Month: June 2013

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Sitka, Alaska, June 2013

Rich McClear

Several of you have sent me emails or even called asking if Suzi and I are ok.  We are more than ok.  When home I don’t write, I am just too busy enjoying the best Sitka has to offer, in both activities and weather.  The Sitka Summer Music Festival, the Sitka Fine Arts Camp, Jazz on the Waterfront, the Alaska Raptor rehabilitation center, walks in the National Park and the Starigavan Estuary, visits to the cathedral (father Michael opened the iconostas so we can see the beautifully carved altar, the glorious change bell ringing at the cathedral, a series of … Continue reading Sitka, Alaska, June 2013

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Sitting by my window, June, 2013

Rich McClear

One of the great joys being home in June is just sitting by my window and watching.  Ships pull into my front yard, fish start jumping and the eagles come in for the kill, fishermen make their evening set outside my window, storms roll in, as does the fog.  In the morning we often hear the fog horns of a ship making for anchor.  This is an active months, the Fine Arts Camp, the Music Festival, boats to ride, hikes to take, meals with friends, but I always leave enough time to sit by my window and watch.  I have … Continue reading Sitting by my window, June, 2013

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Piano Four Hands, Sitka Summer Music Festival, June 2013

Rich McClear

One of the delights of the Sitka in June is the Sitka Summer Music Festival.  We have wonderful performances and we can sit in on some open rehearsals.   Here Natasha Paremski and Navah Perlman Schubert’s Fantasy for Four Hand Piano.  It was fascinating watching them work out body movements so that they don’t collide because they are both very active and expressive players.  They marked up the score as they went and practiced until Natasha cried out “Nailed it!”  And in performance they did. Continue reading Piano Four Hands, Sitka Summer Music Festival, June 2013

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A 460 Year Old Tree Comes Down, June 2013

Rich McClear

The wind brought down the top of an old Sitka Spruce in Sitka National Park.  The Tree was named Methuselah.  It stood when the Jamestown was founded, the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, and when Bering and Cherenkov sailed from Russia to the new world.  The tree was two centuries old when our nation declared independence.   It was two and a half centuries old when Baranof fought the battle of Sitka with the Tlingit near where the tree stood.   Because of the danger the tree posed the National Park Service cut the rest of it down.  An old friend is … Continue reading A 460 Year Old Tree Comes Down, June 2013

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St. Michael’s Cathedral, Sitka, Alaska, June 2013

Rich McClear

At noontime we were heading for an organ recital at the Lutheran Church.  We were stopped in our tracks when the bell tower of St. Michael’s erupted in glorious change bell ringing.  I had not heard the bells in years, mostly because we have been out of Sitka for years.  The Lutherans had to wait while we enjoyed the joyous sound.  We arrived at the recital late.  After the recital we noticed a sign on St. Michael’s Cathedral saying that for the first time we could see the altar.  Each time in the past when I had been in the … Continue reading St. Michael’s Cathedral, Sitka, Alaska, June 2013