At Family Restaurant, I am reminded of an assignment in my quest to find the soul of Wasilla; a girl squirts ketchup in her face; other moments
Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 4:00AM ;)
When I finally stepped into our room a bit after 5:00 AM to go bed, it was ice cold in there. This is because the five chords of wood that we began the season with is now down to a few sticks, so we had heated the house very conservatively, keeping the bedroom doors closed to hold the heat in the living room and kitchen, which left the bedrooms cold.
Plus, now that it is mid-March and spring draws nigh, the unusually warm weather that dominated December, January and February is gone and the temperature has dropped. I found Margie buried beneath her quilts, sound asleep. Although her knee injuries are much improved, she still must sleep in a bed by herself. Every night, I find myself lonesome for her.
Once I got down to my barefeet and was about to climb into bed, I realized that I needed to medicate Royce, so I did. By the time I was done and ready to finally go to bed, my feet had grown cold. In fact, I was cold all over. I climbed under the covers and waited to warm up.
My body gradually did, but my feet stayed cold. I would fall asleep and then they would wake me up again. Repeatedly. I kept thinking that they would warm up, but they didn't. Finally, after a couple of hours, I got up, put two pairs of socks on and went back to bed.
It didn't help. My feet stayed cold. I kept waking up and a bit after 8:00 AM, I reached a point where I simply could not go back to sleep - although I kept trying until about 8:45. Then I got up and came out here to my office, heated by natural gas, spent a couple of hours on my computer and then headed for Family Restaurant for breakfast.
I had not been there for awhile and I am still waiting for a check that I anticipated receiving last week, so I didn't really have any money to go but I did have a credit card. After staying up almost all night and then not sleeping well, I really needed to go to Family Restaurant for breakfast. Just Family. Nowhere else would do - not even home.
I invited Margie but she did not want to step outside into the cold, not even to pass through the short distance to the car. Plus, although I had been warming the car up for several minutes, she knew that the interior temperature would still be cool, but Caleb had made a fire in the living room so it was warm on the couch. That is where she decided to stay and eat her oatmeal.
When I stepped into the Arctic entry into Family, I saw this gentleman sipping on his coffee, looking right at me through the glass. I did not want to scare him, but it was a scene that I had to photograph and he was agreeable enough and so I did.
Afterwards, I chatted with him for just a couple of minutes and told him about this blog. He asked my name and when I told him, he said, "I've read your blog."
As it turned out, he is Tim Mahoney, son of the late Paul George and Iona Mae Mahoney, whose graves I came upon last summer in Groto Iona, after I pedaled my bike past a bare-breasted young woman and wound up on my knees amidst their graves.
At that time, I gave myself an assignment to learn something about who these two were as part of my quest to find the soul of Wasilla. I have not yet had the time nor have I been organized enough to do so, but I still intend to. Little reminders keep popping up - like my friend, Ron Mancil, appearing as a worker on the Mahoney Ranch, where those horses that I sometimes photograph hang out. Just last week, I received an invitation by email from Matt Mahoney to take a tour of the entire original spread, once summer comes and the snow is gone.
Tim's sister, Paulie, has also been in touch with me and has offered to help.
And today, I found a new reminder in a pair of eyes looking at me over a coffee cup as I entered Mat-Su Valley Family Restaurant.
;)
I was surprised when, shortly after I sat down, I saw a waitress who has often waited on me in the past enter the restaurant as just a regular Wasillan. It was Jolene, who you can find waitressing right here. She had told me about her children before, but I had never seen them and now here they were, with her - Javin, Jocelyn and Justice.
They were escorted to the table immediately across the aisle from mine.
;)
Even though I know the names of all the children, and Javin is the little one, I forget which of the two older ones is Jocelyn and which is Justice. The older one took hold of a bottle of ketchup, but she squeezed it too hard and it squirted her in the face.
What kind of Justice is that?
;)
She grimaced as her mother cleaned her face.
;)
There was just enough commotion to catch the attention of the elder gentleman at the next table, who was amused by the whole little mishap.
;)
Then the elder gentlemen visited briefly with young Javin - or perhaps Javen - I really should have followed Journalism 101 practice and asked for the correct spelling, but I wanted my interruption of their meal to be as short as possible so that they could just enjoy their food, along with each other's company.
;)
When I went back to my car, I found this guy and one other, putting up a new sign on the marquee.
;)
At 4:00 PM, I got back in the car and headed towards Metro Cafe for my news break. Michael was out, blowing the new snow out of his driveway. We chatted for a bit. He heads to work at Prudhoe tomorrow, but said when he gets back he will come and get me and we will go to Hatchers and go cross-country skiing together.
I can't believe that I have not been skiing once this entire winter. Last winter, sure, because I was in recovery from my shoulder injury and surgery and it would have been too dangerous. This winter, I have just been too behind and too unorganized, all winter long.
Maybe next week.
;)
On the way to Metro, I drove by this moose, grazing from the Lucille Street bike trail.
;)
Through the Window Metro Study, #392
Carmen, with Shoshanna, who she had just hired to help her out.
;)
This is actually from yesterday, one of the photos that I had planned to use but did not, because I devoted the space to my friend, Vincent Craig.
;)
This is what it looked like on Church Road, as I drove toward the Talkeetna Mountains on my way home. The shortest route would have been for me to turn right, very close to where I took this picture. Instead, I continued straight, then turned left, crossed the bridge over the Little Su and then drove out past Iona Grotto and the Mahoney Ranch.
I looked for Ron but did not see him, so I turned around and came home. That was seven hours ago. I have been here ever since, mostly sitting at my computer but not accomplishing nearly as much as I had intended to.
I will do better tomorrow.
Reader Comments (8)
ouch. ketchup in the eye has got to hurt a little.
sounds like the cosmos wants you to write more about Paul George and Iona Mae Mahoney!
Chweet kids and chwwweeeet granny granpa couple der behind dem! Feel Like pinching their cheeks and cuddling with them! Touche Wood!
Howz ur feet now!! Bill the more you write about Wasilla the more I dream to come der! I will do anything in the world to stay der ! Missing you and your photos. Also want to meet Margie and Kalib. Hes a sweetheart. Guess what I have one snap of his which I always open when I am sad. It makes me smile and go on for the day :) Love him!
Love ,
Suji
Hey... Carmen is damn beautiful lady! Pass my Hi to her! :)
Rlana and I have been offline for a few days due to a death in the family. We are back and catching up again.
Hi I'm Riana. I'm happy that you have the blog.I love reading it every morning before school.I love your blog, it rocks. I wish it was summer already tired of snow i like it but this is way too much. Thank you for putting me in your blog =)
Bill, I have to tell you every few weeks how happy I am that you take the time to have this blog. I wish I had the energy to keep up with our Wasillan happenings, but alas, your photographic eye is so much more sophisticated than mine and life in Wasilla is much better represented through your lenses than could ever be through mine.
Same life, yet you are so much more astute when it comes to capturing the moment.
dhali - yes, Ketchup in the eye is no fun, but she was brave just long enough for me to snap the picture.
Suji - We want you to come and spend time with your Alaska family. I don't know if you will see this or my next post first, but, either way, the message is - please come. I did not see Carmen today, but I will tell her tomorrow.
Grandma and Riana - I am sorry for your loss, but glad to have you back.
Alicia - Thank you! Some day, I hope to find the time to really dig into Wasilla, instead of just getting a few snaps when I take my walks, go on coffee breaks and the like.
the soul of wasilla is a great name for a photography essay and i believe you've already written it!