There are a few things that I couldn't live without in Alaska. Listed below are those essentials; not given in any particular order.
What is home? What is place? At the moment, I live and reside in Anchorage; we have the house, the dog and a work place, our social activities, so I consider myself a resident of Alaska. But, I get peeved when people ask me if I am Alaskan. Actually, I don't like to be pegged as any one thing. Yes and no, I respond. My background involves lots of pieces that have made me into what I am today. Friday, I am leaving for the East Coast to see family and New York. I consider that my home too because I instantly immerse myself into a world that knows me; the girlfriend since eight grade, the boardwalk with a vast horizon of the Atlantic and it's aromas, a mother, a sister and brothers, the stoop, and a neighborhood with the same neighbor who lives across the street. I grew up there.
Pictured above is part of Joel's art piece. In fact, he brought in his entire bedroom door covered with all these fantastical images! It is a conceptually based work and I thought clever with all his thoughts and ideas written about each photograph. He is very interested in computer animation and design.
Also above is Kellie's photography project. Her husband took this picture of her. Kellie is blond and she confessed to the class that she likes wigs. (Go figure!)
We experienced heavy and dense rain during our visit last December to Malaysia and Borneo. In fact, we were suppose to go to the Eastern part of Malaysia to do some diving and snorkeling, but most of the resorts were closed because of the rains. 
Ken spent nine days on the Western interior area of Alaska on a aerial survey that is conducted every year. Along with another companion, they look at bug damage and forest changes. (Ken's specialty is bugs.....and most notably the spruce bark beetle.) Here are some fabulous shots that he took. (I might add that Ken has gotten really good with the camera! Am I bias or what or is he hanging out with the right people?)
They camp out on these remote places and Ken calls me from a satellite phone in the mornings. He has been conducting these surveys for over thirty years! They had a close call with a brown bear one evening who stood on his hind legs but quickly sped off.
This is one of my favorites.......Of course a mighty fine camera works miracles too.
This could be a Magritte painting.
Back from the studio, I thought I would do something relaxing and write about Blue, a wonderful friend and companion, who is pictured on the left. (And painting and doing art is more romantic in theory..... making a career out of it is another story!) So I felt compelled to add to my post and take a break from tediousness. Blue (her nickname is the Beast) is a massive dog - 120 pounds and high maintenance, but she has grown into a mature young female/(bitch?) - well mannered most of the time and lovable. It has taken me a long time to train her (more tediousness) and getting her to stay around the yard is questionable. I dislike tethers and we don't have a fenced in property. At the moment, she is completely laid out from a rigorous walk we had this morning over at Hilltop......not to mention the nice mound of dirt she leaves on the floor every time she gets up to move to another part of the house to sleep......
A group shot of performance artists/friends at Ray's Vietnamese Restaurant in Spenard (and a good place to try out......) We try to meet weekly for lunch to celebrate life.
This is a chalk drawing done on a sidewalk at a festival in Eagle River. The media is a watercolor chalk. Sponsors buy a square and volunteers do a design. I drew one of my masterpieces - (ha, ha) to help support the UAA booth. The last time I drew on a side walk was back in Jersey, playing hop scotch while I was in my single digits!
Joel is one of my summer class students. He is wearing a logo he designed as part of a class assignment. His design is called bolt action beaver - a name of his local band.
Our front yard Himalayan Poppies........
It is hard for me to float; to let ideas/concepts arrive to my creative process. Sometimes, it just doesn't happen. I fret that I am not doing anything constructive with my life and then I throw myself into a worse tizzy. Someone once told me, "you've got to keep moving." I think that applies with everything you do - the mental and physical; pushing the boundaries of the static. And maybe it is good to stand still, to think, to be patient, to absorb, to perceive, to meditate, to hear indiscriminate sounds, to appreciate or to just be in one place; to become immersed with simple living. 
The other day I was thinking how much I needed the sun, to feel it, to avoid it, to have it creep up on me and wrap me in it's warmth, to have it be there every time I looked up through the windows of my home opening to a dazzling sky and green trees. It is important for me to observe this light source and during a sunny day, I have little right to complain. The sun perks me up, lightens my perspective on life and being. It gets me going. There is no time for me to mope and everything sparkles. It represents an abundance of goodness and it is a day that I don't want to waste.
