Full Moon Poetry

Full Moon by Robert Hayden

No longer throne of a goddess to whom we pray,
no longer the bubble house of childhood's
tumbling Mother Goose man,

The emphatic moon ascends--
the brilliant challenger of rocket experts,
the white hope of communications men.

Some I love who are dead
were watchers of the moon and knew its lore;
planted seeds, trimmed their hair,

Pierced their ears for gold hoop earrings
as it waxed or waned.
It shines tonight upon their graves.

And burned in the garden of Gethsemane,
its light made holy by the dazzling tears
with which it mingled.

And spread its radiance on the exile's path
of Him who was The Glorious One,
its light made holy by His holiness.

Already a mooted goal and tomorrow perhaps
an arms base, a livid sector,
the full moon dominates the dark.

Wednesday Poetry

The Snowfall Is So Silent
by Miguel de Unamuno
Translated by Robert Bly

The snowfall is so silent,
so slow,
bit by bit, with delicacy
it settles down on the earth
and covers over the fields.
The silent snow comes down
white and weightless;
snowfall makes no noise,
falls as forgetting falls,
flake after flake.
It covers the fields gently
while frost attacks them
with its sudden flashes of white;
covers everything with its pure
and silent covering;
not one thing on the ground
anywhere escapes it.
And wherever it falls it stays,
content and gay,
for snow does not slip off
as rain does,
but it stays and sinks in.
The flakes are skyflowers,
pale lilies from the clouds,
that wither on earth.
They come down blossoming
but then so quickly
they are gone;
they bloom only on the peak,
above the mountains,
and make the earth feel heavier
when they die inside.
Snow, delicate snow,
that falls with such lightness
on the head,
on the feelings,
come and cover over the sadness
that lies always in my reason.

Wednesday Poetry

Hardware Sparrows
by R. T. Smith

Out for a deadbolt, light bulbs
and two-by-fours, I find a flock
of sparrows safe from hawks

and weather under the roof
of Lowe's amazing discount
store. They skitter from the racks

of stockpiled posts and hoses
to a spill of winter birdseed
on the concrete floor. How

they know to forage here,
I can't guess, but the automatic
door is close enough,

and we've had a week
of storms. They are, after all,
ubiquitous, though poor,

their only song an irritating
noise, and yet they soar
to offer, amid hardware, rope

and handyman brochures,
some relief, as if a flurry
of notes from Mozart swirled

from seed to ceiling, entreating
us to set aside our evening
chores and take grace where

we find it, saying it is possible,
even in this month of flood,
blackout and frustration,

to float once more on sheer
survival and the shadowy
bliss we exist to explore.

She Has Erupted

Have you ever wanted to see what a volcanic eruption looks like on a seismograph? Well, if you look closely at the above image, courtesy of the Alaska Volcano Observatory's page on Mt. Redoubt, you can see five discreet eruptions.

So far, we have no ash in Anchorage. Flights out of Anchorage and heading north, at this time, are not happening. As I have said before, ash and jet engines do not mix. Another interesting link to look at, again on the AVO website, is their puff predictor. What a wonderful tool! Please, Bobby Jindal, don't take it away!

I would post actual pictures from my house of the volcano, except after a week of gorgeous, crystal clear weather, Mt. Redoubt choose a perfectly cloudy day to erupt. We will just have to make due with webicorders.

Volcano Un-Erupted

Sometime the end of January Mt. Redoubt rumbled to life. It had been in state of repose, relative to active volcanoes. It hadn't erupted in many years. The national media picked up on it's activities. The state was at readiness for any issues arriving from an eruption. My workplace had contingency plans in place for routing aircraft due to an ash event.

We maintained this level of vigilance and readiness for over a month. Activity slowly quieted down. Here in Anchorage, we were feeling a bit of relief, but also kind of jilted. It was like getting all dressed and ready for a night on the town, then your date never shows. Oh well. The Alaska Volcano Observatory down graded Mt. Redoubt back to a level yellow last Thursday. No ugly ash for Anchorage.

Yesterday as the family drove to some friends' house, we had a chance to observe Mt. Redoubt. Hmmm....what is that large plume, going about three miles into the air? Ohhhhh....increased activity! We are now back up to an orange level. No one knows when or if Mt. Redoubt will erupt, however, with a level orange, there is a 24 hour watch on all the data and activity associated with this volcano.

Why would we need around the clock surveillance on a seemingly remote volcano? When Mt. Redoubt erupted in 1989 a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines 747 with 231 passengers flew through the ash plume. The ash took out all engines on the aircraft. Luckily, after falling for more than two miles the crew was able to restart the engines. Air traffic has only increased into Anchorage in the last twenty years. Ash and jet engines do not mix. So, we are back to wondering if we are going to get an eruption. If we do, I sure hope I don't have to go anywhere.


On another note, I am working with this yarn. What a lovely yarn, it is 80% suri alpaca and 20% silk. Yummy! The only problem is I cannot find anymore of it.



If you have any tips where I can find one more hank of Misti Alpaca Hand Paint Baby Suri Silk, dye lot #83406, let me know!

Cook Inlet -Turnagain Arm - Portage Valley Timelapse from Dennis Zaki on Vimeo.

Wow! This is such a cool movie from Dennis Zaki. He's a photographer and film maker over at the Alaska Report. Enjoy the water and movement.

Dinner with Lupe

I am trying to get back on the blogging train. I am deeply sorry and I humbly repent for letting anyone down. Gee, it's just been an extra busy winter. I have been getting Zoey to workouts with a high school team and homeschooling Vivi now, too. Why don't the high school workouts happen at MY house? Hmmmm....



A few weeks ago we had supper with Guadalupe, the godmother of my children. Her wonderful husband, Kelly, was there, too. She gave the girls their Christmas gifts. Vivi's is this fantastic pink hat. She will not be parted from it, now.



Lupe also unleashed her fabulous purple wig for all to enjoy. Needless to say, we had a grand time. And thanks to Lupe for the pictures. I had forgotten my camera.