The Place of honor…

Years ago, when our youngest son made his special Christmas tree ornament, it kind of stood out and over-powered the rest of the Christmas tree.  Nobody wanted to hurt his feelings, so we didn’t say anything.  But our shared first impression was that it was just one of the “kind of  ugly” ornaments of all time.  Of course we had to save it, so the next year, as we decorated the tree while our son was outside playing, we carefully hung the special ornament in the back of the tree where it was hardly able to be seen.  Surely he wouldn’t remember it a year later.  But when he came in the house and saw that the tree was up and decorated, he looked it over immediately.  His sole purpose was to find his special hand-made ornament from the previous year.  He spied it hanging in the back of the tree and without a word, he just calmly moved it to front and center. His only contribution to the tree decorating that year.  Ever since, and especially as the years have gone by, that once “kind of ugly” ornament has become a treasured favorite.  It is always displayed in a prominent place on our Christmas tree.  It is in the place of honor on our tree, and inside of us too.  So, we welcome Torrence to the place of honor this year as well!

Our 2011 Christmas Tree, in Homer, Alaska

This year's place of honor

Sometimes it feels hard…

…to be “AManFromHomer”.  And sometimes, it feels hard for a very wonderful reason.  Because sometimes Homer, AK is a long way from where I would like to be at a given moment!

This is Torrence David Martindell, born on December 21, 2011... in Columbus, Ohio... about 4000 miles from Homer, Alaska!

Cold Thanksgiving

We’ve had quite the cold snap for November.  Many folks seem to think that Alaska looks like this all year, every year, and so on.  But this is unusual for it to be so cold, so early in the winter.  I went to the Homer Harbor today and took these photos.  Lows have been at about zero degrees F for most of the past couple of weeks.

The Homer Small Boat Harbor on November 23, 2011- the day before Thanksgiving.

The Homer Small Boat Harbor on November 23, 2011- the day before Thanksgiving.

The Homer Small Boat Harbor on November 23, 2011- the day before Thanksgiving.

Charles goes to Barrow, AK

I spent a day and a half in Barrow last week.  What an intriguing place!  Here are some Barrow fun-facts.

For the time I was in Barrow, the weather was snowy and blowing.  I think the high was about 19 degrees.  I spent about 5 hours walking around, exploring the town (photos below).  Barrow is an Inupiaq community, and my sense is that the native community is the most important element.  I had the profound sense that a number of people I observed were in Barrow to “work” in some field (mainly the petroleum industry, I suspect).  I sensed a real sadness in many of the folks I observed.  I don’t know how accurate my impression of this may be, but it felt like in some cases people spend a significant amount of “time” in Barrow.  Maybe weeks at a time throughout the year.  But they really don’t “live” in Barrow.  That seemed sad to me.  I found myself thinking about what it would be like to live in Barrow, and what would I need to do to truly connect to life in that community.  Mostly my sense is that a strong connection to the Inupiaq community would be crucial.  Here are some Barrow photos I took during my walk-about.

This baleen was being stored (dried?) outside of the Craft Work-room at the Inupiaq Heritage Center.

The Inupiaq Heritage Center- simply an OUTSTANDING establishment.

Barrow neighborhood.

Notice that there are NO TREES at all above the Arctic Circle.

Arctic Ocean and Ice Berg

The Ice Pack wasn't very far off shore.

A flock of ducks flying by.

Arctic Fox- almost in its fully white phase.

Vehicles are kept plugged in to heat the engine oil.

I think this might be a piece of polar bear hide.

Barrow is far away from pretty much everywhere.

Check this out: 1200 miles from the North Pole, 11000 miles from the South Pole.

There is a beautiful Presbyterian Church in Barrow.

Alaska Rocket

Homer, Alaska is located about 250 miles from Kodiak Island.  There is a Navy rocket launch site on Kodiak Island, and today (September 27, 2011) a Communication Satellite was scheduled for a launch.  The launch happened to coincide with two important phenomena.  One, a clear day.  And two, sunrise in this beautiful part of the world.  We didn’t see the rocket take off, but we found its tracks.  As a bonus, I have a new desktop image for my computer, thanks to this beautiful autumn sunrise.

We have lift-off

...and the clock is running...

Thank you God for another awesome day!

The real “end of the road”

It was such a nice day today that Karen and I took a ride and a walk along Kachemak Bay.  Where did we go?  We drove East from Homer on “East End Road”.  And when we came to the actual “end”, we parked and walked around on the beach at the head of the bay.  After so much rain lately, this was a real treat.  Here are some of the photos we were able to take:

The head of Kachemak bay... out past the area of the Voznesenka community.

Flock of Canada Geese... soon to be on their way south.

Karen knows the farmer who grazes his cattle here during the summer. They'll be heading to his farm closer to town soon.

This amazing scene shows hundreds of high-flying Sandhill Cranes... on their way south until next May. They have thousands of miles ahead of them.

Red Mountain and Seldovia

Last week, David (oldest son) and I went on a camp-out to Red Mountain and a bike ride to the village of Seldovia.  The weather was very rainy the first day and over night, but we were prepared for it with rain jackets/pants and good tents, etc.  We biked the 8 miles from Jakolof bay back to the base of Red Mountain and then hiked up to the old Mine shaft.  Then on the 2nd day we left our packs hidden in brush near the public dock of Jakolof bay (where we met our water taxi later that afternoon), and then biked another 10 miles to Seldovia.  I had never seen Seldovia before and found it a very interesting place: another beautiful Alaskan setting!  Here are some photos from the bike/hike to Red Mountain.

I’m very thankful for every opportunity to enjoy something that David and I both like so much– getting out into the beautiful Alaskan wilderness ranks right up there!

Taken from the base of Red Mountain, looking back into the Cirque (a place where an ancient glacier once originated).

Neat waterfall seen in the distance on the hike up Red Mountain.

Once arriving at the top of the mountain (near the old Mine shaft) the terrain was amazing with lots of cracked reddish colored rocks.

Here's David next to the old Mine on top of Red Mountain.

This was such a beautiful view from the head of Jakolof bay.

Now that it’s getting dark again…

Now that it’s getting dark again, here’s what I am up against:

Not looking too promising for the next few days. I'm going fishing.

Shaping up to be an exciting Fall

It’s still August, but most mornings have the feel of autumn in the air.  Already.

I’m pretty excited as we head into Fall (our 4th in Alaska).  In December our daughter Sarah, who is serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Namibia, is coming home for a visit.  It has already (just) been a year since I’ve seen her, so having her back will be very special.  AND, along with that exciting December experience is the scheduled birth of our first grand-child.  The ultrasounds seem to assure us that the baby will be a boy, but I am kind of holding back on assuming.  In any case, our son and daughter-in-law, Jonathan and Sherry, are expecting their first.  We all hope to be with them for a visit just after Christmas.  Some fun for one and all!!

This has been a whirlwind of a summer.  Sorry for my lack of blogging, but I have several excuses.  All of these activities have involved extra preparation and coordination time and effort from me and Karen.  The Alaska United Methodist Annual Conference was held at Homer in early June.  We were the host church and it was a VERY busy time leading up to and throughout the Conference activities of that week.  In late June a Volunteers In Mission team from Oklahoma State University (the other “OSU” for my Ohio friends) came to bring a Vacation Bible School to the children of the Homer community.  They were a team from the Wesley Foundation of the university.  Super great people and true servants.  Then in late July, a construction mission team from Pennsylvania came to do some service projects in the Homer community.  They built a storage building and a stairway/deck at two homes in the town of Homer.  This was a small mission team but they accomplished some amazing quality work that will make a difference in two families of the community.

Just as the Pennsylvania team was wrapping up their time with us, Karen and I traveled to North Carolina to speak in several churches about ministry in Alaska.  This was a journey of “thank you” to people from a region of NC who have been coming to Alaska for many years to help with various church/ministry construction projects that are making a huge difference in the communities of Alaska where United Methodist churches are located.  We had a fantastic time and felt very well-received by the churches where we spoke and showed slides of life and ministry in Homer, Alaska.

After 5 days of visiting in the Western NC area, we met up with our Ohio sons and daughters in law at one of the North Carolina beaches for a week of vacation.  It was a wonderful R.E.S.T.  I feel a lot better now!

We are back now and it feels good to have been at worship this morning (August 21) where we have grown to feel so comfortable and certainly well appreciated in ministry.

I’ll try to update this blog a bit more often over the coming weeks.

Chilly walk in May

Karen arrived home safe from her visit to Namibia and we spent a nice day together last Saturday.  We were up early and went out for a walk along the Homer Spit beach.  It was chilly and windy for a day in May.  When we got home we even started a fire to take the chill off!  We’ve been here for almost 3 years now.  The awesome beauty of this area is not as shocking as it was at first, but every now and then I see something that makes me stop and really enjoy it.  I don’t think that ever changes around here.  I took a few photos of a hovering eagle that decided to come in for a landing.

The Homer Spit is a sand & gravel bar that developed where an ancient glacier ended (Glacial Moraine).

This Bald Eagle was soaring around in the breeze for some time before I started taking its picture.

It always seems more interesting when they are on the move.

On his final approach for a landing...

And.......

...Touch Down (you saw this coming) The Eagle has landed.