Sitka Bound

I have not been doing my journal daily for awhile now because I found all my writing energy was going into the journal and not into poetry. I’ve decided, therefore, to reduce my journal entries to only once or twice a week until I get some idea of the next step, if any. As it is, I’ve only produced one poem since not journaling so maybe other things are happening that have more to do with life style changes and age. We’ll see. I am honing in on my health seriously, returning to my Keto diet – no sugar, low carbs and high fats with some protein. This time around my practice is much more consistent. Actually, I can bear no longer the sweetness of cane sugar. I notice also that the swelling in my feet has disappeared and I’m feeling lighter, less sluggish.

I left for Sitka with a lot of music behind me (see poem “Notes”) but it was a slow start. Kornelia got me to the bus station with time to spare and the bus drive from Burlington to SeaTac was uneventful. It was at the security gate that it got complicated. I did the usual, notifying personnel that I wore a pacemaker. I weathered the electronic search and cursory pat-down. For some reason, though, one agent pulled me aside and asked me to hold out my hands, palms.up, He then took a piece of stiff, white test paper, ran it across the fingers and palms of both hands and then inserted in a nearby machine. After a few minutes the machine’s screen lighted-up red. At that point the agent took a new interest in me, hustling me away from the foot traffic and required me to remove my shoes and hold my pants up by the belt loops as he conducted another, extensive pat-down, the most personal I’ve ever had. He said later that the residue on my hands was the kind of stuff they found on the bad guys so he was apparently looking for small sacks of explosive powders tucked around my waistband, in my socks or between my legs. He was nice enough to apologize but it left me little time to grab something to eat, the Alaska Airlines gate being where it was. Fortunately I had broken my fast and had eaten a sliced banana or spme new era granola, roasted coconut chips replacing the oats. Stuck in a middle seat on a Boeing 737 is never comfortable but reading Rohr’s book “Falling Upward” saved the day.

My next meal was at John and Beth’s house on Kaanwaantaan Street, a special time not because of my arrival but because it was Beth’s birthday!  Nora and Fabio were present as was their friend, Mary C., whose house I’d be staying in.  It was a wonderful beginning to my two week stay in one of my favorite places. A lingering question: What was the stuff the security people had detected on my hands? When I think back, the only time my palms were open was when I hugged Kornelia goodbye. Had she something on her jacket? I’ve always maintained that Kornelia is a fiery women, even explosive, but that would be carrying my characterization too far.