When I left Sitka 39 months ago I left my "coffee card" in the file at the Back Door, figuring I'd fill it up some day - it was sort of a way to promise myself that I would return. (I've got to get back there and fill up that coffee card!) On two previous occasions during this visit I searched for it, but to no avail. Yesterday I took the whole box of cards and sat down at a table and went through it and finally found my card. For every 10 mochas I get a free one. I took the card up to Bernadette and she stamped it several times (for all my mochas this visit) and today I cashed in on my free cup of mocha. It was really cool, finding that card - something I had left in faith, knowing I would return and that the card would still be in that box, waiting for me. Now that all 60 spaces are filled, I'll bring it home as a souvenir.
The lamps in The Back DoorKnowing that I would return. I have heard the comment from more than one person, "oh, you'll be back, I just know it". Here on the "inside" the days are soft, the ways are easy and forgiving and it's so easy to just "BE". The "inside" just takes one inside (metaphorically speaking). Yesterday I dropped by Connie's, which was my first residence in Sitka. (I shared a house with Connie's husband Cliff [while Connie was in Anchorage] and Carrie, with whom I was to become friends (we did the Camino together last year). The house had its usual friendly clutter and comfortable smell of pets, and when I mentioned that my niece Michelle and her husband Ryan are going to be stationed at Elmendorf AFB (near Anchorage) and said that they should both do well there since they're fond of outdoor activities, Ellen (Connie's newest resident) said, "yes, but are they good at indoor activities?" Ha ha, excellent question! "Yes" I said - "they have two little ones and, according to Ryan's Facebook posts, they spend many evenings watching movies with the kids."
Connie's dog, BebeOn my way to Connie's yesterday I stopped by the hatchery and visited with Dan Goodness. Now there's a man whose being and personality fits his name to a "T". He single-handedly saved the hatchery when Sheldon Jackson College closed, working for free and he still works seven days a week (although Kathryn Smith, a student at SJ when I was there, is coming to work, so he says he'll be able to "lead a normal life once again"). He is a big, burly man, most cheerful and wholesome, with pink cheeks and a beautiful, strong voice. When my library had a halloween party for SJ students he came in dressed as a pirate, with a very large, bright, lively parrot perched on his shoulder. (He was also the piano player in "my" group who performed during my second year here - "Saving Daylight".)
I spent last evening listening to the radio. The first hour was country music ("can I come home, or should I go crazy?") and the next couple of hours Holly (of Sugarshaker fame) entertained us. Her program last night was "mash-ups" (lyrics of one song sang to the tune of another song). It was quite entertaining. For example, "Pinocchio on LSD" included Pinocchio singing a song from the movie and then the Beatles' song "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" was added and sang to the tune of Rocky! It's very difficult to describe. I've never heard anything like it before.
I was awakened at 7:30 this morning with a knock on the door. It was Tiffany, inviting me to stop by at 8:30. They were hosting a "coffee". Chris is QUITE the barrista. He has a counter-full of very impressive coffee-making equipment, and by his own account, has a real reputation in Sitka. Other guests included four other librarians (counting Tiffany it made five) and Chris said he was definitely the sixth wheel, but that he "would soon be in his element" (at the coffee-making equipment). I met Sarah (the new librarian at the public library who gave quite an impressive presentation to the City council the other night - I heard it on the radio), Charlotte, a librarian that had flown in from Ketchikan (the site of the infamous, non-existent "bridge to no-where"), Susan (who had just returned to Sitka), and Ginny (now the librarian at the high school who had originally came to Sitka to take the job I had left at SJ).
Much interesting conversation ensued, including some talk with Susan about her spiritual practice which is taking her through her own personal sadi sati (based on Vedic astrology and something, Susan said, that the Indian sages say is THE worst thing ever). And Chris filled me in on the art and business of coffee with all the passion and precision that he displays for whatever happens to be his latest interest, telling me that Mark Phillips of Intelligentsia in Chicago (where Chris had been) is one of the three top baristas In.The.World. Chris was full of facts and figures and lore, telling me that a person could get as geeky and nerdy about coffee as they could about anything. I said that it's good to have a hobby.
At today's Back Door visit I ran into Christine and Jeff - two former SJ students who are now married and, although happily ensconced in Sitka, plan to move up near Anchorage - "on the road system" - either in Homer or Seward - so they're near (but not too near) their parents.
