Homer's Best Bets </MCC HEAD>

Story last updated at 6:51 PM on Thursday, October 15, 2009

Homer's Best Bets

Have you ever flown across the country and looked down on all the little cities and towns passing below your feet? Traffic flows by on highways, smoke drifts up from chimneys and lights shine from homes as hundreds of million Americans going about their daily lives.

Coming down the hill on a mellow fall morning, the Betster had the same thought looking at Homer waking up. Poking through the mist, the airport beacon flashed. The lights of fishing boats dotted Kachemak Bay. In thousands of homes, people woke up, made coffee and got ready to face the world.

Every morning is a miracle of civilization. Power hums through our electrical lines. Water flows out of our faucets. Fuel runs our cars and trucks. People show up at their jobs and do the tasks that keep the world humming along.

Photo by Michael Armstrong

Fog set The sun sets behind a bank of fog covering Kachemak Bay and all but the tip of Augustine Volcano earlier this week.

"The city that works," Homer proclaims as its motto, stealing a line from Chicago (the city, not the musical), but that's a truism most everywhere in the world. We all have our place in the delicate mechanism of humanity. It's not just amazing that the world hums along. It's amazing it doesn't fall apart. Things should fall apart, and sometimes do, but day in and day out, the center holds.

Civilization works not because of a great central authority shouts commands from on high. It works because people catch the fish, herd the cattle, bring in the hay, harvest the potatoes, teach the students, fix the generators and haul away the trash. People keep the world running for the joy of work and the joy of play.

Celebrate your seemingly insignificant role in the cosmos, grasshopper, with the satisfaction of another day's work well done, another day the world kept going. It's been going for thousands of years the way it's always gone: a day at a time. Celebrate a good job done -- hey, maybe with some of these Best Bets:

BEST NEXT STOP SAND POINT BET: Who needs the Alaska Marine Highway when you can row, ski or hike from Seattle to the Aleutians? Learn how Seldovians Bret "Hig" Higman and Erin McKittrick made their 4,000-mile journey when McKittrick talks about and signs her book, "A Long Trek Homer: 4,000 Miles by Boot, Raft and Ski" from 7-8 p.m. today at the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center.

BEST CHOW DOWN BET: Enjoy the beautiful fall colors and a nice ride north -- or across the street if you live there -- to Ninilchik for the Cook Inlet Fisherman's Fund banquet starting at 6 p.m. Friday with a no-host bar at the Inlet View Lodge. There's a salmon and prime rib dinner, door prizes and a raffle, too. Tickets are $25 at the door.

BEST TOFU BET: You might rethink your protein choice after hearing Dana Lyons sing his call for bovine revolution, the hit "Cows With Guns." The singer-songwriter performs at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Friday at the Homer Council on the Arts. He's always a crowd pleaser and a funny guy, too. Tickets are $15 general admission, $12 for HCOA members and seniors and on sale at HCOA or the Homer Bookstore.

BEST HOME PEACE BET: World peace is a great idea and worthy of a Nobel Prize or two, but the real winners are the families who make safe homes for kids and parents. Celebrate "Promoting Peaceful Families" from 1-4 p.m. Saturday at the Homer Council on the Arts. Sponsored by South Peninsula Haven House and part of Domestic Violence Awareness Month, the event includes making family peace flags and music by Vickie Tinker and Suzanne Little.

BEST 50 FOR 49 BET: We're winding down our 50th statehood celebration, but hey, the good time keep rolling. Share memories and memorabilia from 1-4 p.m. Saturday with Statehood Show and Tell at the Pratt Museum. Meet the museum's new collections manager, Pete Lundskow.too.

Homer's Best Bets