Well, the Alaskan adventure is over. A bit shorter than I expected, I admit, but quite often it seems what we expect is a very different thing from what actually happens. It's good to be in sunlit lands again, although it does feel a bit odd that it's light at 7:00 a.m. It feels as though it should be much later. It's also a real treat to see snow again, which might sound a bit funny coming from Alaska, but Kodiak, being an island has a very mild climate compared to mainland Alaska, and is more like the Pacific Northwest (so I'm told) than the frozen North. The island is known as the "Banana Belt" of Alaska. While I was there the temperature hovered consistently in the high 30's to low 40's, day and night, with occasional colder spells. It was rarely ever cold enough to snow, and any snow that did fall was usually washed away the next day by rain.
In contrast, it started snowing soon after I arrived in Santa Fe. Within a few hours the car was covered with several inches of lovely fluffy snow. The next day the sun came out as usual, bright and clear. The snow was dazzling, almost blinding in the sun, and very crisp and clean-looking, especially against the clear, deep blue sky. I've seen a good bit of snow since then, even waking up to find it coming down a few days. It's been a wetter winter here than many in recent years and I'm told that "the whole of Northern New Mexico is squishy." There's lots of mud, to be sure, with all the snow turning the yuppie dirt roads to ankle-deep ruts.
Yes, it's good to be back, not to mention the green chile, the sunsets, and the smell of pinion burning. But there are some great northern stories that need telling. Like the last day I was there. It was Theophany, which in the Eastern Church occurs 12 days after Christmas and remembers the baptism of Christ. But it's a much bigger feast than that, it's also the sanctification of water, and by extension, the natural world. It's a very rich feast, which deserves more of an explanation, but that must come another time. One of the things that is done on Theophany, however, is the blessing any natural body of water nearby. In New Mexico this is a bit tricky, but on a rainforest island in Alaska it's a different story. We blessed Shahafka Cove, less than 100 yards from our front door, right across the street.
It's a Slavic tradition for the priest to throw a cross into the water, and for the slightly insane members of the congregation (in our case, pretty much all of us) to dive in after it. In Russia they cut a cross-shaped hole in the ice to do this, and they use a metal cross, so our frolicking about in the Bering Sea in January after a wooden cross was child's play in comparison. It was cold enough, though. We made quite a spectacle, I'm sure, trooping across the street in procession, in an array of odd and unseasonable outfits, singing, led by a fully vested Orthodox priest. I'm told the first year they followed this tradition a neighbor called the police, believing the school was some kind of cult that had decided to commit mass suicide. In addition to merely getting in the water, the tradition is also to submerge oneself three times, in remembrance of baptism. I emerged with a bright red face, on the verge of hyperventilation, unable to feel my legs. It was great fun though. Everyone headed straight for the showers and then warmed up with hot chocolate in front of a fire. Like I said, child's play compared to Russia and Serbia but still, it makes for a good story.
In contrast, it started snowing soon after I arrived in Santa Fe. Within a few hours the car was covered with several inches of lovely fluffy snow. The next day the sun came out as usual, bright and clear. The snow was dazzling, almost blinding in the sun, and very crisp and clean-looking, especially against the clear, deep blue sky. I've seen a good bit of snow since then, even waking up to find it coming down a few days. It's been a wetter winter here than many in recent years and I'm told that "the whole of Northern New Mexico is squishy." There's lots of mud, to be sure, with all the snow turning the yuppie dirt roads to ankle-deep ruts.
Yes, it's good to be back, not to mention the green chile, the sunsets, and the smell of pinion burning. But there are some great northern stories that need telling. Like the last day I was there. It was Theophany, which in the Eastern Church occurs 12 days after Christmas and remembers the baptism of Christ. But it's a much bigger feast than that, it's also the sanctification of water, and by extension, the natural world. It's a very rich feast, which deserves more of an explanation, but that must come another time. One of the things that is done on Theophany, however, is the blessing any natural body of water nearby. In New Mexico this is a bit tricky, but on a rainforest island in Alaska it's a different story. We blessed Shahafka Cove, less than 100 yards from our front door, right across the street.
It's a Slavic tradition for the priest to throw a cross into the water, and for the slightly insane members of the congregation (in our case, pretty much all of us) to dive in after it. In Russia they cut a cross-shaped hole in the ice to do this, and they use a metal cross, so our frolicking about in the Bering Sea in January after a wooden cross was child's play in comparison. It was cold enough, though. We made quite a spectacle, I'm sure, trooping across the street in procession, in an array of odd and unseasonable outfits, singing, led by a fully vested Orthodox priest. I'm told the first year they followed this tradition a neighbor called the police, believing the school was some kind of cult that had decided to commit mass suicide. In addition to merely getting in the water, the tradition is also to submerge oneself three times, in remembrance of baptism. I emerged with a bright red face, on the verge of hyperventilation, unable to feel my legs. It was great fun though. Everyone headed straight for the showers and then warmed up with hot chocolate in front of a fire. Like I said, child's play compared to Russia and Serbia but still, it makes for a good story.
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