On the Street Where I Live

I decided that I would show you what it is like on my hillside. Here is my external staircase -- the one Br'er Bear still sometimes uses to get to Cope Park. As you can see, Mother Nature provides my garden. I think the picture was taken in early June, when all of the sweet rocket was in bloom.

I also get Queen Anne's lace, goat's beard, dandelions (and since my garden is wilderness I can just enjoy it and not have to worry about my lawn), thimble berries, and wild buttercup. One year we had a guerilla gardener and I had a yellow tulip.

The picture on the right was taken a few winters ago, as you can tell (the winter part) from the bare trees. Actually, these pictures were taken about half a block apart. This is one of my favorite rain outfits -- the bright colors cheer me up and the hat makes me feel like a fisher person, of which we have many around here, both sport and commercial. As a matter of fact, my daughter-in-law has just been out fishing this week and so I came home Thursday to find both salmon and halibut in my refrigerator. I have frozen about half of it and will still eat fish almost daily this coming week. Tonight I finished off some king crab a friend gave me. I miss the California produce, but the Alaskan fish is wonderful. My mother used to feed me salmon every time I visited her in California. Can you believe? Paying gawd-awful prices for something I get free and much fresher! I told her if she ever came to Juneau I would buy her a peach. Since she has heard me say that you could stone martyrs with the peaches you get in Alaska, she decided I meant it when I said that I would prefer her tuna and noodle casserole and some fresh produce.