Window Thinking
I’ve been meaning to watch the PBS Nature episode, Moose: Life of a Twig Eater, ever since it first became available three years ago, but I never got around to it until a few days ago when I realized PBS would be taking it offline this week. I am sorry to have delayed too long …
Is that grass? asked a friend in response to my facebook post: It is! I said. It’s been five months under a snow blanket. We are super excited because when the grass appears, spring must be right behind! But spring in Alaska is ugly (and stinky). In many places now, depending on sun angles, the …
A dog party!A big dog party!Big dogs, little dogs, red dogs, blue dogs,yellow dogs, green dogs,black dogs, and white dogsare all at a dog party! What a dog party! Go, Dog. Go! was one of Ethan’s very favorite books when he was little. Over and over and over we read that book, and of course …
Go dogs go! Run doggies run! Thanks for showing how to run a good race.
Several weeks ago I wrote a really long post about being grumpy in August in Alaska. The fireweed had largely burned out and I was certain I’d be stuck under all those dark heavy rain clouds until they finally gave way to snow. But then the unexpected happened. September showed up with record breaking warmth and …
A trip to Zambia, house hunting in Alaska, and a new puppy. Facebook has been serving me some life-changing “on this day” memories. Six years ago David and I flew to Anchorage to find a house to rent. I was sooooo grumpy that weekend. David likes to remind me that just 10 months earlier I …
Summer Solstice in Anchorage means 4:21a sunrise today and 11:43p sunset. It never does get dark. Alas…..we make the turn here.
We drove 5 hours up the Parks Highway to Denali National Park with David’s parents in the middle of June 2012. That was our first summer in Alaska and we didn’t really know what to expect. From Anchorage we had often seen the Great One standing tall in the distance on a blue sky winter …
Our first cruise was a spring whale watching cruise package with Major Marine Tours, and we’ve taken three different cruise itineraries with them since then. There are other companies offering cruises out into the same waters, to see the same sights, but for no particular reason, we’ve gone with Major Marine tours every time and …
We went on a grey whale watching cruise six years ago this weekend so I’ll start my “What To Do in Alaska” collection with that. We had just come through our first Alaskan winter (or so we thought – we were brand new to the way the winter/spring transition happens up here, and that was …
We want to visit Alaska this summer, what should we do? I love answering this question and am delighted to have friends and family asking right now. As I find myself repeating my scattershot answers, it occurred to me that it could be useful to collect some thoughts here. Until David’s Portland-based engineering company landed …
After a several low snow months here in Anchorage, February delivered! We were more than 2′ below normal in snowfall at the end of January, but then came the snowiest February in six years. A fun fact because that was also our family’s first February in Alaska – back when we thought we had moved …
This morning I was making coffee in the kitchen when I heard Ethan flipping light switches in the next room. A little bit later he came to the kitchen and grumbled, “These lights are weird. I can never figure out which switch turns on which light.” My thoughts EXACTLY. Recently I’ve noticed my irritation when …
Last night I walked down the hill to watch the 9:30p sunset. We have more than 15 hours between sunrise and sunset now and all the recent long days of “warm” sunshine have gone a long way toward melting out the lingering piles of snow. Yesterday was the first day that the Anchorage snow cover …
After 28 days in a row with no measurable precipitation, snowflakes were drifting in the air while Ethan was getting ready for school last Tuesday morning. There’s been snow on the ground (and often in the air) the majority of his fifth grade year now. We had some snow come and go in November, but by December, the snow was …
It’s been a beautiful month of March here in Anchorage! A few late February storms delivered us a nice pile of snow and then we got a long stretch of cold, clear days. The ever lengthening daylight on this side of solstice only added fuel to all the good cheer. This month we started seeing …
“It’s not like Alaska isn’t wilderness – it mostly is. But most Alaskans don’t live in the wild. They live on the edge of the wild in towns with schools and cable TV and stores and dentists and roller rinks sometimes. It’s just like anyplace else, only with mountains and moose.”– Tom Bodett David says living …
After 3 weeks of August rain, the sun finally came out! We spent the gift on a hike up Mt. Baldy on Sunday. We’d been there once before as a family – in fact, Baldy was our first Alaska mountain hike. On July 14, 2013 I wrote a Google+ post that went like this: Yesterday we hiked up …
One day, Little Sal went with her mother to Blueberry Hill to pick blueberries….. One day, the Searls boys went with their parents to Arctic Valley to pick blueberries….. We hiked here as a family last September and made plans to return during blueberry season. This is that season! I’ve heard that people hold their favorite berry patches close and don’t share their secrets …
The wonder of the world, the beauty and the power, the shapes of things, their colors, lights, and shades; these I saw. Look ye also while life lasts. This. Quoted from an old gravestone in Cumberland, England, and used as the final text in Frank C. Craighead, Jr’s book For Everything There Is A Season: The …
Gorgeous fall colors, mild temperatures (low 50s) and the promise of clouds opening to sun rather than rain inspired our family out for a hike yesterday. I’ve been frustrated with my seemingly slow recovery from endometriosis surgery, but it’s been a month now and I was ready for this challenge. We could have gone any …
I read Anne Lamott’s latest book Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers during a stretch of gorgeous March weather. The days here in Anchorage were getting longer, the sky was blue and the sun was shining. One afternoon Ethan and I even squeezed fresh lemonade and set it outside to chill. There were still …
The other day I watched through the window as an older lady and her caregiver navigated the narrow path of dry, bare pavement that etched its way through our snowy, ice-packed street. The older lady was using a walker to aid her steps and all of the sudden I remembered: This picture was taken the …
In the seemingly endless grey days of a typical Portland winter I struggle with seasonal affective disorder and a few winters ago I began using this lamp to help me cope. Needless to say, when we moved to Alaska I packed it with an anxious eye toward the infamous short days ahead. In the heart of our …