photo

photography

Black and white

original here: http://www.porchcoffee.org/2013/03/14/bright/

other, photography

The sun sets behind big diomede

photography

Another sunset

I like the sunsets here. Well come to think about it, I’ve never lived somewhere I didn’t like the sunsets. ‘Guess that means I like sunsets, generally speaking.

I like how sometimes one is wildly different from the next and sometimes its only a dab of color or a cloud differentiating one night’s sunset to the next, and I like how right after it disappears below the horizon someone a thousand miles away just turned a head to watch the sunset begin to mark the end of another day.

photography, stories

Top trip: wintertime

Firsts: ice axe, crampons, beard-frozen-to-parka, solo top trip, winter top trip.

I’m not sure I would’ve made it down safely if it weren’t for the tea and biscuits shot of calories and warmth one little climb short of the top.

The picture with the little pointy mountain is a shot east towards mainland AK and the village of Wales.

The nighttime shot is of the school, during the home-stretch back. I underestimated (badly) both how much daylight I had left and how long it’d take me.

The picture of me, that’s the only place up there where I could stand up straight-ish.

It was a good monday afternoon :)

diomede, photography

Big diomede and other unrelated stuff

Ice fog, snow and the fierce winter wind is beautiful in it’s unique way, but it’s nice to see the deep blue sky and our russian neighbor island once in a while. It’s been at least a week, maybe two, since I’ve seen something aside of white when I look out my classroom windows…

And in unrelated news, a box with tea in it and another with a nerf gun in it came in the mail this week :-). Money can’t buy happiness, I’m a firm believer, but it can buy nerf guns. money can buy big nerf guns. and big nerf guns are up there with homemade cookies, good cigars, coffee and good tea for being close to happiness.

DSCF1828 — see the nerf gun down there in the sneaky hiding place?

(of course, because of it's default status, the irish breakfast tea is in a lower cupboard closer to the stove) — (of course, because of it’s default status, the irish breakfast tea is in a lower cupboard closer to the stove)

photography

Is that a polar bear I see?

The good news is, they aren’t actually white, they look really yellow-ish, so they’re not all that hard to spot, and they purportedly don’t like to climb on the island, so safety is only a quick scramble away. No polar bears to see on this walk, maybe better luck next time.