Painting Day

Propane and supplies were running low so it was time to run into town. Running into town is a boat trip, 60 nautical miles from Port Ashton to Whittier Harbor. With a light load and smooth seas it takes about three (3) hours in the Wild Abandon. And, the nanny switch needed to occur - Katy was off to the University of Alaska, Fairbanks for a two-week long course in creative writing and Abbie was joining us at Port Ashton.

When Randy is gone, Port Ashton is run by the women...our priorities are a little different. Taking care of the aesthetics, playing with the kids and checking off our list becomes the focus. Painting was the task of the day.

Lia is the master painter. She has a painting uniform of jeans and a sweatshirt that is decorated with the myriad paint colors that have been applied at Port Ashton. And, the ipod earphones tucked into her ears is the finishing touch. I'm always many steps behind Lia...and still working on the colorfulness of my uniform.

We split up the job...Lia went to the Beach House to scrape old paint and paint the peak...the scary and laborious job on a tall ladder. I started with the repainting of the pantry...the easy job on a smaller ladder. We painted all day with the kids searching the low tide near the Beach House and the sun shining.

Lia and I met at that Cook House to finish it...balanced on our make-shift scaffolding we painted the back of the building. This meditative work was back dropped by the sound of the stream rushing, the blue birds calling and the trees rustling in the wind.