it is spring, right?

 Because it looks a lot like fall.

tramping here and there

 

movement

 

Near one of the few current spots of open water in Anchorage, we spotted this short-term visitor last week.  This may have been my first ever Snow Goose sighting.  I honestly can't recall if one (or many) had ever crossed my path, so to speak, prior.  Mixed in with many geese and Mallards, this birdie couldn't care less that it was drawing attention.  It was focused solely on eating.

Not a great photo (low light, cloudy day, distance), but what a handsome drake.  He and his pretty partner were fishing and preening.  Since my Yellowstone days, Buffleheads have been one of my favorite waterfowl species. 

This beautiful lady flew in to join the Bufflehead pair, and I could have watched her for hours.  Again, not a great photo.  However, I like her visible crest and reflection in the water.  Common Mergansers are another favorite bird.  Calling them a favorite may seem like there are birds I don't like or enjoy.  Not really true.  Perhaps the only bird I recall not being entirely enamored with is the Skua.  Once you've had one dive bomb you in Antarctica, it's easy to not be a fan.  

Perhaps my admiration for some species is their connection to where I first began to truly notice and fall in love with birds - Yellowstone National Park.  Several species we see passing through in spring and fall are common in YNP.  Safe to say, there is a bit of nostalgia intertwined with my adoration.  If we had Western Meadowlarks, Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Ruddy Ducks, American White Pelicans, and Red-winged Blackbirds to boot, I'd be an even happier bird watcher in Alaska.  

between-time

Migratory birds are being spotted around town - Trumpeter Swans, Northern Pintails, Common Mergansers, Gadwalls, and my personal harbinger of spring - gulls.  Breakup season is upon us, but you could be fooled into thinking winter hasn't yet left as today we have fresh snow on the ground.  Waterways are opening, however, which is allowing our avian friends from the south to return.  Looking forward to heading out with binoculars in the upcoming days. 

As it had been brightly sunny and warm for a few weeks (snow melting, songbirds collecting nest building material), I'd been thinking about our back garden.  More specifically, I've been thinking about the beady ornaments and garden knickknacks that live there during summer and fall.  Ever one to keep things until they are just this side of useful or only slightly damaged, I decided to dismantle a few mobiles.  They have been hanging from metal hooks on our fence, but on windy days they often get tangled between the pickets.  Rather than have to potentially bug our new neighbors for access to their yard to collect broken strands of beads, I took them apart.  And now I get to daydream a bit about where/how these stone chips, plastic flowers & glass beads will be used next.  Hmmm.

handiwork

I am not all together sure when hearts became my thing, but I am drawn to keep making them.  Over and over in clay, of fabric or felt, from wire and beads, on paper.  I've read some artists find hearts trite, but I suppose that could be said of flowers or fruit or landscapes, no?  As my mom would say "to each their own."  Here are some hearts I've made, some quite recent and others within the last year or so.  A few were given as gifts, and the others live on a wall in my craft room.  Do I have still others in the works, projects started and others in mind?  Yes, I do.  

dilly-dally

It is currently -13°F at 10:00 am.  We're seeing some of the coldest temperatures on record in Anchorage of late.  The upside is how sunny it has been.  The downside is that it's uncomfortably cold to go for a neighborhood stroll even with multiple layers, thick socks in thick boots, an ear-covering hat, fleece scarf, shin-length down coat, and snow pants that loudly swish with each step.  A few months back, a cow moose gave me a look while wearing said snow pants.  As if to say "darn, lady.  Those pants are ridiculously noisy!" 

Winter lingers on.  Or you could say it is dilly-dallying along.  As this season does in Alaska.  An email in my inbox today suggested March is the time to start prepping your garden for spring planting.  Well, our garden is under several feet of snow and will remain so for many weeks to come.  I suppose I can daydream about it for now.  Imagine how our ferns will start out as tightly curled fiddleheads that will later unfurl into tall and wide explosions of green.  Wonder what annuals will be available to buy come June.  Hope that a local nursery has another great crop of geraniums in every hue to plop into pots.  

Meanwhile, we will get out when temps allow us to explore and move.  Last week at the spot above - Baxter Bog - we saw loads of Black-capped Chickadees and Black-billed Magpies, several sets of animal tracks, and a few heaps of moose scat.  It was a gorgeous day, and it was around 30° warmer than this morning.  Today feels more like an indoors kind of day.  Letter writing, laundry, baking, and lots of hot beverages kind of day.

grey days

Today I woke up wishing for clear sidewalks and streets, paths in the woods without crusty snow, ice and mud.  In other words, I feel like walking.  Wandering somewhere with no goal in mind other than to be outdoors, to inhale fresh air and to not mind that the sky and ground are the same color of washed out grey/white.  

Tomorrow is December first which means we have roughly four to five months of winter ahead of us.  Today, I am already over this season.  When we begin to gain more minutes of daylight after the solstice, perhaps I'll have more positive feelings about it.  But today....I am missing milder weather.

it's a cool, cool summer

Not a Bananarama cruel, cruel summer.  But a thus far cool, cool summer.  June 4th, and it's only 48° F outdoors.  I'm ready for a warm up.  Not hot weather, mind.  I never desire hot weather.  I would, however, like to stop wearing thick winter socks and sleeping with multiple blankets.  'Tis Alaska, I know, but geez.

Who isn't complaining about the cool weather?  Our garden perennials and annuals.  They seem to be thriving.  There's the bright spot in temperatures being ten-ish degrees below "normal."  

knocking about

 

of late

 

hibernal

November second, and already twenty-two inches of snow has fallen on Anchorage.  Today we broke trail through somewhat compressed snow that was nearly to our knees so we could wander through a favorite patch of wilderness.  I joked that I was the lead bison as I made my way forward, imagining how tiring it must be to shovel snow from side to side with a heavy head just to get to something edible.  I am certain that my perseverance and stamina would cease long before a bison's would.  

There are no free-roaming wild bison in Anchorage, but we did see plenty of tracks made by much smaller critters.  Mice?  Voles?  Squirrels?  A fox?  We also saw a small spider making its way across the snow.  A few Black-billed Magpies were nearby so we encouraged the little arachnid to make haste lest it become a snack.  Hope it reached its destination safely.

 

We were glad to have mild conditions (32 F with a light breeze) to enjoy the wintry sky and landscape.