Long Shadows

The evening sun is casting its shadows over the mountains across the bay. At 9pm the shadows are long, by 10 pm the colors will start to melt across the mountain peaks as they meet with the dark blue of the evening sky. By midnight the sky will be black and the snowy mountain peaks across the bay will be outlined in the darkness. 
Tonight the Geophysical Institute is forecasting an aurora display that could be visible across most of Alaska. Homer is nestled into the hills on the North side of Kachemak Bay, and a view of the aurora to the North will be to be hard to see.

Now just past 9:30 and only the taller peaks are seeing the sun. 
The town is starting to show signs of summer with the small tents and campers showing up on the spit.  I am patiently waiting for some of my favorite stops to open, Coal Point Coffee and the Boardwalk Bakery come to mind.  Many afternoons I found myself on a cookie run to the Boardwalk and have never been disappointed.  And the Coal Point Coffee shop is just a nice place to have a cup of coffee before the planes come in after the bear trips and my work begins for the evening.

 Its officially Sunset here tonight at 9:44pm.  Beluga Lake is still locked up except for the edge along the roadway.  Officially a seaplane base along side the Homer Airport, Beluga Lake is home to Steller Air, a small air charter company that specializes in great float plane trips. I've gone with them to some of the the glaciers, and a bear trip to Brooks Falls.

Almost 11pm and the lights on the spit are reflecting off the bay. Just a bit over 15 hours of sunlight now in late April.  Homer is gaining daylight at a rate of about 5 minutes day. 
Got an email from a fellow blogger today, asking me if I have been with the witness protection program .. yeah I've kind of fell of the radar here for awhile.  My winter in Minnesota was a hard to take this year.  I normally look forward to a season of skiing and snow.  The snow never happened.  My only outings were a cross country skiing weekend in Northern Wisconsin on the Rock Lake Trails near Cable, and an afternoon on the Birke trails where an odd fall left me with a hamstring injury.  three weeks later I tried a down hill ski adventure at Welsh Village where I had one of the hardest falls I can remember.  My shoulder is still on the mend from that one.  My weekend on the Rock Lake Trails were great as they always are, but if I could have avoided some injuries this winter, things might have been different.
11:30pm .. walked outside to check on the northern sky.  Nothing yet.  Can still see the sunlight outlining the horizon.
12:10am .. Ah well, I guess it just isnt gonna happen here.  G'night.