Sunny Summer

It's beautiful summers like this that keep me in Alaska. It is so beautiful outside and all the flowers are blooming around the city and on my patio! It's hard to choose which events to attend, as there's such a big choice. Last night the sun went down at 11:30 p.m. and came up shortly thereafter. We gave up at the baseball game, as it was in the 21st inning, with no winner yet, and I still don't know who finally won.

One annual event is the Solstice Walk thru the downtown cemetery. It's led by Audrey and Bruce Kelly who lead the pack from tombstone to tombstone, telling stories of the occupants below. It was more colorful when the late John Bagoy did it, as he started a project about 20 years ago to label the unmarked graves, which often times - ahem - were the mistresses buried near the provider and wife. Since the husbands usually died first, their graves were marked, but no one around to do the wive's.

Then we have a small group of storytellers, actually those of us who are good at Lying, so here's a shot of the Liar's Club.
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Anchorage spends big bucks on hanging baskets of beautiful flowers all over town. The farmer's markets abound also, as there used to be one only. Now there are many, and the Spenard Farmers Market in the parking lot of Chilkoot Charlies has grown into a major one. It's in it's fourth year now, and features only Alaska products and crafts. Musical group add a lot to it, too.

The climbers at Mt. McKinley continue to clog the mountain, and there are more deaths than usual this summer. Four climbers, out of a group of five, just fell down a cravasse, and the rescue team is trying to reach them, but have given up. The one survivor tells a grim story of their fate.

There have been several passings of Alaskans recently, and a variety of wakes have taken place, but I'm sure the reader (YOU) don't really want to hear of these. For those of us who live here, it's reunion time at many of these.

The local arts are thriving, and Cyrano's continues to put on old and new and innovative plays. I personally like to attend these, altho' some are much better than others, but you know . . . different strokes for different folkds. Well, it's play time. . . so I'll leave you to your own summer fun