Dressing for Cold and a Little Luxury

11 February 2012
5:01 PM

Sunrise at	9:04 AM	in direction	123°	East-southeast
Sunset at	5:07 PM	in direction	238°	West-southwest

Duration of day: 8 hours, 2 minutes (6 minutes, 49 seconds longer than yesterday)

As an aside .. Today is the first day of 2012 where we have had over 8 hours sun above the horizon daylight.  As I posted before, 7 hours is my marker for the dark time.  Anything less than 7 means deep winter to me - and that is roughly from the early November to the beginning of February.

Have you ever watched the Deadliest Catch about Alaskan lobster and crab fisherman?  One photo of the actors sticks in my head.  The man looked straight into the camera, hands in the the pockets of his sweatshirt, hood pulled up over a baseball cap.  The hood is the Alaskan trademark.  To block cold from your neck, the part of body where you can gain or lose heat the fastest, provides comfort in three seasons out of 4 and sometimes the 4th as well.

In deep cold, you will find hoods up under which stylish or utilitarian knit hats are evident.  The style of boot needed in deep cold changes as well and Alaskan residents may have three to four different weights of winter boots.  I have three - Wool Felt Lobbens for most weather conditions, Merril boots for temperatures to -30F when walking, and Sorels for standing in cold weather or temperatures colder than -30F.  A favorite are the military style "bunny" boot.  As ugly as you could every hope for, they are inexpensive and with changeable wool felt liners, very effective in extreme temperatures.

Settling this region was made possible by the sewing needle.  You might not have thought of that, but the needle meant that native populations could sew close fitting garments from the skins of the animals harvested.  One garment, the Athabascan Dance Coast, consists of a knee length coat with flared skirt at the bottom.  Dee Dee Jonorow prefers that style over other mushing wear and I show her panache, combined with practicality below.

Coat, hood, knit hat, cold weather boots, over pants

Definitions of style, beauty and sex appeal are different here in the Interior.  I was thinking about this today because my daughter, good child that she is, bought me a gift certificate for a pedicure for my birthday.  I have had two pedicures in my life, both in Fairbanks.  I have not had time to research this to be sure, but it seems to me, per capita, Fairbanks has more spas for nail care and foot care than any other place I've been.  I know of five places and there maybe more.  In comparision, I don't remember any in Evergreen and a quick search online revealed one, but in a location where there were not spa services when I left.

There is still a practical northern twist to seeking out this luxury.  As I looked at the women coming and going from the spa today, I saw recently manicured hands covered by gloves, recent coiffures covered by hats or hoods and recently pedicured feet slipped into warm boots.  Basic attire was consistently, parkas, jeans and boots.  None of us were bundled up as we were in January because the weather is warm (@ 27F), but that didn't change the practical nature of Interior women visiting the salon today.  The residents of Fairbanks are among the least pretentious people I know - what you see is what you get and I find it touchingly symbolic that women take outward forms of luxury and without concern, hide them under heavy coats, thick boots, and hats.

It's what's inside that counts.