Close Ups

Out East I have been in photography heaven.  Everything is different and new.  Back home when I go for a walk in Abercrombie Park I have already taken a photo of practically everything, and it is very difficult to come up with something new.  But here all is new and nothing is a cliche yet.

The photography theme of the trip has been close up photos of plants.  None of the plants grow in Alaska and up close they are all quite beautiful and interesting.

Enjoy!

 Patrick

Walks in the woods

While 'Out East' visiting with family one of my favorite activities is the afternoon walk in the woods. The Charles River and a nature preserve is right out the backdoor, and there is nothing quite like walking in a New England forest in late Fall.  There is certainly nothing even remotely like in all of Alaska!

Huge trees, and trails covered in oak leaves, cat tails, and old stone walls.  It is New England at its best.  And to top it off there is the Charles River winding through it all.  There are even cliffs above the river in places.  On the river the trees all reflect and you often see ducks and we even spotted a couple of muskrats leaving their v-shaped wake on the surface.

It is certainly a far cry from the sitka spruce and beaches of Kodiak!
Patrick

On the way to grandmother's house

MOD breakfast pizza for breakfast at the Portland airport

We are at Granny Cocoa and Uncle George's house for Thanksgiving.  It's a long way from Kodiak to Boston.  We left the house at 3PM Friday and got to grandmother's house around 7PM Saturday.  With the 4 hour time change between Kodiak and Boston that equates out to 24 hours of traveling time door to door - WOW!  But that's not all bad - getting there is a part of the fun, and weirdly enough some of most memorable Thanksgiving memories from trips past involve the journey (click here and here for links to some old blog posts).

Part of the reason the trip took so long was the layovers.  Our layover in Anchorage was 7 hours long. But Anchorage is close enough to Kodiak that we knew seemingly everybody else on layover in the airport.  We flew out of Kodiak with a crowd of our friends - all off to various parts of the world for Thanksgiving.  One couple was even on their way to Maine, but via Washington D.C. and so we did not see them after Anchorage.  It was all about visiting with friends in the Anchorage airport.  

We had 2 dinners with Elke and Phoebe, and all the kids explored both terminals.  Rob and Janel were on their way to Pittsburg via Ohio.  They were still waiting for their plane when we boarded ours at 12:30 AM.  After an uncomfortable red eye to Portland Stuey pointed out one last familiar face who had been on the same plane.  But after that all that remained of the Kodiak crowd was just us.

Soon after our arrival in Portland the sun started to come up, and lit up a fog shrouded scene outside the terminal.  We found a MOD pizza place and had a breakfast pizza with eggs on top.  Perfect.  Then after another 3 hour layover, it was on to Boston where Grandmother Coco picked us up at the airport.  We had arrived!  Patrick

Our traditional 'travel' meal at the Silver Gulch brewery in the Anchorage Airport

Really, really spicy Bloody Mary at the Silver Gulch

Killing time in the waiting area at the Ted Stevens International Airport

Dawn in Portland, OR

Breakfast Pizza with Buffalo sauce

Tidepools

Some tide pool pictures from today's afternoon dog walk in the park.  It was gloomy and pretty gray so I was a little amazed my camera could take bright underwater pictures.  They came bright and colorful - you'd never know it was a gray November day.

I always thought the pink stuff in the tide pools is a form of coral.  But today I learned it is actually a form of red algae - coralline algae. It certainly is pink!

I did notice that in the low light my camera did have depth of field issues.  It was hard to get everything in focus.  I guess I will have to try it again on a bright sunny day!
Patrick

November

It's November, and, while it seems too warm, it is important to remember that there is no 'normal' November on Kodiak.  I can remember other warm Novembers with no snow or cold until December just as I can remember Novembers snowy and cold.  Kodiak is an island way out in the middle of the North Pacific and the warm surrounding waters seem to temper the onset of winter.  It generally takes a while for the ocean and island to cool down.  And I do think that the ocean is particularly warm this year.

But the reverse is also true.  While the mainland warms up quickly in April and May - here out on the island winters tend to linger.  The ocean waters keep the land cool well into summer.

Patience.

Patrick

Last of the sunshine?

We finally had a sunny weekend and I took the dogs for another hike in the sunshine on Sunday - that's 5 mountain hikes in a row for the doggies!  Today it was supposed to rain but it remained sunny through my mountain bike ride, and I was hopeful for another sunshine filled doggie walk.  But then the sky clouded over and the mist settled in.  I ended up taking the dogs for a wet walk under the trees in Abercrombie.

And it is supposed to stay this way - more warm and wet.  Back to the same old, same old.  But let it be said - I REALLY appreciated the sunshine.  Patrick

A walk in the sunshine

Finally some sun!  Yesterday the doggies and I took a walk up into the mountains in the sunshine.  For the last 2 weeks our walks have been gray and misty.  But yesterday we got plenty of vitamin D and the sunlight brought contrast and sharpness to the alpine world.

Friday evening it was raining and warm even on the top of Old Womens mountain, and so I was a little surprised to wake up to a HARD frost.  The first real frost of the year.  And as I drove out the road I found that it had even snowed near sea level out by the airport.  The golf course had a skim on snow on it.

Whooo hooo - maybe winter will arrive after all.

Patrick

Two views of the same mountain - I tried setting up the foreground differently in each one and could not decide which one I liked better.  I am sort of leaning towards the top one, but it is funny how different and yet the same the two pictures are from each other.

King Crab Salad

Last night I had a king crab salad for dinner.  Pretty easy to make - the only essential ingredient is crab. I made mine with homemade red cabbage and beet sauerkraut, escarole salad, carrots, peppers, and, after this photo was taken, I added blue cheese and topped it off with a balsamic vinaigrette.  Later I realized I forgot the cherry tomatoes!

So simple and so good.  All you need is the king crab.

Patrick
 

It stopped raining

Yesterday while I was at work the sun came out.  We have literally not had a sunny day since the day after Halloween.  That is 2 weeks without sunshine.  I'd even started to take vitamin D supplements.  So the sun was out but I was inside until work ended.  It about killed me.

When work ended I rushed home for the dogs and headed to Old Womens mountain for a dog walk.  And the sun went away!  By the time I got to the top it was getting all misty and it even started to rain.  But at least there was still some blue sky.

The good news is that this morning I woke up to a hard frost and sunshine.  My kitchen is flooded with light.  I'm hopeful that on today's hike with the doggies that I will get some sunshine!
Patrick