I am so happy to see January be over. It was a very cold month, and I do hope that February is much warmer. Today we reached temps above zero, and I am thrilled! Raven even went out to play frisbee with Steve this afternoon - something she hasn’t been able to do for some time.
I haven’t been out and about shooting this week. I had three portrait shoots this past weekend, and I’ve been working on the photos from those sessions to get them done in time for Valentines Day. All three beautiful ladies are military wives, and their soldiers are in Afghanistan right now.
I can only share one photo at this time, but hopefully once I get their proofs to them, they’ll allow me to share some more. Although all three were Boudoir sessions, the gals opted to wear sports jerseys, and their husbands’ uniform tops, in addition to more traditional boudoir attire. It was great fun, and I’m sure the ladies (and their husbands!) will be quite pleased with what I captured.
This is Terri, wearing an Alabama jersey and a Crimson Tide houndstooth hat. Isn’t she adorable?!
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Saturday starts the Yukon Quest! The teams will start here in Fairbanks this year, which is fabulous. I’ll be going downtown to photograph the mushers and their dogs before the race, and then after I get some shots of some of the teams coming out of the chute, I’ll be looking for a place along the river to get photos of the teams in a more natural setting. Downtown, there will be the usual cheering and excitement - which is always fun to capture with my camera - but on the river, away from the start, it’s entirely different. The peacefulness and solitude allow you to hear the quiet shush of sled rails, and the panting of the dogs. I just hope the weather is agreeable. PLEASE NO MORE 50 BELOW!!
I’m sure I will have a lot of photos to share next week. Until then, I need to get back to photo editing!
Filed under: Everyday Life — Susan Stevenson @ 10:11 pm
Mother Nature can stop with the deep freeze. It’s getting mighty old. I won’t leave the house when it’s this cold. This is what the temperature was this morning, according to Weather Underground:
And this is our thermometer reading 50 Below when I got up (it’s a little warmer under our porch eaves).
Steve and I had eye doctor appointments on Friday. While Steve was in seeing the doctor, I drove to the PO to drop off a package, and then stopped to take a few photos on the way back.
These cabins are at Rivers Edge Resort, located along the Chena River. It’s seasonal lodging, from what I understand, so the *resort* is deserted during the winter months. I like the little cottages they have available. The are much more quaint than your typical hotel room.
After my eye appointment, Steve and I picked out some movies at Blockbuster and headed home. (We rented “Super 8“, “Sarah’s Key“, “Rise of the Planet of the Apes“, “Contagion“, “The Help“, and “The Lincoln Lawyer“. I loved “The Help” and “Super 8″ was pretty good too. “Lincoln Lawyer” wasn’t bad. “Contagion” wasn’t half as good as the old “Outbreak”. Not sure about “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” as I didn’t really pay attention. “Sarah’s Key” was tragic and emotional and I enjoyed it, despite it’s sad plot. It’s subtitled, so you have to pay attention.)
On the way home, I snapped a few photos from the truck window. We have a tax service here called Liberty Tax Services. At tax time, they have someone stand out front dressed as the Statue of Liberty, trying to entice people into their business. At 50 Below, I can’t believe this guy/gal was out there waving this banner flag. I hope they were being paid more than minimum wage for this gig!
The ice fog has been terrible all over town. Ice fog is a type of fog consisting of fine ice crystals suspended in the air. It can happen only in cold areas of the world since water can remain liquid down to -40 °C (-40 °F). In this photo, it’s not as bad as it is in other places. At times, visibility is only a matter of yards. Very scary for driving!
About two months ago, in early December, this bus and trailer showed up at a local gas station. They set up camp in a corner of the parking lot. Sometimes, when we’d drive by, there would be smoke billowing from what appears to be a stove pipe sticking out the right side window. About a month ago, Steve was in the gas station quick stop and asked the clerk what the story was regarding the bus. He learned that a family had driven to AK from the Lower 48, in search of work. I guess times were pretty tough for them down there, so they packed up some belongings and headed north.
At first they were doing OK parked in their little corner. There are trees which shelter the bus on one side, and when our temps were only in the -10F range, I’m sure the stove was adequate enough to keep them warm. The clerk told Steve that people would bring by wood and food for the family once they learned they were down on their luck.
And then the temperature plummeted. And the family had to move out of their bus, as it was no longer adequate shelter. The store clerk doesn’t know where they went. I sure hope they’re in a warm place. In the meantime, their bus is frozen solid with frosted windows. It’s a real shame that the economy is so dismal all over our country, that these folks felt their only option was to flee to Alaska in the middle of winter. I sure hope we see them back at the bus when things warm up around here. I’d like to find out their story, if they’re willing to share it.
We are now gaining 6 1/2 minutes of light a day. Length of day is officially 6 1/2 hours, but length of visible light is two hours more. I am so happy for the return of light! From where I sit on the loveseat, I can see the sun moving around the house. It’s still fairly low on the horizon, but high enough to shine in the window and blind me. I really don’t mind at all. This was the view from my seat yesterday:
With the extreme cold, comes hungry birds. The redpolls can drain my feeder tubes in less than two hours. Despite the fact that they are costing me an arm and a leg to keep in seed, I can’t let them starve. Especially in these temps. Besides, they’re great entertainment for not only me, but for the furkids too. A downy woodpecker takes advantage of the suet I put out, while redpoles converge on the feeder:
I just had to videotape them to show you just how many of them are hanging around my yard. It’s amazing!
Today, I had a portrait shoot on my schedule, and because it was so very cold, Steve drove me to my client’s house and then picked me up when I was done. I am so very thankful that he was home today, because my car would not have done well sitting outside for several hours in this cold - plugged in or not!
I can’t help daydreaming about warm(er) weather. Heck, even 10 below would be a treat. Zero would feel tropical. I sure hope this cold spell passes quickly.
Filed under: Everyday Life — Susan Stevenson @ 6:39 pm
To all of you who came here to check out the aurora photos in my last blog entry, and ended up with an error page, I apologize.
It seems there was so much interest in my photos (more than 8300 people visited my blog over the last couple of days!) that the server couldn’t handle the traffic and crashed.
I’m up and running again, and I hope to remain that way.
On one hand I’m THRILLED that so many people came to my blog to see my images. But I’m still bummed out that many people reached an error page instead.
I love that you shared the link to my blog with friends! And I’m sure a lot of traffic was generated from my Facebook Page too. But what a disappointment to wake up to a dead blog. If you couldn’t view the last blog entry, I hope you’ll check it out now. The sky was amazing!
