Blue and White

Soothing hues of spring.

The Maker

"Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?

"Ah Lord God! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee."

(Jeremiah 32:27, 17)

For me, a lot of things are just too hard, but not for God. He's the Maker of heaven and earth.

He's almighty, and accessible.

"Thus saith the Lord the maker thereof, the Lord that formed it, to establish it; the Lord is his name; Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not."

(Jeremiah 33:2-3)

Break Up, Phase 2

Break up is not a simultaneous event here on the Kotzebue Bay. Two rivers empty into the bay. After the original bay ice moves out, the bay gets dumped again with the river ice.

When the rivers broke up a few days ago the community was surprised by the sheer amount of the incoming ice from the rivers. According to this news report, we were "threatened" by the fast-moving ice. It wasn't quite that bad, but it did tear up a building, dug up cement culverts, and created a contest for two front end loaders that had teamed up to protect other beach-front properties from destruction.

My Bonnie lies over the ocean (or bay, in this case)

I wish I could bottle the sounds of break up. The gentle gurgle of water, the deep crashing of icebergs, the crisp shatter of ice, and the smooth crackle of slush, makes for quite an Arctic symphony!

Spring Break Up on the Kotzebue Bay

I'm very blessed to live in Alaska.

 

It's finally one of our favorite times of the year here in the Arctic. 

It's the end of May and the sun rises at 3 am.

It's sets at 2 am.

All the daylight inspires you to get out there and get started on all your summer work.

Shortly after the bay breaks up is the best time for harvesting herring.

The herring are highly prized for their eggs, meat, oil and mash, and also because they are the first fish of spring. The return of the herring breaks the winter scarcity of fresh food and heralds the spring renewal of life.

“Herring provide the food source for almost every other animal in the water that we gather,” said interviewee Tammy Young. “They are on the ground floor.”

“Herring are the key to the ocean. They are our buffalo,” said Mike Miller of Sitka in the study.

https://www.uas.alaska.edu/about/press-releases/2019/191122-herring-roe.html

I like herring now and then, but for many people here herring is an important food source.

 

The change from winter to summer is so drastic. Beautiful days like this make up for the cold, dark weeks of winter.

(Those are the days I don't even want to think about!)

Can you believe it's already the end of May???

Summer days slip away way too fast.

 

I'm planning to enjoy every single one of them!