Flowers and bones

In the evening, we returned to Asa’s High School for Seniors Night. The first thing we saw was a large poster depicting the all-American soccer hero Asa.

A few of the other players were similarly celebrated, but we are very proud of our nephew’s achievements on the field.

After ceremoniously walking under the arch of balloons with his family, Asa and Gideon’s team played another game, another 1-0 victory.

The daughter of a friend of a friend was playing cello in a musical recital at a venue not too far away from home so Liesel and I decided to walk there. St Nicholas of Myra Byzantine Catholic Church is a very pretty building, the sight of which is only spoiled by the power lines in front.

But wait, no, that wasn’t the venue for the concert. That was another building, a former church, now known as The Nave. We passed by a rock band on the way, but not as we normally understand a rock band.

Now you know what to do with your scrap metal, horse shoes and that pile of boulders you’ve been meaning to get rid of.

There are two things always guaranteed to make me smile to myself. The name of a shop being a pun is one, and the other is a well-made, decent, fun mural. Named after the Mexican revolutionary, Pancho’s Villa is, of course, a Mexican restaurant here in Anchorage. On the wall, there is this lovely mural of Jean Jilwan, affectionately known as “John the Flower Guy”.

This is what can happen when a community comes together to commemorate a much loved local personality.

We arrived at The Nave in good time, bumping into Jyoti’s friend Dave on the way in. Later, we were joined by Jyoti herself and by Dave’s wife Ellie. The Spring Chamber Music Concert featured young musicians from the Anchorage Youth Symphony and AYO’s Symphony School ensembles. An afternoon of chamber music, or what we would today just call background music. So lots of tunes by Handel, Bach, Schubert and some lesser known composers. All the participants performed very well, including the cello-player, Lavinia, Dave and Ellie’s daughter. I think I only nodded off once, and I did have to leave on one occasion for a coughing fit, trying hard not to do the English thing of saying ‘sorry’, ‘so sorry’ to each and every other member of the audience.

Later in the afternoon, we met up with Jyoti again, this time way over at Una and Phil’s house, where we were joined by Monica and Gregg, and of course, this was the first time I’d seen them this trip.

Again, no photos of the main characters nor the extras. But it was a fun evening.

In medical news: I finally managed to extract the last bit of the splinter I’d acquired nearly two weeks ago, the lump of paint that burrowed deep inside my finger nail. I’m so relieved I didn’t have to resort to major surgery at a hospital. In other medical news, I didn’t come all this way to Anchorage just to be knocked for six by a niggly, tickley, sore throat, and a cough, with numerous other symptoms over the next few days such as fatigue, various aches and, for a few minutes, a sensation of dizziness and loss of sense of balance. Sadly, plans to go for walks were curtailed or cancelled. No, two Covid tests came back negative, so who knows what the nature of the ailment was?

On the other hand, I did complete the LA Times crossword, printed in the Sunday edition of the Anchorage Daily News.

Asa came by with his girlfriend Alexa: it was nice to meet her, and they both talked about their plans for next year after leaving school. Asa plans to spend time in Peru wrestling caymans or something, and Alexa is off to Colorado for a long, hard and intense nursing course.

After a short walk, we had dinner at Leslie’s with the family: Aaron, Jodi, Asa and Gideon, and again, I took no photos.

Mom had a dental appointment. Liesel dropped her off then went for a quick walk with Jyoti. I was still in bed, feeling a bit sorry for myself. Liesel knows that I would definitely have taken pictures in this neighbourhood if I were here, so she did the honours. For some reason, many of the residents have decorated their homes with skeletons. This may be Halloween paraphernalia that hasn’t been taken in yet, but it’s certainly an unusual way to bring the community together.

The next day, when I’d dragged my own bag of bones out of bed, we went for a walk and I was delighted to see these colourful flowers outside a neighbour’s house.

Then Liesel popped the bubble, ruined the illusion, ruined everything quite frankly, by telling me that they were fake, plastic flowers. Well, plastic, schmastic, as Americans say, they’re still very colourful!

There is plenty of evidence of earthquake damage around the city, but I’m not sure this crack in the pavement counts.

On the other hand, when I first arrived, this blue house was as high as its neighbour, but it seems to be sinking into the ground very slowly. Did you also notice the snowflakes? Yes, I couldn’t believe it either when I looked out and saw that it was snowing. Liesel had assured me that it wouldn’t snow in Anchorage during the merry, merry month of May. Huh.

Any more bad news? No, I think that’ll do for now. My coughing fits are fewer and less violent than a few days ago, so there’s some good news.