Photo essay from Kodiak Island: Captain Santa and a Christmas tree made from bird deterrent tape

Thirty years ago, in December 1984, I moved from Seattle to Kodiak, Alaska. My Mom fretted. “When are you coming home?”
To describe island life, I wrote letters to family and friends, and slipped a photograph or two in the envelopes.Soon my summers were sprinkled with visitors, traveling North to see for themselves. “But what about the winters?” They asked.
To continue the tradition, may I share with you a visual smorgasbord from the past couple weeks. Mind you, we’ve had a snow-free winter so far, but my motto as a photographer (and cook, gardener, whatever) has always been: Do the best with what you’ve got. So, short and sweet, I hope you enjoy the images:
Let’s start with a dazzling Christmas tree that’s 30 feet tall. It’s made from a flagpole, lines, bird deterrent tape and flood lights…

Didn’t you know? Captain Santa guides his reindeer from the pilothouse. If it gets foggy, he resorts to radar…

While on a late afternoon hike on Pillar Mountain, above the City of Kodiak, we were treated to this golden view of the airport and surrounding mountains…

A sign of the times, or should I say, a reminder for all of us…

At a Christmas potluck, we were greeted by beet crabs and broccoli coral. Yes, I live in a fishing community…

During a visit to St. Innocent’s Academy, a local school for troubled youth, I noticed a collection of vacuum cleaners huddled in the corner. “Do you have any Santa hats?” I asked one of the students. Soon we had a chorus of vacuum cleaners signing, “Oreck Come All Ye Faithful!”…

I found this chunk of kelp while walking along the beach on a frosty morning. (I came back later with buckets and loaded them up with shredded kelp for the compost)…

Our winter has been so mild, we still have carrots growing in the hoophouse. We mulch with spruce branches and kelp to keep the soil from freezing…

Kodiak Island is home to an amazing variety of birds and during the Audubon Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count, we’re often rated Number 1 or 2 in Alaska for number of species. Here is a long-tailed duck, spotted during this year’s count. A beautiful bird, isn’t it? The sun lighting up the mountains in the background casts this golden reflection on the water…

If you’re still with me, I’d like to finish with a blessing, by Robert Louis Stevenson:

“Lord, we thank you for this place in which we dwell, for the love that unites us, for the peace accorded us this day; for the hope with which we expect on the morrow; for the health, the work, the food, and the bright skies that make our lives delightful; for our friends in all parts of the earth.”
Amen.

See you in 2015!