June 20: From whale pod to sunset glory breaking out of clouds

This was my birthday! It was lovely: the second clear day in a row and we're not fishing yet so I can take my meditative time with the sink full of dishes.

The day started the night before with the ongoing residue of a clear day sunset and then waiting for the tide to go down, finding ourselves surrounded by a small pod of whales swimming out with the tide. Assuming they were all beluga, we wondered about the one gray back we saw. Harry says that some beluga are gray. Mystery solved.

Tom Deck, the HughesNet tech that the area is very lucky to have (Will from Fairbanks said he has retired from being ATT's main satellite man) made his way down the beach to tune up my satellite. I feel like I must have misunderstood this, but I think that whatever transmits from my little satellite dish, and whatever comes from it has to actually travel to or from the geo-stationary satellite 23,000 miles away. Was that really 23,000 miles? Tom said the target is about half the size of my cabin. That's some precise aiming. I'm hoping this will mean fewer episodes of "System degraded" where it's better for me if it says "System OK." That was yet another welcome present

I know that to many people it doesn't sound like fun, but I really enjoyed preparing dinner for... there were 14 of us. There would have been 15, but Roy got caught by the tide at the end of the Beach Access Road and couldn't make it down. Though I started the preparations alone, it didn't stay that way. Jeff and Sarah were willing to help as soon as I asked, Rohan, Roger, and AJ went to town to do many things, among them: find ginger, green onions and if they can't find jicama, bring back water chestnuts. Carbon returned with the town crew and I learned that he is very capable in the kitchen. A lot of times, it's hard for a new person to step into a prep process and actually help, but Carbon's help really helped. While Sarah and Jeff were focused on the very labor intensive jicama salad (that became an apple/water chestnut salad) Carbon chopped and sauteed the vegetables for the salmon cakes (using the king that Jake had grilled to perfection the evening before) and then grilled the asparagus. Rohan and AJ put the finishing touches on the cake and the crew over at the crew cabin cleaned it up to receive guests. Together, we were almost ready by the time Harry, Ev, and Hannah arrived (Harry on his bicycle!!), followed shortly by Phil and Tom. It was such a thrill to have so much of my family with us. And when they sang Happy Birthday - that somehow surprised me - I'm pretty sure I blushed. It felt like such a nest of care.

At 59, I don't really expect presents, but Harry surprised me, and so did my mom. Harry gave me a tube to open, saying that Jane (his wife and my sister-in-law) searched high and low for it and I was so thrilled to pull out this Nancy Stonington print that I have been wanting since I first saw it. This is the fish processing plant about a mile down the beach from us and this painting just about could have been made from my cabin. It will be great to be able to glance over to the same view... in my living room in Seattle.

As the day progressed, the clouds moved in so that by about sunset, it had become overcast again, except for a circle of clear sky that I first noticed right above my sister's cabin, to the north of mine. By the time I took this, captivated as usual by the clouds, that hole had started to open more and move toward the west so that now it is over Pederson Point. Looking at the print again, I realized that it must have been a day like this that the artist was painting. Here is the same photo, cropped closer to the perspective of the print.

The town crew also returned with a box from my mom. She had already sent a box of useful items that I needed like sheets, and needles and threads so I was surprised to get a second box. But in the rush of trying to get dinner ready, I didn't take the time to open it until after everyone had left. I wish I had opened it sooner so I could have shown it off to all the guests. It is this beautiful blanket, designed by a Haida artist from Canada. I'm not that great at seeing the symbols in Native art, but my eye sees a bear at the base and a beaver (my totem animal) at the top with some loons to the side of the beaver. I can't see the thunderbird that this blanket is named for, but I'll keep looking.

I thought the sun would slip below the horizon without any kind of display; it was pretty clouded over. But I glanced outside just in time to see a red half ball, just breaking through the clouds. As I watched, the clouds opened up and we had another celebratory sunset. I take them all personally, this one, especially. It was a lovely birthday, full of people and things that I love.