Date: December 8, 2009

Official Sunrise: 10:02          Photograph Taken At: 9:00

Temperature: 9°          Wind: None

Camera: Nikon D70          Photographer: Ron Day

The temperature has started dropping once again. It was a chilly nine degrees out on the deck when I took this wintry picture. The sky is totally clear this morning, not a cloud that I can see. No snow in the forecast either, so we might be in for some more cold weather.

Walking Around Palmer

Yesterday, just for the heck of it, I took a drive to Palmer, about 10 miles from Wasilla. When we first moved to Alaska in 1986 Palmer was the place to go if you needed to do important stuff like visit the State Troopers to re-new your license, or to the emergency room to have a finger sewn back on. In those not too distant days Wasilla was still a rather rugged little town, with very few stores or services.

Everything is different, nowadays. Roles have switched for these two Alaska communities. Wasilla, a town that’s growing too fast, is full of business and noise and traffic. And it’s share of rude people.

Palmer, on the other hand, still feels like a small, hometown, type of community and is filled with an assortment unique, locally owned businesses.

There are, of course, some larger businesses in Palmer. They have a Fred Meyer store now,and the Alaska State Department of Forestry is located just out of town aways. There are also some nice restaurants there, and the Palmer airport is nice, too.

But Palmer is a quiet town.

Wasilla used to be a quiet town, too. But now it’s not.

I miss living in a quiet town. 

 Palmer’s famous landmark, the water tower.

Palmer street scene and Christmas decorations hung with care.

South Colony Way, named in honor of Palmer’s past.

A cold looking scene with the flanks of Pioneer Peak in the distance.

Swastika In The Sky

While I was walking around in Palmer yesterday, I happened to look up into the sky and noticed these strange looking contrails. The design definitely looked like a swastika, but as there were tree branches in the way, in the few seconds for me to get a clear photo the wind had changed the shape a bit. It still looked interesting, though.

How did they do that?

Kauai, Hawaii

Some friends of ours, Kevin and April, have recently purchased a home in Anchorage.

April is a fan of my photography (actually, she is probably one of my biggest fans) and she wants to buy some of my prints to decorate her new home.

Of course she wants Alaska scenery.  But April loves Hawaii, too, and asked to see some of the pictures I took last February, when Becky and I vacationed in Kauai.

I figured this blog would be an easy place for her to look at them.  Besides, it seems to me that the middle of a cold Alaskan winter is a pretty good time for all of us to take a minute or two to look at some Hawaii pictures.

Here you go, April, and thank you. 

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