Meagre berry picking expedition leads to magic moment between toddler, cat and the clouds

Melanie and Charlie came to visit Sunday and as we took a little ride, we drank coffee, listened to All Things Considered and then This American Life. Afterwards, I returned to my office, sat down and worked for a couple of hours on a project that has been vexing me. 

When I stepped back in the living room, Lavina had prepared dinner, but Melanie, Charlie and Royce were nowhere to be seen. "They went into the swamp to pick berries," Margie said from her position on the couch. So I ate my chicken and salad, grabbed my G10 pocket camera and then went out to see if I could find them.

I did, as you should be able to tell, even without me saying so.

They were about done but they had not done well, so Melanie tried another place, where she spotted a few. She had barely begun to pluck them when she swatted her face. Must have been a mosquito, but the mosquitoes are just about all gone now. 

Just a short time ago, one could barely have tolerated being where she is in this picture, because the mosquitoes would have been maddening. But their season is over, thank goodness.

As you can see, the berry picking was not good at all. Melanie figured it is because the swamp has pretty much dried. "Back when it was wet, there were a lot more berries," she lamented. You cannot even rightfully call it a swamp anymore. She wondered if the house wells were responsible. I don't think so.

Quite some time ago, some developers tore out the wettest end of the swamp and made a gravel pit out of it. The developers said that after they had taken the gravel they would make a nice lake of it for the whole neighborhood to enjoy, but, as developers so often do, they didn't. Now it is just an ugly, abandoned, gravel pit with some ugly pools of water in it. I think that is what dried up the marsh.

I knew that there was another reason Melanie and Charlie had found so few berries. For two days in row now, Jacob and Kalib have been out there picking and eating berries as though they were about to go out of season.

Speaking of those two, we heard some commotion so we looked, and here they came. With Muzzy.

Kalib left his Dad's shoulders so that he could pal around with Muzzy and Royce.

And then it was just Kalib, Royce, and grass going to seed.

 

Royce soon led Kalib to another spot, where they found an even taller blade of grass.

Kalib studies the grass.

And then he lays down upon Royce.

He soon spots an interesting cloud, and points it out. The cat does not care, but he cares about Kalib.

I think, perhaps, this was one of those magic moments of early childhood that, even if it may one day be forgotten, it will be felt for the remainder of Kalib's life, even when he is an old man.

Kalib, his head on the fur of a warm, tolerant, and loving cat, watching clouds drift through a clear, deep blue sky. Yes, this is a fleeting moment that is ever lasting.

And so passed this day, right here in Wasilla, Alaska.

Sarah Palin experiment - a berrylicious walk with Kalib and his dad

The experiment:

Typically, the number of visitors to this site drops off come Saturday and Sunday, but this weekend something curious happened: for no reason that I could think of, the number of visitors actually rose. It did not reach the stupendous levels (for me) that it did for two days running when I posted the Barrow baby contest, but, none-the-less, it showed a healthy increase over what it had been and certainly over the typical weekend.

I was curious as to why, and so did some back-tracking and discovered that some blogs that link to me (most notably the Immoral Minority) had stories that Sarah Palin and husband Todd are about to divorce (denied by Palin's spokeswoman). 

And then, last night, the word "Palin" was in my headline.

I figured that these two factors led to the increase.

So, other than what I have stated above, this blog post has nothing to do with Sarah Palin. It is merely an experiment to see what kind of numbers I will get by including her name in the post headline. This is a one-time experiment. I will not do it again. Nor is Sarah Palin about to become a regular topic of this blog, even though it is obvious to me that my really-pretty-small audience could be significantly larger if I were to run a few Sarah Palin stories every week, perhaps every day.

If she stays in Wasilla, or even Alaska, it is almost inevitable that our paths will cross somewhere and then I will probably get a picture and post it with a few words, but, otherwise, this blog has other concerns and I will leave her to the other bloggers.

The walk.

It began in our front yard, where Kalib observed as his parents engaged in a lovey-dovey wrestling match. Shortly thereafter, Kalib found a mushroom.

He did not try to eat it and if he would have, I would not have let him.

Lavina stayed home, just in case Margie would need some help. Jacob took off walking. Fearing that he was about to be left behind, Kalib came running after. I followed with my camera.

Eventually, Kalib wound up on his father's shoulders.

By and by, he was transferred to Muzzy's back. It was sweet.

Muzzy galloped up the embankment, bucking Kalib from his back. Tenaciously, Kalib kept hold of the reins.

There were berries to eat - raspberries, blueberries and currants. There were cranberries, too, but they were not yet ready to be picked.

By the time we reached a hill that we had to descend, Kalib was walking again. Two trails went down that hill - one off at an angle with a more gentle slope, the other straight down, at a steep slope. Jacob tried to lead Kalib down the gentle slope, but he refused to go that way. He insisted upon going down the steep slope, so Jacob got in front of him and gave him his hands.

Fireweed grew in abundance at the bottom, so Jacob and Kalib plunged in. There were many honey bees flying about in those flowers, plus bumble bees and yellow jackets. When a yellow jacket alit on a blossom right in front of Kalib, Jacob warned him to leave it alone.

But, as you can see, Kalib reached out with both hands. Fortunately, he did not get stung.

And then we found more berries.

Now we are on the last stretch, coming through the marsh towards home.

Even though we are now within three hundred yards of the house, it will take Kalib and Jacob more than an hour to reach it. I grew worried about Margie and so, right after I took the following picture, hurried back to our bedroom, leaving the father and son to enjoy the delights of so beautiful a day alone together.

Jacob and Kalib, picking berries. "It was a berrylicious walk," Jacob said.

Meanwhile, back on Sarah's Way in Wasilla... (I will return to the wedding and India, shortly, after one more Wasilla-Palmer post)

The night before last, at a little after 9:00 PM, I accompanied Jacob, Kalib and Muzzy on a short walk. And for you, any of my Indian friends and relatives who might be reading this, yes, you read the time correctly. The sun would yet go down, but it never would get dark. It does not get dark here this time of year.

That part of being in India was a little bit hard for me. The days were so short for this time of year. I can take short days in the winter, but come spring and summer, I can hardly bear a dark night. This is a little hard for some people to understand - until they live through an Alaska winter.

As for the mirror, it is attached the baby pack and Jacob uses it to check and see how many mosquitoes might be biting Kalib.

The walk did not begin with the mirror shot. It began right here, on Sarah's Way.

Down Seldon we go.

Then we turned onto Tamar.

Jacob does a mosquito check. The mosquitoes have not gotten as bad as they soon will, but they are bad enough. It is okay. Kalib needs to get lots of bites, so that he builds his immunity and they don't bother him anymore.

Jacob did not agree with my philosophy and wanted me to do my own mosquito checks and brush the little creatures off of my grandson's head.

Back home, Jacob unloads Kalib from the pack.

Kalib spots the dog across the street and heads over in its direction. There are no cars coming, so Jacob let's him, but follows warily. This is one of those pictures that I think you should click on, so that you can see the dog and Kalib's face a little better.

Jacob herds Kalib back to the house, as caught in the reflection of his Tahoe.

Kalib heads for the door.

A beautiful, exquisite, kind of day - but a nightmare inside my computer

I took many pictures on this exquisitely gorgeous day, plus, I still have a few from Wainwright and even Barrow that I hope yet to post, but I encountered an absolute nightmare in my computer.

An absolute nightmare!

I do not know what is wrong with it, but I can do just one thing - like pull up one picture - and then I must restart the computer and start all over again and I am about to go insane. So I haven't even looked at but a few of the pictures that I took.

Therefore, I post just this one image, from this morning, when little Kalib walked out onto the road with me. Yes, I was prepared to snatch him up and carry him away if I even heard the sound of a car in the distance.

No, I'll post two, just because Kalib walked out into the road with me, but a road can be a very dangerous place, especially for children. Lisa came out today and as she drove down Seldon Street, she saw a young boy, alone on a four wheeler, driving in a dangerous, idiotic, manner.

This is a common occurrence around here and if you ever say anything to the parents of such children, you had better be prepared to duck.

Shortly after Lisa arrived, we climbed into the car and took off to meet Melanie and Charlie. And there, not far from where she spotted the boy, was his wrecked four-wheeler, three police cars and an ambulance.

I hope he is okay. God. I hope he is okay - and a bit more wise, maybe. But I don't know.

Oh, one more - just to end this day on happy note. We had a barbecue in the back yard. As he always does, Muzzy got his share.

Easter Sunday, part B: Kalib and Muzzy compete to see who can scarf up the most Easter eggs (C still to come)

Not so long ago, I was hiding eggs so that this guy could toddle out to search for them. Now it is he who hides eggs for a toddler to find. 

Jacob hides an egg in plain sight atop an upturned 5 gallon bucket. As he searches for a place to put the next egg, Muzzy grabs the one that he has just hidden and eats it.

The eggs are all hidden now. The toddler comes out to find them.

Kalib finds his first egg, right on the porch. He will grab it and then, just as though he had been doing this all his life, will put it in the Easter basket his Mom made for him.

Kalib grabs another egg.

And still another. Muzzy has already stolen a couple more.

Kalib spots a blue egg and goes for it. He does not seem to see the pink one - yet.

Kalib grabs a plastic shark egg. It has candy inside it.

Kalib snatches an egg off a septic vent. Don't worry, with Jacob's help, we replaced that septic system a decade ago - much farther back in the yard.

Kalib drops another egg into his Easter basket

Muzzy eats another egg.

There is still some ice atop this water. Kalib plunges his hand in.

Kalib battles Muzzy for the last egg. With Dad's help, Kalib will win. Muzzy has already eaten at least half-a-dozen. He doesn't need anymore.