To market, to market -- June 6, 2015

Gray Owl Farm at the South Anchorage Farmers Market.


Markets, markets everywhere,
Nor any basil being sold --
The local farmers have none to share
No pesto stories were told.

Local cucumber and radishes were easy to find today; I just needed the basil: We got to the Spenard Market just after the one vendor sold her last bunch. Arctic Organics at 15th Street and Cordova said, "Come back in two weeks." No basil that I could see at South Anchorage Market, or Sagaya's, or Natural Pantry. I bought a jar of prepared pesto, and took it home to combine with sliced cucumber and radishes -- which the markets did have -- for crostini appetizers. Sprinkled with a bit of hot pepper spice (Ichimi Tagarashi, although I think that any hot pepper would be fine), they were delicious.


The lack of basil was more than made up for by all of the interesting vendors at the various markets. At South Anchorage, we saw ice cream, doggie treats, La Grassa Pasta (I picked up the pea and ricotta pasta that I ordered earlier), local seafood, sod, wine-tasting, and hundreds of plants.

The Hungry Squirrel Food truck at South Anchorage Market. At the moment, they have only cannoli, but hope to soon be allowed to sell meat sandwiches.

A young girl getting her start at the South Anchorage Market; later, her dad came along andappropriated the microphone and guitars.

Dahlias at the South Anchorage Market.

At the Spenard Market -- Balanas Bros., gelato, Steam Dot coffee, Fire Island, Fromaggio, pirogis, cupcakes, half a dozen greens vendors, a few crafts booths, and Bamboo food truck.

Mixed greens with (edible) flowers, from Balanas Bros at Spenard Market.

A writer/vendor at Spenard Market.

Fire Island under a Spenard Market tent.

Fire Island home location, with plenty of people willing to sit outside despite occasional drips of rain.

At Sagaya's, as always, the Asian produce section was even more artfully arranged than the regular produce.



After the markets -- more things to do.

An actual hungry squirrel, not lunching on cannoli.

At Point Woronzof, a UPS plane coming in to land.

Rain clouds over the Kenai Peninsula and the Mat-Su Valley (Fire Island, not the bakeshop, to the right of the photo).

A very odd plant in a local garden -- a spiral-leaf rhubarb?

Late evening sky, with rain on the Seward Highway (and our windshield), and late evening sun in the northwest.

Pansies.

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.

May Day -- May 1, 2015

We did not make little paper baskets and fill them with candy and flowers, and hang them on doorknobs, push the bell and run away to hide. That's what we did as kids in Buchanan Michigan. Those were delightful days.

Today was a pleasure too, but not at all the same. May Day passed in Anchorage in a more subdued style with sun, a cool breeze, and more spring time action around town.

Construction downtown, with pedestrians barred from sidewalks everywhere by stretches of orange netting.

Boy with a kite -- the south wind was good for something besides keeping me chilly. The boy in blue behind him is playing Frisbee with his dad.

The kite aloft.

Picnic on a sunny Friday afternoon at Valley of the Moon park.

Basketball on the Park Strip near the old Pete's City Gym building. A couple of months ago, this was in use as an ice hockey rink.

Anchorage has some odd sculpture. This one is in front of what used to be a telephone company building on E Street. Jim thinks that it dates from the early 1970s, and that its name was something like Discovery (perhaps some readers will know more about this). White paint has been added to Dad's, Mom's, and Baby's faces. They are looking in awe (apparently) at a telephone handset.

A log home with a miniature cache in front, and wood flower carving on the front door.

None of the birds (or moose) got around to eating these berries on the mountain ash tree, and the new leaves are pushing out to the sun anyway.

Green grass in the evening sunshine. In a week, this will be so common that I will quit posting pictures of it.

Evening did come, and with it a nearly full moon.

Mt. Redoubt, seen on the other side of the airport peninsula. That's either a small cloud or a puff of smoke (it's a volcano) on its right side.

A lot of people came out to see the sunset, including a small pod of bikers.

Three Alaska Airlines flights landed, one right after the other.

Sun setting behind Susitna. A few days ago, it was to the left of the mountain.

Magpie at Westchester Lagoon.

April 29, 2015

Dandelions say "Spring" just as well as any of the other flowers.

The water is running at the Copper Whale Inn, corner of 5th and L street, and the bicycle rental place is open -- although not doing a lot of business yet.

The dogs are keeping a watchful eye on us, but only the corgi thought it necessary to bark.

Now there are masses of green like this, rather than just an isolated branch or two here and there.

Flamingos basking in the spring air -- it was a little cool and windy, with a few drops of rain, but we repeat daily -- "there's no snow."

This person is ready to garden.

Don't know who she is, but so well-dressed that she must be Victorian rather than Renaissance.

Tulips.

Is the ship a dredge? No matter, the view is spectacular.

The Chugach at sunset, from Point Woronzof.

Sunset at Point Woronzof -- actually, an hour or so before the is really down.

Not sure of the name for these.