A Quiet Life

A Walk in the Snow

2012-01-27T14:38:00.004-09:00

2012-01-26T16:18:00.000-09:00

2012-01-25T18:21:00.000-09:00

Skinny

2012-01-24T16:36:00.000-09:00

Rowan

2012-01-23T16:40:00.002-09:00

Out the Window

2012-01-22T12:10:00.000-09:00

Last One In Bed

2012-01-21T12:09:00.000-09:00

Downtown Homer

2012-01-20T12:00:00.002-09:00

Staking out a dumpster. Apparently the one behind Save-U-More has quite the word-of-mouth in the avian community.

Morning View

2012-01-19T07:56:00.000-09:00

Evening Dusk

2012-01-18T07:47:00.001-09:00

Winter of 1998-99

2012-01-17T11:44:00.002-09:00

Snow Bunny

2012-01-16T11:41:00.001-09:00

Winter Daybreak

2012-01-15T07:55:00.000-09:00

Sammy and Bart

2012-01-13T11:38:00.001-09:00

Sammy and Bart share a bed by the stove.

Waiting

2012-01-13T10:49:00.000-09:00

Outlook

2012-01-12T07:59:00.001-09:00

Digging Out

2012-01-11T11:35:00.001-09:00

Blizzard

2012-01-10T08:16:00.000-09:00

Outside the Window

2012-01-09T11:13:00.003-09:00

Felicity

2012-01-08T11:11:00.000-09:00

2012-01-07T11:10:00.001-09:00

Birch Moon

2012-01-06T11:09:00.001-09:00

2012-01-05T11:08:00.001-09:00

Mt. Iliamna

2012-01-04T11:07:00.001-09:00

Dusk on the Sterling Highway

2012-01-03T11:05:00.001-09:00

2012-01-02T11:03:00.001-09:00

2012-01-01T08:23:00.000-09:00

"And the new sun rose bringing the new year."

Happy new Year

2011-12-31T13:53:00.001-09:00

Pine Grosbeaks

2011-12-30T13:55:00.002-09:00

2011-12-26T13:49:00.000-09:00

Driving to Town

2011-12-21T10:42:00.002-09:00

Had to run into town for my weekly Animal Shelter visit.

Brought back memories of driving home from Anchorage through Turnagain Pass.

But it was just Baycrest Drive.

Lena - Conehead

2011-12-15T10:32:00.000-09:00

Hematoma. Stitches are supposed to stay in three to four weeks. So is the collar.

All she wants for Christmas is to scratch her ear...

Circle of Dark Light

2011-12-10T09:03:00.001-09:00

Pheasant Hen

2011-11-26T10:57:00.000-09:00

Northern Goshawk

2011-11-25T10:53:00.000-09:00

On the Sterling Highway

2011-11-09T10:13:00.000-09:00

Heading for Soldotna....

Wind-Blown

2011-11-08T11:09:00.000-09:00

Strong winds whip snow off of Sadie Peak.

Sunday Morning

2011-11-06T05:28:00.002-09:00

Moose Walk

2011-11-05T11:29:00.000-08:00

Cook Inlet Views

2011-11-02T09:59:00.002-08:00

Taken from the overlook at the top of Baycrest Hill.

Dawn paints the cumulus clouds out over the Gulf of Alaska.

Several hours later, Augustine volcano gleams with fresh snow as more snow threatens.

Metempsychosis

2011-10-31T19:01:00.003-08:00

I doubt all
save the survival
of some unquenchable fire within me;
I seek no immortality,
for it comes without search.
I live with the joy of my senses,
knowing that this part will surely perish,
leaving only that which came before.
To live here and now without that certainty,
without acceptance of Death as the unveiling
of the One,
is to forget,
forever,
the secret name that is whispered at birth
beyond the hidden gates.

--Gywdion Pendderwen

2011-10-30T22:55:00.000-08:00

October twilight and a thin new moon from our back deck, the last day of autumn.

The Veil Between Worlds...

2011-10-29T10:22:00.000-08:00

The veil between worlds grows thin at this time of year.

Samhain lore...

Bounty of the Storm

2011-10-25T11:37:00.000-08:00

We scored half a fish and two bottles of wine and barely had to leave the yard--just went next-door to help the neighbor clean up wind damage.

View from East End

2011-10-23T07:44:00.000-08:00

October 22, 1983

2011-10-22T10:26:00.000-08:00

For our world, the circle turns again
Throughout the year we've seen the seasons change
It's meant a lot to me to start anew
Oh the winter's cold but I'm so warm with you

Out there there's not a sound to be heard
And the seasons seem to sleep upon their words
As the waters freeze up with the summer's end
Oh it's funny how young lovers start as friends

--Elton John

Checking the Wood Stove

2011-10-21T14:10:00.000-08:00

I know winter is coming when the night is a series of soft-focused, almost-awake forays into the shop to check Maxie's wood stove.

2011-10-19T13:58:00.000-08:00

Festive

2011-10-18T17:45:00.001-08:00

Autumn Window

2011-10-14T17:44:00.000-08:00

My Parlor

2011-10-13T17:43:00.001-08:00

The Moon of October

2011-10-11T20:08:00.003-08:00

When I went out to feed Max this evening, I was greeted with the newly-risen moon.

When I came back with the camera, I got to sit in the moonlight with Max for a few minutes.

A Blaze of Glory

2011-10-10T20:09:00.002-08:00

As if realizing their time is short, the dahlia and geranium are putting forth their best...

Salvador

2011-10-09T20:11:00.001-08:00

The woman who brought him to the shelter had seen him as a stray for three years.

His two upper canine teeth were broken off, so the shelter had those removed when they got him neutered. His tattered ears show signs of having been frost-bitten at some point.

He loves to sleep between us, resting his paws against us, knowing he is safe and warm.

The White Birds

2011-10-09T07:53:00.002-08:00

I would that we were, my beloved, white birds on the foam of the sea!
We tire of the flame of the meteor, before it can fade and flee;
And the flame of the blue star of twilight, hung low on the rim of the sky,
Has awakened in our hearts, my beloved, a sadness that may not die.

A weariness comes from those dreamers, dew-dabbled, the lily and rose;
Ah, dream not of them, my beloved, the flame of the meteor that goes,
Or the flame of the blue star that lingers hung low in the fall of the dew:
For I would we were changed to white birds on the wandering foam: I and you!

I am haunted by numberless islands, and many a Danaan shore,
Where Time would surely forget us, and Sorrow come near us no more;
Soon far from the rose and the lily, and fret of the flames would we be,
Were we only white birds, my beloved, buoyed out on the foam of the sea!

-- W.B. Yeats.

October Morning

2011-10-04T08:04:00.002-08:00

Looking out the upstairs window as the rising sun catches the smoke from the wood stove drifting past.

At Ninilchik

2011-09-29T09:44:00.002-08:00

I suppose, some eight or ten thousand years ago, a glacier pushed up this moraine at the edge of Cook Inlet. Since then, the Ninilchik River has carved a shallow notch down to the sea.

The cottonwoods have probably been growing here some several centuries, in the gravelly soil the ice age left behind.

Through the Windshield

2011-09-28T08:59:00.001-08:00

Heading down the hill into town this morning.

Sunrise Cumulus

2011-09-27T08:54:00.001-08:00

The clouds out over the Inlet are tinted by the rising sun.

Ivy

2011-09-26T09:05:00.001-08:00

"The light of 1,000 stars does not equal the light of the moon."

The Eight of Swords

2011-09-25T08:52:00.002-08:00

The Eight of Swords is a card that has always spoken to me. This one is from the Tarot of the Cat People.

Watchtower

2011-09-22T08:47:00.002-08:00

A Victorian, catching sight of one of the ever-present communication towers that dot Alaskan landscapes, might think of H.G. Wells and Martians.

A Snipe in the Grass

2011-09-20T08:44:00.001-08:00

Tiny Beauty

2011-09-13T08:41:00.001-08:00

Morning Frost

2011-09-12T09:27:00.000-08:00

Cooper Lake

2011-09-11T10:35:00.002-08:00

Swanson River

2011-09-10T10:34:00.000-08:00

Centennial Lake

2011-09-08T10:27:00.000-08:00

Blooming Out

2011-09-03T14:22:00.001-08:00

In The Yard

2011-09-02T14:04:00.000-08:00

New

2011-09-01T14:02:00.002-08:00

So, we started the month by bringing home two black cats from the Animal Shelter.

Salvadore (aka Sally) looks apprehensive during the ride home.

Tiny Pearl explores her new haunts in the back room.

Flaming Fireweed

2011-08-26T14:26:00.000-08:00

Around the Yard

2011-08-25T14:27:00.001-08:00

A volunteer Five-Spot Nemophilia...

Kachemak Bay at Summer's End

2011-08-24T14:30:00.000-08:00

Max and Fireweed

2011-08-17T14:32:00.000-08:00

Backyard

2011-08-16T14:34:00.000-08:00

Turnagain Arm and the Seward Highway

2011-07-22T11:27:00.004-08:00

Road Trip

2011-07-21T03:53:00.006-08:00

Yard View

2011-07-20T04:07:00.000-08:00

Blossoms

2011-07-19T04:06:00.002-08:00

Afternoon on the Back Deck

2011-07-18T04:09:00.000-08:00

Out East End

2011-07-17T04:20:00.001-08:00

July's Full Moon

2011-07-16T12:58:00.001-08:00

Gilbert the Guest

2011-07-12T14:01:00.002-08:00

Driving into Town

2011-07-11T13:58:00.001-08:00

Faces

2011-07-10T13:54:00.000-08:00

The Lupine Are Blooming

2011-07-05T13:59:00.000-08:00

Happy Independence Day from Alaska!

2011-07-03T12:22:00.001-08:00

If you know what I mean.

The Alaskans know.

Bringing the Boat Home

2011-06-24T13:57:00.001-08:00

I snapped this picture as we were going up Baycrest, with Kachemak Bay in the mirror.

The 21st Century Life...

2011-06-23T13:42:00.004-08:00

I love the 21st century.

I enjoy watching the unfolding of our time. Even though times are tough now, I have faith in the cyclic nature of history and in Generations. I know the time we pass through now is the same resonation that caused the Great Depression and whatever economic disaster befell the 1850s.

It's all a spiral dance.

I have to remind myself of how old I am.

Many of my friends were born in a post-rock, post-Reagan world. They see something different when they look back on history.

I can remember how it felt to hear "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" for the very first time.

I remember when political assassination was a horror.

I remember when the people on television reading the news were actual journalists who could not only pronounce all the words in the piece but understand them.

Now television news is a joke, an entertainment. But the interwebs pulse with news and rumor and speculation and everyone who is anyone has their ear to that beating heart that ties us all together.

The 21st century looks to be an interesting place.

I'm glad to be along for part of the ride.

Midsummer Twilight

2011-06-22T13:59:00.000-08:00

Coming home from the Solstice Party last night, looking north.

Full-On Spring

2011-06-17T14:01:00.002-08:00

Not Summer Yet

2011-06-17T09:06:00.002-08:00

It's only a week from the Solstice and our daily temperatures are hitting the fifties pretty regularly. But it isn't summer yet.

A brief morning frost on the back deck.

Max leaves wet prints in the frost.

Spring Morning

2011-06-16T14:13:00.001-08:00

Greeting Max in his shop window.

The lettuce starts. Hope the rabbits don't find them!

New Addition

2011-06-04T14:15:00.002-08:00

This painting used to hang in my aunt and uncle's Family Room. Now the house is sold and it hangs over my computer desk. It looks like it belongs there.

Tender Young Alder Leaves

2011-06-02T14:17:00.001-08:00

The green is so vivid it hurts the eye.

Morning Sky

2011-05-28T14:19:00.003-08:00

Just before five a.m. on the clock, four a.m. standard time.

View Across the Bay

2011-05-23T14:22:00.000-08:00

Back Again

2011-05-21T12:10:00.000-08:00

They showed up a few days ago and filled the sky with chirping.

Front Yard

2011-05-19T16:20:00.002-08:00

Ignoring the occasional commuter heading to town, the moose gazed on the hill at the edge of the yard for about half an hour.