As her son runs the New York Marathon, the Fit Lady sprints beyond her cancer; Sarah denies being on Little Lake - it is written that Jesus wuz

I went walking a bit after noon today and, after I cut through the marsh, hiked up the hill through the trees and then came out onto the road, I saw Patty Stoll coming the other way. Patty, regular readers will recall, is fighting a deadly cancer. August 17 was the day that I first learned of and made note of it in this blog. 

At that time, without special treatment and surgery available only in the Lower 48, her doctor gave her only "months" to live - with that treatment, perhaps a year. It had been difficult to do, but, having a strong desire to live, Patty got herself lined up to go down south and get that surgery. Then, the doctor who was supposed to do it studied her data, concluded that her case was hopeless, that there was no point in doing anything further and told Patty to make her peace, because her time was up.

But Patty did not make her peace. She decided to fight. She would fight with naturopathic therapy, her strong will and medical treatment that she could get locally. She has made amazing progress.

So, today, once we got past the greetings, I asked, "how are you doing?"

"Good!" she said. "They still tell me that I am sick, but I feel good. I haved gained weight and I am growing stronger."

She told me that her local doctor is astounded at her progress, that he called it "extraodinary" and called her his "examplar." 

He asked her if she would be willing to meet with and speak to other patients with severe cancers and she agreed.

"Someone needs to be the examplar of how to beat this cancer," she said. "It might as well be me. I will set the example." She told me that she has two more rounds of chemo-therapy scheduled and that is it. Please note: she still has her hair.

Patty was also most pleased to tell me that her 30 year-old son, Willie Stoll, had run in the New York Marathon today. He finished the 26.2 mile race in 02:55:08, 616 out of about 20,000.

Jacob and Kalib had taken off walking before me. I went the opposite direction that they took, thinking that I might run into them along the way. But when I reached Little Lake without coming across them, I knew that that I had missed them.

As you can see, the ice has hardened and thickened around the goose decoy. I think it safe to say that, unless someone takes some heroic efforts to free it, this goose is locked down tight until some time in April or so.

The frogs that hang out back here are buried into the mud, where they should be frozen solid by now. They are amazing frogs, because, in the spring, even when only a small portion of the surface of Little Lake has broken clear of ice, you can hear the males croaking, calling their lovers to come and meet them so that they can make tadpoles together.

I could see that various people had been out testing the ice, and that a dog had been with them. The paw prints were big - like Muzzy paw prints.

I had missed them, but Jacob, Kalib and Muzzy had not missed the chance to frolic on the ice.

Others had gone out onto the ice, as well. I'm pretty certain that, despite their official denial, Sarah and Bonnie were among them. H'mmm... Sarah......??? do you think......???? Considering the denial and all?

It wuz written that Jesus had been there. This should surprise no one. 

I wondered if this track had been left by Jacob (It was too big to have been Kalib's) or by Sarah or Bonnie or whoever else might have ventured out onto the ice of Little Lake. When I returned home, Jacob confirmed that he, Kalib and Muzzy had been out on the pond, so I had him show me the bottom of his shoes.

This track was not his.

I should note that the reason all this dirt was on the surface of the pond is because of the big wind that blew the past few days. This is glacier dust, with some volcanic ash thrown into the mix, plus, I am certain, some regular dirt, too - along with the disintegrated remains of several dead spiders.

The wind still blew today, too, but not nearly so hard as the past couple of days. This flag needs to be taken down, disposed of properly and a new one raised in its place.

Since I missed them on the walk, I took Jake to lunch at Taco Bell. During my chat with Patty, she told me that she eats nothing but healthy food and that this has been the case for decades. Seeing as how we have always encountered each other in healthy situations - bike riding, walking and cross-country skiing, she had always kind of assumed I was healthy eater, too, and so has been very surprised to discover, on this very blog, the fact that I am a junk food junky - "a walking heart attack," as she put it.

Taco Bell food is pretty good though and it's got a lot of beans in it, and lettuce, tomatoes, corn chips and cheese and a bit of meat. I think that pretty much covers the food groups - except for fruit. When I got home, I ate a banana; later, Jacob gave me a chunk of persimmon that came all the way up from Brazil.

As you can see, Wasilla Lake is still not frozen over - although windblown shards have piled up on the edge of the shore. Way behind schedule. 

Come 4:00, I still had to go out for coffee, so that I could listen to the news on the radio. Here I am, in line at Mocha Moose, where I saw this guy reflected in my driver's door rearview mirror.

I took the long way home, via Shrock Road, where I took this picture at about 4:30 pm. This morning, it was very nice to be off Daylight Savings time - this afternoon, not quite as nice.

Even though we have yet to experience our first cold snap, the temperature has finally stayed continually below freezing for two days straight.

And tonight, I took a brief walk outside. Even with the lingering dust, the sky was crystal clear and the brisk air gave me a distinct bite that I can still feel in my ears. It felt just the way it does before a real cold snap sets in - so maybe.

I just wish there was snow, but there's not and if it gets cold you can be sure there won't be until it warms up again.

The Railroad Condos - the most elegant, pleasant, exclusive neighborhood in all of Wasilla*

Not so long ago there was a big plot of vacant land by the railroad tracks across the Parks Highway from Wasilla Lake.

We all knew that such vacant land could not be allowed to stand. When we saw the contruction begin, we wondered what someone could be building, right by the railroad tracks and the highway.

Of course. A huge condominium complex. I am quite certain that it is the hugest in all of the Matanuska-Susitna Valley.

I actually took this picture on September 17, when I was riding my bicycle back from Kendall Ford, where I had dropped the Escape off for an oil change and routine maintenance. I didn't use the picture then, so I will use it now.

I wondered why anyone would want to live here and why it is that developers insist upon doing this kind of thing to Wasilla.

Have you ever driven down the Parks Highway through Wasilla?

Truly, it is an appalling sight. And it just keeps getting worse.

One of the most beautiful locations on earth, and this is what they do to it.

And then a few days ago, I passed by at the same time as the train and I understood - at least the part about why anyone would want to live here.

A straight line from our house to the railroad tracks is about 2.2 miles. Sometimes at night when I am lying in bed, not quite asleep, I hear the train clattering down the tracks. I hear the whistle blow. And I like the sound of it. It is pleasant, dreamy and soothing.

My mind drifts off to that train, and travels with it to far away places, even beyond the reach of the Alaska Railroad. I am a child again, hoping freight trains in Montana.

And that's from 2.2 miles away!

Think how much all that pleasant, dreamy, soothiness must be amplified when you are lying in bed and the train passes by just outside your window and the engineer blows the horn.

Maybe we will sell our house and move into these condos ourselves.

As long as I'm posting pictures from September 17, I might as well post this one, too. I took it immediately after I photographed the man driving by the Railroad Condos on his motorcycle. I liked the moment so much that I was tempted to pull off the bike trail, go a little closer, stop, get off the bike and practice some careful composition - but here's the thing - when you set out to see what kind of photos you can take with a pocket camera while pedaling a bicycle it destroys the whole project if you stop, get off the bike and carefully compose.

You can only do such a project while pedaling a bicycle.

It's kind of like being a quick-draw artist on horseback as opposed to a sharp-shooter lying prone on your belly with your rifle braced on a tripod.

So I photographed the motorcycle and the condos and then, still pedaling, swung my camera 180 degrees and photographed this scene, too.

Just like Clint Eastwood, swinging his Colts from atop the back of his mule.

And just ahead was this guy. It was the first time I ever saw a person who, instead of a human head, had two dogs growing out of his neck. Can you imagine what life is like for him, when he must walk upright and there is no table for him to support his dogshead on?

I never want to see such a sight again.

This picture was really hard for me to take, but I took it.

And here's a shot I took from my bicycle today. As you can see, the leaves are pretty much down now. As I noted yesterday, by this time last year the snow had set in for good.

But it was warm today. Really warm. The temperature rose into the 50's. Maybe it was a record. It felt like it. I was sweltering. All day long I sweltered. It made me wonder if it will ever snow again.

*I'm still officially in cocoon mode: it's just that I'm feeling really lazy and burned out tonight.

Feeling lazy, I step backward in time a bit

When I started this blog, I said that I would alternate current photos of Wasilla (and elsewhere) with images that I had taken in the past. I haven't really done much of that. It is too hard to keep up with the present, let alone visit the past.

But today I went to town for a doctor visit (shoulder surgery followup - yes, after all this time, I still must do followups. The doctor, by the way, is most impressed with how I have healed. He said most people who suffered the same injury I did would not be able to raise their arm more than 90 degrees out from their body one year later and he could hardly believe it when I held mine straight up above my head. Two reasons, I figure - he did a good job on the surgery and I worked really hard to put that arm back in action. Margie got upset with me sometimes, said I was pushing it too hard, but I had to push it hard) and when I came home, I started sorting through pre-blog photographs for a project I want to do.

I worked on it until just a little bit ago and now I am lazy, so I am just going to blog a few past photos, like the train above.

I love trains, don't you know?

And then there was the time the Little Su overflowed, but I drove through and across the bridge anyways, as did these happy kids.

A couple of hitchhikers that I once picked up on Church Road, sitting in the back seat, as seen in my rear-view mirror.

A barista by the name of Melanie at Cafe Darte. Cafe Darte is up for sale. My daughter Melanie wants her Mom and I to buy it. We have no money to buy it.

Becky bounces on her trampoline as I drive by.

And how about Wasilla Main Street? I am pretty sure she rose from the ground wiser than before she fell.

This girl is not on Main Street, but on the Parks Highway, which was mistakenly identified as Wasilla Main Street on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I admire him, anyway. 

I was going to pull up an India shot, too, but I see there is only seven minutes left in this day and I have not taken a single picture. I will go take one, now. You will probably never see it, but I cannot let the day pass by totally undocumented.

I ride my bike down Wasilla Main Street and then on past Wasilla Malibu (India: much more to come)

First, all of the pictures in this post, with the exception of the one inside KFC, were taken as I pedaled my bicycle. When I get on my bike, it is my tendency to turn away from where the most people are and to go where there are the fewest.

But today, about one mile into my trip, I found myself headed towards "down town." I was about to turn away when I changed my mind and decided to continue on.

Not so long ago, I had heard Wasilla Main Street touted as a strip of ultimate wisdom, a place rich in the good, strong, values that have made our great country what it is. So I decided that I would go straight to Main Street, peddle the entire three blocks and see if I could find subjects to photograph that would exemplify these values. Perhaps I could soak up a bit of that wisdom myself.

Here, in the image above, I have just turned on to Main Street. I see an example of friendship. That's a pretty good value. 

And then I spot these guys, working hard. Hard work. Yes, it took a lot of hard work to make America what it is. Furthermore, what they are working on is the sign for the new clinic of the Back and Neck Pain Relief Center of Wasilla.

In the year 2006, my back began to hurt terribly. I did not know why, but it became so bad that I could hardly function. So I called the Back and Neck Pain Relief Center and went in and set up an appointment with Dr. Tyan Payne. When I arrived, I found a very tiny woman and I was a little skeptical that she had the strength to do the job.

But she did. And she put my spinal column back in alignment. What a difference for good she made in my life!

Now that I have shattered my shoulder and had it replaced with titanium, I am reluctant to go back, but maybe one day.

I would recommend her to anybody.

So - healing. America is kind of messed up on this front and I am outraged with my health insurance company, whose salesman was a downright liar and the company is a ripoff - but this is a good place and they really do heal. To heal is a good value.

As I prepared this photo, I accidently clicked the wrong button and it switched to black and white. I could have easily switched it back, but black and white somehow seemed more appropriate, so I left it.

I am not certain what American value is represented here, but it must be a good one.

I am just about to the end of Main Street. Once you cross the Parks Highway ahead, you are no longer on Main but on Knik Road.

Well, you can see Wasilla is doing its part to keep the automotive industry alive.

Sadly, though, I feel no wiser than I did when I first pedaled on to Main.

I turned off Main Street and soon pedaled down the bike trail that leads past Wasilla Lake. I call this beach Wasilla Malibu. On hot days, especially weekends and holidays, it is crowded with people, just like Malibu Beach, California. No one is surfing, but people do waterski out there.

Today was hot - 78 degrees here at the house - but it was not a weekend or holiday and the crowd was not so huge as it sometimes gets. Nor were there as many young women in bikinis as there sometimes are. This was a bit of a relief for me, as people might have thought that was my sole reason for taking pictures.

Still, the crowd was big enough to begin to convey the idea and so, as I pedaled by, I raised the pocket camera and clicked off a few snaps.

Now that I have established that I am not doing this to get pictures of young women in bikinis, but just to document the true life of Wasilla, maybe it will be okay if, when they are here, sauntering about in droves, I get a few pictures.

Sometimes, when you are pedaling a bike and taking pictures, it is hard to nail down your focus. I don't care. Focus is not always all its cracked up to be.

Hey, wow! Wise words! I must have picked up some wisdom on Wasilla Main Street, after all.

I pedaled on down to the largest accumulation of fast food restaurants in Wasilla. I ventured into KFC and ordered two hot dogs, french fries and a Pepsi.

I planned to take the long way home and so figured that I would pedal a total of close to 15 miles. I needed those hot dogs to fuel my journey.

I pedal past Wasilla Malibu again, # 1.

I pedal past Wasilla Malibu again, #2.

I pedal past Wasilla Malibu again, #3.

I pedal past Wasilla Malibu again, #4.

I pedal past Wasilla Malibu again, #5.

I took many more pictures as I pedaled the long way home, but I haven't time to post them, so I limit this to the images from Main and Malibu.

Probably, no one will ever see the other pictures, including me. I am certain there are some masterpieces among them, images that MOMA, The International Center of Photography, The Louvre and all the best museums in the world would just love to hang on their walls, but, since no one is ever going to see these images, they are just out of luck.

Sometimes, the best art is the art that no one ever sees.

I should pedal down Main Street every day. I would become so wise I that I could not stand myself.