OH. MY.
On first glance of Portage Lake, a frozen glacier lake surrounded by iconic Alaskan mountains rising out of the water to near 4000', that's precisely what my brain thought.
I might've skipped a breath or two.
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Perhaps you are like me. l take my time to adjust to certain things as long as urgency is not part of the equation, especially things of a mild traumatic or emotional nature.
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What inspires you? What inspires you deeply enough that you are compelled to take action?
What might that action be?
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You might know that most of this year I have been eluding to an exciting project on the horizon. I've been a little shy sharing the details because, well, it's a big, scary thing in my mind.
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One afternoon I decided to search for Beluga Whales (Delphinapterus leucas) along Turnagain Arm. They tend to swim up the arm in large pods, especially in September and October. In my quest to find the Belugas I also found Mountain Goats (Oreamnos americanus)!
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A long awaited Alaska adventure finally came around.
A road trip to the Arctic tundra, the top of Alaska, and the wildest weather getting there! Yeah, we saw some stuff, no biggie.
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Most of you know that my experience with fear in Alaska has been centered around "what ifs". Mainly, what if I startle a bear? What if I surprise a moose?
Recently, a very provocative approach to overcoming a fear dropped into my inbox.
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A quick trip back to New England for business purposes allowed me to switch out the white and gray of a long-winters' end in Alaska for bright greens of all varieties. A refreshing and soothing change.
Something that's been on my mind, though, fits right into a return to home. That is, what constitutes a sense of place?
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Have you ever made a rookie mistake well into your career? A time when you just didn't think something through all the way? Something so basic?
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One of my favorite early Spring observations each year is watching tree buds begin to swell, paying attention to what's pushing forth to meet the air and sunshine: leaves and flowers!
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It's true. Birds are on the cusp of initiating their seasonal migration. One question that often comes up is, "How do they know when to go?".
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January was a very moosie month around here. Three hands are needed to count all the moose I saw this month alone. I took that as a sign it was time to tackle a moose.
Moose drawing, that is.
Have you ever paid careful attention to the winter solstice in your region... how short the day feels and how long the night feels? Where the sun rises and sets in your winter landscape?
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On Thanksgiving Day my husband and I went in search of ptarmagin, Willow Ptarmagin (Lagopus lagopus) specifically. A little bird watching instead of bird eating.
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Larix laricina It's not a dead spruce.
Seriously. The Tamarack (Larix laricina), a species of tree that Alaska shares with New England and almost all northern regions in between, is a curious and stunning work of evolution that is often mistaken for its relative, the spruce tree.
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An Alaskan thing, really.
According to the Dictionary of Alaska English (yep, that's a thing, too), Termination Dust represents the end-of-summer snow that falls on the surrounding mountains.
Rain, Rain, and Mushrooms. August was kind of a blur. Visitors, travel, orcas, puffins, humpbacks, and glaciers. And a whole lot of rain.
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Just a few days ago I sat fifty feet away from a 900lb alpha male Coastal Brown Bear (Ursus arctos horibillis) named "Lippy". Yep, I did that.
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Fireweed!
Apparently, Common Fireweed, Chamerion angustifolium, can be found throughout most of the U.S. and Canada, but I had never seen it before Alaska.
Arctic to Antarctic and back every year. That's what the Arctic Tern does... FLIES from one end of the globe to the other.
Twice a year. Every year. It tops the list for longest migrations in the world.
25,000 miles. Does that number sink in?
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