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
Today Jamestown Bay was fogbound for most of the day as was most of Sitka to the seaward. I got in the car and drove into Silver Bay, a long fjord that cuts into the island’s mountains. When I got … Continue reading Fogbound Seaward but in Silver Bay…
It wasn’t raining. In mid August that’s a good thing if you are going out on a wildlife cruise. The last week has had the feeling of autumn, as the fireweed tops out and the leaves on the ground bush … Continue reading Late Summer Break
August 9, 2022 Yesterday and today are big cruise ship days in Sitka. When more than 5,000 visitors are scheduled, the city closes Lincoln St. to cars and trucks and opens it for tourists. At the beginning of the season, … Continue reading Big Ship Day!
The aurora started on April 8, a green glow behind the clouds. On April 9 we had a full blown Magnetic Storm firing solar particles into the atmosphere and creating a beautiful Aurora. Continue reading Magnetic Storm Warnings
The “Blessing of the Fleet” is one of those small town Sitka rituals that mark our seasons. It is on Palm Sunday, a time to stop and remember all of those who our community has lost during the past year, … Continue reading Blessing of the Fleet, 2022
Last night we had a magnetic storm, that triggered a major aurora that danced for more than 5 hours. I watched better than half of it, starting at about 9:30. Often the aurora were in constant motion, flashing not only … Continue reading Is the Aurora Plural or are they Singular?
After a pandemic induced hiatus Alaska Day returned, in limited form, to Sitka. Alaska Day Commemorates the day that the Russian Flag was lowered, and the American Flag raised over Castle Hill (Noow Tlein in Tlingit) and the United States … Continue reading Alaska Day, 2021
Sunday, October 17, folks gathered on Noow Tlein (Castle Hill) to commemorate Reconciliation Day. Reconciliation Day is an attempt to recast Alaska Day. They gathered a day early because on Alaska Day, October 18, the hill was filled with military … Continue reading Reconciliation Day, 2021
Our rainforest is not where you would normally go to see fall colors. We are not New England or the Blue Ridge. Naturally most of the color we see is the alpine tundra, rust and yellow on the mountains. But … Continue reading Southeast Color
Autumn is Southeast is normally a miserable time. Statistically it rains 29 out of 31 days in October. It’s the beginning of stormy season. On October 1 we clocked 75 mile an hour winds at Sitka airport and about 2 … Continue reading Autumn in Southeast (2021)
This is the hardest post to write. I mentioned COVID fogged brain in my last post. I missed the final dinner, although they brought a delicious Beef Wellington to my stateroom. I also missed the final slide show and farewell … Continue reading The COVID Coda
After leaving Kake we headed home toward Sitka. We turned from Fredrick Sound into Chatham Strait and then into Peril Strait. Peril Strait was not named for any navigational hazard but because it is where many people died of paralytic … Continue reading A Coda With Whales.
Raven Radio’s first remote transmitter was in Kake, and it had been several years since I had visited the town. We listened to a talk by Native carver Michael Jackson and stories by 88-year-old elder Marvin Kadake, a proud Korean … Continue reading Tall Tales and a Taller Totem
In Petersburg the sun came out just before we sailed out of the harbor and that gives me the excuse for another post, showing the final few minutes in Petersburg and the sunny sail out. As we sailed into Fredrick … Continue reading Petersburg to Thomas Bay.