Clearly, I am not the only one who loves fireweed.

Nikon D50 | 105mm f/2.8G ED-IF AF-S VR | f/7.1 | 1/320 sec | aperture priority mode

Even I don't eat this well!

Captured in Seward, July 2007.

Nikon D50 | 70-300mm f/4-5.6G AF | f/5.6 | 1/1250 sec | 300mm | manual mode

Alaska dogs are so great. There's just something about them - maybe they know how lucky they are to live in such an awesome place, or maybe they take their cue from the people, who are generally pretty laid back too, but either way, it's pretty clear that they love life. The last year that I lived. in Alaska I had a neighbor who had a greyhound/husky mix named Gypsy. That dog loves to run and she loves to run fast. My neighbor had had some trouble getting her to stick around off-leash since sighthounds see something and take off after it, just like their name suggests, but when Sienna was around, Gypsy loved to chase her. This always worked out great since Sienna was always running after tennis balls, so whenever they got together you were guaranteed to have two happy tired dogs. Now that we live in Arizona, Sienna misses her best friend, and I miss the plaintive "Mommmmmm, my best friend is outside please let me out so I can play with her" whines she would give every day when my neighbor got home from work. So here's to Gypsy, a great Alaska dog who's left our lives a little emptier since we moved away.

Nikon D50 | 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED AF-S DX | f/5.6 | 1/250 sec | 38mm | manual mode