Professor Sharon

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….the circle of life…and water…?

October 23rd, 2010 · family, Musings

This week was filled with lovely and quick visits with our daughter, granddaughter, son (twice during the week between business locations at nearby large cities), 88 year old aunt and lovely fall weather.

Last night we bid adieu to our son – leaving to catch his plane — as we were leaving to see a Phil Ochs concert.   The circle part?   35 years ago, while pregnant with this same son, we saw one of Phil Ochs last concerts…..  More circle part?   Protest songs that are still relevant.  So the circle of life brought me joy and sadness in several ways last night.

What?  Still wondering about the water part?  Came home to the 112 year old house’s third floor toilet pouring water into my second floor office – just missing student work and my laptop…..

Life circles on in wonderful ways.

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Glaciers and Bears and Whales, OH MY!

August 17th, 2010 · Alaska, Musings, travel

The last couple of days on our Alaska adventure have been phenomenal!  It has been consistently rainy (in fact Anchorage and surrounds are hitting a record of 29 days in a row with rain).  While the rain has dampened, well actually drenched us, it has not stopped our enjoyment or wonder at the sights of Alaska.

A day or two ago, we saw Portage Glacier by boat, then we walked to Exit Glacier on foot.  What is quite fascinating is the sheer size of these things — try to find the people in the photo of Exit Glacier.  Seward AK - Aug 14 077 - people near exit glacier

Can you see the people in this photo?  Seward AK - Aug 14 082 - Exit Glacier long shot

Here is Exit Glacier from the road a little ways away.

Today we encountered Aialik Glacier via boat in the Kenai Fjords National Park (as well as humpback whale, puffins, stellar sea lions, seals, and more).  The boat we were on was able to get within 1/4 mile of the face of the Glacier and we beheld the spectacle of it calving!  The sound is astounding.  I was close to tears with the wonder.Seward, AK - Aug 16, 2010 115 - Whale spout

The spouting of a humpback!

Seward, AK - Aug 16, 2010 057 - Aialik Galacier long short

Here is the Aialik Glacier as we motor up to it — it is a mile across the front.

Seward, AK - Aug 16, 2010 076 - Ice berg

The same glacier with an iceberg in front of the it.  You see only 1/10 of an iceberg above the water.

Seward, AK - Aug 16, 2010 091 - Glacier before CalvingThe glacier up close — please remember that it is 600 feet high here!

Seward, AK - Aug 16, 2010 070 - Glacier calvingThe glacier calving — huge groans happen, huge crashing of pieces of ice as large as cars from flying down!

The two pictures of the bear and folks at the tent was this:  the captain had pulled the boat closer to shore to allow us to see the bear when we all realized that it was strolling up the beach toward the tents and the folks were clueless that a bear was heading their way!  Just as we folks on the boat began to shout, they noticed the bear and began to do their bear shouting too!   (Yesterday on a group hike, our leader suggested to hubby and I we take a different route back to the parking lot from a hike to a maritime rain forest.  We went a ways and came upon bear tracks — we decided to turn around and rejoin our group!) By the way, for another lesson in perspective, that bear on the beach was 200-300 pounds – a juvenile.

Seward, AK - Aug 16, 2010 101 - bear by peopleBear by the people!

Seward, AK - Aug 16, 2010 104 - people by bearPeople by the bear!

American history, Native peoples history, and climate change take on a whole new meaning here in Alaska.

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Sharing community and culture

August 12th, 2010 · Important People, Musings, travel

Anchorage - Aug 12 2010 005Anchorage - Aug 12 2010 040Anchorage - Aug 12 2010 045The last couple of days here in Anchorage have been delightful, funny and moving!
Can you find the polar bear?

First, here’s a picture of animals from the zoo — a small but enchanting place. We thought of our daughter and granddaughter as thy are both animal lovers: no lions, but bears aplenty!

Another place our theatrical daughter would love: Cyrano’s. We saw a two Women cast tell “Tales of the frozen north” — a play based on journals of the gold rush days in Alaska.
Anchorage Aug 11 044
The few pictures don’t do justice to the event we took part in yesterday at the Alaska Native Heritage Museum.

We spent the afternoon at the Alaska Native Heritage Museum. We were privileged to be part of the installation of a totem house post in the long house of the southeast native peoples of Alaska. We had met and heard a lecture at the Anchorage Museum by a Tsimshain carver: David Boxley.
Anchorage - Aug 12 2010 068

The pictures don’t do justice to the glory and moving beauty of an afternoon participating in an event the elder said very few people get to do. There was welcoming songs and dances, a carver’s dance, and then 4 teams of 16 people carried the totem around the entire lake before installing it inside the long house (only the native people were allowed to be part of that portion). I found it deeply moving. It was an afternoon’of great spiritual importance to the Tsimshain people and the gift of participating was one of the best I’ve ever been given.
Anchorage - Aug 12 2010 029

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Mountains to Gift Shops…

August 10th, 2010 · Art, Children, Musings, Site Seeing

Anchorage Sun - day 3 026 (2)

As we walk back and forth each day to our bed and breakfast,  actually depending on the cloud cover which so far (and we’re told is most times) is always there; we get peeks of the Chugach Mountains.  This morning they were particularly majestic and bright in the bit of sun we were treated to today!

Anchorage, ak Day 3 013-small

Native art is everywhere.  This is hubby standing next to a Totem placed in front of a Court House.  When I have time another day I’ll write more about a special lecture we went to by David Boxley, a Native totem maker.  We hope to see more of his work on Wednesday at a celebration of a totem being raised in the local Native cultural museum.

Anchorage Sun - day 3 025 (2)And, this is for our Avi-do – our lover of all things dog.  We haven’t seen any sled dogs yet; except for a puppy and I’ll post that  photo another day.  But we knew that our Avi-do would like to make every single one of these stuffed huskies her friends!

Anchorage is so different from the rest of America — much of which we have traveled over the years.  It is rich in history, rich in art, rich in culture, rich in peoples with opinions, and rich in respect.  The lower 48 could learn a lot from these folks.

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Anchorage or Bust!

August 7th, 2010 · Musings

We’re here! We were exhausted on Thursday night when we arrived. The time change is 4 hours from Massachusetts and by the time we touched down, we knew it. We had an 8 hour straight flight from Philadelphia. Fortunately, a pleasant seat mate; and we observed that everyone on board was congenial. Strangers passed the time with each other; everyone was patient with the children on board, and the flight attendants were attentive. And, after buying a dinner to carry on in the Philadelphia airport; we got a free dinner on board! When’s the last time that happened?

We are staying in a beautiful B&B for the first few days about 6 blocks from the tourist downtown. Yesterday we spent the day in the art/culture museum — lovely. And, in true Sharon & hubby fashion, walked miles!

And lest you think we are in a “city”: here’s a quote from a travel brochure: “Did you know there are more than 1,900 moose, 250 black bears and 65 brown bears in the municipality of Anchorage?” Of course, Anchorage has a park that is 1/2 million acres!

Anchorage day 1 041

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