Danielka's Fayetteville Adventures: Summer 2014

Circumstances have made it impossible for me to spend much time at my home in Birch Bay, WA during July and August, and that was especially disappointing because my Godson – the twelve-year-old dynamo from Podolsk (Moscow Oblast, Russia) – arrived on July 5 for his annual visit. The trip to Birch Bay, with his mother Oxana, was fifth time that Danielka Kalmykov (also known as Ka-Boy “the majestic and the powerful”) has traveled there to spend much of the summer.

Awesome Danielka

When it became clear that I would not be in Birch Bay most of time when Ka-Boy and his mother were there, Danielka’s Godmother and aunt, Natalia, proposed that he, his mother, and she travel to Arkansas and stay a week in Fayetteville, where I am presently required to be. I thought that was a great idea, and the trip was on. I flew from Fayetteville to Birch Bay, where my Subaru was sitting; then the four of us drove for 32 hours to get to Fayetteville.

 The four days on the road first took us through the noteworthy scenery of Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.  We poked through these states, enjoying the views and vowing to return for longer stays at different cities and sites.  During this part of the trip, Natalia and Oxana, denizens of the back seat, kept pointing out buffaloes and elk; Danielka and I responded with proper skepticism and scorn. We, in turn, kindly pointed out the grazing unicorns and dragons along the way.

 

Natalia, Danielka, and Oxana at a Scenic Spot in Washington State

Danielka claimed the shotgun seat with some vehemence. He pointed out that during the past five years or so, he had been forced to sit in the back seat. Now that he has reached 12, and of course his soul is 14 years old, it was his turn to sit in the front. The main problem with him occupying the front passenger seat was that he was not heavy enough for the sensor to know that someone was sitting in the seat. With him sitting there, a light indicated that the seat was empty and the air bag was not on. To solve that problem, every time Danielka got into the car, he carried a heavy box of books with him. When we got the signal that the passenger air bag was on, his mother would take the box and put in the back of the car.

Danielka Enjoying the Ride

Midway in the trip, we left the mountains to travel the straight roads of South Dakota, Iowa, and Missouri. We sped through these states, and Danielka amused himself by reading the Hunger Games, which he enjoyed.

On one long stretch in South Dakota, Oxana – who recently got her driver’s license in Russia – volunteered to drive. She had never driven before in the U.S. She took the wheel for an hour or so. Not only was she very nervous, the rest of us had white knuckles waiting for the inevitable crash. She did fine, at least until she ran a red light at the exit. Fortunately, we all survived and celebrated by stuffing ourselves at a Denny’s.

 

Oxana Drives for First Time in the U.S.

After leaving on a Tuesday, we arrived in Fayetteville on Friday, early in the evening. The week that followed was full of fun and firsts for Danielka. They included:

A Sunday concert at the Fayetteville Public Library. It was a surprisingly good concert by a Barrett Baber, Fayetteville singer and songwriter, who also teaches sometimes at Fayetteville High School.  He writes some great songs and is a strong performer, and he has had some recent successes, including an appearance at the 2014 Grammys. His song “Arkansas (Get There from Here)” has been selected for use in advertisements promoting tourism in Arkansas. If you have not heard him, check him out at this site:  http://www.barrettbaber.com/  or on Facebook. He will be performing with the Razorback Band at halftime of the September 20^th football game.

Danielka, who has become a serious student of the guitar, sat on the front row to watch the fingering of Baber as he played his guitar.

Danielka closely watches Baber play the guitar

First peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Danielka had his first taste of this delicacy at the Eleven Restaurant at the Crystal Bridges Museum. His mother, Oxana, also had her first taste of grits, enjoying the Shrimp and Grits selection. I savored my 3,000^th meal of tasty brown beans and cornbread. Natalia was underwhelmed by the High South Chicken Salad. See the Eleven’s lunch menu here:  http://crystalbridges.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Lunch_feb.pdf

 

Oxana enjoys her first grits

First Grapette and Moon Pie.  Later the same day that he enjoyed the pb&j sandwich, Danielka got his first tastes of Grapette (purple, containing “no fruit juice”) and Moon Pies, bought at the store at the entrance of the Walmart “Museum” on the Bentonville square.  He found both to this liking.

 

Hard-to-Find Grapette

First B-B-Q Ribs.  When the four of us stuffed ourselves at Penguin Eds, Danielka ate his first BBQ ribs.  Eating ribs was a homage to his cousin, Denis, Natalia’s son. In late 1996, when Denis arrived in Athens (GA) from Ukraine as an 11 year, he took mightily to ribs, and for months that is all he wanted to eat whenever we went out to a restaurant. Ka-Boy ate the ribs with evident enthusiasm.

Danielka chomping BBQ Ribs

First Frosty Mug of A&W Root Beer. After losing (again) some bet with Danielka, I owed him a frosty mug of A&W root beer, which I had assured him had no equal it came to slaking thirst on hot days. Shortly after getting to Fayetteville, I was chagrined to learn that Fayetteville no longer has an A&W drive in or restaurant (though the Sonic drive ins are ubiquitous). Checking the internet, I found that the nearest A&W restaurants are in Fort Smith and Siloam Springs. So the last full day on the visit, we all drove to Siloam Springs to have a large frosted mug of root beer. It did not disappoint.

Danielka and Natalia Enjoy A&W Root Beer in a Frosty Mug

A trip to Tahlequah, OK to see the Cherokee capital. We took one afternoon to visit Tahlequah. I am not sure that I have ever visited this city, though I vaguely remember playing baseball there in the early ‘60s. I was surprised to find, after a 90 minute drive through Ozark foothills, an attractive downtown and several historic buildings. We devoured tasty pizza at Sam and Ella’s Chicken Palace, which is stuffed with chicken pictures, knick knacks and artifacts (for reviews of this restaurant, see http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g106178-d1172904-Reviews-Sam_Ella_s_Chicken_Palace-Tahlequah_Oklahoma.html )  Then we spent a couple of hours at the Cherokee Heritage Center, located a short drive from downtown Tahlequah. There, we learned a little about the history of the Cherokees, and Danielka scored a colorful tee shirt that will be unique among his friends in Podolsk. See http://www.cherokeeheritage.org/

Danielka watches a demonstration of  wool dying at the Cherokee Heritage Center

On the way to Tahlequah, we stopped by the Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park for a quick history of the battle and a look at some of the old buildings. (See http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/prairiegrovebattlefield/events/ ) 

The park seems improved very time I go there. 

Natalia, Danielka, and Oxana at the Latta House in the Prairie Grove Battlefield Park

Daily dog walk. One of the pleasures of Danielka’s visit was a daily morning walk by or near Lake Fayetteville and its trails with my mother’s two dogs, Abby and Peppy (aka Pepsi). Danielka does not have a dog, and has not spent much time with them. He managed to make the dogs his friends through a liberal dispensation of treats. 

He and his mother were impressed with the Lake and its trails.  See http://www.accessfayetteville.org/government/parks_and_recreation/documents/maps/Lake%20Fayetteville%20Trail%20website.pdf

Danielka gives Abby a treat

Unfortunately, the trips to Lake Fayetteville raised some concerns. On the first day, we spotted a truck near the trails that. we think, was following us to conduct secret surveillance. Every day we went to Lake Fayetteville, the truck was there. The truck, as shown below, apparently belongs to the notorious secret police of the Soviet Union, the KGB.

If the KGB was listening to our conversations, they learned that Danielka was engaged in a battle on Minecraft against a ruthless and evil player who had stolen some valuable weapons from him and was a threat to other players. Ka-Boy was enlisting other Minecraft players to stop the bad guy from further misdeeds. Also, they would have heard of the elaborate prank that Danielka was planning to play on his Birch Bay neighbor, A.J., who is near Danielka's age. The goal was to scare him as much as possible. Danielka planned this prank, in part, because A.J. had not responded to a letter Danielka had sent him when A.J. was at a French Camp. In addition, they would have gained valuable details about Claire, A.J.'s dog with whom Ka-Boy had been playing, and a smart Chihuahua who belongs to a friend of his dad in Podolsk. 

In all, it was a great week in Fayetteville that went by quickly.  Natalia and I appreciated getting the opportunity to see the mind and energy of a robust and happy kid in action. Danielka and Oxana enjoyed their new experiences in the South. 

Birch Bay Summer, 2013: A Photojournalist Report from the Front

Most of June, all of July, and the first few days of August have been spectacular in Birch Bay. During this time, I have awakened thinking, “What did I do to deserve such great weather?”  The days have been in the 70’s to low 80’s; the nights are cooled to the 50's. I can’t image a better combination, especially with the daily sun sparkling off the blue Bay. 

The fabulous weather has been enhanced by the visit of Godson Danielka, who gives me new insights into the lives of 11-year-old boys. Of course, I don’t always appreciate when he points out -- after I suggest that something he did wasn't too smart -- that I was born in the last century while he is a New Century kind of guy.  How can guy born in the 20th Century understand the perspective of a 21st Century kid?

As the great weather rolled on, some interesting things have been happening in the neighborhood. The following is a report on some of them:

New Book by Al Krause and Ruth Higgins

Al Krause and Ruth Higgins, our Birch Bay neighbors located a few houses to the south of my Morrison Avenue abode, have written a book entitled, Lessons from the Obama 2012 Grassroots Campaign. It was published at the end of 2012, and I finally got around to reading it in July. The book discusses their experience as volunteers for the Obama campaign in Northwest Washington State. While doing some valuable and important work organizing calls and other volunteer activities, they ran into some paid staffers who, at best, did not much help them do their work.  At worse, the staffers frustrated their efforts to the point that Al and Ruth resigned their volunteer positions and worked on other campaigns.

The book reminds me a bit of parts of another book that I recently read, Political Magic by Brenda Blagg, about Clinton’s “Arkansas Travelers.” This group of volunteers from Arkansas paid their own way to campaign in key states for Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996. There they were often dismissed and/or distrusted by Clinton’s paid staff. I would venture to say that paid political staff members are often wary of capable volunteers because they view them as threats to their own little pockets of power. 

I enjoyed Al and Ruth’s nicely written book, which is a quick read, and am glad that their volunteer work gave them the opportunity to meet, and have a picture made with, Obama, even though it was frustrating in other ways. I have to say that I admire folks like Al and Ruth who volunteer their time to promote their political beliefs. Most other people are like me, viewing politics as a somewhat unsavory spectator event. We may care who wins, but not enough to make an effort to take part in the process. 

Below is a picture of Ruth and Al in the Blaine July 4th parade. Ruth is in the blue shirt holding the large banner. Al is walking behind the sign with a dark blue hat and a light blue sweater.

You can find Al and Ruth’s book (in both hard copy and e-book) at these links:

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&field-author=Al%20Krause%20%2F%20Ruth%20Higgins&page=1&rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AAl%20Krause%20%2F%20Ruth%20Higgins

http://books.google.com/books?id=l7YaIEYF7U4C&pg=PP1&lpg=PP1&dq=al+krause+ruth+higgins&source=bl&ots=FI74FDxj4g&sig=ZppWovOZnTcSuSsjnr90YmQ3AyY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=k4oFUqjOMe_wyAHB2oDgDw&ved=0CHwQ6AEwDA#v=onepage&q=al%20krause%20ruth%20higgins&f=false

Pat and Pat’s 50^th Wedding Anniversary

In late July, my neighbors across the street, Patrick and Patricia Alesse celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary with a gathering on land they own across the street (toward Terrell Creek) from the main C Shop building. This land is where a public market is held on weekends during the Summer. This lot is about 50 feet from my front door.

   

The Allesses are the long-time owners of the C Shop  http://www.thecshop.com/  
and valued members of the Birch Bay (and surrounding area) community. They raised two boys in Birch Bay after moving here from Syracuse, New York. The C shop is probably the most recognizable landmark in Birch Bay and is famous for its tasty home-made candy and other goodies.

The celebration was festive, but informal, with guests coming from as far as New York. It featured Patricia’s original wedding dress, a ride in the type of car they owned when they married, and a huge wedding cake like the one they had at their wedding. It also featured a fascinating display of pictures from the lives of the Pats and their family. 

I appreciated the invitation to join the celebration and am glad to be their neighbors. 

Pat and Pat with one of their sons. Her wedding dress is on her right

Pat and Pat in the car model they drove on their wedding day

Pat and Pat, with their two sons, drink a toast to their continued happiness.
The wedding cake is a replica of the one they had at their wedding 50 years ago

A.J. and Danielka Caught a Salmon in Terrell Creek

We had some excitement around here two weekends ago when Danielka and his friend A.J. (age 10) caught a large salmon in Terrell Creek. A.J. and his family live in the Birch Bay Drive condo next to where Danielka is staying this summer. The two caught a 15-18 inch salmon in Terrell Creek just down the bank from where the Pat and Pat wedding anniversary celebration took place. 

Danielka (dark shirt) and A.J. (red shirt) fish from Birch Bay Dr. bridge over
Terrell Creek

Catching the fish took them quite a while. They spotted it under the Terrell Creek Bridge (where Alderson St. meets Birch Bay Ave.) and tried unsuccessfully to get it with their fishing poles, then went in the shallow creek with a net. After a couple hours of a concentrated chase, A.J. netted the fish with Danielka’s help. 

Here is Danielka with the netted Salmon

The catch stirred quite a bit of excitement. Many people were surprised to find such a large salmon in Terrell Creek, though I have seen some leaping further up the river. The catch is a good sign that the efforts to restore the creek for Salmon migration is having some success.

A.J.and Danielka with their salmon

Decent Pulled-Pork Barbecue Comes to Whatcom County

I am happy to report that Birch Bayers finally has a decent place to get BBQ. It is found in a restaurant, Dickey's Barbecue Pit, in nearby Lynden, a Birch Bay suburb. The restaurant is located just south of the intersection of Meridian and Lynden-Birch Bay Roads, across the street from Safeway. It is decorated as a lower-middle-class eating place, and people from Georgia or Texas or Arkansas feel at home when visiting it.

Danielka and Oxana eat BBQ at Dickey's Barbecue Pit in Lynden

The restaurant is a chain; nevertheless, its pulled pork sandwich is the best I have had on this side of the Continental Divide. I can recommend its pulled pork sandwich (I haven’t tried other BBQ meats yet). I like the hot-ish barbecue sauce that is available to top the sandwich. Also, the “barbecue beans” dish is very tasty. As a bonus, Dickeys provides free self-service ice cream cones to conclude the meal.  

Godson Danielka and his mother Oxana are fans of Dickey's. Include me on the list.

The Big Three Events: July 4th Fireworks, the Blaine July 4th Parade and the Birch Bay Music Festival

A big part of the summer fun in Birch Bay are three events that happen each year. The first two take place on July 4th and bring the biggest crowds to the BB.  As usual, Birch Bay had a explosively spectacular July 4th with the beaches lined with folks shooting fireworks over the Bay. I like to describe this event as an anarchic ballet. I have written a couple of blogs about it. You should come to see it for yourself sometime. The blogs are at this links:
http://www.eclecticatbest.com/2012/07/july-4-2012-birch-bay-celebrates-with.html

http://www.eclecticatbest.com/2011/07/how-birch-bay-celebrates-july-4th.html

I will not write more about the 2013 July 4th, but post below a few pictures of the event:

Before dark comes, some folks shoot roman candles over the Bay

A boy enjoys a sparkler on the beach

The crowd has assembled and is waiting for dark

Preparing a hot air balloon

When dark finally comes, Birch Bay's sky lights up

With the July 4th fireworks lighting up the Birch Bay night sky, it is a pleasure to prepare for the spectacle by attending the Blaine July 4th parade. The Birch Bay suburb of Blaine offers a state-of-art small city parade filled with local folks and their cars, tractors, politicians, businesses, and organizations. The day includes a pancake breakfast at the senior center, an exhibition of antique cars, and plenty of booths selling food and trinkets. Put it on your calendar for next July 4th if you are going to be in the area. It is the essence of Americana.  Here are a couple of pictures from the parade:

Boy Scouts march in the Blaine July 4th Parade

Honoring Veterans

Icelandic Heritage Society had many folks in the parade

Tractors were a big part of the parade

One young parade watcher gathered lots of candy tossed by passing floats

As I write this, the third event, the Birch Bay Music Festival, is booming in my ears. The Festival is held next to the C Shop, a few feet from my Morrison place. I get to hear all 18 bands from my living room.

This year is the third Birch Bay Music Festival. It gets bigger every year. In 2013, the Festival has 18 bands playing from 3:00 p.m. Friday to Sunday at 5:00 p.m. For the third year, I just heard Rebekah Ann Curtis sign and play her guitar. I always enjoy her music.

The place is crowded with booths, a small train ride for kids, and a music stage. Food is plentiful at the C Shop and the Bay Cafe across the street from the venue. The crowds seem more than ample for such a small space. 

You can read about the 2013 Birch Bay Music Festival at this website:  http://birchbaymusicfestival.com/

Danielka’s Visit

I will conclude the report on Summer 2013 in Birch Bay with news about the visit of Godson Daniekla, whose two-month visit will soon conclude, and he and his mother, Oxana, will return to their home in Podolsk, Russia. Danielka was recently bummed out to learn that, thanks to an order by Russian President V. Putin, he and all other Russian school kids will have to attend classes on Saturday during the coming year.

Thanks to Danielka’s visit, I now know more about the booming on-line game business. Danielka started the visit playing Wizards 101, which he greatly enjoyed. Now, however, he is enthralled with Mindcraft, especially Hunger Games. He especially enjoys playing on-line with multiple players using Skype to talk to friends who are in the game with him. The games have some downsides, like too much time with his butt in a seat, but they provide an incentive for him to improve his written English and spelling. His spoken English is now almost native.

One thing that Danielka wants very much is to have his own You Tube channel showing his computer gaming videos. He made some progress toward this goal: he now has the software needed to record, with commentary, games as they happen on a computer. He has made a couple of demos, and I expect that he will soon have his first You Tube video posted to his “Golden Redstone” channel.

Among the highlights of Danielka’s visit was a trip to San Diego, which I did not make. With his Aunt/Godmother Natalia leading the way, he and Oxana had a chance to visit Lego World, the San Diego Zoo, and the city’s great beaches. They had a great time.

Back in Birch Bay, Danielka and I went out most mornings to hit some tennis balls. Danielka is a good little athlete, so he has been learning steadily and now has developed some good basic shots that he is slowly coming to hit consistently. When he comes back next year, we will make some more progress.

Danielka playing tennis

As I show in the picture, I made Danielka wear a mask while playing tennis. It was his handicap to even out my age-related handicaps.  (Actually, the mask is a key part of the plot of the science fiction novel we are writing together. I describe this project a little latter in the blog.)

The first Saturday in August, Danielka attended the Pirate Days Camp as part of the Drayton Harbor Celebration in Blaine, a suburb of Birch Bay. He attended this event last year and greatly enjoyed it. This year was also fun. With his mother’s help, he put together a good pirate outfit, and he practiced his “Aargs” and other pirate talk. 

Pirate Danielka with his Aunt Natalia

The group of kids attending the Pirate Days event were a good looking group. It is hard not to smile when you see kids dressed up as pirates. Here are a few of the young pirates we saw at Drayton Harbor. 

One of the youngest pirates

Winner of one of the best pirate costume award

AJ. and Danielka

In the crowded summer, another event we enjoyed was a visit to the Whatcom Art Museum in Bellingham, a southern suburb of Birch Bay. In truth, we were not too thrilled by the apocalyptic art in the exhibition entitled "Nature in the Balance: Artists Interpreting Climate Change." A room stuffed with amateur "message" art (aka agitprop), even if you agree with the message, can be too much. After a while, we had to start laughing at the unending flow of grim messages in the exhibition. My advice: get rid of 90 percent of the paintings and exhibit only the best. The message will be conveyed with much more power and clarity than the hodge-podge of art now on the walls. 

Danieka and the bottom third of one of the
paintings at the Whatcom Art Museum

One of the few paintings I liked in the exhibition entitled
"Nature in the Balance: Artists Interpreting Climate Change"
at the Whatcom Art Museum

Although we were not too thrilled by the museum's main art exhibition, we did enjoy a new historical exhibit the museum is offering at its galleries in the Old City Hall. This one is titled "Treasure from the Trunk: The Story of J.J. Donovan." It documents the story of one of Bellingham's most important citizens in the first part of the 20th century. 

We also appreciate the Art Museum's offering of a history cruise around Bellingham Bay, which we greatly enjoyed. The tour lasts for 2 1/2 hours and is narrated by a historian who tells interest elements of the history of the city and county as the boat glides about the Bay. The night of our cruise has perfect weather, so we had some spectacular views of the Bellingham, Fairhaven, and Mt. Baker. We were wowed by what we saw.

Here are a few shots from the boat:

Bellingham Old City Hall (Red Building) and Mt. Baker

Fairhaven area of Bellingham (The grey building in the front on the water is one of the few remaining buildings of the American-Pacific Fisheries Cannery, which a century ago was the largest Pacific salmon processing cannery in the world

Danielka, Natalia, and Oxana enjoy the cruise

A Bellingham seal watches us watch him

One other thing that Danielka and I have been working on this summer: a book titled “Kaboy the Magician and the Intergalactic Locusts.” We have the plot worked out and three chapters drafted. The book is about a young boy, a visitor from Russia, in Birch Bay who discovers that he is destined to lead the fight against an invasion by the seemingly invincible Intergalactic Locusts, marauders from a planet in another galaxy who periodically invade planets like earth to gather valuable resources for their own use. To be successful, Kaboy must use secrets passed on to him by The Magicians, highly intelligent beings who nearly 14,000 years ago discovered too late how the Locusts could be defeated and, as their people perished, found a way to transmit those secrets for use on earth when the Locusts returned. 

Look for it soon at your local Amazon store.

It has been a great summer in Birch Bay. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to return to the Birch Bay Music Festival to listen to more music.

Kalmykov's Ninth

I'm am looking forward to watching the Royal Wedding tomorrow when Donald Trump will unite two great fans of American Idol in holy matrimony.

Putin Girl by Danielka

Now that I have your attention:  please note today is the 9th birthday of the renaissance boy, Danielka Kalmykov.  Danielka is the painter of the Eclectic Pirate that adorns this blog (see to the far right).  Also, he has painted such great works as Putin Girl (to the right) and Ships Upon the Ocean (see below).

Ship Upon the Ocean by Danielka

Flyer for Danielka Magic Show

Not only is Danielka an artist and great fan of Spiderman, he is an accomplished magician, who, under the stage name of "Ka Boy the Magician," wowed audiences in Birch Bay in Summer 2010.


In his leisure, Danielka is a nimble dancer, a competitive gymnast for the Podolsk team, and an enthusiastic skier.

Danielka Skiing in 2011

As might be expected, Danielka is a bit of a bon vivant, a boy about town, with an eye for pretty second graders.  Some suspect he may be secretly engaged.




Danielka is fluent not only in Russian and English, but also understands all of the secrets of Spiderman and Harry Potter, plus appreciates the post-modernist humor of Sponge Bob Square Pants.  An avid reader, he won several awards last year from the Blaine, Washington public library for his voracious and eclectic (at best) reading.

Danielka at rest

As Danielka enters his ninth year, we can only sit back and wonder what he will accomplish in coming months. We are sure we will be dazzled.  As his Godfather Dan Durning and Godmother Natalia Gajdamaschko say about Danielka, "What a great kid."







More pictures at:
https://picasaweb.google.com/dan.birchbay/KaBoyTheMagicianDirectFromRussiaToBirchBay#