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This is important because the aurora borealis has been extremely quiet this year. It is a low sunspot year, which means less sun plasma to make auroras. I've only seen two so far this winter until tonight.
Sofia is a weird dog in that she's got some pretty silly habits. She sleeps under my bed, even though she's a 50 lb dog and the futon frame is only six inches off the ground. Her communication is excellent, if eccentric and funny, using lots of dog ballet, "talking" and pointing at things and then looking exasperated if you don't "get it." She jams her head into every possible prey hole she can find, checking under the snow regularly for voles or whatever else might be there. When she and her sister were puppies, they'd jam their heads into the crack of the couch cushions looking for mice. I guess. We thought they were crazy, until we figured it out.
At 3:30 AM I was awakened by the sound of bouncing dog and pitter pattering feet, very soft ruhh!s, and finally a dog pouncing on the bed and telling me in no uncertain terms to get up right now! Sofia has done this before, but until I followed her to the front door (with much pointing and urging from Sofie) that I saw the reason: the aurora was in full swing right in front and over the house.
She's done this before, too. When there is an aurora she'll come and get me and insist we go outside RIGHT THEN. It's not that she has to dog stuff, trust me. This dog goes twelve hours and never, ever wakes me up to go outside for that reason. Unless there are lights out there. If it was a moose, there would be barking, nay, dog screaming and running around with a mohawk that goes from the top of her head to her poofed out tail. Nope, Sofia's Aurora Alert is persistent, but much gentler. Oh, and when we go outside, she stands there and watches it. What a pal!
Last night I didn't go straight home after work. Never mind that I hadn't had dinner, this was the last fiftieth anniversary celebration of Alaska's becoming a state (1959). So I bade the dogs be good in the car and walked across the crunchy parking lot to the Carlson Center entrance, where I joined many other Fairbanks residents with my very hairy coat, (I am not the only one in Fairbanks covered in dog hair). I stowed my gloves and hat in my zipper pockets, and went with the flow toward the Prow Room. We were like huge, mostly fuzzy salmon, (there was no room to take your coat off), plus most of us were hotter than heck, but no one was complaining. The mood was jolly and tolerant as we jostled through the double doors, where we were handed a program and a 50th anniversary pin. One of the greeters was an acquaintance, though that didn't surprise me at all.
As promised in the newspaper ad I'd seen, there was a big cake with scenes from the history of statehood on it. Actually, it was a whole bunch of normal sized rectangular cakes, but arranged so that it did look somewhat like a quilt. Pictures and articles from the newspapers of the time, the Alaska state and 50th anniversary flag, and lots of hand-shaking photos adorned what turned out to be pretty good chocolate and vanilla cakes. But we didn't get to eat cake until later. For now we were allowed to admire it and try not to get dog hair on it, or frosting on us.
There was a big military display, and a slideshow/video presentation that ran by itself over on one wall. The volunteers at another table were madly stuffing goody bags that would be handed to us later.
We soon all switched direction and the crowd plodded happily toward the Pioneer room where a stage and many chairs were set up. We were treated to Native songs and dance, all of which were composed in the 1950s for the event of statehood. Before each song a young person would introduce the song, tell us what it was about and who wrote it, and which village the writer was from. At the end they invited anyone who wanted to dance to come up for Tanana Crosso, and several of us, including myself, got up and danced and sang.
The Fairbanks Drama put on a bit of their Letters to the Editor play, delighting the crowd and eliciting hoots and lots of laughter. Then the Sweet Adelines sang hilarious songs about Alaska and statehood to the tunes of familiar melodies. Their staging was great!
Lots of laughter and applause followed each performance. The nice thing is that each performance was just the right length, not too long, not too short. Lots of us hadn't had dinner and were yearning for cake...
...which we got after we all once more made the migration to the other room where the cake was being served up. By now most of us had found our friends and were hob-nobbing and visiting while wiping frosting off our chins and trying to find the coffee. I got to visit with some folks I hadn't seen in some time, which was great! They asked after a mutual friend, and I asked how their sweet dog, Heidi, was doing.
We stood in line for about twenty minutes waiting to be given our Alaska memorabilia, laughing and visiting and eating cake.
I was amazed at the lovely gifts were were given! A small poster of the 50th Anniversary celebration, a lightweight medal and a gorgeous heavy brass medal, the latter the official State commemoration medal. I love this piece the most, because it shows the United States with Alaska superimposed on the Lower 48. Now I have something solid I can show people to prove how big Alaska really is! (And how puny Texas looks next to it!)
Alyeska put out a huge book about the building of the pipeline and gave everyone a copy. This is a full-color picture book that, albeit put out by a corporation that surely must see this as a PR job, is also really fun to look at! It's very well done. Some graphic artist worked very hard on this book and I'm tickled to have one. And it's true, Alyeska has been a big part of the mix of what Fairbanks is today.
More important than physical things is the gentle, joyful, humorous, loving family of people that we are in Fairbanks. Last night reminded me of the party that was held for Lance Mackey the first time he won both the Iditarod and Yukon Quest races. A huge party was held for Lance over at Alaskaland. Both times there were so many people it was like playing "Sardines" with everyone you knew and many you didn't. But was there a cross word? No. There wasn't even a crying baby last night! If someone bumped against you, you'd look at them and smile and say "Hi!" I love this town. Last night I was reminded, once again, of why I live in Fairbanks. More than any other reason, it is because these are the nicest people I've ever met.
You know what they say? It isn't that Fairbanks is so great, but once you live here, it ruins you for living anywhere else. I know exactly what that means.
