Dan recruited me to help him with the Alaska Day Roller Derby bout coverage. The Sitka Sound Slayers played the Wrangell Garnet Grit Betties. I got a hand held camera and was sent to the floor to record interviews with … Continue reading Roller Derby !
Last night, for Alaska Day, the Sitka Sound Slayers Roller Derby team had a bout against Wrangell Betties. I was there as a TV cameraman for the local TV station. I enjoyed the roller derby, but what really struck me … Continue reading Aerial Silk, Alaska Day 2014
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
After a 31 year absence, the Carnival came to Sitka over the weekend – not the cruise ship Carnival, but the cover-your-kids-in-cotton-candy carnival. Golden Wheel amusements brought 14 rides, games, funnel cake, and corn dogs. Sitka was ready. KCAW’s Rich McClear sent this audio postcard from the midway. Awesome – This is fun, do it again next year – cool –I haven’t seen a lot of people gathering like this for a long time, very active, good for the community – my kids were born and raised here so they have never been to a carnival before, They’re super excited, … Continue reading The Carnival Comes to Sitka
I started the day telecommuting with places like Tbilisi, Georgia and Washington, DC. (I am, after all, only semi-retired.) Mid-morning there was time for a workout on my recumbent bike while listening to Grace play classic rock on Raven Radio. Suzi, our friend Nan and I, were downtown in time to hear the glorious noontime change bell ringing at St. Michael’s cathedral. Just after noon we took the few steps into the Centennial Building to enjoy a brown bag concert by artists from the Sitka Summer Music Festival — Bach, Chopin and Dohnanyi. The glass wall behind the musicians framed … Continue reading A Day in the Life of a Semi-Retired Sitkan (June 5, 2014).
The Sitka Wearable Art show was a fantastic community event. Artists designed clothing made from discarded or unused stuff found around the house. Some of the costumes were made from empty beer and pop cans, there was a chain mail suit made of pop can pop tops, a suite made of old Kodachrome slides, plastic packing material, magnetic recording tape, spare napkins, cloth remnants, kids’ art taken from the fridge, old movie tickets, orange bait bags, old tire tubes, plastic cutlery, beer bottle tops, tire inner tubes, taco shells, money, unused neckties, and clothes pins. Some of the costumes were … Continue reading Sitka Wearable Art Show
Letter to the editor, To the Editor, Fifteen years ago I led a project to train Roma journalists in Slovakia. My students were honest and hardworking, but a stereotype followed them, limiting their opportunities. The Roma are an ethnic group commonly called Gypsies. My students were constantly confronted with discrimination based on the stereotype “thieving Gypsy.” At the end of a day’s training, we wanted to have a dinner at a local restaurant, but my students were refused entrance. After the training, I had trouble placing my qualified students as interns because of the fear that they would steal. It … Continue reading A Letter to the Editor
Anchorage is surrounded by mountains and Cook Inlet. Denali, the highest peak in North America is visible from many places in Anchorage. Continue reading Winter Anchorage
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?
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