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

The 18th Annual Whale Fest is going on right now in Sitka with science, art, food, music and whale watching.  On this Saturday’s whale watch we found three groups of whales while we rocked and rolled in a storm surge. … Continue reading Whales, Rainbows and Sucker Holes, Sitka Whale Fest 2014 Whalewatch

To most Americans Guy Fawkes is the hero of the graphic comic and film “V for Vendetta,” represented by a smiling mask with upturned moustaches.  But in England he is the arch traitor.  In 1605 he was caught under the … Continue reading Remember, Remember ! Sitka Style

There is more to Alaska Day than the parade.  Here are pictures from the Fire Hall Open House, the Transfer Re-enactment, the Coast Guard rescue swimmer demonstration, the Russian Bishop’s House Tea and some other scenes from “Our Day.” Continue reading Alaska Day 2014

Alaska Day is our day.  Sitka goes all out because this is where it happened on October 18, 1867, when Alaska moved from Russia to the US, from one side of the dateline to the other, and from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.  The forecast was for high wind and lots of rain.  The rain held off until after the parade and the lowering of the Russian and raising of the American flag on Castle Hill.  Then it came, and let it come. Sitka loves its holiday.  My day started with, I think, the best loved tradition of the … Continue reading Alaska Day Parade 2014

(*With credit to Leandra Baker for that parody of “Autumn in New York.”) Today after I got off the air it was nice so I grabbed a lunch and went to the top of Harbor Mountain.  I watched the mist form over the sound and, just as I started to eat, a gentle rain began to fall.   By the time I got off the mountain it was mostly sunny again with no rain.  Someone posted on Facebook that Southeast Alaska didn’t have fall colors.  It’s not New England or Minnesota’s St. Croix Valley but the combination of Alpine tundra … Continue reading Autumn in Southeast “Is often mingled with rain.”*

Three weeks ago we flew out of Sitka on our way to New Jersey to visit family and attend my 50th High School Reunion.  It was the tail end of summer.   Today I see snow on Mt. Edgecumbe.  Three weeks ago the weather in Sitka was fine.  We took off toward the Northwest heading into more good weather, did a 180 over Sitka Sound past Edgecumbe and headed Southeast and into a wall of overcast. Continue reading Flying out of Sitka, September, 2014

Anila Mitri in Albania and I had a Facebook conversation about totem poles.  I tried to explain that poles are not items of worship but are memorials to people, tell a story or a history.  I have been waiting for a fairly good day to get to Halibut Point State Recreation Area where a memorial pole to Japanese Wildlife photographer Michio Hoshino has been raised. Michio Hoshino’s memorial totem pole sits across from Magic Island.  It honors Michio Hoshino, a Japanese photographer who was killed by a bear in Kamchatka, Russia.  Master carver Tommy Joseph carved the pole.  It was … Continue reading Michio Hoshino Memorial Totem Pole, Sitka, Alaska

Earlier this summer I posted several pictures of totem poles from Sitka National Historic Park (Totem Park.)  This prompted several comments from friends abroad.  Questions of where the poles came from, how old they where, and questions about their role in religion. The original poles were gathered in the park after the 1906 St. Louis World’s Fair.   (The meet me in St. Louis, Louis fair).  As they aged they decayed, and would have fallen back to the earth (as they are meant to) but in this park they were preserved, some older poles are on display in the visitor’s center.  … Continue reading Sitka’s Totem Walk

This has been a strange summer.  Perhaps stranger than last summer, which was dry with record heat.  This summer has been warmer than usual, and with both more sunny days and more rainfall than normal.  A lot more rain, record … Continue reading Rain Forest Walks, Sitka, Alaska

Each year salmon return in the millions to rivers and streams in Alaska.  In a way it is, like the wildebeest migration in Africa, a great biological machine that moves nutrients around the ocean and returns to enrich the streams … Continue reading Salmon Run, 2014

I posted the following on Facebook last week. Suzi and I went out to take some pictures of The Michio Memorial Totem Pole. It is a pole dedicated to a Japanese wildlife photographer killed by a bear. On our way, … Continue reading Bear Cub Fishing

The Sitka Conservation Society along with Allen Marine sponsored an evening cruise on Sitka Sound.  We had a discussion of Salmon and got to watch the dramatic change in weather as fine weather moved in from the sea, piling up … Continue reading August 19th An Evening on Sitka Sound

Yesterday morning I woke to sunny skies despite predictions from the night before.  I could see whales spouting in Eastern Channel.  This looked like a good day for an Allen Marine wildlife cruise.   Although the weather was fine I checked my weather app and found a weather advisory predicting unusually heavy rain and two storm fronts bearing down on Northern Southeast Alaska.  I looked at the radar and decided that, although it was sunny and warm I would take my Gor Tex.  It was a good decision.  We started out in shirt sleeves enjoying the sun and watched as the front … Continue reading August 16, 2014, A Pretty Good Day.

As part of the Sitka Seafood Festival we enjoyed athletes demonstrating feats of strength, including throwing telephone poles (cabers), weights (both for height and distance) and bales of hay.  I missed the Crab Pot Toss. Continue reading Sitka Highland/Island Games

The Sitka Seafood Festival is probably the last thing you would expect me to attend given the strong allergic reaction I get from eating almost anything that comes from the sea.   True, I give the seafood banquet, prepared by visiting celebrity chefs, a pass;  but I certainly enjoy the other activities.  The Seafood Festival happens largely on the Sitka Fine Arts Campus.  Chuck Bovee, who worked for Sheldon Jackson College for years, said it’s been a long time since he’s seen so many people on the campus, it felt good.  It does feel good.  For several years the abandoned … Continue reading Sitka Seafood Featival

The last regular season concert of the Sitka Summer Music Festival is this evening.  It has been a glorious month of music.  The Festival has concerts or events 6 days a week, evening concerts, brown bag lunches, cafe concerts, music based movie nights, a kid’s concert, a garden party concert and a concert on a boat floating in Krestof Sound.   About half the events are free.  The concerts are a delight, with four centuries of chamber music performed on instruments that span five centuries.  June is a month where I know I am exactly where I should be. Thanks to … Continue reading The Sitka Summer Music Festival Ends Today.

When the rain came back earlier this week I had the feeling of fall coming on.  It has been beautiful the last two months, with our long northern days and lots of good weather.  We have been so blessed with weather that I can’t let myself believe that it isn’t autumn already.  But, of course, we are just beginning summer.  A friend told me we are fortunate to live in Sitka because when something normal happens, that is normal for other people, a blue sky, it is a cause of celebration in Sitka.   We have had two months of celebration.  … Continue reading An Early Summer in Sitka