Tuesday, August 01, 2006


A Postcard(quard) Trade with Deb
I found this wonderful beauty in my mail box recently. And what a treat it was to open!

Deb in Alaska suggested we trade and I was immediately pleased to do so. She is a wonderfully artistic quilter. Deb wanted one of my postcards with original ephemera and I sent one of the 1933 Chicago Worlds Fair. My quard from her was a total surprise as she made it especially for the trade. Isn't is grand!

You will LOVE her blog and her website:
http://www.coldfeetquilter.com
http://akquilter1.com

Deb lives in Anchorage, transplanted there from the midwest. She's a full time nurse, wife, mom and grandmother. Her blog is a delight to read. Homey, cozy, warm and full of life. She has also posted images of their new cabin near Anchorage.

What I have enjoyed through her emails and blog are my memories of being in Alaska during three jaw-dropping trips. Several career moves ago, I worked for a research and training company that required a lot of travel to clients around the US. During that time, I made a number memorable trips to Anchorage and to Juneau.

Larry came with me on these trips. One year, we went to Anchorage in July: d
rove down the Kenai to Homer. Took the train to Denali. Drove to Seward. Spent a day in Talkeetna and watched for the famous bachelors (didn't see any). Also surprising was the 'newness' of everything -- towns that were incorporated in the 20th century; some that only electricity in the 1950's; one that had only recently paved an access road for autos. It is a show-stopping-kind-of-place.

Ate salmon and halibut and Japanese soups. I remember a picnic on the Kenai, eating fresh crab purchased in Homer; Larry took a photo of me wearing two sweaters and ear muffs. It was July.

We marveled at the late night sun. And used the over-worked word 'awesome' because no other word would do, was BIG enough, descriptive enough.

We returned in October that year to snow on the ground and nearly all-day dark. We watched little school children getting off the bus in what seemed like the middle of the night with snow falling.

So, thank you Deb for a gift of friendship. For releasing memories. And for a glorious tiny art quilt.
___________

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet
and the winds long to play with your hair.
Kahlil Gibran

2 comments:

Deb Hardman said...

It was my pleasure Pat. You know, any time you want to come up again, we have a guest room, & we keep an extra vehicle (an old but good van), for guests to use. In fact, one day I was setting in the lobby of the hotel where my brother, his wife & their friends were staying (we didn't have space for 4 at the time), I met 4 little ladies from Oregon, who just happened to be quilters, & couldn't find a rental car anywhere, so I took them to my house, & gave them the extra car for the day. My brother said "Only my sister would lend her car to complete strangers". I told him they weren't strangers, they were quilters! That makes us all sisters by heart!
So thank you too sister!

Pat said...

Sister-of-the-heart, it took several days to answer your comment and I apologize. A small tornado blew through the seacoast on Thursday uprooting trees by their roots and tumbling utility poles. There was quite extensive damage to our small community and our neighborhood was without power for 30 hours or so. Power came back on late on Friday night; I danced a jig and clicked off the flashlight.