The Sky Wasn't Red, This Morning

 ... but the clouds sure were.

This one's quite large: nearly 7,000 pixels wide. I left it alone so you can get a better feel for the east horizon in Anchorage, where it was taken about 0830 this morning. 

To see full-size, click on the image above. Then right-click on the new, larger image, and select "open in new tab". That one will be full size.

I hope you enjoy. 

Brigid's Back!

Many of you loved to read Brigid's blog, Home on the Range, until she was forced by circumstances to take it down.

Good news: it's back! Click on the link for more that beautiful prose which we all love so much.

The Drive Home

I know it's my wont to go on and on about how beautiful this area is, but it's with some justification.
I rarely sit in the passenger seat, leaving my hands free, but today Older Daughter was driving. Here's part of our drive home.

Thanks to Blogger's ability to suck all the quality out of my HD recording, I don't recommend you enlarge the screen very much. Darn it.

A Beautiful Day

It's clear and 37° here on the hillside, with AccuHunch saying we'll have "abundant sunshine" and 60 today. I guess they mean it'll be sunny; not like it's arriving by delivery vans. Meanwhile, I understand there's frost in the valley below us. Not too surprising, that.

Tomorrow's forecast is "Rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers in the afternoon. High 54F. Winds ESE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 90%." Oh - and there's a high wind watch for tomorrow through Monday for "higher elevations". That could include us.

Whatever.

We're going to enjoy this beautiful day, and do a few simple chores. What we will NOT do is pay the slightest attention to the national news, nor worry about anything we can't control.

That's what God is for. :)

Spectacular

I know that today is a day of solemn reflection, sorrow, and shared remembrance of evil that was visited upon us, 14 years ago.

But God is still on His throne, and still in charge. Sometimes, He reminds me of that: there was a very bright, colorful and active auroral display directly over Anchorage this morning, just before 06:00.  Younger Daughter called while I was driving to work, telling me to look up as soon as I parked.

The aurora changed shapes, and occasionally displayed rainbow-like colors (not just green) as they twisted and writhed across the sky. At one point forming a nearly straight line from horizon to horizon, then crescent-shaped, then small enough to be blocked from sight with the palm of my hand.

Then large again. Fluttering, flickering, fading and brightening, and moving like a living thing. Several of us were just standing in the parking lot, staring heavenward with our mouths open.

I'm certain someone who was farther from streetlights will have videoed this display, and I'll put it here as soon as I find it. But they looked a lot like this:

Wow. Just wow!

Video: The World Is Beautiful

This one's too nice to keep to myself. :)

Unalaska: Aleutian Beauty, Aleutian History

UNALASKA, Alaska--—

It's often referred to as the birth place of the winds, with an ancient history that dates back more than 9,000 years, culturally rich and steeped in tradition.

Dutch Harbor, Alaska

 The Aleutian region is made up of about 100 islands that stretch nearly 1,200 miles west from the tip of the Alaska Peninsula, marks the line between the Bering Sea.

Dutch Harbor on a rare, sunny winter's day

But for all its beauty, this was once the scene of suffering and brutality.

Roughly 6 months after America entered the World War II, the Japanese attacked Dutch harbor and invaded both the islands of Kiska and Attu, the first and only time that a foreign army has occupied U.S. soil since the war of 1812.

Video and the rest of the story here.

Personal note: I was stationed on Adak for two years in the mid-70s. That island is some 1,325 miles west/southwest of Anchorage, and I can personally confirm the video comments about rugged terrain and rugged, brutal weather.

I absolutely loved it.

I Don't Know About You

but I enjoy winter.

Winters in Alaska are not much like winters in the Midwest. We tend not to have ice storms, nor the heavy, wet snows that snarl traffic and close airports. This dry, fluffy snow is not hard to drive through, given sufficient ground clearance and the right tires, and it doesn't keep us from our appointed rounds.

It can be hard to find places to store it all, in snowy years. But deep down, True Alaskans© want to see how much snow we get each year, for bragging rights.

Snow makes the trees look pretty and white, and True Alaskans© love the way the landscape appears in the morning after a heavy frost. It's such a beautiful thing to see everything all the same shade of white, with steam clouds rising from buildings and cars. 

There is something almost inexpressibly pure about fresh snow gleaming in the winter sunlight, on a day when it's so cold that your first breath upon going outdoors is pulled right out of your throat. The air is crisp, and the snow is crystalline, crunching and squeaking under your boots as you walk across the drive. 

I love this land.