This Bud’s for You! (Warning – This Post Has Zero Political Content)
Another totally perfect day in Anchorage. I decided to take a little hike to see if things were waking up yet. Usually, the first spring flowers I see are violets, so I headed down to the creek to see if they’d decided to make an appearance yet, and check out what else might be around.
The first thing I noticed was….ash. Lots of it. After the eruption of Mt. Redoubt sprinkled a fine layer of powdery ash over Anchorage, everything turned grey. Then a couple more fresh blankets of snow, and it was all but forgotten. Well, now that the snow has melted…it’s baa-aack!
The whole forest floor was crusted with fine grey ash. Ultimately this will serve to deposit vital minerals into the soil, and refertilize the whole valley. But right now, it’s just a pain in the butt. My hiking companion was Buf the Dog. That’s not her real name, but Mudflatters know her by that monicker because she’s kind enough to say “BUF!” when something is around that I may not know about. And sometimes she just says “BUF!” for joy, and sometimes she says it for no reason at all. Buf loves to go hiking with me, but when I bring my camera, she knows I’m going to be a bit of a slowpoke. She loves to go on ahead, and wait patiently for me to catch up, and then just as I get there, she’ll take off running at top speed to her next waiting spot. Here she is waiting.
Normally, I don’t give this a second thought, but with all this volcanic debris, every time she took off, she’d leave a nice big cloud of ash which would make me scramble to get out of the way, cover my lens and try not to breathe too deeply. It also made me laugh, because it really did look like one of those cartoon characters, like the Roadrunner, that would take off down the road and leave nothing behind but that little round grey dust cloud.
Every twig, every leaf, even spiderwebs were covered.
It makes you wonder if we’re going to have an entire population of shrews and mice with respiratory ailments.
Mosses and lichens were out and enjoying the sunshine as well. I brought my macro lens, and had fun taking pictures of tiny things. This little lichen is called a “fairy cup.” The teeny indentation on the top could nicely cradle the head of a pin.
Beautiful shaggy mosses carpet rotting logs and tree stumps, and seem to stay green all winter under the snow. I like playing with the shallow depth of field on this lens.
Down by the creek, I hit paydirt! Eureka! A pile of nuggets! These, of course, are not the gold variety, but were left courtesy of Brian the Moose. His little deposits were everywhere.
As any Alaskan will tell you, moose nuggets are pretty inoffensive. After the winter season, they’re basically nothing but compact birch bark pellets. They don’t have an odor, and they actually burn quite nicely. A few years after I moved here, I was “initiated” and became a real Alaskan, according to Spouse, by eating a marshmallow roasted over a moose nugget fire which was contained inside a Maxwell House coffee can. I’m quite certain that this ceremony was devised on the spot just to see what this East Coaster was made of. I’m proud to say I did not disappoint Spouse, nor my group of pre-teen nephews who watched in amazement as I popped the marshmallow.
Moose nuggets are also used as raw material for tourist trinkets like moose nugget swizzle sticks, moose nugget Christmas ornaments, gold plated moose nugget jewelry….you name it, they have it.
And the creek is open! Hardly a sign of ice any more, although a few shelves of dirty ash-covered ice (as you can see in the foreground) jutted out from the shore, hovering a few inches over the rushing water.
The creek is meltwater from the snow-covered Chugach Mountains, and if you put your hand in it for more than a few seconds, it will turn red from the cold when you take it out. The sound of the rushing water was wonderful. One gets used to a padded muffled silence in the winter, that is only broken by the crunching or squeaking of snow underfoot. The singing, babbling cascading water tumbling over the rocks was like music.
My search for new life continued. Spring has not quite sprung here. This weekend with temperatures hitting 70 degrees, and clear blue sky, has felt like an anomaly. One gets the distinct impression that the plant kingdom hit the snooze alarm one too many times, and has missed this glorious chlorophyll-making opportunity completely.
I did, however, find some leftovers from last year, like these freeze dried, thawed out cranberries still hanging on.
And there were some big globules of hardened sap clinging tothe trunk of a fallen spruce tree. These are wonderful little treasures. You can snap them off the bark, and burn them like incense. They’re a bit smokey but they emit a wonderful sweet pungent evergreen smell. This one ended up in my pocket.
Also still in hibernation was the infamous bane of hikers everywhere…Devil’s Club. This aptly named plant has a habit of depositing the ends of its vicious spikes in your skin where they fester, and cause painful blistering. I don’t like Devil’s Club and it doesn’t like me. Interestingly, though, when the enormous leaves come out, and it displays its large cones of red berries in the fall, it’s one of the most beautiful plants in these parts. But now, in the early spring, it’s true personality lies revealed. I have heard it makes a potent medicinal tea, but this is one of those instances where the cure might be more dangerous than the illness, depending on your level of harvesting competence.
It’s easy to get very preoccupied looking down at all that’s going on underfoot, or at eye level. But every once in a while, it’s good to remember to look up. These are cottonwood trees. Mature cottonwoods get very tall, and these, I’d guess, are about 70 feet, give or take a little. They stand on either side of the trail like two sentinals, with bark so textured and thick you could stick your finger between the ridges up to your knuckle. If you were ever going to hug a tree, either one of these would be an excellent choice.
Buf was in doggie heaven…smelling the smells, panting in the sun, buf-ing for joy, drinking from the creek and radiating pure happiness. It’s been a long winter for dogs too.
The winter always takes its toll in this area. Wind gusts in excess of 120mph this season took down many large trees. Some were ripped up by the roots and others were just snapped in half like twigs. Trees that have been weakened by the spruce bark beetle infestation of some years ago are more susceptible to this fate.
As our little hike came to an end, I came across this relic that Buf found last year. I think of it as the Ghost of Brian Past. She found an old moose skeleton back in a very boggy area, and began bringing it back piece by piece. First a leg bone, then a rib, then an antler, and finally this creepy looking….pelvic…thingy. Any time now, new moose calves will begin appearing in the valley to begin the circle of life all over again.
And then, sure enough, the last thing I saw…the thing I had been looking for the whole time, was right there! A bud! Confirmation that spring is here. In 3 and a half months we’ll be facing our first frost, but in the meantime, the race has started. Soon the world will be green and full of birds, and animals, all taking advantage of these long days of abundance to raise their young and fatten up for the next winter.
Thanks for coming on the trail with me Mudflatters! I’ll post updates on all the goings on outside during the summer. Meanwhile, this bud’s for you!
As you go on more walks, maybe you could share photos of fireweed as the season goes on. We were fascinated by them each time we’ve been up there. Our last trip was in August-September, so we got to see them nearly done for the year.
Meant thanks for the walk in and thru nature
Tank you AKM while you had 70 degrees we had 45 degrees and rain and I am in the lower 48 midwest.Kind of off topic but our democratic Governor is working with the state next to us who is a republican to help the people in both states as best they can.It shows some can work together for the betterment of all
Awesome photo essay! Thank you 🙂
Can’t believe it – just reread – should be “piece” not “peace” – too early in the morning here. Head not working yet.
great post. when i think of alaska all i think of is snow. you opened my mind.
Am really enjoying learning about spring in the far northern hemisphere. What a beautiful peace of heaven you all inhabit.
We are in the middle of autumn here and I am looking forward to winter.
I love that dog word “buf”. I always think dogs that use “buf” are particularly special creatures.
Thank you AKM for sharing your bushwalk with us.
The photos and descriptions were wonderful – thanks!
I’ve always heard that with the spring comes the blackflies and mosquitoes. Is it really that big of a problem?
This is how I harvest and prepare Devil’s Club for medicinal tea. It’s a member of the Ginseng family.
Take some spring shoots (stems) about 1″ around. Scrape off stickers with a pocket knife. The inside of the bark has the medicine so one can cut and peel off the bark and then cut the bark into small strips about 1/2 inch by four inches or so. Three or four good stalks will make a supply that will last you for awhile.
Lay out the cut up strips in the sun to dry. Package up the dried pieces into a Ziploc or other container and refrigerate.
When feeling a need for a medicinal tea, put a handful of dried bark into a cup of your favorite herbal tea and microwave an extra minute or so more than usual or seep in boiling water. It has a soothing medicinal taste and works pretty good also.
Other folks have learned other ways. Some harvest the roots. Some nibble on the buds in spring–but I find the buds way too strong for my own preferences.
Buf looks like a cross between a fox and white tailed deer!
Moose Pucky likes mosses and mooses. Thanks for the tour, AKM.
A beautiful hike. Thank you. 🙂
Terry Gross is doing a program on NPR relatives of Yon Dung today. The dung beetles. 😉
NICE!!! I, too, love to take close-up photos of nature (and rusty fences…?) with a macro lens! I recently traded up to one with 18x zoom and I LOVE it!!!
Here in Juneau, the crocuses are already dying off, but the violets are sending up their little green leaves. I spent the week in my yard, uncovering the new primrose growth and finding little “treasures” under the dead leaves. If I get any good photos, I will send you some! Happy Spring!!
AKM: Great photos, cute doggie (we also call ours “buf” on occasion, a favorite “word” of hers), glad you had a nice sunny day. Winter isn’t gone down here in the lower 48 – we had snow yesterday in the high desert of central Oregon. Since it ended up being 45 or so, the snow melted then it rained. This, after it hit 84 on April 21st. The weather just can’t decide. My daffodils are confused. 🙂
Thanks for taking us on your walk with you. What a lovely little outing.
The small Idaho town I used to live in was covered with 3 inches of Mt. St. Helens ash back in the early 80s. It hung around FOREVER. I remember playing Frisbee in the park with a bandana wrapped around my nose and mouth. Believe me when I say, I feel for you.
Thank you for taking me along on your walk. I’ll have a marshmallow please. 🙂
Wonderful post… love the sap incense idea!!!!!
Now to find some sap…..
Thanks for the wonderful photos! You sure have a way with that snazzy camera of yours 🙂
Thank you, AKM.
This penguin knows how to catch fish.
http://filespump.com/archive/content/images/funny/hungry_penguin.html
Thanks for the nature walk, it was beautiful.
We’re looking at the end of the comfortable hiking season in the Everglades and Big Cypress. We’ll try one more expedition this coming weekend and hope the bugs (deer flies, mostly) don’t chase us away. It will be in the low 90s so we’ll do some serious hydrating. We’re in a drought so we can walk into cypress domes that would normally have a gator hole in the center complete with gator. With the water gone, we can see bases of cypresses that are ten feet across. It’s quite a sight.
oh thank you for that lovely hike! it was a wonderful way to start my day! thank you for sharing
Nice pictures indeed.
Sorry to go off-thread, but I just read this in my NY Daily News, and almost threw up my breakfast:
Sarah Palin honored by NRA with special Alaska-themed assault rifle
WASHINGTON – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was bashed for her pricey wardrobe, but now she’s getting a lethal accessory.
The National Rifle Association Foundation will present Sen. John McCain’s ill-fated running mate with a military-style assault weapon next week.
great pictures
OT The Boston Globe is closing. I am truly in mourning. The last real paper in New England. The news will soon go the way of radio. One channel of noise. Then what?
AKM–freeze dried and thawed currents or highbush cranberries? They look more like hb cranberries to me…but then again I’m not sure what actually grows up your way. If that photo was taken here, I’m sure they’d be cranberries. Anyway, fabulous(!) photos, esp. the macro of the fairy cup! And Buf is adorable.
Gah! You’re totally right about the berries. (smacks self on forehead) This is why I have a berry guide in the fall…I’m probably the kind that would make a poison cobbler! Thanks for catching me. And I should never ever pick mushrooms! 😉 AKM
Thx AKM, what a TREAT! Beautiful pics and wonderful writing. Great to finally meet Buf, who I presume was the one leaving noseprints on your window (remember the windex wiping that drew Brian to give you/us that Goofy Grin and is now printed on all our favorite coffee mugs?).
Buf looked like one happy companion for your hike today. Glad you had a fabulous weekend.
Great pics and write-up! I’d love to see more like this. Maybe a weekly non-political post?
nswfm CA Says:
May 3rd, 2009 at 5:50 PM
OK, now I get it. The landscaping around me is like that, too. We should get together—I can see the Topa Topas and Santa Monica Mountains from my house,
________________________
Yes, but can you see Russia? 😉
Does your view make you an expert on the animals tha will attack you and do flybys?
__________________________
I’m about 30 min away from you. The Ventura Hills are already showing some Buf.
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Here, too. But it’s still nice, and the weather, I think, is turning out some great oranges.
__________________________
If you send me a message on the forum, we can meet up. A friend and I’ll be going to a wedding up there in two weeks.
_________________________
Heh! I’ll be at a wedding in the bay area that weekend. Enjoy your day in Santa Barbara. With all the weddings and graduations in my family this summer, I can see it’s going to be darned busy. As you can see, I’ve never figured out the forum.
AKM, enjoy your spring. My AK relatives always reveled in it. They certainly appreciated it more than those of us wih the milder winters. Glad I’ve done both.
redwoodmuse…I just added a comment to the ADN thingie.
Let’s see how long it lasts there….
oooh…we’re soooo bad bringing politics into the the nice and quiet post…
[justafarmer saying I’m bad and sooo sorry…]
my dog Hogger also brings home “trophies” in pieces from the woods…
whitetail deer here…one time he dragged home a 9-point buck skull…
usally it’s vertebrae, leg bones and the weird pelvic bone thingies!
Hogger & Buf are kindred spirits!
whoops, here is more politics…adn just wrote that ‘enough with the ethics complaints.’
http://www.adn.com/opinion/view/story/782174.html?pageNum=4&&&mi_pluck_action=page_nav#Comments_Container
Great pics! Spring in Southcentral is something special.
Sorry to insert politics into the thread but here we have it…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-rodda/bachmann-uses-fake-george_b_194960.html
Don Young is a co-sponsor to this silliness.
Thank you for showing me Alaska through your eyes. It is raining at lot here in Philly. The Iris are dark blue in my yard and I put the first parsley and cucumbers in the ground. Spring is my favorite season.
I hung around with a lot of photographers in my misspent youth. You are a very good photographer.
pouring down rain here in eastern Kentucky, but it’s lots of fun in the greenhouse, and out in the fields the onions, potatoes, peas, squash, mustard, cabbages are exploding. And I found some volunteer cucumbers coming up in one field!
Strawberries and blackberries are showing blooms. I’ll be climbing to the top of the ridge in a couple of weeks for huckleberries (just have to remember to seriously cover myself up with repellent for chiggers…huckleberries grow so close to the ground and the darned chiggers go straight for the tender parts of the body, if you get my drift….
Loads of native flowers and plants bursting as well. I’ll take pics tomorrow.
Love seeing Paula’s pics of her garden stuff at her blog at iheartmudflats. Hoping to have my own website & blog updated soonest and added o the blogroll.
Love the pictures! I especially love the macro photos of the fairy cup fungus and of course, the bud. Looking for spring brings to mind a girlhood memory, reading “The Secret Garden.” The magical scene for me was when the children find the entrance to the sealed up Secret Garden, brush aside the dead leaves and are amazed to see green buds of long dormant plants pushing through the sweet smelling soil. Every time that I uncovered my own garden in the spring, I always enjoy the moment captured in that novel. Thanks for the nature walk and the memories.
We had some almost Summer type weather here in CA the previous week… almost the 90’s. This week it was much cooler (by about 20 degrees ) and Wet. With all the picture taking going on I snuck out between showers to snap a few pics.
I have a few more pics… but not sure how to post them.
I submitted just ‘one’ for now on the I Heart Mudflats, BUT… I am not even sure ‘where’ it is supposed to show up… or How…?
I’ll wait and keep my fingers crossed I guess.
Lovely photos! One of our trips to Alaska was in the month of May, and we thought it quite lovely. In the ten days we were there, we could really see a change. Thanks for sharing these!
Wow Akm! What a fascinating adventure…and thanks so much for sharing the bud!
Those are stunning images ~ from the little furry creature sticking out from the ash in upper part of frame #1….to the mosses and lichens….all are absolutely beautiful. I so appreciate politic-free Sundays! Thanks again for sharing the journey…. 😉
O T
I just got an ADN email alert. it said….
Breaking News
May 3 2009
Redoubt volcano activity increases
Mount Redoubt showed increased unrest Sunday as the volcano continued to rumble and grumble and produced a substantial ash and steam plume.
Glad you got out in the beautiful sun AKM! What a weekend, eh?
Thank you AKM, for the beautiful Alaskan spring time excursion! Am glad you took the time for exploration and rejuvenation. Hope the good ‘vibes’ from this time stay with you during the coming work/political week.
btw – the kidlet wants to know… when you cook the marshmallows over the moose nugget fire, do the marshmallows end up tasting like… moose?
No. I only ate moose once, and it reminded me of beef marinaded in lawn clippings. The marshmallow tasted a little smokey, but not much different than any other. AKM
Time to give some tidbits about the camera you use, and then get that company to sponsor your blog.
Canon Digital Rebel XT with a Canon 100mm Macro Lens. Hmm. I wonder what their politics are? 😉 AKM
As any Alaskan will tell you, moose nuggets are pretty inoffensive. After the winter season, they’re basically nothing but compact birch bark pellets. They don’t have an odor, and they actually burn quite nicely.
Somewhat like Buffalo Chips. They used them in days gone by when traveling in the vast expanse of the old west. Once dried they burned for hours. But your braver than I am eating marshmallows over a Moose pellet fire. Great pics AKM. I love seeing Alaska through your eyes. Almost like being there with you and Buf. Thank you.
That coffee bean comment reminds me of that movie The Bucket List.
AKM, what a lovely day to hike, and see the first bud of spring. You are about 2&1/2 weeks behind us here from what I see. Now is the time to go find the morel, fiddle head, and wild leak. The ash should give you a great crop of morels.
I found the first morels here about 2 weeks ago, and now our alder are all leafed out. We have cherry trees and apple trees in bloom. Thank you for shareing your lovely day. Buff looks like he would be just a great hikeing partner.
Thanks to all. So glad you enjoyed the post and photos. I’ve sworn to get out more this summer than I did last summer. For those of you not in Anchorage, last summer was about 54 degrees and drizzly almost every day. 🙁
Other than writing, photography is my favorite pasttime. So, I’ll definitely include more like this as the summer advances. Thanks again to everyone for the nice compliments.
This was great, kind like “wild kingdom” but in plant life. It’s funny about Buf. Every time my husband and I take walks, past homes in the street, every once in a while a dog will be leashed outside in the yard, and stare at us as we pass by. It always goes, “buf”, kind of like a nonchalent-I-can’t be bothered to bark-noise”. They look at us like we are boring and not too threatening, but, they just like to let us know they make a noise. It’s so funny. Hubby says it’s probably me because they can sense I am allergic to them.
had to come back and take a walk with akm and buff again. wonderful. b
Oh! I forgot to commend you for the narrative that went with these great photos. It was your words that really made the piece. You really need to write a book or do some serious publishing. A voice like yours needs to be heard.
🙂
Wow! These pictures are great! I spent most of today planting and mulching so Spring has sprung in my little world too. Our resident eagle even showed up to herald the beautiful day we had. Those of you who know what an eagle sounds like when it “calls” will know what I’m talking about. Just beautiful!
Thanks AKM! Enjoyed the hike with you and Buf. Would love to see more of your beautiful scenery!
This is a beautiful essay and photo-essay. What a gifted, talented writer you are, AKA. Thanks for sharing this.
Dear AKM, was a wonderful hike with you and Buf! I ♥ Buf! 🙂 I have a question about the fairy cup. Is that ash on it or just scales from the plant, and if you say the head of a pin can fit in the cup, you must have one cool camera!
Beautiful pics and thanks for sharing with us. Ha moose nuggets look like coffee beans, lol!
It’s just the plant. It’s the macro lens. I love it! AKM
Forgive my ignorance, but about how big is a nugget? Is it the pespective or does a really huge animal have lots of tiny poops? They look the size of a dogs…but a ton of them.
Each nugget is about an inch long. Maybe a little longer. AKM
OK, now I get it. The landscaping around me is like that, too. We should get together—I can see the Topa Topas and Santa Monica Mountains from my house, so I’m about 30 min away from you. The Ventura Hills are already showing some Buf.
If you send me a message on the forum, we can meet up. A friend and I’ll be going to a wedding up there in two weeks.
Dear AKM, I live in Argentine. I do not speak english very well, I do not know Alaska, but I am loving it because of you. I feel that I knows Alaska a little through your eyes. Than you!!!
You’re very welcome! (waving to Argentina) 🙂 AKM
Thanks, AKM, for taking us on this wonderful hike with you. Looking at the pictures and reading your wonderfully written notes made me feel like I was right there. Our temperature here in San Antonio was in the 90’s this afternoon with very high humidity which makes it feel like it’s in the 100’s! Have a good evening!
Thanks AKM!
We’re a lil further along into spring, here in Southeast, but that first bud is always the best… thanks for sharing it!
nswfm CA Says:
May 3rd, 2009 at 4:16 PM
Beautiful photos and commentatry.
Bakers Dozen in the land of eternal summer, where do you live that it is always green? I live near the ocean and even the hills around me go Buf-colored in summer. Then they seem to catch on fire, but I’m hoping that enough of the Los Padres Nat Forest are done from the past few years so we are skipped this year.
I can dream, can’t I?
Are you up north?
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Nah, I’m not for NoCal (though I am originally) I’m in the Santa Barbara are now, the the hills do go buff (or black with a little help from an arsonist). But the way people use water around here, it’s always green in town. I don’t think there’s anything left to burn in Los Padres. I think all the places I’ve hiked have burned over, anyway. Even NoCal gets brown.
Thank-you for the photography and the hike too – I think you’ve got a whole lot of us walking along with you:) Great post!
dear AKMmuckraker:
thanks so much for taking us for a walk with you!
the pictures are wonderful. coupled with your narrative, i felt like i was there.
more alaska life, please!
AKM – Thank you for sharing the pictures and words from your springtime hike !! It has been spring for a while here. 83 today. Here is a picture of spring in Central Texas. The blue flowers are Bluebonnets , our state flower. The orange are Indian Paintbrushes. Oh , and the big guy is our beloved Longhorn. Again , thanks.
http://www.ackandlerphotography.com/images/Longhorns_Horses/04%20Texas%20Longhorn%20in%20the%20Bluebonnets.jpg
Loved nature walking with you and Buf. Thanks!
WOW! Outstanding pics! The ground growths such as lichen remind me of spring in Death Valley. I once got down on my hands and knees with my hand lens to look at the tiny plants. I was alone and it was very quiet. Then I heard a strange hissing noise. I looked all around. Suddenly I realized that I was hearing the noise of my beer that I was holding as I examined the tiny plants. Silly me. Buf buf! Hiss!
I once gave my son some moose pellets that I had painted with bright purple poster paint. He made fun of my present, joking to his friends that his mom had sent him purple moose pellets.
I have a name for mammal pelvises:those are the heads of “Chester.” Just so you know. I’m a bone collector so I have had many Chester heads over the years. A special find. You can build an entire Chester out of bone pieces.
Ohhh, what a walk in the woods! Can I have Buf? Of course not, but please give him a hug for me. What wonderful pictures, and even more wonderful words. AKM, you have inspired so many – thanks for your time and commitment. XXOO
I remember spring in Homer, and my delight in finding fiddlehead ferns – something I had only heard of from my older relatives in Maine. Boy, are they good! I was also amazed to see planted parsley and strawberries peek forth. Coming from Bethel, what a treat. Didn’t know strawberries grew in AK – and had a daquiri party for the neighbors!
They say that the sense that triggers memory the most is the sense of smell – and they are right. During breakup in Bethel, the smell immediately brought me back to Maine and New Hampshire, where I grew up. We moved to Florida when I was in high school, but I still remember that smell. I just stood there and sucked it in.
Gotta get off the computer – the spring thunderstorms are starting!! Love to all!
beautiful…words and photos. I am speechless. Thanks for sharing.
What beautiful pictures! I hope you keep posting them all spring/summer/fall long.
One more thing, your pictures of the blow-down from high winds reminded me… We down here in coastal Oregon — well, actually all over the Pacific Northwest — suffered one of those >125mph windstorms a year and a half ago, and an old relic Sitka Spruce was one of the victims.
This picture taken before the blow-down — http://www.co.clatsop.or.us/default.asp?deptid=10000&pageid=511 — didn’t do the old tree justice. It was HUGE.
Nice AKM, beautiful……thank you, I feel cleansed. After my away break I dove in to deeply…..won’t go there, but thank you for rescuing me from the yuck!
and yay!!!! just now! we have sunshine breaking through after dayzzzzz of overcast grey and rain. yay!
Beautiful!!
Beautiful photos and commentatry.
Bakers Dozen in the land of eternal summer, where do you live that it is always green? I live near the ocean and even the hills around me go Buf-colored in summer. Then they seem to catch on fire, but I’m hoping that enough of the Los Padres Nat Forest are done from the past few years so we are skipped this year.
I can dream, can’t I?
Are you up north?
Thanks so much AKM! In a giddy moment this morning I blurted out to my partner, “I love spring!” Being from the more nuanced seasons of Hawaii (and lots of years in Africa), I am still learning the wonder of these Midwest seasons. We spent the weekend mowing, a never-ending task this time of year after the thunderstorms! An oriole came to visit me this afternoon, and I learned that I speak Oriole very well so we had a lovely chat! One of those little moments that humbles, and fills me with peace.
What great pictures! Did you ever see the pictures I took a couple of weeks ago of the two bald eagles perched in a nearby Douglas fir near our place (north Oregon coast)? It’s at my Facebook page…
Speaking of moose nuggets and other detritus: One of the funniest and best practical jokes I convinced my boss to play on her best bud at work was to let her have a varnish-glazed “coprolite” I found in a creekbed when hubby and I were rockhounding for carnelian agates.
This is a good example of the one I “prepared” for my boss’s joke:
http://home.entouch.net/dmd/turtlepooEoceneBetsibokaMadagascar.jpg
Wow, AKM. I love the pics. And the walk. Now, I want you to go back to the photo just above the one with the red currants. There are all kinds of faces there. About 3/4 way down in the middle there is a large black rock emerging from the water that looks like the front end of a fish complete with eye and mouth. Just to the left of that on the other side of the water, there is the face of a woman with mouth open (profile) looking down at another face that looks like a mask. To the left of the woman, slightly above and at the left edge of the photo, there is another face with a hood looking straight down towards the mask. There are more, but you’ll have to find them 😉 I love this photo.
Wow…spectacular photos! I also love taking pics of very small details that most people miss, so I particularly enjoyed this stroll through the Alaskan woods. Maybe I’ll even live there myself someday (fingers crossed!).
I am resting my weary muscles after a long day of working in the garden, moving shrubs and planting lots of ‘stuff’. Although I love the cold weather, as a gardener, I also love the way things seem to burst into life in the spring and encourage me to get good and grimy doing all that pruning, trimming, planting and weeding! I just finished watching my local robins hopping all over my yard, relishing the buffet of wormy delights that all my digging upturned for them!
Happy Spring all you mudpups!!!
As a seasoned bushwalker who’s only had drought, death and destruction to look at for seven years, I really appreciated this. I hope you make this a regular thing, AKM.
Springtime is a beautiful time of renewal and discovery. I enjoyed your narrative and photographs.
Nature, who needs it. Just kill the animals, cut the trees down and drill, baby, drill.
— a typical Palin supporter
Thank you for the lovely walk in the woods, AKM. I enjoyed every minute of it.
It’s absolutely beautiful and sunny here in Soldotna too. The two very little kids across the street went “swimming” in their tiny inflatable pool to celebrate. Dad brought bucketsful of warm water from the house, because after all it’s only May 4th, and 68 degrees. The winter was so long that we Alaskans can’t wait until “hot” weather gets here.
Oh PS: your previous blog photos have inspired me to purchase my very own 18X zoom digital camera. I took it to FL with me last month and got some doozies. Thank you for sharing your eyes.
What a lovely walk – and now I’m all pooped out! Thank you AKM. Loved the fairy cup lichen and the freeze-dried currants – beautiful pictures.
Yayyyyy!!!! *clap clap clap* You and Buf certainly know how to live.
I can’t get past Moose nugget Swizzle sticks, however! LOL
Love the pictures and your notes. Felt like I was there walking with you.
Thank you for the Alaska spring.
I now live in the land of eternal summer, eternal green, and eternal buds. But I well remember looking for buds in the snow. The first walk of spring is a real joy. The pictures are wonderful. I think I shall go kayaking in spring’s honor.
Thx AKM~ Would love to be there in person…Beautiful pictures…Havea nice day..:)
I loved your photographs….I felt as if I was hiking with you. Loved the shallow depth of field as well…I really enjoy that type of photography.
I can’t say (loved) any more….but I do like Buf, lots!!!
Such beautiful pictures. Even though I’ve lived up here my entire life, I still enjoyed those photos and could practically hear the water rushing, and the dog “buf’ing”! Beautiful. Thank you!
akm- you are well and truly blessed. wow
I ♥ AKM. Not only a brilliant, courageous political commentator, but a poet as well. I enjoyed walking down this trail with you and Buf. I have a “Buf” too, but much smaller and she does the same thing – run ahead, her slow human catches up – repeat. LOL
I am giddy with the suddenness of green bursting all around. Each spring, it’s a wonder!
Where I am, the past few days have taken the trees from nothing to being covered in leafy green. It’s astonishing. Of course, it made it up to –>82 degrees<– here, according to the local mesonet station. Woohoo!
Very nice pics.
AKM – these are outstanding pictures! Just a short window of our spring summer where these subtle items are not overgrown and overshadowed by GREEN GREEN everything popping out and taking over Alaska!