(May 20, 2020) At 10 on a Saturday morning folks were lined up two or three deep on the platform above one of two large brown bear habitats at The Fortress of the Bear, a bear rescue center for orphaned … Continue reading Bear Aware Day
The little girl said a prayer over her fish before she released it into the Pacific Ocean. The baby coho, part of the Sitka Sound Science Center Hatchery class of 2023, had begun it two year Odyssey around the Pacific … Continue reading Swim Little Fishies, Swim.
It’s Earth Week. All week Sitka’s kids have been making costumes portraying their “favorite” species to prepare for the Parade of Species. The Parade starts at Totem Square and ends at the Fine Arts Campus with games and face painting. The event is sponsored by Sitka Spruce Tips 4H club, part of University of Alaska Cooperative Extension and run by the Sitka Conservation Society. Sometimes I am not so good at recognizing the species. I suggested that I may post some pictures on iNaturalist, the citizen science app of the National Geographic Society, to see if anyone could identify what … Continue reading Name that Species!
On a beautiful Sunday when our Orthodox neighbors are celebrating Easter Sitkans gathered at the harbor for the annual “Blessing of the Fleet.” A service of thanksgiving, supplication and a memorial for those lost this year. From God comes every … Continue reading Blessing of the Fleet, 2023
Right now it is snowing, but it’s too warm for it to stick. Before that it was rain, hard rain and before that drizzle. It’s overcast with occasional bursts of sun through the clouds. It is 40 degrees but feels … Continue reading Herring Weather
Yesterday was a magic day. Our son, Brian, came to Sitka to visit and Sitka obliged. We were watching Jamestown Bay when a pod of whales exploded from a bubble net. Then there was a beautiful sunset, but the best … Continue reading The Camera You Have With You.
This is the final post in my Sitka Winter series. It is designed to allow me to carry home with me wherever we travel on this next adventure. It is winter shots from all along the 14 miles of Sitka’s … Continue reading Winter Scenes Along the Road
Wintertime Alpenglow is special. Because of the late sunrise (Just before 9 AM) and the early sunset (Just after 3 PM) I am up to see it on both ends. The snow is also further down on the mountains giving … Continue reading Winter Alpenglow
Sitka has many microclimates along its 14-mile road season. Even a few hundred feet of altitude or distance from the ocean makes a difference. And even along the ocean there are differences. As you approach Starrigavan Bay it gets colder, … Continue reading Winter at the End of the Road.
Winter in Sitka is a season the tourists don’t see. They often ask us “What do you do in the winter?” We smile and think about … Continue reading Winter on the Totem Trail
Sometimes I am out and about when the sun sets especially in December when it sets just after 3 PM. Fortunately I have a new iPhone 13 pro so I always have a reasonable camera with me. These are sunset … Continue reading Out and About When The Sun Goes Down.
Suzi and I are skipping the rest of the winter. We’ll attempt to complete the circumnavigation we started in 2020 when our world cruise was interrupted in Australia, and we were sent packing back to Sitka and quarantine and then … Continue reading Winter Sunsets From My Perch
My son, Brian, and I went out Sawmill Creek Road past the old mill site to look at the half mile where a wall of ice sometimes forms. It was not as continuous as it was when Suzi and I … Continue reading Winter Wall 2.0
I’ve played Santa on several occasions; I have the beard and physique to pull it off. While I enjoyed it, I was somewhat put off by the greed displayed by some of the kids who sat on my lap when … Continue reading Claus for the Cause
Sometimes Sitka surprises me, even having lived here for more than 40 years. A week or so ago I was driving and walking along Sawmill Creek Road, beyond the old mill site, across the Sawmill Creek Bridge, heading for Herring … Continue reading Winter Wall
I missed it the last two years. We HAD Whalefest for the last two years, but it was virtual, on zoom. We got great lectures at the science symposium that is always the center of Whalefest, but we missed the … Continue reading Sitka Whalefest. It’s Back!
An Arctic air mass sits over Southeast Alaska. It is cold, colder than usual in November. It is acting like late December or January. If I lived on the inside, closer to the mainland, I could have horrific winds as … Continue reading Whalefest Cruise, 2022.
October 18, Alaska Day, marks the anniversary of the transfer of Alaska’s sovereignty from Russia to America. The problem is that sovereignty was not Russia’s to transfer. The land was owned for thousands of years by indigenous people ranging from … Continue reading Reconciliation Day 2022
The joke in Sitka is that the Russians did not want to spend another rainy October in Sitka so sold it to the Americans and pulled out on October 18, 1867. That’s why we celebrate Alaska Day. Of course, the … Continue reading Alaska Day Parade 2022 (more pics)
Halloween comes twice for kids in Sitka. The preview is on Alaska Day. Kids line the parade route with their sacks open, ready to catch candy thrown by the different marching groups. Sometimes the candy catch can seem a bit … Continue reading Halloween in Disguise (Alaska Day, 2022)
Does anyone know how bagpipes became an integral part of Sitka’s Alaska Day celebration? I don’t, but my first Alaska Day in Sitka featured bagpipes from firefighters somewhere in Washington State. Currently it is the Seattle Firefighters who come to … Continue reading Bagpipes and Cool Patches
October is a good month to leave Southeast Alaska. It rains all the time, at least it used to. The last couple of years we have had some surprisingly good weather in October, like this year. But the joke is … Continue reading Waiting For Alaska Day
I have never had a vacation where I could look out from my cabin and see my house across the bay. But that’s what happened this weekend. Living at my house is already kind of like being on vacation. My … Continue reading A Vacation in Plain Sight
Yesterday I went to Silver Bay and saw some change in color of the ground cover and the fireweed in it’s final burst of rebirth. (see the post before this one.) I thought that if I went up to the … Continue reading Looking for Fall