Doug Olerud shared the results of the ongoing Haines Silver Salmon Fishing Derby. Going into the final week of the derby, Chris Hill is in the lead with a 12.85-pound silver that she caught on a fly rod! Olerud says that Hill is very excited to be in the lead as she has been participating in the derby since the very beginning. Alexander Griffen is in second place, as of Wednesday. He recently bumped Chris Hill’s husband Greg Schlachter for that spot. Third place is held by Samuel Watson. The kids’ age 5 to 10 leader is Hailee Walchuck and kids’ age 11 to 15 leader is Remington Knotts. Olerud says that you have until 5 p.m. on Oct. 31 to enter your silver salmon. He predicts a lot of action in the final days of the derby.
The Lynn Canal Community Players met up to discuss the coming plans for all things theater and entertainment. Annette Smith says there was coho, local apple pie, wine and Sue Waterhouse’s scalloped potatoes. They brainstormed new themes for the popular community storytelling event, River Talk. The upcoming theme will be “Bird is the word” and Smith encourages everyone to think of all kinds of birds. They say the sky’s the limit.
Sharing a seal makes Tim Ackerman happy. He has been known to share up to 10 seals a year. That’s a lot of happiness. Ackerman recently harvested a seal and sent it to the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage. He saw a post on social media looking for subsistence meat for the crisis in western Alaska. He knew how he could help. Ackerman said that the seal was gutted and rinsed in saltwater and wrapped in five layers of plastic into what he described as “a seal tootsie roll” and off it went, on a flight to Anchorage. He is always looking to mentor younger folks who can legally harvest the marine mammal and want to learn or improve their skills.
The drum kit made it out of the band room and reassembled in the gym so that Maddox Rogers could rock his socks off, and the socks of those in the crowd, while Haines hosted the North Seed Volleyball Tournament. The team and crowd wore pink and enjoyed high energy tunes like ‘Wipe out ‘ and ‘Crazy Train’ between games and during timeouts. Rogers says that this particular style of playing is one where you are invited to play loudly and vivaciously, and he really enjoys that.
Erika Merklin was hustling kimchi, fresh celery, leek, cabbage out of the trunk of her new (to her) Dodge Journey. She had some free veggies to hand out to anyone that wanted to indulge. She also shared kimchi-making tips and recipes that can possibly make beef broth a bit bolder.
Codi Sambrano took a break from sorting the mail in Haines to meet up with her cousin Eliana Marquez for a legendary trip to Japan. Miyazaki was the first stop. They enjoyed visiting shrines and antique shops before they stumbled on the best ramen of the trip, topped with chicken meatballs. The next three days were spent in Yamaguchi. They ate conveyer-belt sushi and went to the zoo. Both were a delight but could not top the Hofu Science Museum. Sambrano and Marquez got a personalized tour from the museum curator, Mr. Iwashita. Sambrano said she’s is “relatively certain that he is her future husband.” The museum features solar exhibits and a Pokémon fossil museum. Sambrano and Marquez took the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kobe to eat Kobe beef. They visited a herb garden for some herb-infused salt, destined to be sprinkled on popcorn in the near future. Another day found these two travelers perched on the top of the 108-meter (354 feet) tall Kobe Tower soaking up the stunning view around the surrounding bay and mountains. On to the city of Kanazawa. This is where the eating adventure got a bit sketchy. A pro tip from Sambrano, when you are trying your hand at Yakiniku, that chunk of pork fat is for flavoring your grill not an appetizer. This dining adventure was followed by a trip to Kanazawa Castle Park for gold leaf ice cream before moving on to Tokyo. While in Tokyo they found a heck of a deal, only $45 for the worst night of sleep ever at a Capsule hotel with some creative check-in times. Alas, they got enough rest to enjoy a kintsugi class with Taku Nakano ceramic arts. Sambrano intends to use the skill of mending broken pottery that she learned in her next mosaic class with Sharon Svenson this winter.
The Haines Ministerial Association, Port Chilkoot Bible Church (PCBC) and Matt Jones are leading the annual “Operation Shoebox” program. The effort aims to support deployed service members through community-driven efforts, including care packages.
Jones said that he has 10 boxes built here, but none online. Community members are welcome to participate in packing boxes in person or packing boxes online. The goal for the year is 23 physical boxes and 27 online boxes. Physical boxes are due at PCBC on Nov. 5. Online boxes are due Nov. 17.
Helen Alten and Donna Catotti have been painting up a storm. They arrived back from a nine-day en plein air painting adventure with workshops in the Languedoc region of Southwest France. For those wondering, en plein air is the practice of open air painting with an element of adventure. Alten started taking portrait workshops with Catotti around 2015 and has been interested in learning more about landscape painting. When she heard that Catotti was planning a trip to France with a focus on landscapes, she was enthusiastic to be a travel buddy.
The pair stayed in an 18th century chateau, where they were served gourmet meals and wine and cheese from the region. The duo painted in numerous locations including Beziers, the oldest city in France, where a massive vaulted cathedral from 975 A.D. still stands. Prior to the workshop they had three full days in Paris, where they saw the John Singer Sargent show at the D’Orsay Museum and the Cluny Medieval Art Museum. They sketched the cathedral during mass in Ste. Eustache to hear the 8,000-pipe organ and choir and enjoyed a dinner cruise on the Seine River that night. Alten and Catotti had a few hours to kill on their return flight to Paris, so they took the opportunity to walk the narrow streets of medieval Montpellier before heading home the next day.