Gaining daylight

I snapped this photo from my balcony as the twilight set in this afternoon. Today is the shortest day of the year, with just 5 hours, 26 minutes and 58 seconds of daylight in Anchorage. Tomorrow we gain 6 seconds of daylight, which may seem small, but it means a lot as cold winter days become brighter and lighter. Cheers and happy winter solstice!

No baseball today

While I hear Washington feels a bit like Alaska this week, I think we've gotten a dose of Seattle's typical weather. It's rained on top of our snow for three consecutive days turning our winter wonderland into patches of ice, slush and mud. While school has been called off in Seattle for too much snow, we had the first "snow" days here in my two years here, for a lack thereof. The rain on top of snow made roads so slick that police responded to 89 vehicle incidents on Monday. I got off work a little early at the start of my four-day weekend and decided to walk through the baseball fields across the street to capture a little of the drizzly mess and play with my new camera.

Fun new heights

Davin and I discovered a new piece of playground equipment had been installed at our favorite playground on a recent bike ride. It's a giant jungle gym made of steel and rope. I climbed to the top with another mom on the playground at the cajoling of our kids. It wasn't so bad.

This isn't redundant ...

This sign hangs over the soup aisle at my friendly neighborhood Carr's store (Alaska's Safeway). I guess they just wanted to be thorough.

Another two-wheeled adventure

We took another long bike trip last Monday. This time we took Chester Creek Trail the opposite direction. I've seen this creek before, but the greenbelt leads all the way to a community pool and a Chinese restaurant we like, so we are scheming future weeknight rides here.

New bikes!

 

My wonderful husband treated himself and I to new bikes recently. The day we bought them we rode several miles from our apartment, to Westchester Lagoon, along the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, to downtown Anchorage. We stopped for lunch at a park and later in downtown to browse the Saturday Market. Then we looped back home up Cordova. Davin was a trooper, his first real long bike ride since he's previously had to stick to our neighborhood.

Oreo milkshakes and warm summer nights

Davin and his neighbor friends, brothers Richard and Philip, take a break from bikes and squirt guns for a homemade treat Friday night.

Summer evenings in Anchorage

We took a walk on Chester Creek trail to the bookstore Monday night and it was lush and green. We could smell the campfire smoke from the homeless camps hidden behind the trees by those live in the woods in tents during the summer. Despite the fact, it was a really nice evening for a walk.

This funny grass makes the woods look all floaty and fairy-like. Something you might see in a movie.

Joshua snagged some sweet-smelling lilacs for me. I made a bouquet with these and leftover greens from the wedding when we arrived home.

These baseball fields narrate the soundtrack to my summer. Announcers, cheering fans, music, and the occasional plink of a bat hitting a ball, waft across the street, into the open windows of my apartment each evening. This is just a small game, but the big league field and stands are in the background where the big speakers amplify everything.

Hidden snow and the ice cream truck

 

Davin and I took a walk to Valley of the Moon Park on Saturday afternoon for a picnic in the park. It was a beautiful day. Two ice cream trucks had a heyday sitting in the parking lot waiting for kids to drag their parents over. Ice cream trucks need no marketing other that persuasive children. All the owners have to do is drive around and turn on that annoying music. Children yell, "ICE CREAM MAN," and it's all over. 

Above Davin tries to multitask scooting and enjoying a Choco-Taco. Needless to say, I ended up carrying the scooter the rest of the way home. Below is a rouge pile of snow we discovered in the shade on this 60-degree day.

More moose

 I stood on my balcony and watched moose feast on the landscaping instead of eating breakfast this morning. The mama moose reaches high tree branches leaving the low foliage to her nearby youngster.

Baby moose came right up and nibbled on the shrubs next to my balcony. The mother stays close in the background. If I wasn't safely on my balcony I would never get so close to a baby moose.

A visitor

The kitties realize they aren't the only ones in the neighborhood. They were very opinionated on the matter.

City moose on Chester Creek Trail

Moose sighting on a walk Friday afternoon.

A little bit closer now.

First response

 We got our first RSVP ... yes, our Dias neighbors and I supported the postal service by mailing an invite and response across the street.

A young photographer in the making

Davin went out to watch the Iditarod dog teams run past the apartment with my camera. These photos are all his. He turns 10 in May. Showing them to me after the shoot, he said "I like this one because the dog's tongue is hanging out."

I like the photographer poking into the right side of the frame here.

The beginning of the end ... of winter

Fresh snow dumped on Anchorage and temperatures dropped back into the 20s just in time for Fur Rendezvous -- or Fur Rondy as the locals call it -- this weekend. It's the community event's 75th anniversary, including world championship sled dog racing (short distances, high speeds, unlike the cross-state Iditarod in March), hockey, ice skating, snow sculpting, outhouse races and the running of the reindeer downtown. Basically a celebration of all things Alaska. It's considered the beginning of the end of winter. Originally it signified celebrated the return of the fur trappers from their winter hauls. The sled dog race trail runs the side street to our apartment building. Davin and I went out to watch the teams run by today.

40 Degrees and slushy

So I didn't get out for a walk on my long weekend after all. Instead I was stuck inside with something very much like the flu (it might have actually been the flu, but I didn't bother with the doctor).

But eventually I did brave the outdoors this week for a slushy walk to the bookstore with my boys.

 

Last time I photographed this walk it looked like this.

 Davin carves "Davin was here" into the snow mount built of months of snowplow refuse.

Frosted over

Days of heavy fog and temperatures in the teens created a heavy coat of frost over ... everything.

Ice crystals extending from a sign in my parking lot.

I wasn't the only one out taking pictures.

Waiting patiently for summertime. It appears my neighbors don't have snow tires for these bikes. (Many Alaskans do sport extra-tough tires for all-weather cycling.)

An icy sign.

German beer. Alaskan food and art.

FRIDAY: We kicked off out weekend with a visit to Oktoberfest at the Egan Convention Center in downtown Anchorage. Then a trip to our favorite Anchorage wine bar, Crush.

TODAY: We picked up some late-season Alaska Grown food. This is the logo for Alaskan produce and agricultural products. There are little Alaska Grown farmers markets all over town through the summer. There's one just a block from my apartment on Saturdays and another in the Carr's (Safeway) parking lot near my work on Wednesdays. The markets season will be over in about two weeks.

It's not uncommon to see people wearing sweatshirts with the Alaska grown logo on it too. Very punny.

Later I'm going to walk over to the Make it Alaska festival at the Sullivan Arena. It's a fair featuring only products, arts, etc. made in Alaska.