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
Saturday night we had a power failure. Snow brought down a tree onto a power line between Blue Lake and Green Lake. Suzi had just pulled dinner out of the over so we had a candle light dinner. And just in case the power didn’t come back we ate all the ice cream. The view of the snow along Jamestown on Sunday Morning made the power outage worth it. (Although I am sure the Sitka Electrical Department may disagree.) This morning we had a beautiful moon set over Jamestown Bay and Mt. Edgecumbe after another night of fresh snow. By … Continue reading Two Mornings On Jamestown Bay
This is the first full moon of the Chinese New Year, the year of the Horse. That means it’s the Lantern festival. Sitka celebrated in style with a parade down Lincoln Street. The Dragon Dancers formed up under the totem pole and danced past the Russian Orthodox Church. The Celebration included performances by groups like the Celtic Kittens dancers. Hank, our local bluesman, learned a song in Chinese and sang it. Mt. Edgecumbe High School had its own dragon dance and students in the Chinese language program sang Chinese songs. A Mt. Edgecumbe student in a kilt sang Auld Lange … Continue reading Chinese Lantern Festival, Sitka Style
On Saturday about 100 Sitkans took a swim in the Sitka Channel without wet suits, dry suits, or survival suits, although one was person in a Santa suit. The fire department had pressure hosed the ramp to get rid of barnacles. Apparently cut feet are the biggest medical danger in this operation, and there were rescue divers off shore. I was covering the event for Raven Radio and before the event I asked the swimmers one simple question “Why?” Here is what I got: “Why Not?” — “We’ll be leaving this summer so I figured this is our last Alaska … Continue reading Sitka Polar Dip
For years Sitka had a boat parade. Several years ago, after the mill closed, the boat parade ended. It is expensive to run boats up and down the channel while powering lights with a generator. The boat parade was replaced … Continue reading 2013 Christmas in Sitka, including the return of the Boat Parade!
It’s the turning of the season, Winter Solstice. Living in the North it really is midwinter, and while we have a lot of cold ahead the returning sun presents the promise of spring. Because we are closest to the sun … Continue reading Winter Solstice, Sitka, Dec 21, 2013
The holiday season has come to Sitka. The city’s decorations went up just before Thanksgiving (allowing the electrical crews to have some time off on Friday). I did the Good Day Radio Show on Thanksgiving Morning and enjoyed seeing the … Continue reading Sitka’s Holiday Market, 2013.
On Thursday we had 1.7 inches of rain, it was dark and wet. I had the feeling that the season had changed. We were finally going to get payback for our beautiful summer and fall. On Friday I woke up to blue skies and sunrise alpenglow on Mt. Edgecumbe. This morning (Saturday) I woke up to — snow. Friday was a good day for walking. I took my usual turn through the National Park and then walked Sitka’s new Sea Walk. The Sea Walk opened on Alaska Day. I have never driven by without seeing people enjoying the walk and … Continue reading Sitka Sea Walk
The highlight of the 17th Sitka WhaleFest was whale watching. November is when Humpback Whales gather in Sitka Sound to bulk up, either before they make their swim to Hawaii to mate or give birth, or as a prelude to … Continue reading Sitka WhaleFest 2013, The Whale Watch Cruise
I’ve never before been to Sitka’s WhaleFest, even though it has been run by old friends. I have missed 16 of them. I’ve always been out on assignment in early November and never thought to rearrange my schedule to be … Continue reading Sitka WhaleFest, 2013.
This has been a wonderful weekend in Sitka. While we see snow on our mountains all year, those closest to the sea are bare in the summer. We had a lot of rain at sea level during the week; in the mountains it was snow. On Saturday it cleared and the near peaks and our volcano got their white snow caps back. “Termination Dust” is what Alaskans call it, the snow that means summer jobs are over. Some of these are shots taken on the water this weekend on a whale watch sponsored by Sitka WhaleFest (the whales I will … Continue reading Termination Dust, Sitka Alaska, November 2, 2013
Alaska Day in Sitka Alaska Day commemorates the day in 1867 when the United States took possession of Alaska from the Russians. It’s Sitka’s day. Up until that time Sitka ran on the Julian calendar and was west of the International Date Line. Sitka jumped ahead about two weeks in an instant when the American flag hit the top of the pole on Castle Hill. In most Alaska communities Alaska Day is just a substitute for Columbus Day, which is a federal but not a State holiday. In 1980 when I worked at KTOO in Juneau, we did a vox … Continue reading Alaska Day in Sitka, Alaska, 2013
The weather obliged with rain during “Running of the Boots” this morning but the clouds broke and the sun broke through a dramatic sky mid-afternoon. Suzi and I decided to run up to the top of Harbor Mountain for much of the afternoon. The autumn has progressed, the colors are a little more vivid than they were earlier in the week when I posted. Continue reading Harbor Mountain Redux, Sept 2013
Today Sitka celebrated the “End of the Season” with 19th annual “The Running of the Boots.” Why not? San Fermin, Spain has its running of the bulls. We don’t have bulls on our island, or even bull moose, but we … Continue reading Running of the Boots, Sitka, Alaska, Sept, 2013
Our trees do not turn to the colors of the hardwood forests in the East, but alder leaves do turn yellow and the alpine tundra in the mountains above Sitka turns red, gold and brown while the spruce, hemlock and cedar lower on the slopes retain their different shades of green. On Tuesday the skies unexpectedly cleared, the weather bureau was caught off guard, and we had sun through Wednesday afternoon. I got in the jeep and drove 2,000 feet up Harbor Mountain both to watch the new weather front come in from the Gulf of Alaska and walk through … Continue reading Harbor Mountain, Autumn 2013