January 6, 2015, Isla Providencia, Columbia (New Providence Island) Isla Providencia (New Providence in English) was settled by English Puritans in the early 1600s. They made their living by trading slaves and tobacco, and because of their position off the … Continue reading Pirates and Puritans
January 5, 2015 Aboard the MV Prinsendam. Dear Friends, I had expected to find lots of folks on the “trip of a lifetime.” That doesn’t seem to be the case. At our table there’s a couple on their 80th cruise. … Continue reading Getting Our Sea Legs
January 1-3, 2013, Sitka, Seattle and Ft. Lauderdale Dear Friends, I’m starting the adventure around South America sick. We had Liam with us for Christmas and, like every little kid in a daycare, he brings home an assortment of bugs, … Continue reading Anticipation
The Earlier Post was from the whale watch on the Esther G. These pics are from Sitka Sound taken both from the Esther G, our deck … Continue reading December 28, 2014, Sitka catches a break.
On Sunday we went out on a whale watch with Davey Lubin on the Esther G Sea Taxi. For more pictures from the Esther G and other places around Sitka Sound, Click here. Continue reading Winter Whale Watch, Dec 28, 2014
The sun finally broke through for a nice mid winter Sea-totem walk through the rain forest. Continue reading A Mid-Winter Sea Walk and Totem Walk
To Northerners like me the Solstice is an essential holiday. For me Solstice marks the New Year more than January 1. I have rituals to mark the turning of the season. This year it was a bonfire, a swim in … Continue reading Here Comes the Sun
A reporter should not become involved with his story. That’s what they teach at journalism school. But sometimes a reporter needs to experience what he is reporting on in order to get a real feel for the story. That’s what … Continue reading Sitka Polar Dip, The News Behind the News.
Sitka’s Raptor Rehabilitation Center; where you can have three different eagles and one snowy owl sit for portraits. Continue reading Eagles Sitting for Portraits
Click 2014 Christmas Letter for internet compressed for the McClear 2014 Christmas Letter. (Once you click on it another page will come up and you will need to click on it again to download a PDF of letter which is one page … Continue reading 2014 McClear Family Christmas Letter
The Sitka Artisan’s Market & Holiday Craft Party lives in the spirit of the best European Christmas Markets. Allen Hall, on the Sheldon Jackson Campus, has historically been a meeting place for Sitkans. Over the last few years Sitkans volunteered … Continue reading Sitka Artisans’ Market
The Lille Christmas Market is the first one I have attended in France. Lille bills itself as the most Flemish town in France. It’s thoroughly French in language but the architecture is more Flemish-Dutch. It is the heart of French Flanders … Continue reading Lille, France Christmas Market
Hasselt “Winterland” Market is, perhaps the most commercial Christmas market we have encountered in Europe. It reminds me of the tables under the grandstand at the Minnesota State Fair. There was a collection of kitchen wares, knives, trinkets, I half … Continue reading Hasselt Winterland, 2014
The last time I was at the Brugge (Bruges) Christmas fair, in 2007, it was a short visit. It was raining and cold. The skating rink in the middle of the main town square was more slush than ice and, … Continue reading Brugge (Bruges) Christmas Market, 2014
Christmas Markets started in Central Europe, Austria and Southern Germany, and have moved up and down the Danube and spread out from that waterway across the continent. London has always had great Christmas decorations and shopping, but the European style … Continue reading Covent Garden, London, 2014
Valkenburg is perhaps the most unique, and possibly the most interesting, Christmas Market in Europe. I have been back to this market in The Netherlands three times now. The first two times with our friends Dave and Carol Lam. (The … Continue reading Valkenburg Christmas Market, 2014
These are two letters from Serbia I wrote about Thanksgiving from 2010 and 2011. 2010 (Suzi is in Egypt, I am in Belgrade, Serbia) Thanksgiving morning was the first cold, clear day of the season. Some of the lights in … Continue reading Thanksgiving in Serbia, 2010 and 2011
1995, Tirana, Albania The Rogner Hotel in Tirana had a big Thanksgiving feed this year. We took our neighbors Vera, Syri and Eda with us. They often express curiosity about this hotel, so we saw our chance. No one understands … Continue reading Thanksgiving in Albania,1995. With Bob Dylan
We have been through Lille before, many times on the train from London to Brussels, but have never seen more than the railway station. This time we went with our friend Dave Lam and his daughter Rachel to visit the … Continue reading Lille “The Most Flemish Town in France”
Hasselt is the chief town of the Belgian commune of Limburg. It is near the Dutch border and there is a similarly named province in the Netherlands. Suzi and I visited Hasselt after Carol Lam’s Funeral with Dave, and their … Continue reading Hasselt, Belgium and the Begijn Movement.
When the St. Pancras railway station opened in 1868 its wrought iron and glass train shed, designed by Henry Barlow, was the largest single structure roof in the world. It was 689 feet long, 240 feet wide and 100 feet … Continue reading St. Pancras International Railway Station
I woke up at the St. Pancras Hotel in London this morning at 5 AM with a great sense of quiet and thankfulness. Normally when I wake up early it is because of some imagined fear or excitement for the day ahead. This was different, a sense of calmness kept me awake. It had been a difficult week at the funeral of a dear friend. We had a layover in London on the way home and opted to go into town rather than stay at the airport. Last night we visited with a friend, strolled through Covent Garden, already festooned … Continue reading Thoughts on the way home.
I follow the University of Alaska Aurora Website that shows images of where the Aurora is expected in the next hour. A couple of days ago I read about a magnetic storm heading our way. I kept my eye on the … Continue reading Old Sitka, November 15, 3 AM, 24 Degrees
The Sitka Whale Fest, sponsored by the Sitka Sound Science Center, is a multidisciplinary feast. It mixes a science symposium with an arts fair, contests of ocean knowledge, music and dance performances, poetry, eating, and getting out on the water … Continue reading Sitka Whale Fest 2014