old pictures of walrus, polar bears and the monday walk...

have been thinking about the walrus what with all the articles these past weeks about them hauling out at point lay. i was fortunate to take a trip out to round island just to see walruses in the wild. it's an amazing thing seeing wildlife in thier natural habitat. i feel very blessed to have traveled to some cool places such as round island. hopefully, i can get out there again, though the walrus numbers have been down there in the last few years. i was out there nearly 10 years ago. it's an amazing and beautiful place.

new poem

-

where will they go,

when the ice,

is gone,

thier lives at sea,

can't carry on,

for now,

they gather on beaches,

eat what they may,

they wait,

any day,

the seasons change,

ice floes lost,

will be regained.

in the meantime they will lounge about. what will next summer bring and the next and the next.

the polar bears have the same fate as the walrus being so dependant on the ice for thier existence. i also was able to get out and see them in thier natural habitat. they collect in churchill, canada, so these pictures i took there. these guys also wait for the ice to come in so thier main hunting can begin.

they were alot of fun to observe. they wrestled with each other, napped, ate seaweed.

i remember just seeing so many articles of warming trends and ice disappearing and i wanted to see these great creatures before they are lost forever. what a sad world it will be when walrus and polar bears no longer walk free. i'm still so amazed that so many refuse to believe that any warming has occured or that humans have any impact on this. surely, some of it is the earth's trends from millions of years, but how can people not see the rapidity of the trends compared to past heating/cooling trends. i'm still sickened by the attitude in that documentary, "jesus camp" where they just believe the earth is here solely for us to use up and that when jesus comes we'll just get another earth.

when you live up here so close to the great north and travel some, you hear the elders speak of the dramatic changes just in thier lifetimes. it can't be ignored really.

if god only created the earth for practical purposes why put polar bears and walrus on it at all, why not just fill the planet with cows, pigs, chickens and turkeys. why waste all that energy with the intricate details that are so apparent on our planet. it's hard for me to doubt there is some greater power than i when i look at all that is in our world, but i find it even harder to comprehend that this greater power would want us to do anything but cherish these great creatures and the land itself. for me no building can ever bring god in my heart, that can only happen when i am out there in the land.

i'm not a mad environmentalist really, i have my share of negative impact on this earth. it's difficult to exist in our world without having impact. i think it does help if each does thier small part to decrease thier impact. i'm sure my friends thought i was nuts for collecting glass in anchorage that has no glass recycling. i drove it 5 hours south to homer that does have recycling. i have also saved my used containers from body shop with plans to send it to them per my research. just found out that body shop offered a grant to the mat su valley to establish a recylcing center for plastics up to a "5". makes me want to shop there more. i like when companies try to do thier part as well. life isnt' about the grand gestures all the time, sometimes it's all the little things that just add up.

a few last pictures of the hanging valley. that was just an amazing walk each year you catch some place that is at it's absolute peak of fall colours. i never tire of fall or of the constantly changing seasons of alaska. the light is forever changing as are the seasons. each day is a new day, a new experience.

our monday walk was the usual trail, but hadn't seen andrea since the spring when the walks stopped for the year. she had a cute baby so it was fun catching up.

she, tanya and i went to kaladi brothers after our walk and we talked for a few hours. we met for the walk at 12:30 and we left kaladi's close to 5pm. i had things on my to do list, but it was too late for much of that. i read, took a nap and then i was too late for a swim even. oh well. cest la vive. it was a fun day.

this fireweed colour is the colour of my bedroom i think, or close to it. i actually took pictures of from the trip to round island of those pink walrus above and colour matched the walrus to a paint colour. turned out to be called fireweed.

chatted with my sister and a brother for a few minutes. i try and catch up with everyone from time to time. gets harder as lives branch out, but i do think it's important to keep those ties. family is family. sometimes it's frustrating as hell, but in the end it's worth the effort.

old poem:

TRACKS

-

his tracks dug deep into the sand,

with each step he took,

it became evident that,

he was the only mad to walk the land,

for his were the only footprints in the sand,

now anyone who trudged this sand,

would only be shadows of the man,

whose footprints first,

had sliced the land,

the waves spoke little that morning,

for a tale was being told,

history being made.

the man stopped to glance back at the tracks he'd left behind,

to see each toe stretch forth,

and grasp unnumbered grains of sand,

overpowering them to move him along,

he looked out at the water,

and he knew that many had sailed the sea,

but never stopped to walk,

where now his footprints stood,

his eyes traveled the horizon and wandered back to his steps,

but they had disappeared,

eaten, devoured,

by a creature beneath for sure,

the creature must be angry,

that a man would walk upon his sand,

and leave footprints to scar his land.

the man laughed at the creature,

and in spite of the creature,

continued to place his mark in the sand,

he ran and ran and ran,

til he passed out,

too exhausted to search for air,

in hopes that the creature couldn't devour all his steps,

and those who would follow after him,

would have to bow down,

to the steps of the man who had first walked the land. july '83

obviously a poem about ego and inflated ones at that. don't recall who's inflated ego it was about though. oh well....

so just a few from todays walk. was too busy chatting to get pictures. just the three of us, plus the baby and 5 dogs. blossom wasn't as tired as i like as she did some digging in the back yard. she hasn't done that for ages. brat.

here is andrea with her baby nash. cute little guy. she looks pretty happy with her new adventure.

felt badly for my old, thin cat. he's just wasting away. he seems to be grooming less and less, but still he comes up for meals twice daily. can't seem to put him to sleep when he still enjoys a meal so much. so tonight i took a minute and made him this little coat. he just has no meat on those old bones so it seemed the kind thing. he was a bit freaked at first but i think he likes it now.

thin cat,

has lost his fat,

his fur has lost,

it's sheen,

the command he held,

just years ago,

is rarely ever seen.

...just a little ode to mufasa.

was trying to get rio to model her new fall jacket. i was so excited for her to wear it on todays monday walk that i forgot her collar. i had also not sewn the velcro bits on so they didn't stick and in the end she couldn't wear her new jacket anyway. so this evening i did the hand stitching on that. it's a bit painful getting through all those velcro peices and i broke several needles...seems to be a theme for the week. broken needles.