Author: Rich McClear

AlaskaLeave a comment

Iditarod ! Can Spring be far off?

Rich McClear

When Alaska sled dog racers boot up they are not starting up a computer.  They are putting protective booties on their dogs to protect their feet.  This week is the start of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.  The actual race starts in Willow, but on the first Saturday of March the ceremonial start of the race takes over Anchorage’s 4th Avenue amid ceremony and celebration.  IditaRiders win auction bids to ride in the basket of a sled for the first 11 miles of the trail with a musher.  The auction helps support the race. The first 11 miles don’t count … Continue reading Iditarod ! Can Spring be far off?

South Central AlaskaLeave a comment

Rondy Snow Sculptures, 2014

Rich McClear

In January it is ice carving, February it’s snow sculptures.  The Fur Rondy snow carving competition starts with huge blocks of concrete colored snow.  As the sculptors work the snow seems to become whiter, although the emerging sunlight may help.  My favorite was “Arctic Bowling” although I rather like the homey cabin.  Minions seemed a favorite among some of the folks.  KNBA has a radio, when you go around back you see tubes.  More than one kid asked his parent “what are those things?”  They all knew what the London Police Call Box meant. Continue reading Rondy Snow Sculptures, 2014

South Central AlaskaLeave a comment

They Put the Fur into Fur Rondy.

Rich McClear

The Anchorage Fur Rendezvous (Rondy) is a festival designed to drive PETA mad.  There is the running of the reindeer, safer than running with the bulls. There are horse drawn carriages.  They’re bad, just ask New York’s new mayor.  There is a fur auction, “Where it all began” according to the banner over the auction stage.  Trappers, many of them kids, have their caches auctioned off.  A red tagged fur was trapped by someone under 15 earning pocket money or funds for school.  Along the street you can buy fur items, hats, coats, stoles, or pelts. The streets are lined … Continue reading They Put the Fur into Fur Rondy.

South Central AlaskaLeave a comment

Anchorage Fur Rondy Sled Dog Races.

Rich McClear

Suzi and I started going to sled dog races in the early ‘70s when we covered the All American Champion Sled Dog Race in Ely, MN for NPR.  Alaska’s George Attla, the Husila Hustler, finished second.  Other sprint race greats like Dr. Roland Lombard from Massachusetts met in Ely for that race.  In the late ‘70s we covered the Northern Minnesota sled dog circuit for KAXE and I actually got to run George Hewitt’s team in a short race.  But everyone in Minnesota tipped their hats to the granddaddy of all sprint races, the North American Championship Race, at the … Continue reading Anchorage Fur Rondy Sled Dog Races.

SitkaLeave a comment

Two Mornings On Jamestown Bay

Rich McClear

Saturday night we had a power failure.  Snow brought down a tree onto a power line between Blue Lake and Green Lake.  Suzi had just pulled dinner out of the over so we had a candle light dinner.  And just in case the power didn’t come back we ate all the ice cream. The view of the snow along Jamestown on Sunday Morning made the power outage worth it.  (Although I am sure the Sitka Electrical Department may disagree.)  This morning we had a beautiful moon set over Jamestown Bay and Mt. Edgecumbe after another night of fresh snow.  By … Continue reading Two Mornings On Jamestown Bay

SitkaLeave a comment

Chinese Lantern Festival, Sitka Style

Rich McClear

This is the first full moon of the Chinese New Year, the year of the Horse.  That means it’s the Lantern festival.  Sitka celebrated in style with a parade down Lincoln Street.  The Dragon Dancers formed up under the totem pole and danced past the Russian Orthodox Church.  The Celebration included performances by groups like the Celtic Kittens dancers.  Hank, our local bluesman, learned a song in Chinese and sang it.  Mt. Edgecumbe High School had its own dragon dance and students in the Chinese language program sang Chinese songs.   A Mt. Edgecumbe student in a kilt sang Auld Lange … Continue reading Chinese Lantern Festival, Sitka Style

GeorgiaLeave a comment

Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi

Rich McClear

I’m back in Sitka now but on my last Saturday in Tbilisi I went to my favorite gallery to look at some gorgeous textile art on UN Circle (Known locally as Round Square) and walked back to the hotel for a couple of miles, mostly along Rustaveli Avenue.  It was a clear, cold day and I took some pictures.  The Cafe Elvis is in the Philharmonic Hall, I like that.   At the end of Rustaveli is Freedom Square with the column with a gold St. George slaying the dragon on top.  The Art Nouveau bank building is around the … Continue reading Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi

GeorgiaLeave a comment

Tbilisi Through My Window

Rich McClear

IREX is kind enough to put me up at the Marriott Courtyard Hotel on Freedom Square.  The front rooms have a wonderful view.   I get to watch the traffic circling around and around the monument in an automotive ballet of near misses and skillful maneuvers.   The monument had the cable skeleton of a Christmas Tree.  The lights were gone but the ice frosted the cables so they formed a delicate spiderweb around St. George’s column.  I got to watch the workers climb on that latticework to take it down once the ice melted.  I was able to watch … Continue reading Tbilisi Through My Window

GeorgiaLeave a comment

Tbilisi Balconies

Rich McClear

Tbilisi has had a lot of influences being the crossroads that it is, between Black and Caspian Seas, between Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Some people say the balconies come from the Arabs, but they look almost Spanish (which, thinking about it, could come from the Arabs.)   Some of these are wooden balconies from the Old City.  When I originally posted wrought iron balcony pictures on Facebook my colleague Tina took me to task saying Tbilisi was famous for its wooden balconies.  She is right, but I also enjoy the hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of the wrought iron … Continue reading Tbilisi Balconies

Winds of ChangeLeave a comment

Pete

Rich McClear

One of the problems with the lifestyle I have chosen is that I don’t always have access to a radio station when I need one.  When I heard that Pete Seeger had passed on I really felt a need to be on the air, to talk about Pete, to play his music, to connect with my “tribe” of folkies and activists.  Facebook and this blog will have to do. The first time I interviewed Pete Seeger was in May, 1972 after a concert at Mankato State University. I remember it because it was the day Nixon announced we were mining … Continue reading Pete

Georgia1 Comment

Frontline, Tbilisi

Rich McClear

Every city has its Journalist hangout.  In Tirana it was Fideli’s, a strange cross in décor and ambiance between Beethoven’s opera and Fidel Castro.  There were few working landlines in Tirana at the time, and no mobile phones.  If I wanted to meet a journalist I always went to Fideli’s and usually would find him or her.  My office, effectively, was there.  That bar is long gone, cleaned up when Mayor Edi Rama reclaimed Tirana’s parks.  In Prishtina it was Tricky Dick’s, named after Holbrooke not Nixon, although there is a famous autographed picture of Dick Holbrooke being led into … Continue reading Frontline, Tbilisi

Germany1 Comment

Weihenstephan Abbey, the oldest brewery in the world

Rich McClear

After a good night’s sleep in Freising, Germany (on my way to Tbilisi) fueled with two double espressos, I took off to see the oldest brewery in the world, Weihenstephan.  This brewery has been in continuous operation since 1040.  People have been brewing beer a lot longer than a thousand years and there is evidence of brewing at this site since the mid-700s, however the monks in this monastery kept records of their beer going back to 1040.  In 1802 the Bavarian Kingdom nationalized the monastery (before Marx had the idea) and it is now part of Bayerische Stattsbraueri. I … Continue reading Weihenstephan Abbey, the oldest brewery in the world

FranceLeave a comment

Strasbourg

Rich McClear

Strasbourg is one of the “Capitals” of Europe, every year the European Parliament packs up from Brussels and heads for Strasbourg, which is also the home of the European Court of Human Rights.  I suppose it is appropriate, being on the border between France and Germany, and having changed hands several times in the past two centuries.  We visited in 2001.  I found these slides going through my archives.   Continue reading Strasbourg

CanadaLeave a comment

Breakfast in a Yukon Roadhouse on the Alaska Highway

Rich McClear

Driving south on the Alaska Highway we stayed in a Yukon roadhouse on Destruction Bay that looks Northeast across the frozen Kluane Lake.  We breakfasted with a collection of travelers while we waited for it to get light.  One was a guy from Kenai who drives a big rig up the Dalton Highway to the North Slope, the type of guy featured on “Ice Road Truckers.”  At one point he said “I don’t know why I do this sh*t.” “Money.” Suzi replied. “Yeah, but why do they need two of this type of truck in Alpine?” He was driving a … Continue reading Breakfast in a Yukon Roadhouse on the Alaska Highway