon be thousands of miles away and besides, mum - at least no-one knows about the time you put the phone in the fridge. Well, not <span style="font-weight:bold;">many</span> people anyway :o) )<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SOjcHXkRwOI/AAAAAAAAALU/zkFCLEc02jM/s1600-h/Prince+William+Sound+432.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SOjcHXkRwOI/AAAAAAAAALU/zkFCLEc02jM/s320/Prince+William+Sound+432.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253690984471052514" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253690984471052514"/></a>Having had such a wonderful time in Alaska in 2007, and especially in the villages I visited last time, I decided to go back, and have been looking forward to it for months. And now it's finally nearly here.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SOjgm7Nv7WI/AAAAAAAAALc/ZRRTesQNRF8/s1600-h/Aniak+Kalska+Sleetmute+895.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SOjgm7Nv7WI/AAAAAAAAALc/ZRRTesQNRF8/s320/Aniak+Kalska+Sleetmute+895.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253695924662693218" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253695924662693218"/></a>So I shall be catching up with old friends and new at Bouchercon in Baltimore, and then heading off to Alaska. My first stop will be in Anchorage where there is a reception being put on by Alaska Sisters In Crime and at which I have to make a presentation (gulp). Then it's off in a small plane out to the Bush for 11 days. I have enough cookies and candy for 180 children, and enough pens, pencils and paper for the rest. I've also been buying a few childrens' books every month since the beginning of the year. I have packed one and a half suitcases and so far there are no clothes in either of them! They are full of goodies, warm socks and an enormous pair of walking boots that Frankenstein's monster would feel at home in.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SOjh7-1PVmI/AAAAAAAAALs/KM7vdqofUhA/s1600-h/imagine-cover.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SOjh7-1PVmI/AAAAAAAAALs/KM7vdqofUhA/s320/imagine-cover.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253697385922516578" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253697385922516578"/></a>I'm also very excited about a little treat I have for them. Last year, I held a competition and got some wonderful short stories, so I have had the stories made into a book, using a picture one of the girls drew for me of she and I going berry picking as the cover. I've had 80 copies shipped to Alaska and am looking forward to giving them out. I've also got loads of creative writing exercises planned, and I think it will be a lot of fun. I can't wait to see them all again.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SOjiRyTiB0I/AAAAAAAAAL0/LLs8r3yKz2I/s1600-h/ATV+trip+2509+112.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/SOjiRyTiB0I/AAAAAAAAAL0/LLs8r3yKz2I/s320/ATV+trip+2509+112.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253697760517031746" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5253697760517031746"/></a>I then have 2 more days in Anchorage. One will be a trip to Nordstroms for some retail therapy shoe shopping. The next, I'm doing <span style="font-weight:bold;">this</span> again. Oh yessssssssssss. I rang to ask if they were doing a trip that weekend and my wonderful guide Kevin from last year has said that even if there's no tour arranged, he will take me out on the ATV for the day anyway. How wonderful is that? I can't get over how nice people are. That will finish off my trip just perfectly.<br />
<br />
So I am leaving on Wednesday. I will try and post daily, but Mum - if I can't please don't automatically assume I have been eaten by a bear. Only assume that if you get a letter written in an unknown and barely literate paw, saying "Dere Missis Moore, yore dorter was very tastee. She tasted just lik chiken (onlee with mor fat). However, I hav had indeegestyun ever since." Please feel free to post in the comments section (Dad, I would be grateful if you could try and be nice to me this time).<br />
<br />
Love,<br />
Donna<br />
http://alaskanmisadventures.blogspot.com/Harrogate - or "Donna, don't take this the wrong way, but I can really see you in a brothel."tag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-07-20:537324:BlogPost:1525732008-07-20T17:00:00.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
Well, that's me just returned from Harrogate where a good time was had by all at the Harrogate Crime Festival. This time I didn't get to see many events, spending most of my time hanging out, chatting and eating...lots of eating. The panels that I did go to were good, and the evening events were great fun, even if our quiz team - The Masturbating Hamsters - came somewhere in the middle of the pack in an undistinguished manner.<br />
<br />
It was great to catch up with everyone, and spend loads of time…
Well, that's me just returned from Harrogate where a good time was had by all at the Harrogate Crime Festival. This time I didn't get to see many events, spending most of my time hanging out, chatting and eating...lots of eating. The panels that I did go to were good, and the evening events were great fun, even if our quiz team - The Masturbating Hamsters - came somewhere in the middle of the pack in an undistinguished manner.<br />
<br />
It was great to catch up with everyone, and spend loads of time with my partners in crime - sister Jools and little brother Vincent, as well as the newly-rebearded Russel McLean (who was the originator of the comment in the title of this post. (Don't take this the wrong way? Is there a RIGHT way to take that comment?!)), the musky Lord Kevin "I gave my ticket to a poor person" of Wignall, world's best agent Al "Im so hard I've been thrown out of the hotel TWICE" Guthrie and his always lovely wife Donna...and it's excellent to catch up with people seen far too fleetingly once or twice a year - I shall stop with the names but you know who you are - sorry for all the hugging :o)<br />
<br />
Some random bullet point thoughts:<br />
<br />
- The more Al Guthrie is convinced of the correctness of an answer to a quiz question, this is inversely proportional to how correct it will, in fact, be.<br />
<br />
- Lord Kevin "Jobs are for people who have something to give to society" of Wignall is one of the world's best huggers, but if he ever tells you "You're looking well" make an appointment with a medical professional immediately.<br />
<br />
- Vincent Holland-Keen will one day regret giving Auntie Jools and Auntie Donna a magazine called The Oldie.<br />
<br />
- Nothing tastes nicer than a bag of chips in a bus shelter at 2.30am.<br />
<br />
- Lizzie Hayes and Zoe Sharp are, officially, the most elegant women in crime fiction.<br />
<br />
- Robert Crais has lovely eyes, Sir Kevin has lovely shoes.<br />
<br />
- Any panel that has Natasha Cooper on is always well worth going to see.<br />
<br />
- Crime fiction readers and writers are the friendliest, loveliest, nicest people imaginable.April and May Readstag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-06-12:537324:BlogPost:1457612008-06-12T12:30:00.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
Chris Ewan - THE GOOD THIEF'S GUIDE TO AMSTERDAM<br />
Published: May 2007<br />
Setting: Amsterdam<br />
Protagonist: Charlie Howard<br />
Series?: 1st<br />
First Lines: "I want you to steal something for me."<br />
Chris Ewan writes books about a thief who writes books about a thief who solves crimes. Ewan's protagonist Charlie Howard is a successful crime fiction author and a very good thief, who takes nice lucrative jobs on the side to supplement his income. When he's asked to steal two seemingly worthless monkey figurines…
Chris Ewan - THE GOOD THIEF'S GUIDE TO AMSTERDAM<br />
Published: May 2007<br />
Setting: Amsterdam<br />
Protagonist: Charlie Howard<br />
Series?: 1st<br />
First Lines: "I want you to steal something for me."<br />
Chris Ewan writes books about a thief who writes books about a thief who solves crimes. Ewan's protagonist Charlie Howard is a successful crime fiction author and a very good thief, who takes nice lucrative jobs on the side to supplement his income. When he's asked to steal two seemingly worthless monkey figurines for a nice little earner his burglar's radar tells him there's something a bit fishy about the job. And, of course, he's right. Breezy, amusing, a good romp, and Charlie Howard is a loveable rogue - a charming mixture of Raffles and The Saint.<br />
<br />
Martyn Waites - THE BONE MACHINE<br />
Published: January 2007<br />
Setting: Newcastle<br />
Protagonist: Joe Donovan<br />
Series?: 2nd<br />
First Lines: "She could no longer tell whether her eyes were open or closed. All was darkness."<br />
The police are hunting a ritualistic killer who appears to be targeting female students in Newcastle. Joe Donovan is hired by the lawyer of what appears to be the main suspect. Meanwhile, Joe and his team are already embroiled in a seedy case that involves sex trafficking. I love this series - Joe has gathered around him a collection of emotionally damaged characters who are brilliantly well drawn. You get to know each one - warts and all - and come to care about them. Dark and full of heart and soul.<br />
<br />
Sandra Ruttan - THE FRAILTY OF FLESH<br />
Published: November 2008<br />
Setting: Vancouver<br />
Protagonist: Various police officers<br />
Series?: 2nd<br />
First Lines: Not published yet so I had probably best not put it down.<br />
The discovery of a child's dead body is followed by the horrific possibility that the child has been murdered by his sister, who has subsequently disappeared. The case and personal issues weigh heavy on the hearts and minds of the three main police officers in the book, making it a dark and compelling tale. It's a book that almost hurts to read because of its compassion, pain and raw nerves laid bare.<br />
<br />
Andrea Maria Schenkel - THE MURDER FARM<br />
Published: June 2008<br />
Setting: A small village in post WWII Germany<br />
Protagonist: None<br />
Series?: Standalone<br />
First Lines: "I spent the first summer after the end of the War with distant relatives in the country."<br />
On a lonely farm in an isolated village in post War Germany a tragedy occurs. An entire family - mother, father, children and maid - are brutally slain by a killer who has never been caught. The unnamed narrator goes back to try and discover what has happened. This is a fascinating book based on a real case that took place in the 1920s. The book is told as a series of flashbacks and witness statements. There are secrets, lies, people who know things but say they don't. It's a very brooding book with a malignant atmosphere, and really quite sad.<br />
<br />
David Levien - CITY OF THE SUN<br />
Published: June 2008<br />
Setting: Indianapolis<br />
Protagonist: PI Frank Behr<br />
Series?: 1st<br />
First Lines: "Jamie Gabriel wakes at 5.44 as the clock radio's volume bursts from the silence.""<br />
Twelve year old Jamie Gabriel sets off on his paper round one day and simply vanishes. Fourteen months later there are still no leads, the police think he's run away and aren't exactly making great efforts to find him. His desperate parents hire PI Frank Behr to try and find him. Behr is reluctant at first - he has his own pain relating to a lost son - but the case becomes very important to him. Wonderfully exciting and well paced plot, vivid scenes, very cinematic. A couple of the plot points were a bit OTT but it worked. One of the best bits for me was the look at how the boy's absence affects everyone else - from the fact that the new paperboy's father takes him on his deliveries in the car, up to the parents who co-exist rather than have any real relationship.<br />
<br />
Barbara Seranella - DEADMAN'S SWITCH<br />
Published: April 2007<br />
Setting: California<br />
Protagonist: Charlotte Lyon<br />
Series?: Was to be the 1st of a planned series<br />
First Lines: "Bob Peterson scanned the track before him. He'd been green lit all the way to Beaumont and would easily make up the ten minutes he'd lost in Corona."<br />
Charlotte Lyon is a professional in crisis management who is hired after a train derails. Her role is to find out what has happened, to minimise bad publicity, and to generally take charge. I loved the character of Charlotte (who has appeared before as a teenager in Barbara Seranella's Munch Mancini series). She has had some tragedy in her life, has to cope with her mother who's on a path to self-destruction, and she also has to cope with her own OCD. Her job choice is fascinating given her OCD and her skill at it is because of the disorder rather than in spite of it. Fascinating stuff and a really interesting and likeable protagonist.<br />
<br />
Jason Pinter - THE MARK<br />
Published: July 2007<br />
Setting: New York (mostly)<br />
Protagonist: Henry Parker<br />
Series?: 1st<br />
First Lines: "Right as I was about to die, I realized that none of the myths about death were true."<br />
It's Henry Parker's first week on his new job and he wants to be the best journalist it's possible to be. After spending a depressing time writing obituaries he's finally given a more exciting assignment by the paper's star reporter - to go and interview an ex-con. However, his visit leaves a dead body in its wake and Henry has to go on the run from both the cops and the bad guys. An extremely fast paced thriller, loads going on, lots of twists and turns.CrimeFesttag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-06-11:537324:BlogPost:1456412008-06-11T19:24:26.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
Well, I had a wonderful weekend at CrimeFest in Bristol and am now recovering (not from the carousing and partying - although there was plenty of that - but from the injury I inflicted on myself stepping off a curb. Apparently, according to the hospital, "it will get worse before it gets better". How reassuring. Luckily, I still have the crutches and the stick from when I broke a bone in my ankle last year stepping off a bus...)<br />
<br />
So, CrimeFest. Well, it was lovely to meet up with old friends…
Well, I had a wonderful weekend at CrimeFest in Bristol and am now recovering (not from the carousing and partying - although there was plenty of that - but from the injury I inflicted on myself stepping off a curb. Apparently, according to the hospital, "it will get worse before it gets better". How reassuring. Luckily, I still have the crutches and the stick from when I broke a bone in my ankle last year stepping off a bus...)<br />
<br />
So, CrimeFest. Well, it was lovely to meet up with old friends again, and give them hugs, and spend time with my sister Jools and my little brother Vincent :o) And, of course, there are the people I wish I'd had the chance to spend more time with - including Karen from Eurocrime, the lovely Lizzie Hayes, and Lord Kevin (world's best hugger) Wignall.<br />
<br />
And here is the mysterious and elusive Lord Wignall on a panel.<p style="text-align: left;"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/70741227?profile=RESIZE_320x320" alt="" width="300" height="323"/></p>
<br />
And one of my great treats - finally getting to meet people I've been corresponding with for a while, and the odd person I've never corresponded with but wish I had (Dec Burke, Chris (I'm so sorry for the wind-ups!) Ewan, Tony Black and Steve Mosby - I'm looking at YOU!) Crime fiction people are just the nicest people in the world. I believe it was Natasha Cooper who said that crime fiction writers deal with the dregs of society so, as a result, everyone they meet in real life is an absolute delight. Romance novelists, on the other hand, write about idealised characters and everyone THEY meet is a hideous disappointment :o)<br />
<br />
Talking of Natasha - she is most definitely one of the very best moderators there is. No matter what the topic she always makes it fascinating, is well prepared, asks throught provoking questions and gives all of her panelists equal time. This time she was moderating a panel called 'The Bleeding Edge - Writing Violence'. As she put it, no one thinks you have perpetrated the violence you write about, but EVERYONE thinks you've had all the sex :o) Her mother stopped reading her books - not because of the violence, but because of the language - not so much that she used the words, but that she knew what they meant. Val McDermid pointed out to her once that the fact that her mother was shocked meant that SHE knew what they meant too :o) Chris Mooney mentioned that he had once received a letter complaining about the level of voilence in his book, calling him sick and twisted...and then going on to ask in the PS "When is your next book coming out?"<br />
<br />
It's definitely the moderators and panellists who make the panels special and some other excellent panels I saw were 'Writing The Wrongs - Morality In Crime Fiction' with Kevin Wignall, Steve Mosby, Yrsa Sigurdardottir and Laura Wilson - excellently moderated by Jason Pinter (I understand it was his first time moderating a panel - you would never have known). Kevin said that one of his biggest fans is serving life without possibility of parole in Georgia (he said "I checked that before I wrote back to him" :o) ) It was a really interesting panel - loads of good stuff. And, as ever, I always love the Humour Panel - this one with Al Guthrie, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Declan Burke, L C Tyler - again, brilliantly moderated by Peter Guttridge. Although - Ruth, Dec and Al - I WILL get my revenge some time :o)<br />
<br />
Apart from those moderators I either saw, or heard about some really good moderators - Zoe Sharp, Laura Wilson, Ann Cleeves, Martin Edwards, Andrew Taylor, Colin Campbell. I also heard about one spectacularly bad moderator from a number of sources. Needless to say, I am sure she won't be asked to moderate again! I heard a number of people say that she was so dismissive of the other panellists (she was quite proud of the fact that, even though she had received the e-mail about being moderator three months before, she had not bothered to read the other panellists books, or do ANY preparation. She then proceeded to spend 20 minutes talking about herself) I heard a number of people saying they would never buy any of her books.<br />
<br />
One of the new features at CrimeFest were book groups. Beforehand, people could sign up to get a free book which would be discussed during the convention. Lizzie Hayes and I both facilitated 3 and we both agreed that we had had fun, and some great discussions - even in the cases where there were not many participants (in fact, even where there were only 2 peop,e the discussion was fascinating and lasted the full hour!) It's always great to discuss books with people who love books, and this was no exception. And many of the people who signed up said that they really enjoyed them.<br />
<br />
Adrian and Myles did a wonderful job and everyone I spoke to said how well organised it was, how friendly, and how well it had gone. The Gala Dinner was excellent with yummy food and no rubber chicken.<br />
<br />
The book bags were great - with both print and audio books. My book haul which included the ones from the book bag, the prize for coming second in the pub quiz (thanks Vincent, Steve and Ken!), Adrian's generosity, and purchases were:<br />
<br />
Karin Fossum - BROKEN<br />
Andrea Camilleri - THE TERRACOTTA DOG<br />
Steve Mosby - CRY FOR HELP<br />
Steve Mosby - THE CUTTING CREW<br />
Colin Cotterill - ANARCHY AND OLD DOGS<br />
K O Dahl - THE MAN IN THE WINDOW<br />
Ted Dekker - ADAM<br />
Chris Mooney - THE SECRET FRIEND<br />
Bruce Kennedy Jones and Eric Allison - THE LAST STRAIGHT FACE<br />
Declan Burke - THE BIG O (cos you can never have too many copies)<br />
Ruth Dudley Edwards - MURDERING AMERICANS<br />
Mehmet Murat Somer - THE PROPHET MURDERS<br />
Rafael Reig - A PRETTY FACE<br />
Hitomi Kanehara - AUTO FICTION<br />
<br />
Audio CDs<br />
Kathy Reichs - MONDAY MOURNING<br />
John Le Carre - LOOKING GLASS WAR<br />
<br />
DVD<br />
Dexter - Season 1<br />
<br />
A lovely weekend. i look forward to doing it again next year, as it was announced that it's going to be an annual event - yippee! Thanks to everyone who made it special.<br />
<br />
DonnaYou've Been Binned!tag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-04-30:537324:BlogPost:1389902008-04-30T13:30:00.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
So, after my encounter with the duck at the weekend, here's the next chapter in the disaster area that is my life.<br />
<br />
I got off the bus and was walking down a quiet street on my way to work this morning. Just in front of me were three council workmen picking up the rubbish bags from the offices lining the street, and throwing them into the back of a truck. One of the men was up the steps of an office building. He obviously hadn't seen me because in one move he turned round and launched the…
So, after my encounter with the duck at the weekend, here's the next chapter in the disaster area that is my life.<br />
<br />
I got off the bus and was walking down a quiet street on my way to work this morning. Just in front of me were three council workmen picking up the rubbish bags from the offices lining the street, and throwing them into the back of a truck. One of the men was up the steps of an office building. He obviously hadn't seen me because in one move he turned round and launched the dustbin bag at the open bit of the truck. Only something was in the way. Yes, that would be me :o)<br />
<br />
The world changed into slow motion. I could see this big black dustbin bag coming towards my head and could do absolutely nothing to stop it. The guy on the stairs could obviously see the same thing, based on the look of horror dawning on his face. I managed to get out a "Shit it's going to h.." before then bag hit me, bouncing off my head to fall on the floor. Luckily, it wasn't heavy. Two of the guys, including the one that had thrown the bag in the first place, came rushing over to see if I was OK. "You missed," I said. "Naw he f****** didnae," said the third guy, who was absolutely howling with laughter.<br />
<br />
They say these things come in threes. I certainly hope not. I'm sure I'm going to be appearing on You've Been Framed one of these days!Revenge of The Killer Ducktag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-04-26:537324:BlogPost:1383622008-04-26T08:59:59.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
Well, there I was having an early morning walk around my local park, which, on a wet Saturday morning in Glasgow is relatively empty (apart from the odd dogwalker and the even odder jogger (I'm not in any hurry - a walk will do me thank you)).<br />
<br />
I was striding briskly around the edge of the pond with The Ramones on my ipod (I walk faster to The Ramones and The Fratellis than to anything else - I have to exclude Tom Waits and Dean Martin from my playlist or it would take me all day) and I was…
Well, there I was having an early morning walk around my local park, which, on a wet Saturday morning in Glasgow is relatively empty (apart from the odd dogwalker and the even odder jogger (I'm not in any hurry - a walk will do me thank you)).<br />
<br />
I was striding briskly around the edge of the pond with The Ramones on my ipod (I walk faster to The Ramones and The Fratellis than to anything else - I have to exclude Tom Waits and Dean Martin from my playlist or it would take me all day) and I was musing over what's going to happen next in the book I'm working on (as you can see, I'm really good at forward planning) and I had an idea which I think will work. However, it necessitates some research, since I've never been to a fetish club, and I was pondering over which of my friends would be most likely to come with me (the answer I have regretfully come to is 'none'. I realised how desperate I was, having gone through the list of friends and family, when I was left with my mother as the only option. That was definitely not oing to work - PVC is something used to cover the stools at the breakfast bar and a nipple clamp is something my dad might use in the mystery that is the car engine.<br />
<br />
So, I was considering the possibilities of the scene and the likelihood of me being able to write it realistically without having gone to such a club - a thorny issue that demanded my full concentration - when I caught a movement at my left hand side and my leg was suddenly jabbed just above the ankle. The first thought that came into my head was that I'd been mistaken for a Russian dissident and stabbed with a poisoned umbrella. The second was "I need to get away from the pointy thing." I half jumped, half fell in the opposite direction from my attacker, forgetting in my panic that 'in the opposite dircetion from my attacker' translated as 'into the pond'.<br />
<br />
With a splash that reverberated around the park I ended up sitting on the slimy bottom (not mine, the pond's) in two feet of stagnant water. Water that was not only full of weeds, irn bru cans, candy wrappers and heaven only knows what else (it's a PARK - goodness only knows what happens there after dark), but which swans and ducks had relieved themselves in. These swans and ducks were now all paddling towards me - no doubt eyeing me as an unfeasibly large and savoury piece of bread that someone had tossed in for their breakfast. On the path at the side of the pond, one small but particularly belligerent looking duck was giving me the evil eye, as though to say "Come on punk, make my day."<br />
<br />
I scrambled out of the water, dripping and slimy, looking for all the world like The Creature From The Black Lagoon and squelch squelch squelched my way home. Needless to say, where I had fallen in was the furthest point from my flat and I had to cross two busy roads to get there. I tried to do this nonchalantly - if I could ignore the stream of water in my wake, wouldn't everyone else? Luckily, in Glasgow, the tendency is to Look Away And Not Make Eye Contact when faced with a nutter. The worst moment was when I passed a small boy walking past with his mother. "Look mummy - that lady's wet herself." I've now had a shower, scrubbed the pond life away, and am sitting with a nice cup of tea.Great Recent Readstag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-03-31:537324:BlogPost:1345632008-03-31T20:28:07.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
TONY BLACK - PAYING FOR IT<br />
Published: July 2008<br />
Setting: Edinburgh<br />
Protagonist: Gus Dury<br />
Series?: 1st<br />
First Line: "Funerals make my eyes water."<br />
<br />
Synopsis: Gus Dury is an ex-journalist with an estranged family, a failed marriage and a drink problem. He's busy doing nothing much other than pickling himself in alcohol when one of his closest friends asks him to investigate the rather brutal death of his son. Gus is not keen, but takes the job on to help his friend. In the process of the…
TONY BLACK - PAYING FOR IT<br />
Published: July 2008<br />
Setting: Edinburgh<br />
Protagonist: Gus Dury<br />
Series?: 1st<br />
First Line: "Funerals make my eyes water."<br />
<br />
Synopsis: Gus Dury is an ex-journalist with an estranged family, a failed marriage and a drink problem. He's busy doing nothing much other than pickling himself in alcohol when one of his closest friends asks him to investigate the rather brutal death of his son. Gus is not keen, but takes the job on to help his friend. In the process of the investigation he finds things out about himself, as well as about the case. Politics, vice, corruption and an Edinburgh the Tourist Board don't advertise on the posters. Isn't it great when you discover a new author that makes you say 'wow'? Tony Black is one of those.<br />
<br />
RAY BANKS - NO MORE HEROES<br />
Published: February 2008<br />
Setting: Manchester, UK<br />
Protagonist: Cal Innes<br />
Series?: 3rd<br />
First Line: "I've been staring at Daft Frank for the last five minutes, wondering why he hasn't turned into a puddle of sweat."<br />
<br />
Synopsis: Cal Innes has come down in the world. The ex PI now has a codeine habit and is working for slum landlord Donald Plummer, evicting people who don't pay their rent. Worse, he's got a partner known as Daft Frank. When one of Plummer's properties is set on fire, Cal rescues a child from the burning building, becoming an unlikely and reluctant hero in the process. He's then hired by Plummer to find out who set the fire, but getting back into the PI game turns out to be less attractive and more violent than it seems on the surface. And it really doesn't help Cal's codeine addiction. I really enjoyed the first two in the series, but this one is even better - tough, mean and brilliant flashes of razor wit.<br />
<br />
ALLAN GUTHRIE - SAVAGE NIGHT<br />
Published: April 2008<br />
Setting: Edinburgh, Scotland<br />
Protagonist: The Savages and the Parks<br />
Series?: Standalone<br />
First Line: "When he opened his sitting room door, the last thing Fraser Savage expected to see was a corpse."<br />
<br />
Synopsis: Black market tobacco, samurai swords, decapitations, kidnappings...just your normal night out in Edinburgh then. The key word here is revenge as two not particularly nice families try and one-up each other in the blood and guts stakes as events unfold (with great skill) over one savage night. And when I say 'not particularly nice' I mean really really scary. However, the book is also extremely funny in a warped 'I really shouldn't be laughing' type of way. What Al Guthrie does with masterful talent is to take a whole cast of unsympathetic characters and make you care about what happens. You're unlikely to want to meet any of them in a dark alley, but you just can't stop reading about them.<br />
<br />
CHRISTA FAUST - MONEY SHOT<br />
Published: February 2008<br />
Setting: Los Angeles<br />
Protagonist: Angel Dare<br />
Series?: Standalone (or maybe first in a series, she says hopefully!)<br />
First Line: "Coming back from the dead isn't as easy as they make it seem in the movies."<br />
<br />
Synopsis: Angel Dare is a former porn star turned talent agent. But forget all that glamour - right now, she's been beaten up, shot, and stuffed in the trunk of a car, and, well, things can only get worse. Angel is a wonderful creation - streetwise but not hard, tough yet vulnerable, flawed but eminently likeable. I fell in love with her from the first page. A retro hard-boiled dame with a modern twist. Breezy, pacy, stylish and violent. Wonderful stuff. I absolutely loved it.<br />
<br />
SIMON WOOD - PAYING THE PIPER<br />
Published: November 2007<br />
Setting: San Francisco<br />
Protagonist: Scott Fleetwood<br />
Series?: Standalone<br />
First Line: "Scott leaned on his horn and roared through the red light."<br />
<br />
Synopsis: Revenge seems to have been my theme of the month. Scott Fleetwood is a newspaper reporter whose career was made by the case of a kidnapper known as The Piper. Several people are of the opinion that Scott was responsible for the death of one of The Piper's kidnapping victims. That was a few years ago and nothing has been heard of the kidnapper since. Until now. Now The Piper has one of Scott's sons. This is an exciting, fast paced thriller with loads of twists and turns. Simon Wood keeps up the tension and the mystery the whole way through.<br />
<br />
JO NESBO - THE REDBREAST<br />
Published: 2000 (but translated version 2006)<br />
Setting: Norway<br />
Protagonist: Harry Hole<br />
Series?: 1st I think<br />
First Line: "A grey bird glided in and out of Harry's field of vision."<br />
<br />
Synopsis: In an intricate and complicated plot that switches back and forth between the present day and World War II, Nesbo shows us how the past haunts the present with a story of modern day neo-Nazis, young Norwegian soldiers fighting for Hitler on the Eastern Front, traitors, betrayal, racism. In the middle of all of this tension, the American President is due to arrive in Norway for a peace conference. Policeman Harry Hole - a thoughtful, soft hearted man despite his prickly, rather grumpy exterior - is a bit of a maverick in the police department and his superiors don't quite know what to do with him after an unfortunate shooting accident.LCC Report - Late and Littletag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-03-25:537324:BlogPost:1330082008-03-25T15:12:14.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
<p style="text-align: left;"><img alt="" height="264" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/70739824?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300"></img></p>
Well, I forgot to post my final thoughts of LCC. So, for what they're worth, here they are. I arrived safely back home...eventually. My luggage however remained in Denver for a while. To add insult to injury, I had to pay a $50 excess baggage charge (so I bought some shoes and books - is it a hanging offence?!) and they couldn't even be bothered to put it on the plane with me?????????? And the claim I had to put in did not call it 'lost luggage'. Oh…
<p style="text-align: left;"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/70739824?profile=RESIZE_320x320" alt="" width="300" height="264"/></p>
Well, I forgot to post my final thoughts of LCC. So, for what they're worth, here they are. I arrived safely back home...eventually. My luggage however remained in Denver for a while. To add insult to injury, I had to pay a $50 excess baggage charge (so I bought some shoes and books - is it a hanging offence?!) and they couldn't even be bothered to put it on the plane with me?????????? And the claim I had to put in did not call it 'lost luggage'. Oh no. It was a 'property irregularity report'. Is it just me or does that seem to indicate that it's somehow MY fault? "Miss Moore, you have irregular property - that's why we temporarily misplaced it."<br />
<br />
They also misplaced ME temporarily. My plane from Denver was late which meant that I had 20 minutes to get my connecting flight to Manchester in Chicago. After sprinting from Terminal 1 to Terminal 5 like Ben Johnson (only without the performance enhancing drugs), only to find that I had missed it by 5 minutes. So I went up to the counter and they put me on a flight to London. And where did I have to get it from? Yep - back to Terminal 1. I went through security 6 times on the way home. And every time I beeped. And every time I had to be frisked.<br />
<br />
So I arrived home about 5 hours later than planned. Tired, bagless, and happy. I had a great time in Denver. It was wonderful to see everyone again and it was an excellent convention. Apart from the time spent with friends old and new my favourite bit was the surveillance course where we had to split into teams of 3 and follow a sneaky rabbit around Denver. Our rabbit was Jason Starr who donned a really bad fake moustache and a blue baseball cap under which he tucked his traqdemark long hair. Luckily, one of the team spotted him doing so otherwise I don't think we would ever have managed to tail him. As it was, we lost him on several occasions, but managed to pick him up again (in one case I spotted Marcus Sakey looking VERY suspicious so I decided to follow him instead. Luckily he led me to Jason :o) We had great fun. I don't think I could ever make a PI though. I practically ran slam bang into our rabbit about 26 seconds from the start of the exercise :o) Needless to say, he spotted me early on (probably 26 seconds into the surveillance), but he didn't spot my teammates.<br />
<br />
The tequila bus was great - a tour of Denver's notorious murder spots accompanied by margaritas - what's not to like? And after the bar each evening I spent time with the funniest guys on the planet, playing poker - thanks guys (both for the laughs and for the fact that the final evening paid for the pink and black polka dot shoes I bought at Nordstroms :o))<br />
<br />
As ever, LCC was brilliant. I got to spend time with the wonderful 4MA crowd, have a lovely dinner with my friend Judy, annoy my long suffering roommate Jan, meet the lovely Christa Faust (that was a real treat - the girl's an absolute doll), give loads of hugs, and win some money at poker. My only regret is not getting to spend enough time with other people I love to spend time with - Brian, Dave, Kat...I hope to get together with you in Baltimore.Book Event and a Book Offer You Can't Refusetag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-03-18:537324:BlogPost:1317532008-03-18T14:30:00.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
I spent a pleasant couple of hours on Saturday in the company of some stellar crime writers. First of all I had lunch with Duane Swierczynski (who has learned some very interesting Scottish words) and Russel McLean (who already knew them). We discussed books, travelling, and whether you can have more fun at an Edinburgh wedding or a Glasgow stabbing (I've been to both - my vote goes to the Glasgow stabbing). From my point of view it was fun. Not sure what THEY thought. We then went off to see a…
I spent a pleasant couple of hours on Saturday in the company of some stellar crime writers. First of all I had lunch with Duane Swierczynski (who has learned some very interesting Scottish words) and Russel McLean (who already knew them). We discussed books, travelling, and whether you can have more fun at an Edinburgh wedding or a Glasgow stabbing (I've been to both - my vote goes to the Glasgow stabbing). From my point of view it was fun. Not sure what THEY thought. We then went off to see a panel at Glasgow's Aye Write festival - Al Guthrie, Stuart MacBride and Quintin Jardine. It was an excellent panel, went on past its scheduled hour, with lots of questions from the audience.<br />
<br />
Al read a brilliant passage from his new, hot off the press book SAVAGE NIGHT involving a naked arse and a samurai sword (I hasten to point out that Al didn't HAVE a naked arse as he read the passage - that would have been far far too scary). As a result I bought an extra copy of SAVAGE NIGHT which I will offer for your delectation. Anyone who fancies some foul-mouthed smut, please send me one of those little message-y things on here. And anyone who wants a copy of SAVAGE NIGHT should also let me know :o) I will then put all the names into a hat, or, more likely, a high heeled boot, and draw a winner.<br />
<br />
Tata,<br />
<br />
DonnaDenver - Left Coast Crimetag:crimespace.ning.com,2008-03-06:537324:BlogPost:1286702008-03-06T15:31:12.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
Whenever I go to conventions my first post about it always seems to be "Arrived safely in X. My luggage, however, is in Y." So, how boring it is to have to report that I arrived safely in Denver. My luggage however, remained in Chicago. It's done that before. Twice. I think my big red suitcase is having an affair with a blue Samsonite from Chicago.<br />
<br />
I made my connecting flight with 5 minutes to spare - having to go through Immigration (the usual questions about my sanity), Customs (oh why, oh…
Whenever I go to conventions my first post about it always seems to be "Arrived safely in X. My luggage, however, is in Y." So, how boring it is to have to report that I arrived safely in Denver. My luggage however, remained in Chicago. It's done that before. Twice. I think my big red suitcase is having an affair with a blue Samsonite from Chicago.<br />
<br />
I made my connecting flight with 5 minutes to spare - having to go through Immigration (the usual questions about my sanity), Customs (oh why, oh WHY did I accede to Adrian's request to bring some syrup sponge puddings and custard - have you ANY idea how difficult that is to explain?), followed by a 2 mile hike across Chicago airport, check in again ("By the way Miss Moore, you have been specially selected to undergo a full security screening." Now, I don't know about you, but "Specially selected" conjures up pictures of lottery wins and shiny new cars, not the sound of big beefy men snapping the latex gloves in anticipation), and then being pulled out of the security line for my specially selected security check - wanded, probed, interrogated and my spare knickers being pulled out of my hand luggage and held up to derision "Ma'am - are these YOURS?" My luggage, as I later found out, was also interrogated in the same way. When we eventually had a tearful reunion the next morning there was a little note in it from the TSA "Your luggage has been opened and searched. Sorry - one of the sniffer dogs ate the custard. Oh, and by the way, what's with all the shoes?")<br />
<br />
I arrived at the hotel and discovered that my room is at the very furthest point from the elevators that it is possible to be. I had to lay a trail of breadcrumbs so that I could find my way back. I was meeting my friend Judy for dinner and with half an hour to spare I decided to have a quick shower to wash off the grime of a 20 hour journey (plus the dirty pawprints of the latex gloved men). I had just stepped out of the shower when there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a cheery smiling man with a tray bearing champagne and chocolate covered strawberries.<br />
<br />
"Hello ma'am, this is your Romance Package."<br />
<br />
I laughed "I'm sorry," I said "It's not for me, sadly."<br />
<br />
"Sorry, ma'am, what was that?"<br />
<br />
I swallowed the huge chocolate covered strawberry I had sneaked into my mouth "I said, I'm sorryu, it's not mine."<br />
<br />
"You don't have a romance?"<br />
<br />
I restrained myself from throwing myself sobbing at his shiny buttoned uniform. "I think you have the wrong room."<br />
<br />
He went away. I cast longing glances at the rest of the chocolate covered strawberries and shut the door with a sigh. 2 minutes later the phone rang. "Ma'am we tried to deliver some champagne and chocolate to you from a Mr Andrew Jackson." Well, what a surprise. They WERE for me after all! My new man is definitely a keeper. How nice is that? I was really touched. Needless to say, I had eaten half the chocolate covered strawberries before the room service guy could say "Have a nice day."<br />
<br />
So then it was off out to dinner. I had antelope steak which was rather yummy. I don't know whether antelopes are native to Denver but it was extremely tasty.<br />
<br />
The next morning my roommate Jan arrived. I had been hoping to sneak out to the mall before she came because she was under strict instructions not to let me buy anything while I am here, but she foiled me. I said "I'm just nipping out to Cherry Creek Mall."<br />
<br />
She gave me a suspicious look. "Why?"<br />
<br />
I HAVE to get some presents. And some perfume." I said innocently.<br />
<br />
"No shoes?"<br />
<br />
"Nooooooooooooooo, of COURSE not - whatever makes you think that?"<br />
<br />
"I'll come with you."<br />
<br />
So off we set. What a lovely mall. Not only did it have a Macys and a Nordstroms, but also a Nieman Marcus and a Saks. I was in shopping heaven. Well, I had to take advantage. I hit Macys like a fat locust and bought several bargains. Then the shoe department at Nordstroms. For the record. Jan does not like the blue boots, hates the pink and black shoes, is OK with the black Timberlands and has no opinion on either the brown check or the black pinstripe shoes. I tried, that's all I can say. No pleasing some people. Of course, including the ones I brought with me I now have 12 pairs of shoes to take back with me. Minor problem.<br />
<br />
That evening was the 4MA dinner. There were about 20 of us and it was so nice to see everyone again and have hugs. Every year I come to these things it's less about the panels and the events and much much more about the people. We had a lovely meal (buffalo burger and an orange pomegranate martini), a great chat, and lots of fun. Then back to the hotel and into the bar. More old friends arrived and a good time was had by all.<br />
<br />
Today, the panels start and then this evening I am off on the Tequila Bus Tour. It's a tour of Denver's famous crime sites. With tequila. What more could a girl ask for?Back to Realitytag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-10-12:537324:BlogPost:807542007-10-12T11:17:19.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
Saturday I got up and looked out of my window at Emily and Dwayne's<br />
house. More snow had fallen overnight. They took me to the airport and,<br />
needless to say, I had a good cry.<br></br><br></br><a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/Rw9P__D-uSI/AAAAAAAAAH0/iEmgc7rDZ0E/s1600-h/Aniak+Kalska+Sleetmute+1023.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120399262022023458" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120399262022023458" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/Rw9P__D-uSI/AAAAAAAAAH0/iEmgc7rDZ0E/s320/Aniak+Kalska+Sleetmute+1023.jpg" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;"></img></a> Back
in Anchorage there were cars and roads and people and bustle - all the<br />
things I had got used to being without in the past week. Marti from the<br />
Authors To Schools programme…
Saturday I got up and looked out of my window at Emily and Dwayne's<br />
house. More snow had fallen overnight. They took me to the airport and,<br />
needless to say, I had a good cry.<br/><br/><a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/Rw9P__D-uSI/AAAAAAAAAH0/iEmgc7rDZ0E/s1600-h/Aniak+Kalska+Sleetmute+1023.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/Rw9P__D-uSI/AAAAAAAAAH0/iEmgc7rDZ0E/s320/Aniak+Kalska+Sleetmute+1023.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120399262022023458" border="0" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120399262022023458"/></a>Back
in Anchorage there were cars and roads and people and bustle - all the<br />
things I had got used to being without in the past week. Marti from the<br />
Authors To Schools programme kindly picked me up and took me to my<br />
hotel. On the way we stopped off at her house and, as we were driving<br />
along her street, there was a moose and her baby casually standing in<br />
someone's front garden. I went all the way to the Bush and never saw a<br />
moose. Then, in a suburb of Anchorage here were two about 6 feet away<br />
from me. I expected to round the corner and see a black bear sitting on<br />
a porch with a can of Budweiser and a bag of Cheetos.<br/><br/>I was at
the airport at 3.30 the next morning. Checking in with absolutely no<br />
voice was good fun. When I got on the plane in Seattle I was starting<br />
to feel a little rough. I had the window seat - J. This Spanish (I<br />
thought) guy got on and said "I think you're in the wrong seat." "No",<br />
I said, "I'm seat J". "I'm H, and that comes after J unless I didn't<br />
study well at school." I refrained from saying that yes indeed, he<br />
didn't study well at school and just said "G is there, J is here." Had<br />
he politely said "Oh, I really wanted a window seat" I would have got<br />
up and let him have it. But he was so rude. He was still ranting on<br />
when the big sweaty guy in front of me got up and said "She's in J.<br />
It's the window seat. That's G over there." Thank you, my knight in<br />
sweaty armour.<br/><br/>So, Mr Annoying sat down. Despite the fact that
my nose was blocked, the stench of the cheap aftershave that he had<br />
apparently bathed in about five minutes before wafted over me<br />
like...well...like a really strong smelling cheap aftershave. There is<br />
no suitable simile to describe the fug of gag-inducing Eau De Stink. Oh<br />
goodie, 9 and a half hours. By the end of it, I was going to be<br />
hallucinating about diving into a swimming pool filled with the stuff.<br />
It couldn't possibly get worse. He turned to the guy on the other side<br />
of him "I'm from Sicily." Excellent. I had seriously pissed off a mafia<br />
don. There would be no sleep for me just in case I woke up with a<br />
horse's head on the headrest next to me.<br/><br/>I had a look at the
list of films I could watch. Very unlike me I chose a horror film. Now,<br />
I'm not good with horror so I seldom watch it. I'll admit it, I'm a<br />
wuss. But the listing had a film called 1408, based on a Stephen King<br />
film, and starring John Cusack. Now, I like John Cusack and I thought<br />
"OK, I'm on a plane with 600 other people, the screen is 2 inches<br />
square, I'm sitting next to a man who smells like a sewer - how scary<br />
can this film be?" So I started to watch it, and it was pretty good.<br />
Not too scary although I did squeak a couple of times. They brought the<br />
food round, I carried on watching. They came to collect the trays. My<br />
eyes were glued to the screen. I lifted up my tray to pass to the air<br />
stewardess as she came round. Something really REALLY scary happened in<br />
the film. Well, what else could I do? I shrieked (which luckily came<br />
out a mix between croak and squeak), and flung my tray up in the air.<br />
Bits of food, plastic cutlery, cups, little plastic trays, and a roll<br />
which was so hard I could have battered my seatmate to death with it,<br />
flew into the air. Sadly, what goes up must come down. And it did. All<br />
over Don Smelleone and the couple in the row in front. They were<br />
picking bits of pasta out of their hair for the rest of the flight.<br />
Whoops.<br/><br/>So, that was the end of my wonderful vacation. I had the
time of my life. So many special memories, so many friends made, so<br />
many new experiences. The scenery was breathtaking, but even that was<br />
dwarfed by the amazing experience I had in the Bush. I loved speaking<br />
to the children in the schools and came home with a huge bag full of<br />
drawings and stories. I have a few of them stuck to my fridge and will<br />
be rotating them regularly. I left some money as prizes in a writing<br />
competition and I've already had a few entries - some of them really<br />
good.<br/><br/>Apart from the trip being a lot of fun, I learned so many
things - including that you can eat brown bears but not black bears,<br />
that I need more practice driving an ATV, that I can embarrass myself<br />
by crying every day, that ice cream made of fish and Crisco tastes<br />
delicious, and that the duct tape holding in the window of a plane<br />
doesn't need to be scary. Mostly, I learned that I would love to go<br />
back to Alaska one day, and if I do, I will definitely be going back to<br />
Aniak, Kalskag and Sleetmute.<br/><br/>Thank you to everyone for bearing
with me and reading my nonsense, and for your comments either here or<br />
via e-mail. It's been a lot of fun, and almost made me wish I kept a<br />
regular blog. I shall be updating the blog at least once more, mid<br />
November time, just to report on the competition and updates on things<br />
happening in the Bush - I'm keeping in touch with as many of the<br />
teachers and children who can put up with me. If anyone wants me to let<br />
them know when the post goes up, please e-mail me at donnaem at gmail<br />
dot com.<br/><br/>Until then, I shall leave you with some more photos of
gorgeous scenery, friends made, and the wonderful teachers and<br />
children of the Kuskokwim River villages.<br/><br/>(I don't want to clog Crimespace up with loads of pics, so I've just included a couple here - there are loads more at my trip blog:<br/>http://alaskanmisadventures.blogspot.com<br/><br/>Love,<br/>Donna<br/><br/><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/Rw9ROPD-uTI/AAAAAAAAAH8/WN1215yeboI/s1600-h/ATVDSC_012108032007-09-25-panoramic.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/Rw9ROPD-uTI/AAAAAAAAAH8/WN1215yeboI/s320/ATVDSC_012108032007-09-25-panoramic.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120400606346787122" border="0" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5120400606346787122"/></a><img alt=""/><br/><p style="text-align: left;"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/70738238?profile=RESIZE_320x320" alt=""/></p>
<br/>Last Day In The Bushtag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-10-10:537324:BlogPost:803282007-10-10T22:48:53.000ZDonna Moorehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/DonnaMoore
Friday was spent at the High School in Aniak, doing writing exercises<br />
with several classes of the older children. I varied the exercises<br />
depending on the class. It was a fun day. I found that the High<br />
Schoolers in general during my visit were some of the most difficult to<br />
get through to, but also some of the most rewarding. You could just<br />
tell when they got it, and the light went on, and they started to enjoy<br />
it. There are some very intelligent and creative students. One told me<br />
he wasn't going…
Friday was spent at the High School in Aniak, doing writing exercises<br />
with several classes of the older children. I varied the exercises<br />
depending on the class. It was a fun day. I found that the High<br />
Schoolers in general during my visit were some of the most difficult to<br />
get through to, but also some of the most rewarding. You could just<br />
tell when they got it, and the light went on, and they started to enjoy<br />
it. There are some very intelligent and creative students. One told me<br />
he wasn't going to be able to write me a story, he just couldn't do it.<br />
Two days later he sent me a really imaginative and well written story. <br/><br/>The
last class of the day was especially interesting as it was conducted by<br />
video conference, with 3 students in the room, and 3 at 2 other<br />
schools. It made for an interesting hour. In that one we talked about<br />
music and how songs can hae stories in them, and be the jumping off<br />
point for ideas. We discussed the lyrics of a Nickelback song (Rock<br />
Star). Great fun. When I was their age, I would have loved to have had<br />
their teacher - he was great.<br/><br/><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/Rw0qtvD-uMI/AAAAAAAAAHE/rGxpZFQsdnY/s1600-h/Aniak+Kalska+Sleetmute+916.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/Rw0qtvD-uMI/AAAAAAAAAHE/rGxpZFQsdnY/s320/Aniak+Kalska+Sleetmute+916.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5119795316605761730" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5119795316605761730" border="0"/></a>
This picture shows one of the aspects of life in the Bush I really<br />
like. All the schools have pictures around the walls of the teachers<br />
and elders who have been important to the school and the village.<br/><br/>Every
day I've had at least one 'stop me in my tracks' moment. This one was<br />
when I was doing the radio commercial exercise with one of the classes<br />
and the 4 boys who made up one of the groups were sitting with blank<br />
stares and blank pieces of paper. "OK, if you were picking up a book<br />
right now, what sort of story would you like to read about?"<br />
"Cryptozoology" said one. "Errrr, and what's that?" said I. So he then<br />
went into a very articulate and technical speech about what it is -<br />
having to do with creatures whose existence has not been proved. So<br />
they ended up coming up with a really inventive story about Bigfoot.<br/><br/>These
students have lots of hidden depths. One of the girls is in an<br />
organisation called the Dragon Slayers - a teen volunteer<br />
around-the-clock emergency rescue team set up by the fire chief. They<br />
fight fires and respond to medical emergencies in Aniak and the<br />
surrounding towns. They are all aged between 13-18 and are mostly<br />
girls. Again, I was struck by how these young people have done so much<br />
more in their lives than I have, despite the fact that they live in a<br />
small village, cut off from what we would consider civilisation.<br/><br/><a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/Rw0r6_D-uNI/AAAAAAAAAHM/urjK8PgwFd0/s1600-h/IMG_0285.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/Rw0r6_D-uNI/AAAAAAAAAHM/urjK8PgwFd0/s320/IMG_0285.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5119796643750656210" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5119796643750656210" border="0"/></a>I
gave out the rest of my gifts. I was pleased that I had had enough<br />
pens, pencils, notebooks and cookies so that all of the children I met<br />
got something. And since the aspersions have been cast by Paulie<br />
Walnuts - one of my dearest friends - and by my own FATHER, here is a<br />
photo of some of the children with their treats. I think, gents, that<br />
you will now have to give up on spreading this vicious rumour that I<br />
ate all the biscuits. <br/><br/>In the afternoon there was a pep rally
for the whole school for a girls volleyball game being held that<br />
evening (between the Aniak Halfbreeds and the Kalskag Grizzlies. There<br />
was a poetry reading, a volleyball game between the teachers and the<br />
girls' team, and they also gave me a round of applause, which was<br />
lovely, if blush-inducing.<p style="text-align: left;"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/70738241?profile=RESIZE_320x320" alt=""/><br/></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">It was a lovely wind down to my week and, as well as watching proceedings I sat chatting to one of the High School
students - Amanda, and we were going ga-ga over a chihuahua puppy that<br />
someone had brought in. Ginger was dressed in a little coat that said<br />
'Brunettes have more fun'.<br/></p>
<br/>After the pep rally it was home for a quick bite to eat before the volleyball game. Aniak's only restaurant
closed down recently, and is currently awaiting new ownership. They do,<br />
however, have a fast food outlet. They have a pizza hut. I don't mean<br />
Pizza Hut, I mean a hut where Esther makes the most delicious pizzas.<br />
Really yummy.<br/><br/>The volleyball game was good fun. It's a real
village event, and the hottest thing happening in Aniak on a Friday<br />
night. Children from the Elementary School were coming in and out and<br />
when they saw me I got hugs and waves. And one little boy with a cheeky<br />
face came and sat next to me and said "I enjoyed writing stories. When<br />
are you coming back?"<br/><br/><a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/Rw0s0fD-uOI/AAAAAAAAAHU/PwXWQ4a9Hu0/s1600-h/Aniak+Kalska+Sleetmute+973.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/Rw0s0fD-uOI/AAAAAAAAAHU/PwXWQ4a9Hu0/s320/Aniak+Kalska+Sleetmute+973.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5119797631593134306" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5119797631593134306" border="0"/></a>A
little girl came up and said "My sister wants to see you outside." Blimey - the last time I was at school and someone said 'my sister wants to see you outside' a girl twice as big as me wanted to steal my lunch money and my maths homework (ha! more fool HER). So, heart in mouth I went out and, phew, Amanda was there with her husky Sunshine. The family has<br />
about 10 dogs, but Sunshine is her special one. So we chatted for a<br />
while and I got licked to death by Sunshine. I really liked Amanda. She<br />
is a quiet, caring, thoughtful girl, wise beyond her 13 years, and with<br />
a smile that lights up her face.<br/><br/>After a while I went back
inside and watched the Halfbreeds beat the Grizzlies, which went down<br />
well in the gym. A lot of the spectators had relatives who played on<br />
both teams, but the loyalty seems to be to your village rather than<br />
your relatives and friends :o)<br/><br/><a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/Rw0uKPD-uPI/AAAAAAAAAHc/6AyvCIq6Mdk/s1600-h/Aniak+Kalska+Sleetmute+1032.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/Rw0uKPD-uPI/AAAAAAAAAHc/6AyvCIq6Mdk/s320/Aniak+Kalska+Sleetmute+1032.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5119799104766916850" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5119799104766916850" border="0"/></a>
Back at Emily and Dwayne's there was a knock at the door. "Donna, it's<br />
for you" said Emily. For me? Has the patience of the villagers finally<br />
been exhausted? Have they come en masse to run me out of town? But no -<br />
it was Amanda. In her quiet voice she said "When I took Sunshine back<br />
home I thought, 'what would Donna not have back in Scotland?' so I made<br />
you this." 'This' was a piece of caribou antler which she had sawed off<br />
one of the caribou her family had caught, and she had scratched on one<br />
side 'Aniak' and on the other 'Alaska'. Also a little box of beautiful<br />
shiny stones. I burst into tears and gave her a huge hug. What a way to<br />
end my last day in the Bush, with the friendship and generosity that I<br />
encountered everywhere during my week here.<br/><br/><a href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/Rw0vRPD-uQI/AAAAAAAAAHk/YmDRj9P_gSM/s1600-h/Aniak+Kalska+Sleetmute+1020.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_hPNzYwn7vts/Rw0vRPD-uQI/AAAAAAAAAHk/YmDRj9P_gSM/s320/Aniak+Kalska+Sleetmute+1020.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5119800324537628930" name="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5119800324537628930" border="0"/></a><br/><br/><br/>And
on my last day here it snowed. Just a bit, but that's now the start of<br />
winter. By the end of October the place will be covered in snow, and it<br />
will last until about april time. The wide, fast flowing Kuskokwim<br />
River will freeze to a depth of 5 or 6 feet, and it will be thick<br />
enough to drive on. Hard to believe. I would love to see it. And I'd<br />
love to whiz up and down the frozen river in a snowmobile.<br/><br/><br/>Well,
only one or two more posts left to go - I'm sure you will be pleased to<br />
know. If you've stuck with me so far...what the hell's wrong with you<br />
people?!