Home Sweet Home?

Home is where your heart is right? Then more than being homeless, I am homefull. Or something like that. Saying goodbye to my people in Haines was crazy hard. I for sure left a part of my heart there, but am back in Seattle for a year or so or longer... who knows. I put my car on the ferry yesterday and then flew down to Seattle today. On Friday I'll head up to Bellingham with the amazing Ethel and pick it up and hopefully get a few pictures (because it is comically loaded down). Then I'll start unpacking my old stuff (life) and make it feel like home in Seattle (Arlington). Here's to living in my parents' basement for most of my 25th year!

fishing and walking and fishing some more

Ashley and I got to Kenai on Tuesday, so I had a couple days to myself while Ashley passed the interview process from the boyfriend's family. I went fishing on the Kasilof River and caught myself a sweet king salmon. I'll be sharing that with my family when I get to Seattle in July.


Then we headed up to Anchorage where Ash, Mom, Dad, and I walked 13.1 miles. Dad says he's ready to do it again next month. They won't, but he's already looking at half marathons in different places for next year. Pretty sweet.

Then Pa and I went fishing on the Kenai. We spent about 10 hours on the river with not even a bite... I think it's because we were out there to spread Grandpa's ashes and that crusty old fart was looking down on us and didn't want any of the attention of the day taken away from him. Besides, we fished a couple weeks with grandpa and caught only one, so it seemed like it's how it was supposed to be. (and I'm pretty sure that fishing in the Kenai isn't as good as people claim...)

I'm gonna miss this...

Today, I went kayaking. I know, big surprise. But today as I kayaked the same route that I have kayaked lots of times before, I saw something that I have never kayaked with before... a humpback whale. It was pretty much the coolest thing I have seen in a long time. It was just another reminder that I am totally going to miss this place. Haines has become home. While I'm excited to move closer to my family and all that good stuff, I will definitely miss Haines.

small town Haines

There's those places in the world where everyone is connected to everyone else. Haines is one of those places. Most of the time, I love that about Haines. But when a 14 year old drowns swimming a relatively short distance in the ocean, it's hard that everyone in town is connected to it somehow. It's good though too, because that way everyone can lean on everyone else. So tonight my prayers go out to all the people of Haines who knew Andrew Williamson, a good kid who's life was cut unfortunately short.

Time keeps ticking away

I'm moving back to Seattle from Haines in less than a month now. And at least half of that time I'll be in other areas of the state. It bums me out a little that I'm leaving so soon. But I'm just trying to make the most of the time that I have here, which includes working a bunch, kayaking a bunch, going bear hunting, and spending time with the people that have made this place like home.

come on jump out of the water porpoise

So Jamie was hanging out in town for a bit this past week and I got to hang out with her yesterday evening for a bit. What does one do when hanging out with a friend and you have already stopped to get ice cream, walked through town, and gone out to eat dinner? That's right, when you're Kate Maxwell's friend, you go kayaking. So off we went and just kinda hung out in the boats. While we were out there a group (herd/gaggle/pod/school) of porpoises came to check out our boats. It was pretty much the coolest thing (since kayaking with orca, anyway). So we watched the sun go down from the boats and stared at some sea life and then wandered back to shore. Good times.

drumroll, please...

For all three of you who follow my blog, this is me publicly, internet-ly announcing that I am moving back to Seattle. Most of Haines hasn't heard for sure yet, but I'm sure it'll start trickling around, and the people that I wanted to make sure that I told personally, I have told, so here it is in blog-land. Kate Maxwell will be living in (or near) the emerald city once more. In case you haven't figured out the reason why, refer back to any post about Pedro. That pesky bugger seems to still be wreaking some havoc on my guts, so it's time to go to a place where I can get more regular help and not have to travel anywhere between 5 and 18 hours to get to a doctor. So Seattle, here I come. Look out, or you might not know what hit you.

comical stomach

While I was in Seattle the past week, I went and saw a few more doctors. We're back on the theory that I am gluten intolerant. Isn't that exciting? Someday I might have a clue about what is going on. Until then, I'll keep doing the random crap my doctor tells me to.

seattle

So, I'm back in Seattle yet again. Someday I might finally kick Pedro out of my guts. But until then, it looks like I'll just hand out with people who have letters following their names. Oh well.

border patrol

So I went to Whitehorse with Ashley this weekend. It was pretty fun, but I think the highlight of our trip for both of us is when we stopped at the US border on our way home. The officer noticed the brace on my hand and asked what I did. I told him that I did something to the ligament in my thumb because I was trying to do a flip on a trampoline. I didn't talk about the fact that I was trying to do a flip off the wall, but whatever... his response? "What a loser! I'm over 200 pounds and even I can do a flip on a trampoline!" Great. Thanks. Can I go home now? He didn't even really care what we brought back with us. He was laughing too hard.

tagalongs

turns out some stuff really doesn't sit well in my stomach. like girl scout cookies.

scrabble

don't you hate it when you're playing scrabble and your letters looking something like this "O O O I I Q R"?

active yet lazy

The active part...
All the Maxwells are doing some sort of fitness challenge this year. My parents are walking a half marathon, my sister-in-law Alissa is running a half marathon, my sister-in-law Sara is walking a full marathon, Ryan is running a marathon (or biking the STP), Scott is gonna mountain bike something fierce, and me, well, I'm gonna take 4 million steps in 2010. 10958.9 per day, in case you were wondering. I started a little late, so I'm a little behind. But walking 20,000 steps each of the past two days is getting me right back up there. But not to give into healthiness (between my family and my doctor I'm actually being healthy right now), I do still have my lazy moments. Which leads me to...
The lazy part...
Yesterday, I wanted some eggs, since that's one of the three foods that I can eat. And I knew that I would want some more today. So rather than wash the pan and sit there over the stove twice, I cooked twice the eggs and microwaved my breakfast this morning. The pan is still on the stove, dirty. Don't judge... it's hard to do dishes when you can't use your thumb...

maybe there really is hope...

I mean, if google can find Waldo, then anything is possible, right?

the long list...

of things I am apparently at least a little bit allergic to...
cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, cow's milk, lactalbumin (one of the proteins in dairy), yogurt, blueberry, grapefruit, orange, papaya, pear, raspberry, strawberry, alfalfa, celery, cucumber, peppers, mushroom, olive, onion, potatoes, tomatoes, buckwheat, corn, kidney beans, oat, pecan, pinto beans, rice, sesame, soy, chocolate, and coffee.
In case you're wondering what that leaves... I am pretty much eating nuts, meat, select veggies, apples, and bananas. In six weeks I get to start adding some stuff back in to see how my body reacts to it and what I can deal with. Doesn't that sound exciting?!? On the bright side, we may have finally found the source of Pedro...