NEW CATEGORY: ODDS-N-ENDS

​I quite often have lone pieces of art or photographs, or a brief anecdote that I haven't shared on here because they didn't go with anything longer. But I decided, after seeing how well the Dairy Crate posts went over, that I might as well put these short pieces up as well.

Today's piece of art is by my pen pal Allan Cobb from San Francisco. I first began writing to him in 2000, which is when he sketched the piece below. He did it after I described how when people hear that I'm from Alaska they immediately picture a snowy, cold place, where people wear furs year-around, live in igloos, and ward off grizzlies with a gun that's always to hand. Well, it's true that I do pack a gun in bear season when I have to go pump water, but otherwise I'm not into guns (though the same cannot be said of my brothers).

I also told him about how my sister and I, when we were in our teens visiting family in Montana, were asked if we were Eskimos when other kids heard we lived in Alaska. Keep in mind that my sister and I are very fair, blue-eyed blondes. My sister tells me she's still asked this question when she tells people she has family in Alaska.

Anyway, Allan thought I'd get a kick out of the cartoon he drew of my imaginary life in Alaska, and he was right. I've treasured it for all these years and I'm glad to share it with all of you in my new category: Odds-n-Ends.