Piano Four Hands, Sitka Summer Music Festival, June 2013
One of the delights of the Sitka in June is the Sitka Summer Music Festival. We have wonderful performances and we can sit in on some open rehearsals. Here Natasha Paremski and Navah Perlman Schubert’s Fantasy for Four Hand Piano. It was fascinating watching them work out body movements so that they don’t collide because they are both very active and expressive players. They marked up the score as they went and practiced until Natasha cried out “Nailed it!” And in performance they did. Continue reading Piano Four Hands, Sitka Summer Music Festival, June 2013
Crusin’ Sitka Sound, June 2013
One of the joys of living in Sitka is getting out on the water. We were out twice in June, once on a cruise sponsored by the Sitka Summer Music Festival, where we listened to Schubert while anchored in a … Continue reading Crusin’ Sitka Sound, June 2013
Eagle Fishing, Series 2, Sitka, June, 2013
Today I watched as an immature bald eagle went fishing in front of my window. You can tell an immature eagle by the fact that its head is not yet white, however, this eagle seems to be ready to mature as its tail feathers are white. Continue reading Eagle Fishing, Series 2, Sitka, June, 2013
A 460 Year Old Tree Comes Down, June 2013
The wind brought down the top of an old Sitka Spruce in Sitka National Park. The Tree was named Methuselah. It stood when the Jamestown was founded, the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, and when Bering and Cherenkov sailed from Russia to the new world. The tree was two centuries old when our nation declared independence. It was two and a half centuries old when Baranof fought the battle of Sitka with the Tlingit near where the tree stood. Because of the danger the tree posed the National Park Service cut the rest of it down. An old friend is … Continue reading A 460 Year Old Tree Comes Down, June 2013
Sitka, Eagles Hunting, June 2003
I took this sequence of pics from my living room deck. It shows two eagles in the hunt, an juvenile who does not yet have the white head and tail, and an adult. But it shows the sequence pretty well, sitting in a tree, flying up for a look, spotting something and the power dive. There is a second series of eagle fishing photos here. Continue reading Sitka, Eagles Hunting, June 2003
St. Michael’s Cathedral, Sitka, Alaska, June 2013
At noontime we were heading for an organ recital at the Lutheran Church. We were stopped in our tracks when the bell tower of St. Michael’s erupted in glorious change bell ringing. I had not heard the bells in years, mostly because we have been out of Sitka for years. The Lutherans had to wait while we enjoyed the joyous sound. We arrived at the recital late. After the recital we noticed a sign on St. Michael’s Cathedral saying that for the first time we could see the altar. Each time in the past when I had been in the … Continue reading St. Michael’s Cathedral, Sitka, Alaska, June 2013
Flying over Sitka, June 10, 2013
June 10, 2013 was a beautiful day and we treated ourselves to a flightseeing tour over our island. Continue reading Flying over Sitka, June 10, 2013
Mtskheta and Jvari Church, Georgia, 2013.
Jvari (Holy Cross) Church is near Tbilisi, about a three hour walk or half hour drive. It looms over Mtskheta. Before Georgia became reasonably prosperous it used to be a full day excursion, now it a common picnic spot for people wanting to get out of town for an hour or two. It is the spot where the King Mirian, who was converted to Christianity by St. Nino and, in turn made Georgian a Christian nation (Georgia was a “Christian” country before Rome) erected a cross to mark his, and his nation’s conversion. The church itself was built to shelter … Continue reading Mtskheta and Jvari Church, Georgia, 2013.
Georgian Road Trip, May, 2013
Georgia has beautiful countryside. In spring rolling green fields lead to the still snowcapped Caucasian Mountains. Flowers and flowering trees are in bloom. Between towns there are citadels and castles in varying degrees of decay and on hilltops monasteries and churches. In contract to the countryside Georgian towns can be less than picturesque, with abandoned Soviet factories, an industrial wasteland, on town outskirts oddly punctuated with massive works of Socialist Realism art, including a huge mural of Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space. Georgian towns, like many former Soviet towns, have utilities above ground, including the pipes … Continue reading Georgian Road Trip, May, 2013
Bagrati Cathedral and Citadel, Kutaisi, Georgia, May 2013
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Georgia, May 2003, Lunch
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Georgia, 2013, Roadside Commerce
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Georgia 2013, Socialist Realism
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Iron and Glass, Flowers and Trains
May 11, 2010 Dear Friends, On Friday afternoons I would go to my grandparents’ flat in Jersey City while my parents had their night out. Grandpa Brew would tell me stories. He was raised in Ireland, ran away to sea … Continue reading Iron and Glass, Flowers and Trains
Keukenhof Tulip Fields, Netherlands
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Keukenhof Gardens, The Netherlands
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Royal Gardens, Laeken, Belgium
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Royal Congo Greenhouse, Laeken, Belgium
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Bluebells of Belgium, Hallerbos
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Amsterdam Canals, May, 2013
Jersey
May 7. 2013 Dear Friends. The signs looked familiar, “Welcome to Jersey”, “Grand Jersey”. “Jersey Shores,” even some of the names clicked with recognition, Carteret for instance. But this Jersey is the real thing and an anomaly, as is nearby … Continue reading Jersey
Guernsey
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London 2013, St. Pancras
The first time I was in London my grandfather and I stayed at the YMCA. We have stayed at the “Y” with our kids and Suzi and I have, in the past, stayed in the BBC Hostel, but this time … Continue reading London 2013, St. Pancras
Gibraltar, 2013
Dear Friends, In Greek and Roman mythology the Mediterranean was a closed sea. In a battle with another God Hercules struck the mountains closing off the Med from the Atlantic with his mace, opening a passage to the Atlantic creating the Straits of Gibraltar (although it did not get that name until much later, during the Arab conquest, when “the Rock” was named Tarik’s Mountain, “Jebel Tarik,” shortened to Gibraltar.) The straits are framed on each side by the “Pillars of Hercules.” Both pillars are geopolitical anomalies, The European pillar, Gibraltar, is physically attached to Spain but is ruled by … Continue reading Gibraltar, 2013