The glacier is singing, at least if you like modern music. Alaska composer John Luther Adams won the Pulitzer Prize for Music with his symphonic composition “Become Ocean” about glaciers becoming part of the sea. It has been performed by … Continue reading The Hubbard Glacier Speaks for Itself. (Become Ocean.)
September 6, 2024, Sailing the Lynn Canal Haines is near the top of the Lyn Canal, a deep fjord created along a fault line. Deep both in depth below sea level and because it cuts deeply into the continent. Haines … Continue reading An Alaskan Ferry Tale
September 6, 2024 Some of our cruise mates balked at the $25 admission to the American Bald Eagle Foundation Natural History Museum and Raptor Center in Haines. The Sitka Raptor Center, which is larger and has more birds, is only … Continue reading Eagle Intake
September 5, 2024. We know most people in Sitka, in the winter. But in the summer a whole new crop of newbies arrive in town. I don’t know as many of them. As we walk from Westerdam to the Sitka … Continue reading Our Hailing Port
On Thursday I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with Rotarian Timothy Massawe from the Moshi Rotary Club in Tanzania. Our club is working with his to support a group of girls attending school. We do regular zooms with … Continue reading Sitka Shows Off.
For the last several decades it has been a little over 14 miles from one end of Sitka’s road system to the other. Over the July 4th weekend that became a little under 16 miles as the first section of … Continue reading Now it’s 16 Miles!
(July 2, 2024, 248 years later.) On an unseasonably cool July 2, 1776, Richard Henry Lee moved a resolution, before the second Continental Congress, declaring independence for the 13 American colonies. To get unanimous agreement Congress made changes during the … Continue reading 248 Years Ago
As Sitka waited for the dark, (as dark as it ever gets in May) we watched our glorious blue skies fade to dusk and clouds began to form. The forecast was for cloudy skies after sunset. Sunset is just after … Continue reading A Global Moment of Wonder
It used to be a regular event around Eastertide. But Sitka hasn’t seen it since 2019, the annual eagle release at the Alaska Raptor Center. The Center takes in injured raptors, nurses to health those it can, and releases them … Continue reading Fly Free!
Raven Radio is about to discover the meaning of Life, the Universe and Everything tomorrow Feb 19, (with apologies to Douglas Adams and Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe) when it turns 42. At just before 5 PM, Pacific Time, on … Continue reading “42”
…And a look at today. I’ve always loved Independence Day. It and Christmas are my two favorites. I love the sense of community that both holidays engender. At Christmas it’s community parties, singing, decorations and a feeling of celebration. The … Continue reading Flashback Fourth…
When some folks first hear that Sitka has a farmer’s market they say, “I didn’t know Sitka had any farms.” Don’t expect to see big John Deere Tractors or long rows of soybeans in Sitka, but, historically, Sitka has had … Continue reading A Famers Market in Sitka?
(July 2, 2023, 127 years later.) On an unseasonably cool July 2, 1776, Richard Henry Lee moved a resolution, before the second Continental Congress, declaring independence for the 13 American colonies. To get unanimous agreement Congress made changes during the … Continue reading Almost Independence Day
My music education was largely intellectual. I learned about scales, keys, meter, time signatures, tonics, and modes. It was almost like learning mathematics. I was taught that listening, particularly to classical music, was an exercise in intellect. But that’s not … Continue reading It’s The Emotion
(June 30, 2023) OK, I was feeling a little down. It had been raining most of the day, which is not unusual for Southeast Alaska, it was a Friday night in June and there was no music festival concert. The … Continue reading Surprise!
The first program Raven Radio produced was for the Sitka Fine Arts Camp. We produced it before Raven was even on the air. Suzi, the kids, and I moved to Sitka from Juneau in the fall of 1980 to help … Continue reading Jazz on the Waterfront
(June 19, 2023) “My idea is that there is music in the air, music all around us; the world is full of it, and you simply take as much as you require.” — Edward Elgar. Suzi and I were hiking … Continue reading Music on the Mountain
Okay, I admit it. I almost missed it. Today started out fairly nice with rain in the forecast for the early afternoon. Suzi and I had Saturday Breakfast at the Nugget. I dropped her off at home and headed out … Continue reading Sitka Pride Post
Of course, we would have loved to finish the 2023 Grand World Voyage and not disembarked in Mauritius for medical reasons. We would have loved, to have visited the African ports, the Spanish and Portuguese Atlantic Islands and cruised Europe. … Continue reading OK, This is Really the Final Cruise Coda.
(June 17, 2023) OK, they are plastic, and they are not the ducks we’ve been picking up off the beach after a container full of them fell off a ship and broke open years ago. They are ducks used in … Continue reading Counting Rubber Duckies.
I must be getting older. It is mid-June, and I am exhausted. May and June have always been the big social season in Sitka with the Music Festival, Art Shares from the Fine Arts Camp, wildlife cruises and all sorts … Continue reading Music in the Mist.
I am not sure why we need a special Kids’ Fishing Day in Sitka. This year in the Sitka Salmon Derby kids, not adults, walked off with the big prizes. A 9-year-old won $10,000 for the biggest fish, an 11-year-old … Continue reading Fishing Farm League
You are a new naturalist on an Alaskan excursion boat. You just came up from Outside, you’ve narrated a few wildlife tours and are beginning to feel a little confident and then… You are on a wildlife tour filled with … Continue reading Critters.
No, they performed no music written by Albanians and, as far as I know, there will be no Albanian musicians at the Sitka Music Festival but at the festival’s family concert my thoughts drifted to Albania. We watched the concert … Continue reading Dreaming of Albania at the Sitka Music Festival.