December Solitude--Cabin Fever

"Cabin Fever," 5 by 7 watercolor card

"Cabin Fever" can set in on days like this, cold and bitter, when you're forced to be alone with your self, even if other people are around. "Cooped Up" is another such term.
The hassle and hurry and crowds of the holidays finally fade in late December. Reactions include solitude, being alone, loneliness, but they are no synonyms, no matter how many people are around. 
You want to escape four walls closing in, but that can also be metaphorical. Crowds can make you lonely, lost almost. 
There is a hunger for solitude, physical, or differently, mental and spiritual. Many seek to withdraw and just be alone as an antidote for the busyness and noise.  I follow "Cabin Life" on Instagram, about someone who lives off the grid in Alaska. He's not a hermit, but lives a purer life than I could take all the time.
Still I yearn for a perhaps mythical cabin where I could find solitude from the world and crowds of people and traffic and commercialism. Not all people, but just the chance to slow down. I really think that what this world needs is to slow down and be rather than do. That's what the world needs--time to slow down so people can think rather than react.
My cabin would be perfect for that.  My "cabin fever" is of a different kind.
 "Solitude is not something you must hope for in the future. Rather, it is a deepening of the present, and unless you look for it in the present you will never find it," Thomas Merton

(Day 30 of 31 December paintings.)

December lights

December Lights, 5 by 7 watercolor card

December, a month of more darkness than daylight, in northern latitudes, when people decorate with holiday lights, in celebration, but also warding off the gloom of winter.
But there's a bigger light show in the far north. I've been fortunate to be Alaska, but not in the winter, and  have not seen the spectacular light shows of the Northern lights. 
Maybe some day. The only time I've seen those lights was long ago in Iowa, but they were just a red glow on the horizon. 
I'm thankful for the Instagram account @CabinLife for the light shows and the inspiration for this card.

(Daily Watercolor  7 of 31)

'Wrong' track, Interlude--Prof's primer on polls, part II

Rusting locomotive, Skagway, Alaska, Not all polls are as reliable as others and can lead to the wrong track

Old Alaskan trestle  and tracks--like some polls, deserve skepticism

Back in 2012, because of their polling, Mitt Romney, his family and campaign people were confident of victory and then literally stunned and shell-shocked as the election night results rolled in. http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/110597/exclusive-the-polls-made-mitt-romney-think-hed-win#
This link explains why they were on the "wrong" track. What they really needed was my "Prof’s Primer on Polling," especially this editor’s checklist for evaluating polling, or any research.

Poll aggregators show a better idea than just one poll

Four years later, it's more true than ever that Americans need to understand polls in this election, rather than just attacking them if we disagree with their results.  We get new ones every day.

My advice is not to trust any one poll, but look at a bunch of them, and it's easier than ever, given computers and aggregators, especially Real Clear Politics and 538, which called every state's results four years ago.
Americans are justifiably suspicious of polling, and not just for political reasons. Some of the fault lies with newspapers and broadcast which have reported off-beat “research” to try to snag audience.  Last post I referred to USA Today once carrying a Women’s Day’s poll saying readers wouldn’t marry the same man is just one example. The poll was loaded with faults, and the media failed to point them out. Then Fox picked up the myth and continued with it.

On London's "Tube," the "right" track is always clear

So here is this prof's voter checklist for evaluating polls, so at least you can be sure you're on the "right" track with them, even if you think the country is on the "wrong" track, as I do. I think this should also be every American’s checklist too. 

• When was the poll conducted? Results  change overnight as the RCP chart shows.
• Check more than one poll for more accuracy.
• Who sponsored the polling? Is there a conflict of interest?  Political polling is especially suspect if it’s loaded with distrust for the other side. Beware any polling done by a PR firm for a client. I understand the Republicans with their distrust of the so-called “liberal media” wanting to conduct their own polls.  But Romney's campaign fell  victim to the same faults they suspected from the other side.
• Who was included in the polling? If you poll certain age groups or geographic areas or don’t reach likely voters, you’re results will not be valid. See number three.
• How were the people chosen? Was it a true “random” sample? If not the results will be skewed (as with Romney’s polling).
• How many people were in the sample? If the poll has fewer than 1,100 respondents, your margin of error is going to be more than three percent.
• What was the response rate? If your sample was 1,000 and only 400 answered, you get results like the Women’s Day article which threw out more than it counted. Don’t seriously consider any response rate less than 60 percent.
• How accurate are the results? Always compute the margin of error—it results were within it, then “it’s too close to call.”
• Who were the interviewers? Were they professionally trained and neutral? If not, prejudice, inflection of the voice and other factors can affect results.
• How was the polling conducted? Robo-call? In person? If it was a call-in or send-in, the results are worthless because they’re not "random." See definition in previous post.
• What were the actual questions asked? Wording can influence results, and can lead to opposite results on the same matter, depending on wording.
• Are the results cause and effect or just correlation? I saw a headlined story once: “Want to live a longer life? Marry yourself a younger wife.” The poll found that men with younger wives lived longer. But—this might not be cause and effect because there are many other factors involved—health, wealth, etc.
• Does the headline match the polling results? 

If you can’t answer these questions satisfactorily, be suspicious.
 A few of the faults of the Women’s Day poll and article: 1. It’s not random for all women in America, only subscribers. 2. Women’s Day has more than one million subscribers. About 100,000 responded. 3. The results were clipped out of the magazine and sent in (pre-Internet). 4. Once the magazine got the results, some of them were not counted.
So, a responsible newspaper or broadcast station reporting polling results should include an explanatory item with every story. If it doesn't, be suspect. It should be written along these lines:
“The Daily Geezer poll of 1,200 registered voters in Geezer County was conducted Oct. 31, 2016, and asked two questions: ‘Will you vote Nov. 8?’ and ‘Which presidential candidate will you vote for?’ The results have a margin of error of plus and minus three percent.”

Next--polls showing America on the "wrong" track.

                            Accurate polls are like well run railroads--inspected 
               and run with very little error, as Forest Park railroad, Fort Worth

Back-tracking on the "wrong" track for 45 years

Neruda: "Is there anything sadder than a train in the rain?"

Americans apparently like being in the dumps, or blue, as my small watercolor from Pablo Neruda's poem suggests.
We think the country has been "on the wrong track" for almost a half century, apparently, including now.
Let's "backtrack" some.
That dissatisfaction fueled the Democrat's mid-term election "whuppings" of George Bush and the Republicans' of Obama.
Warning...I spent almost as much time searching my photos for appropriate train photos as I did writing. Hey, I like trains.

This "old one" is rusting  and abandoned on an old track at Skagway, Alaska, but perhaps that is the right track for old ones like me.

So what is the history of the country being on the "wrong track"?
Since 1972, polls have found most Americans have thought the country is on the "wrong track." Some pollster reported asked in 1971: " “Do you feel that things in this country are generally going in the right direction today, or do you feel that things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track?”
Keep in mind that was in the middle of the Vietnam War, inflation was climbing, unemployment was up. Source, the Daily Beast: Wrong track. 

In fact, polls show that Americans have rarely thought we're on the right track. When did we derail and hit the ditch?--Eight years ago, in the fall of 2008, when the economy imploded. Per Gallup, between September through about November 2008, only 7 to 9 percent of the country thought the country was in the right direction. 

What were the highest points in the past 45 years? Three times--(Gallup polls)
In Reagan's second term it bounded to  60 percent on the right track. It soon dropped  to under 50 percent; during Clinton's impeachment, the economy was great and 71 percent thought the country was on the right track; and after 9/11, it soared, but seven  months later it dropped to 60 percent thinking we were on the "wrong track."
My conclusion, (opinion), Americans are fickle, short-sighted, spoiled, and whiners.
 

Canada in the background as the locomotives switch ends on the right track.

Getting on the right track politically is a matter of many opinions. But not in railroads. At the White Pass and Yukon railroad between Alaska and Canada, they take you up to the pass made famous in the Gold Rush, and the locomotives park you just inside Yukon Territory, Canada on a siding. They then move around and attach to the other end of the train for the trip back to Skagway. There's always a "right" track. So simple, in railroad operation if not democracy. 

Next--more tracks.

 

Excerpts, and philosophy, from an Alaskan's journals

The comments below, from Richard Proenneke back in the late 1960s are astounding to me.
Building his own cabin in the Alaskan wilds with only hand tools, he kept a daily journal.
The fete alone is mind- bending, but then his writing is also magnificent, and his reflections on time and technology and work are more true than ever.

Philosophy from the wilderness. 

Enjoy.

• A man is on his own frequency out here. (about time of day)
• The lake was moon still.
• This country makes a man younger than his birthdays.
• Its ears worked like a pair of scissors and its nose twitched  as if with an itch it couldn't reach. (A snow hare)
• Strange to wake up at 3 in the morning and feel like daylight is being wasted.
• …but risk now and then is good for a man. Makes him come alive and tunes his body to a greater efficiency.
• There's no water in the world like that born in the high country.
• The gates of heaven are near. (In the mountains)
• ...took several sips  from the trickles that made music over the stones.
• I just season simple food with hunger.
• We have become accustomed to work on pieces of things rather than wholes. It is a  way of life with us now. The emphasis is on teamwork. I believe this trend bears much of the blame for the loss of pride in one's work, the kind of pride the old craftsman felt when he started a job and finished it and stood back and admired it. How does a man on an assembly line feel any pride in the final product that rolls out at the other end.
• At my pace, I can notice things... . Nature provides so many things if one has the eye to notice them.   A bubble on the water, an arctic tern's breast tinged with the blue reflections of the lake.
• News never changes much. It's just the same things happening to different people. I would rather experience things happening to me than read about them happening to others. I am my own newspaper and my own radio. I honestly don't believe that man was meant to know everything going on in the world, all at the same time…and the poor guy with all the immediate problems of his own life is burdened with those of the whole world.
• I don't know what the answer is. In time man gets use to almost anything but the problem seems to be that technology is advancing faster than he can adjust to.
• I don't like the look of progress, if that's what it's called.

Two month flurry of pages read-I

I won't ever eat octopus again. 
Actually I've only recently tasted it, but after reading the Soul of an Octopus, sent by my friend and former student  Lauren Vargas of Boston, I discovered a new world of intelligence. Editor that I am, I discovered one small error in it. The author refers to a boat going so many "knots per hour." Ahem. knots are nautical miles per hour. But this is a book of discovery about life on this planet. Some things should not be human food.
That book was one of ten I've completed, two sampled and one half finished in the last two months, bringing my total read so far this year to 13 plus-surpassing my goal of one a month.
I usually read and write reviews of these, but blogging has been blocked, but books have not since early April.
I'm not inclined to comment much on each of these, but you'll note all but three are non fiction, and one of the others is poetry.
Notes:
Coyote America, Dan Flores, "a natural and supernatural history." If you're a Westerner, you know coyotes, but there's more information here than you ever imagined. They're the oldest deity figure in the Americas. they originated in America. They now inhabit all major cities east to west. In spite of man's best efforts, you can't wipe them out. In fact, we're responsible for them spreading everywhere. Lots of science and history here, plus a naturalist's viewpoint.
One Man's Wilderness-An Alaskan Odyssey. Sam Keith/Richard Proenneke. From the journals of a man who built his own cabin with handtools, telling how he built it a step at a time. He  lived alone in the Alaskan wilderness beginning in the late 60s. With his color photographs. He died in his 80s in 2003.
The Highwayman, Craig Johnson. A Longmire novel, set in the Wind River canyon in Wyoming, a ghost story involving highway tunnels. Shorter than most, also. A two-day read. You can look the setting up on Google maps.
The Great Spring. Natalie Goldberg of Writing Down the Bones fame (I have a signed first edition). Lives in New Mexico, a follower of Zen, teaches writing. This is one of those books I like because I can skip around and read the chapters I want first.  About writing, living, and more.
Woe to the Land Shadowing. Red Shuttleworth of Washington State. Won the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum Wrangler Award for poetry this year. I got to meet him and he signed it. It's my annual tradition to buy these books of Western poetry. He and his wife are real westerners, but this book stretches the mind with his sparse views of life in the modern west. 

Of gates, and journeys, and watercolor

"High Lonesome," 9" by 7" watercolor, 140# d'Arches

I'm not sure what it is about gates, but they captivate me, spur my imagination.
There's a hint of adventure, of beckoning journeys, that lead to something undiscovered. I guess that's why I have written and painted a lot of them. See "A Gate Always Beckons."
This one goes back deeply, to a lost painting of my Dad's, and it's a theme I've approached many times. It's been accepted into the juried member show at Paseo Arts District, Feb. 5-29 in OKC, and yes it's for sale.
It's not that I really want to sell it, but it has to be priced to enter the show. Something happened to my painting here that I can't explain, except my work was more luminous and fluid that others, taking advantage of the beauty and magic of watercolor.
Part of its appeal, and others similar to it is that many people identify with it, either in some gate they saw, or knew long ago, and such things bring back wistful memories. I've opened gates like that long past, and when I see them  in the country side, I almost always have to stop and take a photo. In my imagination, they lead to a cabin, and solitude and quiet.
I guess that's part of it with me too. Although I'm captivated even with the word "gate." That's another post, except to let you know I really want to go to Gates of the Arctic National Park in Alaska. Told you there's magic in the word.

Captain and Tennille tree

What a difference a day makes, or in Oklahoma, an hour for that matter.
Yesterday the high was in the low 40s and the wind chill probably cut it to 20 degrees less than that. My layered coats and sweater from the Alaska trip--which worked there--weren't enough.
Bitter. From Beast to Beauty.
Today it's in the mid 60s, no wind, beautiful sunshine. Time for my neglected walks in Hafer Park, and sure enough, the kids and dogs and parents and lovers and old folks were out, walking the trails, most in short sleeves. I was one of few with a sweater, and worked up a sweat.
Almost at the end of the walk I though it was strange I hadn't stopped to take a photo. Then I saw this tree I hadn't noticed before. "Captain and Tennille, " I thought as I walked by. I stopped and turned around to take a photo.
I post it here, not to make fun of, or mock, or judge the divorce this week of the long-married couple famous for the song "Love will keep us together" in the 1970s. I think it's sad, but a story many people are familiar with on a personal level these days.
The tree said to me, "Life goes on." So I added some special effects, beyond usual old-time darkroom burning and dodging, just to emphasize the subject, and the emotions involved.
Every trip, every walk, every tree, every marriage, is a journey.

A year ago...Alaskan wonder land

Arriving at Juneau Airport

One of the  glaciers  at Tracy Arm Fjord

Exactly a year ago today, we landed in Juneau, and stayed at the Capitol Inn Bed and Breakfast, across the street from the Capitol. In the morning, we departed for a most of the day tour to see Tracy Arm fjord and glaciers. I know we only touched the hem of this great wilderness, but still, it was a trip of a lifetime. If I was younger, I'd be trying to move there. So few people, such vastness. I'm hooked.
Mankind is so small, Alaska so huge, and the earth so magnificent. Even after a year, I think of the wonder that we met every day, every minute. It is part of  the earth not yet dominated or controlled by man, the way it was before we "civilized" and overpopulated the place. The lessons of Alaska are astounding, and free the spirit from the everyday world. It makes you so aware that you won't pass this way again, so enjoy every moment, every scene, every meal, all the people.
You can check my multiple blog posts from last year with lots of photos by searching "Alaska" in the sidebar at right. Here's the link to the itinerary:
clarkcoffee.blogspot.com/2012/05/alaska-itinerary.html

May 16, 2012...Sue and I at the glacier, listening to the groaning of the ice, and ice scraping against the hull.

Blog favorites on the birthday

At Black Mesa, March, 2012

Those of you who read this blog, which is now five years old, know I have some favorite topics.
Watercolors, art, traveling, New Mexico, books, family, trains, writing, a little religion. So as I started looking back over these 48 months of blogging, several articles and postings stood out. Here are my favorites.
My favorite--Best writing, humor, mingled with fun and tears--"Booth is a verb--A Love story," which stretched to more than 10,000 words in several posts over two months in August and September, 2009. Here's the link to the first episode, http://clarkcoffee.blogspot.com/2009/08/booth-is-verba-love-story-prologue.html
Travel--lots of these but three are my favorites. First was a tie-- several posts about the USS Abraham Lincoln sailing from San Diego to Everett Washington in April 2011, thanks to former student and officer Steve Curry. When I was summarizing travel since the blog started, I left this out, and should have listed "Pacific." Sorry Steve. Here's the link to the opening post of seven about that "Pirate Proof Cruise" as I called it. http://clarkcoffee.blogspot.com/2011/04/tiger-cruise-part-one.html.
I'd be hard up to rank it ahead of several posts a year ago this month, on our trip to Alaska...one of the items on my bucket list. Here's the first of 13  posts  in May and June with photos and video and writing. Here's the first link: http://clarkcoffee.blogspot.com/2012/05/alaska-itinerary.html
Also at the top of the list, or near it, was the flight I took on a WWII B-17 bomber on D-Day, 2010. Brother in law Jim Henry and I each paid $300 for the flight over Oklahoma City. They wouldn't let me bomb Republican headquarters, but the posting includes video as well as photos. What fun for a fan of WWII aircraft. Here's the link to one of about four related posts that month: http://clarkcoffee.blogspot.com/search/label/B-17
Other favorites in travel included the trip to India, in March 2011, and to hike Black Mesa in Oklahoma in March, 2012, each with several posts and photos.  http://clarkcoffee.blogspot.com/2011/03/flight-timeindia-journal-thoughts-i.html
http://clarkcoffee.blogspot.com/2012/03/to-top-of-oklahoma-and-back.html
Then there are other blog favorites, like humorous conversations with God on tenure, heaven's bar, and church services--check the months of Feb., 2010., Oct, 2011 and July, 2012.
Too many paintings, book reviews , photos and family history, and New Mexico to share. Yes, it's multimedia, but after all these years, it practices what I preach...you have to have good writing first. Thanks for reading. More to come.

Flight of fancy...to Skagway

Mementoes in my journal

One of the highlights of any trip that always stick in your mind afterward would be the unexpected, unplanned adventures, no matter how brief or small. Such is was for us a month ago when we walked out of security at the Juneau, Alaska airport and asked where the small plane area was.
We'd just walked off the Alaska Airlines jet from Sitka, a 21-minute flight at 7 a.m. Our travel agent had booked us on a small plane fight with Air Excursions to Skagway that morning at 11, so we'd arrive in time to board the Yukon Whitepass narrow gauge railroad about 12:45 on one of my must-do trips. So we'd been up at 4:30 in Sitka to get ready, drive to the airport, drop off the rental car, and be on time for early boarding. We knew it was going to be a tiring day with so much packed into it. We had no idea what an adventure was ahead.
We walked up to the Air Excursions counter--one of three or four small plane counters at the Juneau airport, and asked the woman if we could make the 8 am flight instead of the 11. I stress about close connections, and we were flying blind since we'd not been here before. I'd been told that Skagway was small and there was no problem, but... .

Juneau flight line, walking to our plane

She checked with the flight, the load and finding if there was still room,  checked our baggage,  writing our name on a pink tag that was stuck to each bag, after it had been weighed.  We sat down in the small waiting area, and watched the clock tick past 8 to about 8 15. Then this young handsome guy walks in with a smile, introduced himself as Tyler, and said "Let's go." No security, just through the doors and out on the tarmac toward several small planes. I thought we were headed to one of the larger ones, but no, we kept walking, toward several small single prop, low wing Piper Cherokees, reflected on the rain wet concrete.

Boarding the flight to Skagway

We went to the last one, and he climbed on the wing, opened the door for us and Susan chose the back seat, clearly nervous. Behind her the plane was stuffed with boxes for freight. I got to sit in the front seat beside the pilot.

Chatting away, he put on his headset, tested the engine, and rolled out on the runway we'd landed on in the jet not long ago. Off we went, into the cloudy sky for about a 40 minute flight to Skagway (The ferry ride back in two days would take five hours). As we climbed into the sky, behind us the Juneau airport stretched, and an Alaskan Airlines jet was rolling down the one runway.

I could tell Susan's tension, and a little of mine too, but soon the scenery and view just took over. Tyler apologized for the cloudy weather because he couldn't show us all the glaciers, and after getting up to about 2,000 feet, dropped down to about 1,500 feet below the clouds for a smooth flight...one he probably makes every day in almost all kinds of weather.

Watching his gauges--we were doing about 140 knots (150 or so miles per hour). At the low altitude you could see so much. As always, the scale and immensity of Alaska just overpowered my senses. I tried to treasure each of these few minutes in a small plane, and would do it again, just for the plane ride and looking at the stunning land. We were flying below mountains, drinking in views that were magnificent, but hinting of so  much more.

Soon Skagway appeared in front of us, only a few blocks wide, with a runway on one side beside a river and steep mountains on another...a cruise ship docked near the mountains. I'm so glad we didn't take a cruise ship, for we would have missed this short trip of a lifetime.

Then he nosed the plane down, and the runway grew in size as we got nearer. I was reminded of videos of planes landing on aircraft carriers in WWII, but this was safer, and longer. Then we crossed the end of the runway, landed and taxied back to the terminal.

Climbing out of the plane, our baggage was unloaded from the nose area, we snapped a picture, and loaded memories beyond measures.

Hope you enjoy part of our flight....

Reflections of Alaska, part three

The human imprint is reflected in Alaska, mainly to give perspective to the huge landscape.

Lonely duty. Coast guard station at tip of Admiralty Island. Man is small.

Fishing boats at Sitka

Our plane to Skagway, from Juneau

Skagway, cruise ship at right, runway at left.

Skagway museum, mountains reflected in window

Cruise ships at Juneau

Cruise ship coming into Skagway

Passengers on Ferry out of Skagway

The Gastineau Channel passage south out of June, from top of Mount Roberts

My favorite, reflections out of Skagway morning. 

Reflections of Alaska, part two

Most of all, there is nature, the land, water, ice and clouds.

Where man is small

Bear country

This sculpture is in front of the Alaska State Capitol.

 Bear "sign" is everywhere in Alaska. Two from Juneau, and one, at bottom, from Sitka.