The Whites

Took a much needed break from work and headed with my friend Kyle and his dog Spruce to a couple of cabins in the White Mountains, about an hours drive north of Fairbanks. It was a wonderful time - good weather, fast trails, silence, northern lights, and friendship. It was also nice to get away from reading about discourse in indigenous politics and take a moment to contemplate the poetry of Rossetti.

Willowwood
Dante Gabriel Rossetti

I sat with Love upon a woodside well,
Leaning across the water, I and he;
Nor ever did he speak nor looked at me,
But touched his lute wherein was audible
The certain secret thing he had to tell:
Only our mirrored eyes met silently
In the low wave; and that sound came to be
The passionate voice I knew; and my tears fell.

And at their fall, his eyes beneath grew hers;
And with his foot and with his wing-feathers
He swept the spring that watered my heart’s drouth.
Then the dark ripples spread to waving hair,
And as I stooped, her own lips rising there
Bubbled with brimming kisses at my mouth.

Spring

Somewhere
a black bear
has just risen from sleep
and is staring

down the mountain.
All night
in the brisk and shallow restlessness
of early spring

I think of her,
her four black fists
flicking the gravel,
her tongue

like a red fire
touching the grass,
the cold water.
There is only one question:

how to love this world.
I think of her
rising
like a black and leafy ledge

to sharpen her claws against
the silence
of the trees.
Whatever else

my life is
with its poems
and its music
and its cities,

it is also this dazzling darkness
coming
down the mountain,
breathing and tasting;

all day I think of her –
her white teeth,
her wordlessness,
her perfect love.


~ Mary Oliver ~


(House of Light)

Nome Musings

An extended stay in Nome finds me with no camera but time to be distracted; and there's no distraction like Eddie Izzard. Friends pointed me to the DEATH STAR CANTEEN for those of you who need a laugh!

The Quest

The Yukon Quest sled dog race provided the impetus to return to blogging! I await a new camera; and between writing a dissertation and playing for the Soyuz indoor soccer team life's been busy and the blog fell by the wayside.

I handled for Phil Joy for the start of the race. That just means keeping the dogs from getting tangled or from starting the race before they are meant to! Here's a photo taken by Stacia of the dogs, Phil, Kumi, and I at the start. They're all ready to go the 1000 miles that will put them in Whitehorse in a week or so. You can see how Phil is doing at the race site. It was a beautiful day, although it's always surprising how it can be beautifully sunny and well into the -40s. Ice fog lingered on the river until afternoon.

BitterSweet Africa

A month away from the cold - in the heat and sun of southern Africa. Cape Town was the first southern hemisphere destination for the Marine Mammal Conference. A city of contradictions - Maserati and Ferrari intermingled with abject poverty. Table Mountain rising up behind town.



A day off to see the Cape of Good Hope, a name that has resonated since childhood. On the way, took the chance to visit boulder beach's Penguins.



I arrived at the conference early to take part in a Sirenian workshop. The day after was free so we went out to wine country. The surroundings were most conducive to sampling the local libations!



After the conference, I took a train to Jo-berg and then bus onto Kruger National Park. The local bus option in Africa was small and unpredictable. You just wait until the bus is full and then it leaves...not before. Here is the bus station at Maputo, the capital of Mozambique.



Whenever the buses stopped, we'd be mobbed by a host of food sellers





Kruger was pretty spectacular. A huge expanse of park with most of Africa's renowned wildlife species. It was definitely a treat to drive around, seeing a host of mammals and about 80 species of bird. Many come to see the "Big 5" of which we saw 3, elephant, lion, and buffalo. Leopard and rhino remained elusive.









Nevertheless, we were lucky to see many other great sights. Maybe one of the most special was the first, Sable which are regarded as very unusual. Unfortunately no pictures of them, so I took this off the web.



Hippos had been my most desired sighting and we saw them everywhere in the park. Periodically they'd trumpet, a sound I'll always remember.



Kudu





After Kruger, took a bus up to Tofo in Mozambique, a sleepy little surfer spot that was an idyllic place to relax. It was also a good relax after the crazed Rasters who drank a bottle each of Brandy on the bus north. At one point the whole bus was screaming and shouting at each other. I'd periodically hear the word "Tourista" and wonder what on earth was going on. After a few hours of this (of the 9 hour ride), the rasters were let go, their confiscated machete thrown unceremoniously from the bus after we were a few hundred meters away!



Tofo was wonderful, and gave the chance to swim with whale sharks. This seemed like such a pipe dream, but was worth every bit of the trouble to get there. I swam with the shark for about 40 minutes, close enough to touch. The sharks are inquisitive and would stay close so I spent more time trying to avoid it than find it!! I took this picture from the web as a close approximation of what this all looked like.



The flowers of Africa were also captivating...here are a few of my favorite pictures:







And then there were the kids!

Hutlinana

Yesterday, I had the chance to catch up with my friend Kyle on a 12 mile round-trip hike into Hutlinana hotsprings. Apart from the 3 hour drive on icy roads to get there, it was a beautiful day - warm enough to not need hat or gloves, and only a few inches of snow so we just hiked in with running shoes. The hot spring was well worth the trip, tucked in against the small cliff on the left side of the river.



The dogs had fun. Here's Yugi (living with us for four months) and Turtle. We were in prime squirrel country - their favorite!



The sunset on the way home was superb.

Winter's Transition

Fall was still hanging in the air a few short weeks ago. We took advantage of the cool weather to observe the fall colors one last time before the snow turned the world white. This is at Kesugi Ridge between Fairbanks and Anchorage.



When the snow finally hit, it was cause for celebration. Time for skiing and snow angels again.



The early season skiing is great. Lots of glide and warm temperatures.

Anadyr

Ever since I started my research in the Bering Strait, I've been wanting to travel across the short distance to Russia. Last week, I had my chance, taking a small plane for the 2 hour ride to Anadyr, the regional capital of Chukotka. We landed along side Bear Bombers and were met by an entourage of military and customs officials.



For a reason, I'm still a little unclear on, Anadyr is separated from it's airport by a mile or so of water. This involves a ride in a small landing craft as for us in summer, an ice road in winter, and in the intervening seasons, a helicopter.



I went to present my walrus research at the annual Beringia Days conference. It was a great chance to meet collaborators in person and to share information on walrus research.



Roman Abramovich is the governor of Chukotka. Britain knows him as the owner of Chelsea football club. Anadyr knows him for the extensive investments he has made in Chukotka, including in some new paint!







Anadyr is an interesting mix of the old and new. Large murals and Russia's largest wooden orthodox church. We went to a service which was quite moving in its ethereal beauty and singing.



On one of the last days, we took a trip out onto the tundra for a wonderful barbecue of reindeer chased down with some great vodka.



As usual, I was captivated by the kids. We were delayed for a few days due to cross winds at the airport and took a tour of the local kindergarten. Here are a few of my favorite photos.





Finally, at the airport we met families stuck for two days waiting to travel an hour toward Alaska to the town of Providenya. They were fun to play with, including Amy here from KNOM in Nome who used the camera distortion program on her mac to entertain them for at least an hour!

Musings before the Fall

August turned out pretty busy with comprehensive exams and a work trip to Portland, but didn't stop the necessary few last trips to enjoy the summer before it eases into winter. The chill is already in the air and the nights dark and starry again. Northern Lights on Friday were some of the best I've ever seen (see our friend Patrick's blog for some photos of them and the cranes that are congregating before heading south). Here are a few photos of the last weeks. A productive trip out into the hills to pick blueberries with Ben and Julie. You have to wonder if Ben has a red bucket for raspberries and and an orange one for salmon berries.





Yesterday, had a chance to catch up with Kyle and Julie (now back from their wedding and honeymoon in Africa), and another friend Adrian on a mellow float along the Chena River in Fairbanks. Kyle and Julie are enjoying the cleanliness of Fairbanks...which believe me is a telling story of Africa!



The paddle was a pleasant way to spend a Saturday afternoon, even with the Discovery paddle wheel churning past us during lunch. Even though it was now September 1st, the sun was hot keeping dogs in the shade and us relaxed and ready for ice cream at the finish.