Tiny Island Picnic

Yesterday Stuey, Nora, Elias and I took the inflatable kayaks out to a small island in the bay and had a picnic.  It was Nora's idea.  I had ambitious plans to take the whaler out to Long Island, but Nora did not like the idea.  As she put, 'it is hard to watch you struggle with launching the whaler and getting it all packed - let's just pick up subway sandwiches and kayak somewhere close to eat them'.  Good idea Nora - keep it simple!

And so we drove across the bridge to Near Island and launched our kayaks in Trident Basin.  It's a great place to kayak with lots of little islands and beaches, a convoluted coastline and lots of wildlife.  It's remarkable that such an amazing place is so close to town!

And so we paddled out to a tiny little island and climbed up on top to eat our subway sandwiches.  And then we explored the island.  On one corner there was a nesting pair of bald eagles in a tree.  They flew around our heads and said 'stay away'.  So we avoided that corner of the island.  Big cliffs and spectacular views.

Picnic over we paddled back to the car.  We explored on the way.  Great day for a kayak!

Patrick

Nora's on to High School

It does not seem all that long ago that Nora was standing on the lawn in her St Mary's uniform ready for her first day of school.  This past Wednesday she graduated from St Mary's - wow where did the time go?  She started kindergarten at St Mary's in August 2011 so I guess it has been almost 9 years!

St Mary's has been very good to Nora.  At her graduation every student gave a speech about their St Mary's experience. Nora talked about learning to read, the opportunity to help take care of the younger students at recess, and problem solving with her latest teacher.  It was such a good speech and I am so proud.  She has come a long way since that late summer day in 2011.

And this fall she is off on another adventure - Kodiak High School!
Patrick

Nora finds her locker on her first day of school way back in 2011

North Sister with Stuey

Wednesday afternoon after Stuey finished school for the year and I finished work for the day.  And so we went for a quick hike up the North Sister.  Kind of weird weather - sunny but with banks of fog coming off of Monashka Bay.  Very atmospheric.

On the climb up I noticed that with the lack of snow and recent rain that many of the streams have already run dry.  Wow!  this does not usually happen until late July.  It is going to be a dry summer in the alpine.

We also saw a big old billy goat.  He just sat on a ledge on watched us going up the mountain and then watched us climb down. He did not seem to care about us all that much.

Stuey commented, 'it is so beautiful up here'.  'I think I'd prefer to be a mountain goat than a human - they just lie around and eat'.  Then I pointed out that they have a really hard time finding food during the winter, and Stuey said, 'so I want to be a mountain goat but only in summer'.

Up in the alpine I Stuey we admired the blooming pixie-eyed primroses and white anemones and then headed back to the car.
Patrick

Pixie-eyed primrose

White anemone

Fog off of Monashka Bay

Speelunking in Bunkers

The other day Stuey, his friend Elias and I went exploring with the dogs in the Buskin Hill area.  We did the usual check out the old WWII bunkers and admire the graffiti thing.  Except this time when we were in the darkest part of the deepest bunker - Tank and Brewster started to bark in a separate room.  SUPER SPOOKY.

After we checked out the big Army Headquarters bunker, we checked on a couple 'elephant' bunkers.  I was informed that they are not dark enough to be scary and, hence, boring.

On the way back to the car we checked out the beach and I realized that I had lost my lens cap.  Back tracked up the trail looking for it.  It seemed hopeless but I found it!
Patrick

Women's Bay Kayak Trip

On Sunday we went kayaking with friends in Women's Bay.  While on Saturday we went to exotic Anton Larsen Bay - on Sunday we stayed closer to home.  And we had just as much fun.

We explored an abandoned barge that is covered with colorful and profane graffiti.  It was a tough climbing up onto the top and once there it was surprisingly high up with quite the view.  Inside the barge was sort of scary.

Then we paddled out to an island where I found an archaeological site.  The birds are all nesting and squawked above us.

I think that this summer we will be doing a lot of paddling!
Patrick

Anton Kayak Trip

Yesterday the kids and I grabbed Stuey's friend Elias and went for a quick kayak picnic over in Anton Larsen Bay.  For a weekend that was supposed to be rainy it sure has been nice!  We took the same Innova inflatable kayaks that I use on my archaeological surveys.  It does feel a little funny to be playing around in them empty of gear.  Generally when I use the boats they are loaded down and I have miles to go before I sleep.

Yesterday we just tooled around and explored the islands and coastline.  We did not go anywhere in particular.  I noticed that the arctic terns are back and nesting, and also saw my first puffins of the summer.

For lunch we pulled up on a beach and ate beef jerky and Cliff Bars.  The sun always seemed to be shining at other beaches but not on us.  But finally, near the end of our picnic the sun did find us - if only for a brief moment.
Patrick

Depth of Field

As you can see from my recent blog posts I've been taking a lot of close ups of plants and flowers.  And I think I have gotten better at it.  In the past I always wanted as much of the plant in focus as possible and would increase the aperture - set it at 11 or 16.  That way I had a bigger depth of field - a thicker plane of where everything is in focus.  But in the last week I have been playing with using my telephoto lens, putting nothing in the background, and not setting the aperture very high.

Sometimes parts of the plants that I want to be in focus are not, but I have been loving how the background just disappears in a haze of out of focus-ness.  It simplifies the picture and isolates the subject.

Patrick