What day is it?

In Palmer Alaska (and elsewhere) our days are running together. Without the structure of school, sports, church, meetings, parties, and work, we don’t really know which day of the week it is. Our entire timing is off a bit. It seems like March was endless and every week of March was a full month long. Yet all this unstructured time seems to both lag and float away simultaneously. Some Palmer peeps are really “getting things done.” And some aren’t. Either way it is okay and that seems to just be the way of it.

This Week’s Palmer Stars—Without a doubt, former City Councilman, Imran Chaudhry, is deserving of some thanks. He’s a young guy, a Palmer alumni, and a medical student. He has gathered many helpers together and enlisted our fine Donna Anthony’s Santa Cops Program to help deliver food, during this pandemic, to housebound elders in the Matanuska Susitna Valley. Our Carr’s grocery store gathered the food supplies for 400 safe food boxes. Dr. Megge Aube is teaching online music lessons for everyone. And sometimes she delights with online marimba music and singing. Ailis Vann , owner of Midnight Sun Yoga, is offering online yoga classes. Big Cabbage Radio, aka Radio Free Palmer’s Lee Hendrickson has organized a Zoom Radio Dance Party for everyone’s enjoyment. Last week Turkey Red’s owner Alex offered up boxes and boxes of fresh produce to the community last week, compliments of DiTomaso. There are many Palmer teachers who have radically changed up their classrooms and now communicate daily with their students and students’ families. So many Palmer people continue to do their essential jobs during this pandemic. Some are finally getting some recognition as front line providers, and we are grateful for all of you.

Tough Times—Like many businesses, our little. local and reliable Frontiersman newspaper is hurting. Newspapers depend on advertising, which depend on events. which depend on people traveling and shopping. Without events and or advertising, it is hard to make a full business payroll. So staffing hours have been cut at the paper; and columnists have been curtailed. Our reporters and newspaper staff work hard in the Palmer and Valley area; much of this work is because of love of community. I too feel likewise. I will be preparing a Palmer Alaska Buzz Column probono. We need to have consistency and loyalty during this time of stress.

Stay Connected—MTA is making sure that connections continue. There is free wifi and internet access at both the Palmer Library parking lot and the Matanuska Susitna Borough parking lots.

Palmer is Keeping its Sanity—There have been so many suggestions for good mental health. Here are some of the more remarkable ones, gathered from local folks, in our area. Ornamental orange peeling art; watching penguins on camera online at the south pole; coloring Annie’s homemade mandalas; planting seeds; making thank you cards; scrolling through decorative doors in Paris; collecting pussy willows and starting their blossom; watching for Snow Buntings at the Palmer airport; making masks and gowns for medical providers; investigating a recipe for homemade Palmer pop tarts; looking for cute saw-whet owls in the Matanuska River park; hanging blue moose in the windows; taking an occasional shower whether you need one or not.

Finally, the community creatives are keeping busy during this time. They’re painting, composing, singing, knitting, documenting, and photographing this weird but remarkable time in our life. The art on the top of this column is a collection called “Palmer Coronart.”

Stay safe. Do a puzzle. Wash your hands. Be kind. This strange experience is not going to last forever. And we’re all in it, together.

Barbara Hunt is both Palmer writer and artist. She works hard to keep the robust pulse of Palmer, Alaska. She shares the good stuff in the weekly Palmer Alaska Buzz Column in the Mat Su Valley Frontiersman and daily on the Palmer Alaska Buzz Facebook Group. Her “Palmer Buzz Community Calendar” is available at Palmer shops and the Palmer museum. Contact at bhunt@mtaonline.net or text 907.315.3222