This past weekend I got to go to beautiful Seldovia, AK (pop. 283), a tiny fishing community located across the bay from Homer (4 hours south of Anchorage). It's only accessible by plane or water taxi. We took the latter and saw sea otters and gorgeous fjord-ish scenery! There is just one school in Seldovia, which was the location for the Seldovia Summer Solstice Music Festival (check out Antje Dukovet and Matt Anderson). We camped on Outside Beach, hiked through town and played on cliffs. We spent a good deal of time rigging up the perfect campsite, practicing throwing stones with our left hands and eating yummy things like grilled cheese and avocados... It was a lovely weekend with lovely, fun people; the days were as long as I could have hoped for them to be. It was a perfect Alaska summertime weekend!

Wendell Berry writes about how the destruction of our world-- the place we are here to enjoy and take care of-- in our lifetime is what drives us crazy. I believe it! He also writes, "Be joyous even though you've discovered the facts."

To learn what you can do to affect climate change in a good way, sign up for the e-newsletter on www.doingsomethingaboutclimatechange.com for "easy-peasy," non-stressful and entertaining tips. It's a stinky thing to be beat down every day by the facts about climate change. Getting a tip a day on how you can make things better is a huge relief! Go ahead and do it-- your grandbabies thank you ;).

This is my beautiful cousin, Hannah, who just went back home to KY after an 11-day visit with her scout troop. I just love this girl! Han is such a fun, smart and sweet human being. Yay for the Amy-Hannah time we had -- she gave me a fiddle lesson and was the perfect buddy for hiking Flattop and for eating large quantities of kettle corn ;).

The flowers are blooming! Here's one from a great walk at Hatcher's Pass a week or so ago. I'm going to try to learn their names before I leave.

And the winner is.......

Will post the actual flyer that Blake made when I can. (So you out-of-towners can get the full scoop!) Hope you have fun 'summer solstice' plans, too :).

Here are potential publicity shots for Long Way to Winter, Anchorage's very own up-and-coming (only way to go is up from here), folk rock hippie Celtic, all-that's-lovely-and-not-a-stupid-love-song band.

Please vote on your favorite. Results will be posted. (P.S. That's me, Scott, Elise and Blake.)