Halloween Snow

In the beautiful, bright morning of All Hallows Eve the snow was falling in large, wet flakes. This was the view out my window of the first snow of the year spread thinly across the lawn.



By the middle of the day the snow had turned to rain and had melted or washed away.



But, because it is so strongly entrenched in my mind that snow means Christmas will soon be on its way, I find myself firmly immersed in an early bout of holiday spirit. I have barely refrained from belting out Christmas Carols at odd intervals. I think getting the itinerary for my flights back to Portland for the holiday probably cemented the feeling. The good thing about getting a jump start on the Christmas joy is that I've already started brainstorming gift ideas.







On Halloween afternoon Grandma and I went for a walk along the Mendenhall River with a local school teacher to discuss possibilities for children's book about trails and nature and science. (Grandma really is serious about this book writing thing.) We found some snow still hanging around in the more sheltered areas of the forest. Here is where Montana Creek meets the Mendenhall River. It was an interesting sight to watch the clear, golden-brown waters of the creek meet and disappear into the gray Mendenhall, whose waters are opaque with glacier silt.

Next to the trail some totemic fish have been carved into a tree. The Native art is always beautiful and interesting.

We also met some Eagle friends along the way. The one below is an adolescent, not yet sporting the tell tale white head and tail.

I has been a long tradition in the King family to visit Claudia and Bea on Halloween. Before she died a couple years ago Claudia would make Ginger cookies in Halloween shapes to share with the guests and any Trick-or-Treaters. Grandma dug out her recipe and made some cookies to take for tradition's sake, though they were not in fun shapes. Bea seemed happy to have us and told us all about all of the things she's up to, as we sat drinking orange juice and eating cookies in the red carpeted living room, which was filled with books and stuffed animals. She's awfully busy for a 90-year-old woman.

Claudia and Bea are two women who have lived in Juneau for many years and were involved in quite a lot of things. Claudia collected dolls, and every time we visited Juneau when I was young we would go to Claudia and Bea's to see the dolls and have a doll tea party. Since Claudia passed away Bea has worked hard to find a place for the doll collection, and next month Claudia's Doll Museum will open downtown above the book store.