winter-ish?

Looking out from the bluff to where Kachemak Bay and Cook Inlet meet

The past week has been a continuation of the non-winter weather trend in Alaska. There will be a twenty minute tease of snowflakes filling the sky and then it rains again, so, to add a little variety into the day to day I drove out to Homer and spent a few days by the ocean.

It always amazes me to drive in any direction for a few hours in this state as in that time the surroundings will go from temperate rainforest up through the sub-alpine mountain pass, then, twist and turn along the banks of freshwater lakes and rivers, soon becoming muskeg bogs which may open into a black spruce forest twisted and stunted by the permafrost beneath. From Girdwood to Homer all of this is in the first two hours and then the Sterling Hwy bends back towards the coast and runs along atop a bluff overlooking Cook Inlet the remaining way. Traveling through these various landscapes is more than just a visual experience, it is a participatory one as well since each environment is home to its own climate. Can't get away with just your toothbrush and clean undies!

Now back in Girdwood, having been inspired by the sea, I have been playing in the studio with sea lion and selkie forms for an ivory carving that would also involve knot tying to become a wearable form. Jewelry forms with talisman like qualities have always been my favorite, so, while this thought is still in early sketch stages, I hope it will take on an ageless look despite being freshly hewn. 

Otherwise the only true excitement is over SOLSTICE which marks the switch from the shortening of our daylight hours to their re-lengthening! It wont be long before the dark succumbs to more and more light until waking and sleeping are both beneath the summer sun.           

Cook Inlet from a turnout along the Sterling Hwy, AK