Midnight Sun fun

The longest day of the year was warm (hot actually, with temperatures in the 80s) and sunny. We celebrate this day, June 21, with festivals, sales, a 10k run at 10:30 p.m. and a 10:30 p.m. baseball game played without artificial lights.

The Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks play in the Alaska League. The teams from Fairbanks, Anchorage, Kenai and the Matanuska-Susitna Valley are recruited largely from colleges around the country, and many of the former Alaska-leaguers have gone on to play in the major leagues.

The Alaska League season is a short one. The players come to Alaska in June and by August they're gone - to tournaments or home. But the teams all have die-hard fans who look forward to that first game every year. The fans are vocal, enthusiastic and loyal. It's great fun to sit in the stands and listen to the crowd when archrivals from Anchorage come to town.

The Midnight Sun Game has been a Fairbanks tradition for years - this year was the 103rd MSG. It typically draws a crowd of several thousand, with standing-room only.

The game started this year with a US Air Force flyover - a real treat for the crowd.

The starting pitcher was Bill "Spaceman" Lee, former Boston Red Sox pitcher and, before that, Alaska Goldpanners pitcher. I think most people believed the 62-year-old man would pitch one inning, mostly ceremonial. I didn't expect him to go more than three innings. He went six, and came out the winning pitcher. And he was smiling the whole time. The crowd loved him, and he acknowledged it several times.

The game was a good one, with the opposing So. Cal. team closing in on the Goldpanners. The Panners, however, kept the lead and went on to win. We really don't like to lose the MSG!

On June 21 it doesn't get truly dark here, but when the sun dipped it was dark enough that the two teams had a bit of difficulty seeing the ball. (I think it just made the game more interesting.)

The photo here was taken about 10 minutes after midnight.

I have front-row box seats for the Panners' games, just to the right of home plate, so have a good view of the field. To me there's not much I enjoy more than sitting in the sun watching a good game. A well-executed double play, an extraordinary stretch to catch the ball on a throw to first, the sound of the bat connecting with the ball - I love this stuff. Baseball is a game where spectators can watch the play and still chat with friends who stop by.

In my mind, it's aptly named "America's favorite pasttime."

Buddies

Paco captured my heart in the spring of 1998, when the Fairbanks North Star Borough Animal Shelter held an open house. My cat had died the previous fall and I was alone in my house.

On a whim, I decided to visit the open house. I spotted a little apricot poodle mix (the vet later told me he was poodle, cocker spaniel and some kind of terrier) at the back of a cage. When I approached, he rushed to the door, trembling with excitement. I noted the cage number and informed the staff I wanted him. It appeared he was not meant for me - he had already been spoken for, and his new family would pick him later that day. I went home without a pet.

But those brief minutes with that little dog left me wanting more. I checked with the shelter a week later to see if there were any small dogs. And there he was again. It appeared he didn't work out for the other family. He was nearing his limit at the shelter and staff members took him home several nights to delay the inevitable euthanization. He went home with me that night.

Paco's age was estimated to be between 4 and 6 years. He was a sweet little dog who loved unconditionally. He made me laugh and when I was sick he licked my hand to offer comfort.

I lost Paco April 10, 2008, after about a year of declining health. I was devastated, but two things helped me work through my grief: I was home when he died so he didn't die alone, and he's now at Rainbow Bridge ( http://rainbowbridge.org/) with his hearing restored and no longer suffering pain and confusion.

He was my buddy for 10 years and I miss him terribly.

Enter Cordaroy. After two months of grieving (I cried when I drove through the carwash the first time without Paco), I realized yesterday after an errand run that my house was too empty. There was no one greeting me when I walked in the door, and no one to go to the yard with.

That meant there was one more errand to run - to the shelter. They had only one small dog, a terrier mix - possibly Scottie and schnauzer, according to the vet. I was told he is good with children, one of my requirements because of my granddaughter's visits.

I brought him home. He's as different in appearance from Paco as I can imagine in a small dog. He had coarse straight coal-black hair and his eyes are such a light brown they almost look golden.

He has an exuberance that's hard to match and a friendly personality. When we met in the visiting room at the shelter, he licked my ear and face frantically. He is a jumper, leaping into the air when he's excited. He's three years old and in very good health.

I didn't like the name Cordaroy (their spelling, not mine), and he didn't respond to it in any case. Nor did he respond to Cord or Roy. I've been calling him Buddy since we left the shelter, so I think he'll be seeing a name change.

I think Buddy and I will be just fine. We've been having some good bonding time yesterday and today. I'm very happy to have him here.

New link and "the eye"

I've just added a link to my site, to Susan Stevenson's website. Susan and her husband came to Alaska with the Army and decided to stay here when he retired.

Her site is filled with chatty, descriptive details of her activities in Alaska and some of the most spectacular photos I've ever seen. Susan truly has "the eye," an inner talent for instinctively knowing that a particular item or scene will make a pleasing photo. Sadly, I do not have "the eye." I have to think about framing and composing, and even then I don't always get the results I want. Frequently I see something that only allows me enough time to simply aim the camera and press the button. Occasionally I'm surprised with my results and congratulate myself on a good photo. Other times, I can only credit simple dumb luck and/or good timing.

The fox was a denizen of McKinley Chalet Resort at Denali National Park. Apparently she wandered around the property looking for food. A ham and cheese sandwich was lying on the bench right next to my knee when I shot this photo, and she kept her eye on it, not at all shy about me standing there. The sandwich apparently came from an overflowing trash container next to the bench. The timing on this was perfect, as my friend and I arrived at the shuttle-bus stop at the same time the fox arrived for her sandwich.

I do hope you will visit Susan's website. I love looking at her photos and reading about her travels around the state. Her informal style of journaling makes me feel that I'm visiting a friend.

Welcome

Welcome to my first attempt at a blog. I've lived in Fairbanks, Alaska, for 30 years, an East-Coast transplant, and I'm still learning new things about this wondrous place. I've reached a point where I now complain about the snow, ice and cold of winter, but glorious summers, a terrific family of friends and a small-town atmosphere keep me here.

I'm an experienced surfer, but nearly illiterate at building websites. I'm truly a wysiwyg, drag-and-drop kind of girl. Hopefully this format will make it easier.

I'm in civil service, a few years from retirement (when the mortgage is paid in full). There are a number of things I enjoy doing, but photography, baseball (watching, not playing), travel and genealogy top the list.

I have grandchildren in Fairbanks and Washington state. One of my biggest regrets is that I don't see the Washington kids nearly as often as I'd like. The cost of air travel is nearly prohibitive these days, and it's too far to drive (and that's becoming pretty expensive as well). I'm very grateful for long-distance companies with unlimited minutes at reasonable rates.

My parents, sisters and brother all live in Pennsylvania, where I grew up. Another sister is in Arizona. I'd like to visit all of them too, but again it's an expensive undertaking. We communicate via a family website and telephone frequently. Somehow I don't feel as far away from them with the communication choices we have.

This blog will most likely consist of random thoughts, whatever enters my mind on a given day. Today as I'm playing with this site the sun is shining, there's a slight breeze and it's about 70 degrees at 11:30 a.m. I love summer! I think 60-65 degrees is nearly perfect and anything over 75 is getting too hot. A light breeze feels good and keeps the mosquitos at bay.

There are many reasons besides the summer that I love living here. The peaks of the Alaska Range in the photo above are just a small part of the spectacular scenery. Flowers abound in the summer, and in winter the snow-covered trees look like Christmas cards. I like the long hours of daylight, but by October I begin to welcome the long hours of twilight and the darkness of the nights. We go full-tilt all summer, and I look forward to taking it easier and resting during the winter.

The Georgeson Botanical Garden at the University of Alaska Fairbanks showcases numerous varieties of flowers, herbs and other plants every summer.

I hope this gives you a little idea of what I am able to experience here, and that you want to come back to see and hear more. Welcome.