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It’s beautiful here. No other way to say it. Tonight I saw a red fox and a moose. There are juncos that flit through the underbrush around the pond. Canada geese honk in flight overhead. Other [...]

AK 2010, Day 7: Why Here, Why Now [Rockwell Kent, “Twilight”] When I told people I was going to Alaska to write, and in particular to Fairbanks to write about war, they naturally [...]

Long-time readers will remember my explorations of Alaska last summer, as recorded on this blog and full of references from Home Ground, an anthology of landscape terminology edited by Barry [...]

Here’s where KB and I will write, read, relax, yoga, wine, and dine for the next two weeks… The cabin! (Solar powered, drain sink but no running water, funky but functional bedding, pots and [...]

AK 2010, Day 3: Driving into the Night KB and I headed to Fairbanks today, 350 miles north of Anchorage. We’ve got her sister’s 8-cylinder Chevy pickup, a cooler full of salmon, bulk dry goods, a [...]

I wake up early and it is sunny. I do not know it yet but this is the 28th day. All the Alaskans say it. The 28th day. I walk to New Sagaya’s city market and pick up the paper to solve the [...]

AK 2010, Day 1: It begins with bags that are too heavy, some fees, some shuffling around. It is followed by a delay on the tarmac; further delay on different tarmac. Hello, Detroit. Then there [...]

Alaska bound! 1 REI pack = 50 pounds, exactly 1 portable office = 25 pounds, plus breakfast 1 plane ticket + 1 pair hiking boots + an insatiable penchant for the written word = 6 weeks in The [...]

I don’t often identify with the word “patriotic” but that’s how I feel when I listen to someone like Lyle Lovett. Consider his song titled “If I Had a Boat,” which begins with these lines: If I [...]

I’ve been going down to the lake after sunset, letting its quiet sloshing against the sandy shores ready me for this next transition. I have always been a dependable person. But glimpse my inner [...]