May 28, 2015 -- Anchorage spring

A tulip against a backdrop of last year's leaves.

Seen from my office, the tour buses in front of the Captain Cook collecting people and luggage to take them to the next stage of their journey. A few years ago, the companies switched out all of their colorful buses for herds of these white featureless beasts. I would worry about getting on one and suddenly finding that I was on my way to Patagonia rather than Palmer -- there's no way to tell from the outside.

A pickup in the Providence Hospital parking lot this afternoon (we were there to see a friend) with painted cutouts of military men.

Robin with a big insect for dinner -- I can't tell what it is. The wings look like a dragonfly's, but the body is much too heavy. Nonetheless, it looks that robin will be well fed.

People eating on the patio at the Millenium Hotel. Perfect weather for it -- a little cool, not many bugs if you're away from the trees and water.

Float plane doing "touch and goes" at Lake Spenard.

More bugs today -- this cloud of them is whirling above a patch of water, thick enough to be caught by the camera.

The nicest no-parking sign on Lake Spenard.

Red maple, green pine.

A month ago, all of these trees were bare, and you could see the mountains. Not complaining, just marveling at how quickly things change.

Flamingo in the raspberries, at a friend's home.

Clivia blooming at Providence Hospital.

Tulip at Providence Hospital.

Sunday, May 24, 2015

Sitting at the edge of civilization, looking north to the Alaska Range -- granted all we saw today was clouds, not mountains. This is at the end of the park at the mouth of Ship Creek.

Also at the mouth of Ship Creek, people fishing for king salmon on the incoming tide;

.a woman with a dog watching them, and farther on, the North Star getting loaded with containers for its trip back to Seattle;

a flock of geese overhead;

a gray sky to the east over the city;

a tough little plant pushing up through the black-top path; and

the sight-seeing train from Fairbanks at the railroad station (tomorrow, the first cruise ship).


Elsewhere in town during the day:

Nets at Costco for bringing those king salmon that you catch at Ship Creek into shore, yours for $114.99;

a Steller's Jay in our neighborhood;

its magpie cousin at Lake Spenard where we were walking with Marla Greenstein;

an old car at Lake Spenard -- their owners bring these out from the garages where they spend most of their days, to show off on not-rainy days in the summer;

a family getting ready for a plane trip -- mom, dad, two kids, a black Lab;

a float plane taxiing from its slip to open water; and

an ice cream truck at Point Woronzof in the early evening -- even on a gray day it's a popular place to watch the planes low overhead landing and taking off, or walking on the sand beach;

Alaska hanging basket -- blue and gold flowers.

The markets are here! May 9, 2015

The Saturday Market is open downtown. The Anchorage Farmers Market had tents at 15th and Cordova. The South Anchorage Market was going strong, with bread, fish, greens, popcorn, a guitarist and more. Must be summer!

Arctic Organics is a familiar sight for all Anchorage market goers. They, and most of the vendors have flowers, hanging baskets, tomato plants, and lettuce in pots. It's early for many foods, but we saw cucumbers both places (maybe greenhouse grown?), some potatoes, eggs, lettuce, radishes, and breads. Not to mention salmon, popcorn, cookies, and a wood stove (South Anchorage only).

Lagrassa Pasta Alaska -- new at the markets in 2015.

Karl Reed and Rebecca Martin are selling pasta at the South Anchorage Market, and at the Sears Mall Market on Wednesdays. Look for a post as soon as time permits about their techniques of making pasta (Karl says that they'll be rolling and cutting it on-site in the weeks to come), how it tastes when cooked, and a recipe or two.

We bought ricotta cavatelli (also known as orecchie di prete (priest's ears)), and will try it with pesto tomorrow for dinner.

Cucumbers, nasturtium, and coleus at the Anchorage Farmers' Market (15th and Cordova).

Cream scones with orange zest and chocolate chips from Turkey Red, at Anchorage Farmers' Market.

Huechera (good shade plants) at South Anchorage Market.

Earlier in the day, Marla Greenstein and I walked around Lake Spenard (four miles) as part of the Multiple Sclerosis Society benefit trek.

Aside from a few drips of rain, the biggest excitement was provided by a plane that pulled out onto the road in the middle of dozens of walkers, and taxied for a block until it got to the small plane runway to the east of the lake. True, planes have the right of way on all of the roads around the lake, but in the many years that we've done the walk, we haven't seen one take advantage of that right during the event.

There are no timers during this event, and the mood is far more casual than at the Heart Run or Run for Women. Dogs, strollers, and roller skates all were welcome.

Provisions tended to be better than average too -- free Kaladi coffee at the beginning of the walk, free hot dogs and Great Harvest cookies at the end, and along the way, free oranges, bananas, and sports drinks (although surprisingly little water)

At Fire Island Rustic Bakeshop, the weather was perfect for eating foccacia (me) and chocolate chip cookies (Jim) as a picnic lunch.

The clouds hung low much of the day over green trees and mountains with little snow.

By early evening, the skies cleared, with sun lighting low cloud wisps and the western end of the Inlet.

Rain off and on all day -- some places had more, some less.

Red lettuce in pots at the market, with little green weeds investigating the possibilities of sharing the flats.

Lime petunias with raindrops.

Market dahlias.

Anchorage -- April 2, 2015

What to see in Anchorage on April 2, 2015:

Chester Creek, unfrozen.

Two guys out working on a plane at Lake Spenard. There were others too -- the weather was conducive -- mid-40s, not much wind, late well into the evening.

Cattails in the afternoon sun.

Chugach Range, glowing with new snow.

Sun reflected in a parking lot puddle.

Red-stemmed pussy willows.

Magpie with red building in background.

Today was our first walk all of the way around the lake since November. Jim is adding another rock to a cairn that he's been building for three years now. By June, the stump will be surrounded with green suckers from the tree, grass, and weeds.

A float plane still on the lake. We saw a couple of others that were moored, like this one, but no-one taking off or landing.

A plane with both wheels and skis - we saw several that like this one were landing on the runway rather than the lake.

A peaceful view of the still frozen lake.

All eighteen holes of the Palmer Golf Course are open, and the Anchorage courses are close to ready -- at least a month ahead of normal. This person is ready.

Cyclists claiming the road along the lake. We saw them later on their way out toward Point Woronzof.

Same group, about fifteen minutes later on the road to Woronzof.

Evening mountains (Alaska Range) at Point Woronzof, about 7:00 p.m.

Same mountains, at 9:10 p.m.

Anchorage skyline from Earthquake Park.

A nearly-full moon.

From left, Foraker, Huntington, Denali, from Point Woronzof, about 9:15 p.m.

The airport, and the Chugach Range to the east.

Fire Island, with the wind turbines at one end, and Redoubt looming up behind the other end.

Watching the sun set over the Alaska Range.