Eight year-old Branson creates a work of art

Readers who have followed my blog for a while know Carmen's son Branson well. They have seen him crawl out this window, help his dad park Metro vans and cars, they've seen him go through communion and they have seen him stand at the edge of his father's open grave to drop dirt into it. Just a few minutes ago, at the Metro Cafe drive-through window, Carmen showed me this little piece of art which she says he created in just minutes. Branson is eight. His mother was born in Mexico, his father was of Norwegian descent. Branson identifies with his late father in all ways, but right here I sure see his mother coming through.

Long time readers have also seen Branson skate onto the hockey rink at the age of six and rule the ice. He has a game tonight. I don't have enough time to take in a whole game, but I think I might stop by at the end and do a portrait of him. I do have readers now who have not met Branson before and they need to know who created this little work of art.

Text added at 4:40 PM. The Squarespace nightmare continues.

Stop sign at the top of the hill

I wasn't going to take a walk today. I was just going to sit at my computer and work. Then I had to load a new batch of photos into my Lightroom editor and I could see it was going to take a good half hour to pull them all up. Truth is, no matter what, I really need to walk. If I don't walk I fall apart. So here I am walking. My Lightroom editor will be loaded and waiting for me when I get back home. I haven't seen a school bus yet today. There's usually not too many running at this time, but a rogue bus could pass by before I get home.

Text added at 12:34 PM. The Squarespace nightmare continues.

Warm weather continues…

The warm weather continues. Yesterday, I heard on the radio that Fairbanks had hit 62 the day before – an all-time record high for this late in the year. Also, they said it looks like Fairbanks is going to have a snowless Halloween this year, for only the second time in all of recorded history. As for us, looks like we are going to have a snowless Halloween as well. I well remember what was either our first or second year in our house here in Wasilla. The snow set in for good on October 2. Within a few days we recorded our first subzero (below -18 C) reading and then had many subzero temperatures throughout October. I also remember that in that year, high school football teams were playing in the snow in Fairbanks in mid-September. Of course we had a very cold Spring until late May, when it suddenly got super hot and records fell all over the place.

Text added at 12:32 PM. The Squarespace nightmare continues.

At Abby's: Time to sit, sit and contemplate

I just finished my breakfast here at Abby's. I hope to get lots done today, but first I'm going to just sit here for a while, slowly sip my coffee and contemplate. That's Abby, Martina and a gentleman who I see here regularly, but I don't know his name. For any newcomers who don't know but might be curious, Abby is the daughter of Paul and Iona Mahoney, whose grotto I photographed yesterday's school bus from.

Text added at 12:29 PM. (Sometimes, my mind goes to other things and just forget to add in the text when I get back to my computer). The Squarespace nightmare continues.

Another day spent in two places at once

Wait! "Where is Jim?" You challenge. "Isn't he always there with you, assisting you in your work, sitting between your eyes and your computer screen or upon your shoulder?" He could be on my shoulder right now and you would not know… So how can you even ask such a question? The truth is, he is curled up on his own chair, about 3 feet from mine and is taking a much needed nap. He needs lots of naps and I never deny him although sometimes he denies me my sleep. But most often, he just makes me a little more warm and a little more comfortable and able to rest a little better than I would if he were not there. But not always… but Jim is not the point of this post.

The point is to let you know I have spent most of this day sitting here in my chair in my office in my house in Wasilla, but at the same time, I have spent the day up north. Mostly in Nuiqsut, but as you can see, here I am about to land in Barrow. This is how I live when I am picture editing – in two places at once. I am not as far along as I had hoped to be by now, but I am making progress. I will get to the end product, but I am totally confused about what very few pictures to keep for publication, and which thousands to set aside to await the day when some scholar now in diapers or maybe not even born can pore over them in the future and wonder about it all.

"The guy was nuts!" He will say. "But damn! He loved his work! He loved the north! He wasn't really tough enough for the north and he was totally disheveled and unorganized, but he loved it anyway, and somehow managed to do a fair number of things and produce a good number of works - although never as much as he wanted to do or thought he would do."