Three cats enter the season of light; four blurred basketball shots, Point Hope v. Klawock

It is official.

We have entered the season of light.

LIGHT.

Wonderful, wonderful, glorious, light!

Sweet, sweet, northern light.

Charlie and Slick in the light that pours into Melanie's house.

Slick, you should know, is also known as Bear Meech.

Diamond glitters in the light.

Melanie, Charlie, and Poof Cat - all soak in the light at what not so long ago was a very dark hour.

But now it is the Vernal Equinox - the Spring Equinox.

And on this day, everyone in the world had 12 hours of sunlight. 

People at the equator would have seen the sun pop right up in the east and climb high fast until their shadows disappeared beneath their feet at high noon. From there, the sun would have just dropped, fast, straight down toward the west.

People standing on either pole could have watched the sun skim the horizon all day long. At the north pole, at the end of the 12 hours, the sun would have risen low into a day six months long and at the south, slipped away to a long, extended, twilight, thus beginning the six month night.

To you to the south - our days are now longer than your's.

But not as long as Barrow's, where the sun will climb higher and higher each day, and each day will stay up for about 15 minutes longer than the day before until finally, come May 10, it will stay above the horizon all day and will not set again until August 2.

Here in Wasilla, there will never be a night that the sun does not set, but soon the darkest part of the night will still be a light version of twilight and it will be wonderful.

Not so long ago, Slick was a creature of the night.

Now he is a creature of the light.

I went to three basketball games today, the final being the 2A championship game between Point Hope and Klawock.

Just before the game started, I set my cameras to shoot at a shutter speed of 1/400th of a second.

Then the game started and some good action happened in front of me immediately.

But, somehow, a knob on my camera had rubbed against something in such a way as to drop the shutter speed to 1/20th of a second.

Basketball players can move significantly in 1/20 of a second.

I would shoot seven frames before I discovered the error and every one would be blurry.

So here is one of those motioned-blurred frames.

And here is another.

Plus a third.

You can see the action is good and they do work in an artsy-kind of way, but they will not work for what I want them to work.

I was very disappointed that I blurred the shots, but I took a lot more afterwards, so I will be fine.

They are still downloading and I haven't had a chance to look at any of them, other than these blurry ones. These were right at the beginning of the take, so they popped up right away. The rest of the disk is still downloading and when it is done, I have two more disks to download.

But it is 1:09 AM, I am very sleepy and must go to bed.

So I will wait until tomorrow to download the other two disks.

I take a walk and then a drive, but I do not try to splash water on the dry man

I have been spending too much time sitting in this chair. I am tired of sitting in this chair. In fact, I am getting sore from sitting in this chair.

Here's the challenge: remember how yesterday I mentioned that I am in the midst of processing a bunch of photos? I'm not sure how many. Somewhere between 200 and 300. Remember how yesterday the program Lightroom went haywire and cost me several wasted hours?

Nothing like that happened today, but what did happen was that I spent somewhere between four and five hours processing just three images. I leave for Nantucket Wednesday, and not only must I have all these photos done before that, but there are other tasks that I must do - such as go photograph some more village basketball in Anchorage Saturday - and I must prepare the slide show that I will present in Nantucket and in New York.

It's not as bad as it sounds, though, because those three photos were exceptionally difficult. All three were excellent content-wise, but were severely underexposed and strongly backlit besides that. So they were pretty damn hard (Riana has given me permission to swear - but I will still swear lightly and with good judgement and only when it is essential) to process and pull into a normal range.

Were in not for RAW photography, they would have been lost forever. Had I shot jpeg or on film - not a chance.

After I finished those three off, I probably averaged about 15 minutes per image until I stopped for the night. I must pick up the pace.

Before I started it all, I did get out for my walk. Here I am, above, going down Tamar, where I saw no other person, not even a dog.

When I got back to Seldon, I did see a DC-3. It always makes me feel good to look up into the sky and to see a DC-3. An old airplane, older than me - still flying.

As I neared the top of the hill on Ward's Street, I heard someone shout at me from a distance back. I turned to see who it could be.

It was this woman. I did not know her. Why the hell was she shouting at me?

As it turned out, she was not shouting at me at all, but at that white dog in front of her.

I wonder who she was?

I wonder who the dog was?

And did you see the Anchorage Daily News today, the story about the man who shot his neighbor's Chihuahua dead with a shotgun? He said he didn't mean to kill it; he only intended to tickle it. He shot it with a shotgun to tickle it tickle it. He said he was glad the dog was gone though, because it was a nuisance.

And the Daily News ran a warm and homey picture of him loving his own dog.

Did he see the irony?

And I did break away at the usual time to go to Metro. I did not do a "through the window study" or a "reverse study."

Instead, I did a "waiting in the Metro drive-through line study."

This is it:

Waiting in the Metro drive-through, Study #12

As I drove home, I saw this UPS van coming. It could have splashed water on the guy walking down the bike trail, but it didn't.

As you can see, he is dry.

I wonder if he was still dry after I passed him by?

I didn't try to splash water on him - honest, I didn't.

I'm not that kind of guy.

Chilled, golden moose nuggets simmering in the sun; Royce update; six reverse Metro studies

This morning, I walked only around the block, because Margie planned to drive into town and spend all afternoon and evening babysitting Jobe and Kalib - both to allow Jacob and Lavina to get out and celebrate their fourth wedding anniversary and for her own joy.

This meant that I would have to walk to Metro Cafe in the afternoon, so I figured there was no point taking a real walk in the morning, but I had to get out and get a breath of the air.

I hadn't gone far before before I came upon these chilled moose nuggets, simmering in the sun.

I am in the midst of processing a few hundred photos and I always start this process in a program called Lightroom. It is an excellent program, but sometimes it goes haywire and does some really strange things. Like last night, when I was downloading pictures from the Barrow basketball games, for some reason totally unbeknownst to me, it started the job properly and then, just a few frames into it, decided that it would only download every other picture that I had taken and that's how it went to the end.

This could have been disastrous for me, as I might well have believed that the images had downloaded completely and then I would have erased the completely full, 16 gigabyte disk and I would have lost half the images on it.

I discovered the fluke pretty much by accident, then I did a second download and this time the skipped photos came into my computer.

Today, Lightroom acted up in a completely different manner - but I won't explain, other than to say that it cost me several hours of wasted time.

During one period of frustration, I stepped out of my office and into the house and found Royce, posing.

Although he is now the skinniest cat I have ever seen - except for Chicago for a brief period in 2001 when she almost left this life - and it is a little horrible to pick him up or stroke him while he sits on my lap because I can feel every bone, he has considerable energy and seldom throws up anymore.

Before I started medicating him twice a day, he was throwing up maybe six to 10 times a day.

So I walked to Metro. I need to get an NPR ap for my iPhone. If I had one, I could have listened to the news as I walked. 

I thought about doing so, its just that with all the hassles Lightroom put me through, I didn't want to take the time.

Since I walked, I wound up inside and saw this lady outside, where I usually sit in my car to do my through the window studies.

Those two smoothies both went to her.

Anyway, this image is:

Reverse Metro Study, #9... #9... #9... #9... #9... #9... #9... #9... #9... #9... #9... #9 #9... #9... #9... #9... #9... #9...

Reverse Metro Study, #42

Now Nicole is fixing my drink.

Reverse Metro Study #193

Carmen with Serenity and Mia, who like to come into the cafe and help her out.

Reverse Metro Study, #17

Carmen and Mike, from her church.

Reverse Metro Study, #2901

Reverse Metro Study, #628

Carmen and Claudia, who works in pharmaceuticals. 

When she learned that I am one of those growing numbers of Americans who have lost their health insurance because the __________ insurance companies can do whatever the ______ they want and after 15 years of robbing me of my money and giving me very little back, my _______ insurance company, the _________ Mega Life and Health applied a formula to me that told them that it was time to get rid of me before I became a liability and so jacked up my rates overnight to the point where I could no longer pay them, Claudia said that I was in tough spot.

Now, the only reason that I put in blank spaces above is because of my ten-year old reader, Riana.

The words that are in my head go way beyond the "damns" and "hells" that she has busted me for.

Fifteen years worth of health insurance premiums - thrown away.

Senator Murkowski....???????????

Don Young.... ?????????

I return to Anchorage for the final Barrow Whaler games, then visit an under-the-weather Kalib and and a bright-eyed Jobe

I drove back to Anchorage today to photograph the final games of both the Barrow Whaler Ladies and the Barrow Whalers.

I simply do not have time right now to edit and prepare those photos, but I will share this one of Kalib that I took afterward. Margie had been babysitting both he and Jobe so that Lavina could go watch some ball playing herself.

Poor Kalib, though - he still was not feeling good.

When Lavina and I came back, he had just fallen asleep on the couch.

Lavina carried him off to bed.

Lavina, and Jobe. Intellectually, I know that babies do this, yet, it still amazes to see how much he has grown both physically and mentally in just over a month.

I suppose I can take just a little bit of time to add one picture that I took at the games, just as a contrast of a baby at seven months to Jobe's one. This is a Barrow baby and I was introduced to him and I memorized his name but I did not speak it into my cell phone and I have forgotten it.

Compared to Jobe, he looked downright huge.

I guess I will quickly grab, without taking any real time to edit or search through my larger take, one photo each from the boys' and girls' games.

Both teams played the consolation match for third place. Meimoana Havea looks for a shot as Dana Chrestman sets up a screen. I'm afraid the Whaler Ladies lost to Sitka, 24-53.

The Barrow boys, however, beat Mt. Edgecumbe, 66 to 46. Forrest Enlow makes it difficult for Mt. Edgecumbe to throw the ball into play.

This is Abu's mom.

And this Johnny Leavitt, who wants a copy of this picture, plus a few dozen more that I have taken of him at various moments in the past.

Here's this one, Johnny.

And here's June and Juko Aiken with a rowdy group of young fans.

I suppose, having gone this far, I cannot leave the Barrow cheerleaders out.

Now some of the smaller villages have their tournament, including the Point Hope Boys and the Wainwright Girls. I think I must stay home both Thursday and Friday, but I will go back Saturday, when I expect to see some of the village kids battling for their championships.

On the day that Lance Mackey wins his fourth straight Iditarod, I meet a husky, go to the Barrow Whaler girls game, visit baby Jobe; Pioneer Peak

In the morning, I took a walk and this airplane flew overhead. It felt like our poor excuse for a winter had ended. It was warm - in the 30's and would rise into the 40's come afternoon.

Shortly after the plane passed over, I saw this woman, walking this husky. Somewhere, I have both of their names written down from a much earlier meeting, but I don't know where.

Just before 3:00 PM in the afternoon, the nose of Lance Mackey's lead dog would cross the finish line under the burled arch in Nome, giving cancer survivor Mackey his history-setting fourth straight Iditarod win - and he has won that many Yukon Quests. No one else in the history of dog mushing has accomplished such a feat. If you haven't already, you can read about it here at the Anchorage Daily News or here at the Alaska Dispatch.

When Mackey crossed the finish line, I was at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, ready to photograph the semi-finals Class 3A basketball game between the Barrow Whaler girls and the Mount Edgecumbe Braves.

Five Barrow starters were suspended by their coach when they were caught drinking on a road trip earlier in the season. Most people figured that it was it for this team this year, but the younger, less-experienced players continued on and played hard and strong. They won the Western Conference Championship and a spot in the State Championship tournament. On Monday, they won their first game against Cordorva.

I was not there, but today I went to the semi-final. In the third quarter, the whalers were down by 12, but in the last two minutes came within three points of the Braves, but lost 34-29.

I took quite a few pictures and they are still downloading into my computer. I have no time to edit them for this blog post and so just pulled this shot from the pre-start huddle. I have not yet taken even my first glance at any of the action pictures.

Wasilla played at the Sullivan today, too - and won - and some may wonder why I did not photograph them as well - especially since three of my children graduated from Wasilla High.

I could only spare the time to go to one game, though and my community ties remain much closer to Barrow than to Wasilla. Plus, I have a little publication that I have put together that this will fit nicely into. The problem is, that publication is completely done and I am just waiting for my client to finish the review before it goes to press. 

I do not want to take anything more out of it than I already have, but I want to put the Barrow Whaler girls in, so I need to find a way.

After the game, I stopped and paid a visit to baby Jobe. I was amazed to see how alert he was. He studied everything, including me.

Kalib was home, too, but he was sick and asleep. I never got to see him.

I hate even to mention it, but this was also the day that a judge held a hearing and made the divorce of my beloved youngest son and the wife he so greatly loves final, save for a bit of paperwork.

So it was a sad day, but, as it always does, life went on and it will continue to.

As I drove back into Wasilla, I looked into my rearview mirror and there loomed Pioneer Peak.