"When Tom e-mailed me, asking about the trip, I told him Vancouver is nice, it's a great place to visit, but I'm more at home in a cabin in the woods. I have a feeling that when we are old, Chip and I will indeed be crazy enough to live in ours full-time. When that happens, we will walk by Tom's place every time we go to town, maybe even with a grandchild or two in tow, and I'll tell them how the old editor of the Chilkat Valley News is a bit like Thoreau, that he dreamed of a quiet place in the country and he built one. Then we'll probably stop in and help Tom with the shingles, or maybe even a new water system. There's a Buddhist saying that when your house is done your life is over. I hope Tom works on Camp Weasel forever."
...a passage from Alaskan journalist and NPR writer, Heather Lende's book "If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name" which I purchased in an Alaskan bookstore.
Below are photo-paintings of some of the smaller homes and and more quaint places that I saw during my travel through Alaska, each revealing the strength needed by people, and perhaps, the loneliness of living there.
Beautiful photos of an isolated area. Not sure I could live that life!
ReplyDeleteI can fantasize about leaving in secluded places like these but I'm too much of a people person to live alone.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I guard my alone time. I don't think I would really be able to live in that kind of isolation.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice to live that life from time to time, to rest up.
ReplyDeleteThey look like great vacation cottages, but I wonder how fun they are in winter.
ReplyDeleteI lived in isolation during a frigid Michigan winter. It was actually quite a pleasure. I read, listened to the radio (had no TV) and worked online. I had a car so could get into town on occasion. Met some interesting folks like an older native American that lived in a tepee on his family land. The roads could be treacherous at times so one needed to keep stocked with food. Fortunately never lost electricity. I could go on. Anyone of these homes would fit the bill for a winter home as well as a summer cottage or year round home -- your choice of living of course. Nice that you shared them with us. -- barbara
ReplyDeleteI really like seeing what other people live in especially in the boonies. Thanks for the photos. I always thought I'd like to try it but my former hubbie had lived above the Artic Circle in Norway until he was 16 and thought it was the nuttiest idea I ever had. Perhaps it was. We/I never did and now I suspect I am too old to manage but it still tickles my fancy.
ReplyDeleteThose are very interesting dwellings. I also enjoyed that quote very much. Made me stop and think. :-)
ReplyDeleteI could do a cabin in the woods, but need a lake nearby.
ReplyDeleteI love what you did with your photos!
ReplyDeleteI grew up in a little house full of a big family on a 10 acre farm out in the Willamette Valley. I am not longer desirous of cabin life.
These are evocative works. I think people are reacting, maybe overreacting, to the huge population growth these days.
ReplyDeleteI doubt they are a bit lonely since they have all the big outdoors to entertain them and to cradle them. To live there they must never have intentions of spending much time in their tiny houses.
ReplyDeleteI guess when you're in Alaska, you want it nice and cozy. And these can't be too hard to heat.
ReplyDeleteI love that book, and she has a new one out too. I also really enjoy reading her blog. My friend Seedys used to live right across the water in Skagway. We had a day of fun with her on our visit there. She lived in a large room over a garage with an alcoholic husband she dearly loved. For years she worked at any old job during the summer season, and she quilted during the winters in a trailer parked next to the garage. Now I also have a grandson, his wife, and new baby living at North Pole.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.heatherlende.com/
Those are some pretty great cabins. I wouldn't mind spending time in any one of them. I hear land prices in Alaska are super high, though.
ReplyDeleteDense populations are fun in small doses. I am far more comfortable away from too much humanity, admittedly.
ReplyDeletebeen there, at least on the Seward Peninsula and the Kenai Long time ago, it was a 70 time in my youth. Way way back in my blog is a journey up there in the early 70's, in three parts.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Mike
some sweet little getaways.
ReplyDeleteI love rustic cabins and barns! And I'm new to your blog: hi!
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