winter

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valentine’s day love

February 15, 2012 in exploring nature, family, valentines day, winter | 2 comments

I’m not really a Valentine’s Day girl, but I do love a good sunset. And a good meal (and chocolate and flowers!).  And the color red is pretty fabulous, too. On second thought, Valentine’s Day just may be the perfect holiday! I spent a lovely day with my family. Watching the sunset on the beach and doing some silly pink and red crafting and eating lots of sugar. Since a fancy date was not an option, Brian and I put the kids to bed early and made a most amazing Indian feast. Chicken in cashew sauce, curried coconut cauliflower and even homemade naan. So.Good. Can’t wait for lunchtime leftovers.

The sky was full of love for the occasion.

The British Soldiers are going nuts out in the sun right now. I love the perfect red bursts in an otherwise not-very-colorful month.

Jonah, explaining the cycles of the moon to me

Getting ready for dinner… finally getting a chance to use our bull kelp chutney from Simple Pleasures (we made a trade at Public Market, my print for her jellies, and we’ve been LOVING all of the amazing Alaska flavors). 

I have been seeing some amazing photos of the Northern Lights from last night! We didn’t ever see them out here, but I did see Mars glowing the brightest red I’ve ever seen, I think just for Valentine’s Day. Hope yours was full of love.

light

February 8, 2012 in exploring nature, winter | 3 comments

I could not be happier about the return of daylight. We’ve started our after-school beach walks again. By no means is it warm yet, but we’ve actually been able to take our gloves off to pick up shells and climb trees. It’s not very spring-like… but it’s coming.  That was something hard to imagine a month ago.


sunday walk

January 30, 2012 in exploring nature, weekends, winter | 8 comments

Walked through the luminescent powder, middle of the street, up to my calves before the plow came. It was quiet and the air was not cold, just perfect with the smell of wood fires burning. The trees shed their burdens in a giant whoomp!, snow falling through the air louder than the crash into the soft ground. The street turned to beach and the insistent tide lapped at the snow, dissolving a neat new line with each swell and fooling me to think the water might be warm. Walked home, able to face Little League registration and the wherewithal to keep a schedule for another week.

ancient playground

January 17, 2012 in exploring nature, little bird, mighty, winter | 4 comments

Oh the cold!  It’s COLD.  Really, really cold.  But I’ll take it if it means crystal-clear bluebird skies.  The forecast calls for 35 below wind chills all this week.  I’m fairly certain Lola and I will just hang out inside, make granola and curl up next to the window to watch the pretty sky, she with her sock monkey, me with my book.  Not a bad life, no.

We’ve been watching a lot of movies lately, with the darkness and the cold. One can only play so many Scrabble games… so they say.  I haven’t reached my limit yet.
Another Earth: mildly depressing, but interestingly twisted and unique.
The Debt: Helen Mirren.  She is hot.  That is all.
Cowboys and Aliens: don’t laugh… it really was good! As Brian said, why can’t aliens visit any time period they like?
The Future: quirky, but my kind of movie.  And I love the talking cat (I however will not recommend The Beaver–psychotic talking puppet!).
McCabe and Mrs. Miller: recommended by a new friend, I can’t believe I lived my whole life without seeing this movie. A soundtrack by Leonard Cohen and the dark, damp mood of the Gold Rush days. Seriously good.

Perhaps I have mentioned this before, but my favorite movie of all time is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Did you know there was a sequel? I’m a little slow when it comes to all things that cable television tells people.  I didn’t know. Turns out I didn’t miss much because Blackthorn was a huge disappointment. There is really nothing like an original (and who can hold a candle to Paul Newman or Robert Redford?).

Totally unrelated except to prove that I have also spent a good amount of time not watching movies, these pictures are from a little exploration we took in the woods on Friday. Mighty was still home “sick” (though his fever broke the night before and he was dying to go climb some trees).  This was before the deep freeze, with little wind and a warm sunny, winter glow.

sensory

January 10, 2012 in exploring nature, little bird, snow, winter | 4 comments

I had a moment over the holidays where, out of nowhere, I was overtaken by the smell of a memory from my childhood.  It’s a familiar smell that returns easily, but this time it struck me that I could single out all the nuances and hints of this and that. The flavors that make up the whole.  The crunchy, dry magnolia leaves littering the sides of the walk in the backyard. The beach brought into the basement, carried in by toys, towels and the glittering mica stuck to wet feet after a barefoot walk in the sand. My grandma’s lipstick.

This moment has been with me since and I am enjoying dissecting more little memories that randomly strike.  It also has me noticing more in the present. My current experiences and the pieces that make them good or bad. It’s a fun little exploration of the senses and the ego. I like being an observer.

Lola and I went for a walk yesterday. There was very little to explore by way of smell as it was incredibly, bone-chillingly windy. The cold wind was too much and had me holding my breath for fear of the chill the air would bring to my lungs. So we both relied on our other senses to develop the adventure… and it was a beautiful day to see.

 

 

winter skies

December 10, 2011 in winter | 12 comments

It’s almost solstice and we are seeing less and less of the sun. Though lately, the few hours of daylight have been truly spectacular… if you can manage to catch them.    

And these winter skies could only bring beauty for the ground, too. Momentarily at least.  The thing about here is that it’s winter one day and just plain old Juneau the next. Snow, rain, snow, rain. It’s a rain spell now but I’m hoping for a white Christmas.

they danced a cotillion in the sky

March 11, 2011 in alaska, exploring nature, northern lights, winter | 18 comments

The aurora borealis had a brilliant show across the north this week. We were fortunate in Juneau to have a rare clear and dark sky at the peak of the solar activity. It was the most spectacular display of northern lights I have ever seen.  The sky was pulsing and twirling with pinks, purples, reds and the most luminescent green. Mesmerizing. And quite obviously a spiritual experience. It is no wonder that people long ago took the lights as omens or visits from ancestors long gone. There is just something eerily magical to be standing under a sky braided with light, breathing in the crisp, cold air of the far north.

This was really my first venture into time lapse night photography.  I’m not really sure why I couldn’t capture the other colors of the lights, but I’m wondering if it’s because my exposure length was too long?  Any hints would be appreciated.

Here’s the summer view from close to where I was watching the lights, on the frozen Mendenhall Lake. Northern lights or not… I will never tire of this magnificent view. There is always something magical for the eyes and soul.

Some of my March favs from the Aurora (Borealis and Australis) group on flickr.
The Aurora Volcano, Caroline, 3/9/11 – Auroral Speed Zone…., C-FIFJ, Aurora, Vasatokka, northern lights, Dagvarðará, Aurora Borealis, Laxá í Kjós – west Iceland

They danced a cotillion in the sky… why Robert Service, of course. From the Ballad of the Northern Lights.

february blues

February 22, 2011 in alaska, exploring nature, snow, winter | 21 comments

Saturday, Mendenhall Lake

…a shuddery breath like the coming of Death crept down from the peaks far away;
The water was still; the twilight was chill; the sky was a tatter of gray.
Swift came the Big Cold, and opal and gold the lights of the witches arose;
The frost-tyrant clinched, and the valley was cinched by the stark and cadaverous snows.
The trees were like lace where the star-beams could chase, each leaf was a jewel agleam.
The soft white hush lapped the Northland and wrapped us round in a crystalline dream;
So still I could hear quite loud in my ear the swish of the pinions of time;
So bright I could see, as plain as could be, the wings of God’s angels ashine.

- Robert Service, from The Ballad of Pious Pete

Monday, Mendenhall Lake

And the sun makes the February blues much more beautiful.

(now if only it would stay sunny until spring)

in the stillness of remembering

January 19, 2011 in snow, winter | 19 comments

I dreamed last night that a friend gave me a beautifully wrapped gift containing all the antique glass doorknobs from my old house and new knobs for my grandmother’s old desk. I’m still processing the significance of this dream, but it seems apropos. I think I’m getting a little nostalgic in this wintery weather.

Walking in a peaceful white snowfall is such a good time to be contemplative. I love that it’s so easy to lose yourself in the beauty of the land up here, even if it’s just  a neighborhood stroll.