While accompanying my lovely sister-in-law Kim down 4th street in Anchorage (on her hunt for the perfect Alaskan-made hunting knife for her boys), I managed to find these treasures — all made by local artisans.
The Alaskan birch bowl was found at Cabin Fever. The ceramic bowls were found at Sevigny Studio. The blue and white bowl is made using the fascinating Japanese technique, Raku.
Because a girl can never have too many hand-made vessels.
Sometimes living in Alaska can take my breath away. Today was one of those days. We spent all day on Prince William Sound. It was a misty day but all the better for taking photos.
Here’s one and you can see the rest on my Flickr Photostream.
Allen is sick. Grant is sick. And now I’m sick, too. It is so not fair.
But on the plus side, there were no major volcanic eruptions today.
What? Yes, you heard me right. I never imagined that would be something I’d ever say. Mt. Redoubt has been erupting daily for the past couple weeks. So far we’ve been spared most of the ash fall, just a dusting this past Saturday night. At first we were very cautious and attentive to every update — ready unplug and seal up our electronics at any second — but now we just go on our merry way without any sense of urgency or concern. It’s very odd to think that a volcano erupting nearby would be no big deal. No, odd doesn’t seem like the right word. Insane is more like it.
You can check out the official Alaska AVO Twitter feed for the latest action.
Too bad the overall effect of the volcano hasn’t hastened spring…
Now I’m going to finish my half pint of Ben & Jerry’s Dublin Mudslide (I’m sick, remember?) and take a nap.
We’re closing in on our first anniversary in Alaska (the 15th) and for the first time, we’ve experienced a wild bear. It was walking — well, jogging, actually — right smack down the street in front of our house. He (or she) turned the corner and went up hill into the trees until we couldn’t see him any more.
The freaky part is, I had just come inside from walking Jackie and hadn’t bothered putting her on a leash. Imagine if I had waited 10 minutes longer.
We’ve seen plenty of moose, and they are nothing to mess with, but a bear is in another league altogether. I’m still in awe.
It all happened too fast for me to grab my camera. Sorry.
The fourth of July celebrations began last night, culminating in a fireworks display at midnight. Grant and I headed out at 10:30 (Dean opted to babysit Allen) fully intending to join the crowd until the rain started coming down pretty steady and we detoured to Blockbuster for movies and Ben and Jerry’s. We had our own little midnight celebration at home. It was fun and they slept in until almost 11:00 this morning.
Happy Independence Day!
Compliments of my neighbor Ted who took this photo during a field trip with his daughter’s pre-school class. Way to hike through the snow for our benefit, Ted. Awesome photo even without a zoom lens. Oh, May I have your permission to post this? (Too late!)
I haven’t witnessed this myself (yet), but I understand there’s something like 30 eagles that hang out around this area to be fed on a daily basis by a woman they call “the eagle lady.”