Alaska: Day 10 of NaBloPoMo

It seems like this single-topic NaBloPoMo might be cheating, but life is BUSY this November. I started a new job on Friday, but I'm still dragging from an early-season Crescent City cold, so it's been tough. We're recruiting for my old position, I'm learning my new position...also recruiting for a new VISTA. I have jobs to fill! 

So I'll take my cheat and stick to my topic.

We stopped for part of a day and one very fun night outside/in/near Denali National Park to visit with Jim and Jess, friends from Michael's ELEDP days. Jim made CHIEF while we were there, which was very exciting. Also exciting? Denali's fairly new main visitor center and the nearby Murie education center. 

There was so much art in both places and it was all art to a purpose, there to teach something cool about the park. In this photo, for example, is just one corner of a massive quilt made by a local quilter's guild. It is a map of Denali National Park depicting its different ecosystems. The boarder featured scenes from a variety of those ecosystems and you can see that even the background was treated thoughtfully, with animal tracks quilted onto the white. It was very, very cool and there were a couple other quilts from the same guild in the visitor center as well. (I was only going to do one picture, but it deserves more, so enjoy!)

(Teaser for tomorrow: I got to pet a BABY DINOSAUR at Denali!!)

If Your Menu Said...

Matsutake mushroom. Stinging nettle. Smoked sturgeon.

That was how our fifth course of a tasting menu was described tonight. I was picturing a roasted (?) mushroom, sauteed greens, and a small piece of fish. 

What would you picture?

What I didn't picture was a small white pitcher being put on my plate. It was tiny. Like an individual pitcher of cream that might come with a cup of coffee.

There was a green foam hiding the rest of the contents, but as I dipped my spoon in, I found a velvety mushroom soup, with shavings of smoked sturgeon at the bottom. It was not at all expected, but it was so good.

It was maybe a quarter cup -- maybe -- of complete deliciousness that made me wish my tongue was long enough to reach the bottom of that little pitcher. I didn't try, although I wanted to. We were, after all, seated at a table for six and had just met two of our dining companions as the meal began.

Michael and I splurged for a late anniversary dinner and went to the Historic Requa Inn's Beermaker's Dinner tonight. (He was in Pennsylvania for the deal deal last month.) It was eight courses of magical cooking -- not a single miss on any of the plates, starting with a halibut fillet on top of creamy wild rice and ending with a panna cotta served on caramel sauce. I used a leftover piece of fry bread to mop up extra sauce from the family-style serving dish. I'm not ashamed -- it was the perfect end to a perfect dinner.

From Reading To Stage!

A couple years ago, Michael and I helped our friend Ruthe by joining other friends to read her fantastic play, This is Crescent City, out loud for the first time. It got some edits out of that reading, a few more suggestions from my helpful cousin Seth, tons more work and sweat and thought from Ruthe, and last night, it premiered on the stage with the Lighthouse Repertory Theater!

The play is about our town's history and present, and what makes people choose to stay here. Our local newspaper has given it good coverage and with luck, that will be just the beginning of the conversations this play will inspire.

We'll be seeing it next weekend and babysitting so other friends can go see it this weekend. If you're nearby, you should choose a performance and GO. 

(And if you were admiring the poster, that's good. It's Michael's handiwork! Ain't he great?)

Michael's Continuing Fame

My sweet husband has appeared so many times in our local paper, and has shared his time in the paper so much, that my SILs have been asking him, "Are you the only person in Crescent City???" But between Willy Wonka and Michael's starring role in the recent solar eclipse (get it -- "star"ring?), he is pretty much the man about town. When he was Willy Wonka, many people tried on his hat for size, none cuter than Darcy:

But, just like Darcy, almost no-one else could fill that hat quite right. 


For the eclipse, Michael was at Point St. George with two of his co-workers interpreting the event for visitors from near and far. We started out there with my cousin and her friends from Portland, but just as it was starting, the fog moved in and blocked the view. We drove inland. Not much -- just to the high school parking lot and got a good show all the way though the "ring of fire". We're only about 20 miles from THE place to view this particular eclipse, so we had about four or five minutes of the ring. Poor Michael didn't get to see it because of the fog, but he did get his picture on the front cover of the newspaper. Again.

As if this is not enough fame for one person to handle, Michael also has a radio show these days. Our local community station hands out radio shows like candy, apparently, because Michael walked in to get information about how to get a show and walked out with the 8 to 10 slot on Wednesday nights. His show is called Death to Classical and features themed collections of classical music. Last night was "For the birds". The signal goes out to the downtown Crescent City neighborhood only -- and we're talking radius of three or four blocks, pretty much. But you can listen online. I don't think they're recorded, so you easterners will have to stay up extra late to listen. Or you can just check out his show's page.

The Interview

Michael Thomas Glore arrived just a few minutes late for our interview, looking devilishly handsome in his two-day stubble. He appeared slightly worn-out from working his day job, from which he hopes to retire when he hits the entertainment big-time. He accepted a beer when I offered drinks and we got right to the interview.

Glores Around The Parks: You've recently been cast as Willy Wonka in the Lighthouse Repertory Theater's production. How does it feel to be thrust into such an important role on such a large stage at this point in your acting career?

Michael Thomas Glore: Well, I've gotta tell ya, A. BTW, can I call you "A?" It's

GATP: Well, I'd rather...

MTG: It's just something we do in the "biz" to save some time. You know, we just need to really concentrate on our art, which is to give ourselves fully to the written word in a script; some words, like names, just really aren't as important. I'm not saying that you're not important or worth my or our time, but as an artist I really have to make some important decisions for the sake of my ancient craft. I also sometimes make other important decisions, too. Like the time when I decided to pull-over off the highway and help deliver a baby, or when I stopped a hot chick from being mugged. You've probably heard about those, right?

GATP: Um, no, actually. Can we get back to...

MTG: You know, that's so embarrassing to me when that stuff gets leaked. I don't do it for "the press." Actually, both those things have happened a lot of times, but it's just not in my nature to boast about my many accomplishments. I'll let you guys do that, A—the press, the paparazzi. Man, you guys are always in my face [chuckles]. I'll let other people like you talk about me or label me, but I'm just not into that. I don't believe in labels. You guys can try to figure me out, but I know who I am... Anyhow, A, I just want to focus on my craft in this interview, 'cause that's what's really important—or should be—for you and your readers. So, I'll call you "A" and use the word "biz," which is short for "showbiz" or "show business," cause I just want you to understand my world. The world of art. And acting. That's my world. Welcome.

GATP: Thanks. I think. Getting back to the LRT's production of Willy Wonka, how does it feel to be part of this community theater?

MTG: It feels great to be able to support the local theater. It's not like it's Broadway or anything (though I've been there, BTW), but that's what's so special about it to me. I grew-up in this environment, it's where I mastered my craft--I guess you could call it the theater of hard knocks. The streets. I would get in a lot of fights with other kids. [chuckles] I don't wanna brag, I busted a few noses when I had to, but I took some licks of my own, too. Sometimes I would get a black eye and look like Rocky in the movies. In fact, that's what they called me for a little while, "Rocky Balboa." It was kind of a gang name. It had double meaning, too, cause Stallone is a good actor, too. Actually, some might say he's one of the greatest. But I'm not a fighter anymore. I just fought because I had to do to survive. Today, I'm much more of a pacificist. I know people are misled when they see me on the street on in the media. They're generally intimidated by my looks and accomplishments. And my studded leather jacket. But what they don't know is that I spent some time in India with the Dalai Lama, where I learned how to be a peaceful warrior; to meditate; and, to became an expert at martial arts. I sure I hope I never have to use the latter [chuckles]! The point is, it may be a storm outside, but inside this fortress [points to head], inner-peace rules. 

GATP: And how does that relate to LRT?

MTG: It's great to be at LRT. It's great to be down among the people, where I'm most comfortable. Honestly, I don't feel right amongst all the glitz and glamour. Sometimes I'll stare out the window of my house on a rainy day and I'll cry—a solitary tear will roll down my stubbly cheek. Because out there—out HERE—is where I belong. I need this. But it's not about me. It's about the people. So, I'll play Willy Wonka since they practically begged me. I haven't asked to be paid for it either. This isn't about the money. It's about the art. And what's right for me. And the people.

Does that answer your question?

GATP: Maybe. But let's move on. I didn't realize that you'd been in the "biz" for so long or with so many accomplishments under your belt. Could you talk—briefly—about your earliest experiences in musical theater?

MTG: Time is so relative. And does it even matter, really? It's actually kinda discriminatory and rude, isn't it? I don't ask you how old you are. And even if I did, I wouldn't judge you or make generalizations about your oldness. I'm sure other, less sensitive people might (bigots), but I never would. Anyhow, I would never ask an actor how long he (or SHE--see how important equal rights is to me? I don't even see gender. You know what I think about God? I believe SHE is great...)--anyhow, I'd never ask about length of time in the biz. It's just inappropriate, A, and kinda shows a little bit of inexperience on your part. But I won't judge you. I am a little embarrassed for you though.

GATP: I appreciate your candor, but I wasn't trying to be rude. I'm asking the questions the people want asked. They want to know all about you. Where you've been, what you've done, what has brought you to the stage.

MTG: Fine, fine. Let's see, earliest experiences in musical theater... I'd have to say the first musical I ever tried out for was pretty memorable. [chuckles] I basically auditioned for every part! Hard to believe now, I know, but I'm not one of those cocky Hollywood types. So, imagine my surprise when I got the lead role! Looking back, it probably wasn't a surprise to everyone. After the audition, every one kept coming up to me, saying things like, "You're the best," or "I got into acting because of you," or "You're the best actor since Marlon Brando." I think someone else told me I was "better than Shakespeare." 

GATP: As a playwright??

MTG: Anyhow, I don't put much stock into those sorts of things but at the time, it did have a big impact on me. Totally memorable. I remember about a week after the cast was announced, we had our first read-through at the theater. Basically, no one had even heard of me then (unlike now, of course!). Anyhow, we were to meet at the theater and I walked-in with my head down, a little shy and embarrassed. I could tell that all the other actors were already there in the seats--I didn't look up, really, but it's just a sixth sense or something. I've always had that. I'm also really good at tracking in the wild; used to be a survivalist, but that's another story [chuckles], but it probably does help explain my acting "instincts." Anyhow, I start walking  up the aisle and a man suddenly gets up from his seat and stands in my way. I don't look up, but I can tell by his acid-washed jeans that he's the other "big actor" that I beat out for the lead role. So, it's a bit awkward and I'm more than a little nervous. But then I hear clapping. Soft at first, but then loudly. I look up, and this man is clapping. He's looking at me with tears in his eyes, nodding his head. Soon, clapping erupts all around the theater. I look around and everyone--the whole cast--is on their feet, applauding and hollering. Anyhow, I just wanna sit down and get to my craft, so after a minute or so I smile and put my hands-up, like I'm gonna give a speech--it's clearly what they wanted. As the clapping FINALLY dies down, I'm about to open my mouth when I hear a young woman in the back yell, "You're the 'Zeus of acting!'" Then, the whole place erupted in cheers again. Anyhow, I remember that like it was yesterday... And that nickname has stuck ever since.

GATP: I'm sorry. This sounds very much like what happened YESTERDAY. Are you saying that you have no previous acting experience before you were cast as Willy Wonka? And what does the "Zeus of acting" mean, anyway?


MTG: I've been acting my whole life. And what if I was to tell you—which I'm not—that I had no previous acting experience? You're not sure what the truth is now, are you? See? It's 'cause I'm such a good actor. Maybe I've intentionally blurred the boundaries between real life and fantasy (I've done it before, if you know what I mean... Just kidding! Or am I?). But that's the heart of my ancient craft. Anyhow, I've always been acting. In my youth, I starred in One Good Cop II (limited release)...

GATP: One Good Cop II? You mean that six-minute home-video detective story you and your brothers made when you were barely a teenager? 


MTG: As well as Outtakes from One Good Cop II among others. Also, there was Family Vacation to Chicago and Camping Trip in Yosemite.


As for that whole "Zeus of acting" nickname: Again, if other people wanna label me, that's fine. It's really not important to me. What do you think it means? All I know is that Zeus was a god and was really tan, and that he ruled the oceans and had a trident and was awesome at martial arts and was Ariel's dad n' stuff. 

GATP: I think you have your ancient gods confused.

MTG: Whatever. Does some of that ring true about me, but with acting instead of the sea? Maybe. Probably. Some people clearly think so. But I don't have a mermaid daughter or anything. The point is, I would never label myself as such. And in my master classes, my young actors almost never hear me talk about myself. It's not about me and all my nicknames. It's about them. And the craft. And what insight I can provide into the craft based on my own truly unique experiences and stories.


GATP: I don't think I can even bear to ask about your master classes, so we'll just skip that. What do you think you'll bring to the role of Willy Wonka that will make it unique? How will you make it your own?


MTG: I'll just do what Gene Wilder did. Even Johnny Depp couldn't do that.


GATP: Wow. Ok, Mr. Zeus of acting. I guess we'll all have to wait until March to judge your success for ourselves. Best of luck in the preparations. I hope this interview has gotten a lot of this -- whatever this is -- out of your system. 


And that's it, fans! You now know next to nothing about Michael Thomas Glore than you did before reading this interview. Congratulations -- this is ten or fifteen minutes of your life that you will never get back. Stay tuned for more coverage of the lead-up to Opening Night for Willy Wonka. I'll bring you up-to-date breaking stories of Michael's rise to fame and fortune as it happens.











Please. Help me escape. Take pity.

Exclusive Interview With The Future Willy Wonka!

That's right, fans! Thanks to my fantastic celebrity connections, Michael Glore -- soon to be Crescent City's very own Willy Wonka -- agreed to an exclusive interview with Glores Around The Parks. We'll ask all the questions you've been dying to ask yourself: Where has he been all our lives? How did he get to where he is today? How does he plan to prepare for this role of a lifetime? And just how many hours of beauty sleep does he need to look so damn good day in and day out?

All these questions and more will be asked and answered tonight as I sit down with Michael Glore for my exclusive interview. You won't see this anywhere else, so check back with Glores Around the Parks for the world's first look at this rising star!

In Which My Husband Has A Wish

It's getting near the end of NaBloPoMo and I have no pictures because of the stolen computers, etc. My pickings are slim. Last year, I could just post random cute pictures of Darcy and pretty much get away with that. The lack of access to our photos is really interfering with my blog.


Luckily, my husband has a wish, and that is clearly material for the blog.


(Of course, really, my husband has many wishes. He wishes he could have an iPhone. And an iPad. He wishes people would buy all the CDs and books he has listed on Amazon. He wishes the wind hadn't blown down a gazillion leaves and redwood needles last night after he spent time raking on Sunday morning.)


The relevant wish is that he has a goal for the Redwood National and State Parks Facebook page. He created and maintains the page as part of his job. His goal is to get 1,000 "likes" before the end of the year and he now has 971. If you have a Facebook account and you don't yet like the Redwood National and State Parks page, would you please follow the link above and like it? And if you wanted to repost or let your friends and their friends know about his wish, that would be awesome!


If you need some heart-string-tugging to make you do this: we decided last night that we need to skip presents to each other this year because of the money we'll spend replacing the stuff we had stolen in the break-in. The total loss is not enough over our deductible to make it worth having the insurance claim on the books. By liking this page, you will help me give him a gift that is free of financial burden. How great will that feel? I'm banking on pretty darn great!

Shattered Glass Flies

The glass in our door was some special kind of safety glass (I guess) and shattered into a gazillion teeny-tiny pieces when the f&%*ers who broke into our house yesterday smashed it. And those gazillion teeny-tiny pieces went everywhere. Four rooms had glass shards to be swept and vacuumed up. They made it onto the desk on the opposite side of the room from the door. They were all over our washer and dryer, and even a few inside the washer lid.

And then there's the metaphorical glass shards. It's amazing how so much is affected even though so few things were taken. I have gone through a variety of emotions since walking up to the house to see the smashed window. My first reaction was a series of loud expletives and anger. My second, on seeing that a light was on in the guest room, was a momentary fear that someone could still be in the house. My third, while on the phone with the dispatcher two minutes later, was sadness at knowing that I was going to have to walk through the house once the sherriff arrived and see what else had been taken. There might have been a few tears.

As the sherriff observed, however, I am a glass-half-full kind of person, so I am back to that comforting sense of knowing that it is just STUFF. We might lose some photos that hadn't been backed up to the external hard drives. But the computers themselves and all their power cords and cables can be replaced. Our power drill can be replaced. The change bowl will fill back up as we empty our pockets over the next few months.

It won't be pleasant financially. It's not like we have piles of money sitting around waiting to buy new computers. I mean, we DID have one pile of money sitting nicely in a bowl, but the f*&%ers took that, too.

The day did end well, however. Michael went to a call-back for a community production of Willy Wonka at 6:30 and went straight to his office afterwards to work on changing account passwords and finding specifications of our stolen stuff to give to the sherriff's office and our insurance agent. He called from his office around 11 to say that the cast list had been posted and, despite never having been in a play before, he is going to be Willy Wonka! He's going to be GREAT, but it will be a lot of work from now until March.

Today, we are taking turns being home so that the house isn't empty. I'm at work and I'm hoping to pick up a borrowed laptop on my way home later this afternoon and then we'll have internet, but still no land-line phone, at the house.

It's Not All About Michael

Tonight, we went out to dinner because my husband is wonderful and I was really, really tired. Darcy fell asleep in the car on the drive home and so we were free to enjoy our evening starting at 7:35! Unheard of. And this story makes today's post NOT all about Michael, as he requested when I asked him to provide me some links for the rest of the post.

Which is all about Michael and some of the amazing things he does in his job. 

Michael looks great in a park service uniform. Those of you who haven't seen him wearing the badge are missing out, but you can get a small taste of it in this post and this one (which also gives you a sense of the wonders of a desert flower display). Michael is an interpretive park ranger, so he's the kind of ranger who teaches you something and touches your heart in a program around the campfire, not the kind of ranger who pulls you over for speeding in the park. Just want to make that clear.

(And apologies to our friends who are or love law enforcement rangers: I'm not trying to say that one kind of ranger is better than the other or anything like that. Just clarifying.)

However, he has a particular specialty these days, as the park media specialist. So he tweets and Facebooks for the park, makes the park newspaper great, creates site bulletins, picnic table signs about feeding animals, and almost any other thing that could count as media. I'm pretty proud of the work he does and I thought I'd share some of it during NaBloPoMo.

First, if you want to know what's going on in Redwood National and State Parks on a day-to-day basis, you can follow him on Twitter or "like" the official Facebook page. The parks also have a YouTube channel where the "Redwood Ranger Minute" series (produced by Michael) is housed (they're video podcasts and can also be found on iTunes). He also maintains much of the park website and is working on an update now. As you can imagine, taking care of the social media for five combined parks every day can be tiring. But Michael still does more!

Recently, the interpretive staff at Redwood have been taking turns writing the "Hey Ranger" column in our local paper, the Del Norte Triplicate (formerly known as the Daily Triplicate, but now it's down to three days a week, so not very daily). Michael wrote this one and helps edit and organize the others. 

He's a busy and productive man-in-uniform, despite what many Republican members of Congress want you to think about government employees. I haven't even mentioned the roadside signs, posters, event flyers, and who knows what else gets designed and produced on the giant pair of computer monitors in Michael's office. He's a all-around good guy and I just thought I'd share some of the stuff he does and doesn't talk about much. I hope you enjoy the vicarious tour of Redwood National and State Parks while admiring my man.

Happy Fathers Day!

Well, it's Fathers Day! Michael slept in and is off playing golf right now after eating not-quite-what-I-meant-them-to-be breakfast burritos. I think I'm doing pretty well so far. In honor of Fathers Day, here are two pictures of my father, Dave, and many pictures of Michael and our girl. They are more or less chronological.

Michael and the brand new Darcy Jo.

Darcy and her daddy, sacked out in the recliner in King Salmon.

Still in King Salmon...learning how to stick out your tongue.

Darcy's first camping trip -- and first visit to Yosemite!

Rock-climbing on Teutonia Peak trail, Mojave National Preserve.

Darcy's first baseball game.

Sunset among the Granite Mountains, Mojave.

Town ball at Fort Humboldt State Park.

I'm Thankful For...

...the sweetest rainbow girl in the world...

...my dear husband who did yardwork all morning...

...and the view from my kitchen window. Redwoods, ferns, and sunshine!

Running With Scissors

The park recently opened a new hiking trail -- the first in about a decade. Invitations went out for a dedication ceremony. We went and joined about fifty people gathered at the dedication site for the Lady Bird Johnson Grove, where we listened to a number of short speeches, met some of the trail crew who built the trail, and then walked a short distance to the trail head. Where there was a ribbon. That needed to be cut. With giant scissors.

You might think a Park Ranger would know better. A supposedly all-grown-up Park Ranger at that. But no. If you put my personal Park Ranger around an oversized pair of scissors, the end result is pretty much inevitable. Those of you who know him well will not be surprised:

Pause For A Joke

Darcy knows one joke. It comes from a Baby Einstein video friends gave us and goes like this:

Why did the bee go to the doctor?

Because he had hives!

She tells it without a good sense of comedic timing, but she's getting better. At dinner tonight (made much more delicious by a gift of roasted Hatch chiles gifted to us this morning), jokes came up and I prompted her to tell her joke. She did. And then did again. And again. And made us tell it to her. To get out of this rut, Michael searched his brain for a toddler-appropriate joke. He found one and posed the question to Darcy.

[Before I tell the joke (Darcy's way), I need to describe a page of her ABCs de Babar book. If one spoke French, each page is illustrated with many things that start with the letter for that page. On the "N" page, there aren't many (politically correct) words that start with N in English. It's supposed to be all about swimming (nager). But for us English speakers, there's a nest and there are some naked elephants.]

So, Michael asked, "Why did all the elephants decide to go swimming?"

And Darcy answered, "Because they were naked!"