Sharry Miller

New Job and Holiday Staycation

On November 2 I started a new job at Prince William Sound College, a little bitty community college here in Valdez. My official (and truly awful) job title is Instructor and Administrator of Industrial Technology. Right now, my primary purpose is to refine our current industrial technology programs (safety and millwright) and help the college develop new ones. I'm spending a lot of time talking with people from Alaska's different industries to find out what... Read more →

Happy Everything to Everyone!

Whatever you celebrate and for whatever reason, I hope you have a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule, and every other mid-winder celebration there is around the world. All that's important is that we make a point of spreading love, happiness, and gratitude to one and all. Peace and joy be with you and yours. Read more →

Happy Thanksgiving

I have all of the usual reasons to be thankful on this day and everyday: a loving family, a comfortable lifestyle, enough money, yadda yadda. Today, I am particularly thankful that we have the ability to expand our food and our table to accomodate eight more people. We'll be dining with old friends and new this evening, and that is a wonderful thing. I am also thankful that I had enough time after most of... Read more →

Sea Turtle Arts Classes

I'm putting the word out through whatever means I can: my Sharry Miller and Sea Turtle Arts Facebook page (search for it and like me, please!), my STA e-mail list (let me know if you want to be added to it), and now here. I need your help! After taking the last year off from offering classes, I want to get started again, but I want to be sure I'm offering classes you want to... Read more →

Independence Day Hike

"My name is Buck Rogers." Seriously? Seriously. I once again wished for the ability to raise a single eyebrow-of-disbelief. Instead, I introduced myself and shook his hand. For the Fourth of July, I'd decided I wanted to avoid the Independence Day crowds and festivities, and instead go for a hike in Hatcher Pass. At the last minute, I decided to explore the Craigie Creek trail, an area I hadn't been to before. My friends Tom... Read more →

Happy Earth Day

I shared this list with you once before, but it seems appropriate to do so again on Earth Day 2013. In the United States alone, we've recently seen a fertilizer plant explosion in Texas that destroyed hundreds of homes and killed over a dozen people (honestly, who puts a fertilizer plant in the middle of a residential area?), a heavy fuel spill to water in New York, and industry tax breaks given by Alaska's government... Read more →

Happy Holidays!

As often happens, this holiday season has been a bit crazy. Between going to Wasilla to spend Christmas with family and having guests for the New Year, I decided the best I was going to be able to do was a mid-season blog post. I don't think I'm even going to manage to write a few words for this week's Visual Dare and Five Sentence Fiction challenges (the links, however, will take you to my... Read more →

Bad Santa Fiction

As I was clicking through my favorite's list this morning, I came across a flash fiction challenge at Sweet Banana Ink. The ladies over there have a flash fiction challenge running to determine who can write the best Bad Santa story. I couldn't resist the urge, but be warned: this isn't a story you'll want to share with your kids. Enjoy, and then check out the other stories written for this challenge. (By the way,... Read more →

Amazing Pumpkin Soup

Rowan and I bought a pumpkin in Fairbanks the weekend before Halloween with the intention of carving it, but we never seemed to get around to it (those "round to its" are really hard to come by). Last Friday, I finally cut it up and roasted it. I love cooking with fresh pumpkin, so I knew I'd use it. After a conversation with friends about pumpkin and squash soups, I decided to make one Saturday.... Read more →

Happy Halloween!

I know, this is a second posting in one day, but I couldn't resist sharing some photos with you. I was asked, due to my great creative genius (insert eye roll here), to judge the Providence Valdez Medical Center's pumpkin carving contest. Each department had the opportunity to carve and display a pumpkin. We three judges were asked to decide which best represented its department. Here they are - which do you think shoud have... Read more →