Experiencing Kodiak's Russian Heritage

This week Yasent participated in an art project at the Baranov Museum. He designed and painted his own set of Russian nesting dolls "Matroskas". He chose to depict himself and his four younger cousins so there are four little boys and one girl. As part of the project the artists were also given Russian costumes to wear.

Masha Don't Fall Down

When our grandchildren first started arriving, Amy's friend, Dali, sent us a classic Russian toy . The plastic bobbing doll with the very large face and ball arms looked a big odd to us but proved to be perfect for little ones. She has a noise-maker inside that sounds when a child tries to push her over. And she always bobs back up. It is obvious from the tape and dents that she has been well-patted by many small loving hands. She is now being enjoyed by baby Rostam who is 9 months old.

Golden Friends

Tonight we said goodbye to Gail and Norm Engelbrecht who spent about a week with us. Gail and I went to school together all the way through, kindergarten to high school graduation. But over the last nearly 50 years we have seen each other on only three or four occasions and then only briefly. This past week has been real proof that old friends are extremely special.

The above photo was taken at a little after 5 am as we headed out to the fishing grounds.

Here is Norm with a halibut he landed. He caught his first halibut and his first king salmon. Gail got both a king and a silver salmon.

Float plane will take them to the weir at Frazer River to view Kodiak bears.

They saw as many as 18 bears at one time including lots of cubs. Click on the photo to enlarge it and see the bear under the weir.

How Sweet the Sound

For the past several years we have had loons on the lake behind the house. First there was only one and then two showed up. Last year we were pretty sure they had a chick. This year we know for sure. Bill took the kayak out and found mother loon with the baby riding on her back. This summer they have also been very vocal, calling all day long in addition to early mornings and evenings. It adds a certain "Golden Pond" to our retirement.

The First Kings

We were very fortunate on July 1 when we went out for our first fishing trip of the year. That is Bill and I went out with friends Jo and Al Crane plus Katie and Don from Skagway who is working on the museum. Katie had actually been out the weekend before picking reds (sockeye) in a subsistance net. She wasn't sure she wanted to face more fish. Here she is with the king that she caught. It turned out to be a white one as did one of the three others. A 50% rate for white kings is pretty lucky.