Homer

April 29 Homer, AK

It's been said that Homer is a "quaint little drinking village with a fishing problem." It's also said that "to live here you can't be all there." It's also known as a "cosmic hamlet by the sea." I agree with all the above. I bought a car and have been making a few trips into town. It's an older Saturn wagon, not a Subaru (which seems to be the car of choice around here) but with enough mud splashed on it I think hardly anyone will notice the difference. The folks here are quite... shall we say... eclectic, hippie-ish even. Like the gentleman who sat down beside me at a local watering hole Wednesday evening, where I went to watch an open mic night, and promptly asked me if I new about the New World Order, or the HAARP conspiracy, and started to list the reasons why we should impeach the president - my kinda people! He was wearing a tie-dyed poncho and a felt hat that resembled something worn by Buck and Roy on Hee-Haw, or maybe the Beverly Hillbillies. He was smoking a pipe and drinking a glass of wine... which seemed oddly out of place, and later got up with his guitar and did a mean version of Bongo Band. Or the gal I danced with at a contra dance last weekend - with her spiked hair, knee-length skirt over tights, and a tattoo of Joan of Arc in flames on her arm. With my untrimmed beard, sock cap, and flannel shirt I feel I am fitting in rather well. If only I had a pair of corduroy pants and a wool pullover sweater, like the kind you find at a thrift store, I would be accepted without question. Hey, I already eat organic food and make my own tea from tree fungus.

The snowshoe hares are starting to turn brown, could that be a sign that spring is on the way?

I also came across this wolf, who graciously stopped and posed for me on my walk in to the cabin today. Perhaps he was looking for a snowshoe hare too.