Homer’s Best Bets

October 29, 2015 10:34 am
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A mountain ash in the Homer High School parking lot adds a bit of late-season color. Many other trees have lost their leaves, but local ash trees still blaze on a sunny day last week. Snow is predicted for Friday, but Halloween should be clear.-Photo by Annie Rosenthal
A mountain ash in the Homer High School parking lot adds a bit of late-season color. Many other trees have lost their leaves, but local ash trees still blaze on a sunny day last week. Snow is predicted for Friday, but Halloween should be clear.-Photo by Annie Rosenthal

Homer could be like this super-duper productive place except for one tragic flaw: We live in Homer. It’s not that we’re not hard-working souls, ready to take on the tough jobs and get our Carhartts filthy. We do that. Or rather, we try. Sometimes this awesome world on Kachemak Bay gets in the way.

The other day the Betster wanted to take a break from the word mines, and what better way to do that than a walk on the beach? Even in fall, when it’s not quite super sunny and the temps hover around freezing, a walk on the beach can be dang fine. It got better when the Betster’s spousal companion texted a photo of orcas off the Spit.

Holy Odontoceti! How can anyone ignore a whale sighting? We’ve been tempted all summer by dozens of humpback whales playing in the beach. When an orca shows up, well, shazam. That’s worth a photo safari.

You see how it goes? Things like that distract us. A 10-minute walk on the beach turns into 15 minutes and then a half hour and then you’re halfway to Anchor Point and remember you didn’t finish the Bisby contract the boss wanted by the end of the day.

Yeah, nature can be distracting. Somehow we manage to get the work done. Imagine how much more productive we’d be if we worked in a tall building in Manhattan and stared at the back side of a cubical farm. You’d go nuts, too. We don’t have that problem. What we do have is the challenge of picking out something fun to do, like these Best Bets:

 

BEST FORWARD INTO THE PAST BET: You know that hour you lost last spring with Daylight Saving Time? You get it back on Sunday. That’s right: DST ends at 2 a.m. Nov. 1. It’s the old “fall back in fall” thing, so set your clocks back one hour before going to bed on Saturday night and sleep in an extra hour.

 

BEST DIA DE MUERTOS BET: That’s Spanish for “Day of the Dead.” No, we’re not talking a zombie movie, but the Mexican celebration and remembrance of loved ones on All Saint’s Eve. It’s also Halloween, and boy howdy does Homer celebrate in a big way. Starting today it’s the annual Haunted Hickory, where our Coast Guard friends try to scare us by decorating their ship. Halloween falls on Saturday, with a weather forecast of clear skies. There will be parties, trick-or-treating and kind of a mob scene in downtown Homer, so watch out for kids. For all the details, see page 2.

 

BEST STAYIN’ ALIVE BET: How has the Sugt’estun Alutiiq language of Port Graham survived? “Kiputmen Naukurlurpet: Let it Grow Back,” a film done 10 years ago, took a look at the issue. It’s being shown again at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Homer Public Library. Port Graham elders will attend the showing to talk about current efforts to keep the language going.

 

BEST SPEAK IT BET: Get a taste of national spoken word poetry when visiting poet Kane Smego performs at 5 p.m. today at K-Bay Caffe. Smego is an international touring spoken-word poet and hip-hop artist, educator, cultural diplomat and National Poetry Slam finalist, so we’re talking world-class here. The event is free, but donations are accepted.

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