Greetings from Homer Alaska

 I arrived a week ago Friday and have been on the go since.

The flights up were good and my luggage arrived, yeah.

I got in around 11pm and grabbed a Lyft ride to the hotel where my sister and her friend were staying. They quickly climbed into bed after letting me in. Took me a bit to get organized and then to fall asleep. We had to get up early the next morning to take her friend to the airport, after dropping her off we started the drive from Anchorage to Homer. We made a few stops along the way, first was along the Cooks Inlet to watch the Beluga Whales. Very hard to catch them with their heads out of the water. This is the best I could do.

A plane flying over Cooks Inlet as we were watching thee whales.

My first meal was “Halibut on a stick” at the Boardwalk restaurant, ate it before I could get a picture.

On Sunday our cousins arrived, we had never met in person before. We took a hike in the Eveline State Recreation Site.

On Monday I was given a gift from my son and sister, I went All Species Fishing for the day. I caught a couple of Halibut, a Silver Salmon and a rockfish. We had the Salmon for dinner that night, along with a couple of pieces of King Salmon and a rockfish. These are all the fish I and the couple on board caught.

Tuesday and Wednesday I spent working with my sister at her store. She was just training me on her new system. Tuesday night the cousins took us to dinner at, Lands End, on the Spit. No pictures but a great meal and wonderful service. We all ate too much.

On Thursday I dropped her at the bus stop for her trip to the Anchorage Airport for her vacation. I met the cousins at the, Two Sisters Bakery, and introduced them to chocolate bread. Geert gave his name, Maya, the daughter of one of the owners, lookup and saw me and said “of course Chocolate Bread”.

She recognized me from my previous visits to Homer. My favorite bakery! The rest of the day I ran some errands.

Friday I worked at the store. Saturday I was off, it rained all morning so I did some laundry. In the afternoon I had ran some of more errands. Went to the bakery, late, figured they would be out of the Chocolate Bread, but they had a few left. Not great for my diet, but soooooo good. I then headed for the farmers market. I then went to the Spit and bought some smoked Salmon, last year they ran out before I could get some.

On my sister’s advice, I went for lunch at the Broken Oar and had their Creole with clams, scallops and shrimp. Delicious on a cold day.

Today, Sunday, I am working at the store.

These are picture from the farmers market and the Spit.

Alaska

 Just a quick note, I flew back to Alaska yesterday and will be here until the need of September. I will be posting pictures as I get out. Today we are hoping to see some Beluga Whales before we drive from Anchorage to Homer.

At the gate waiting to board

One Week

 Next Friday, I leave for Alaska. I have packed my gear and then repacked it, I will probably do it a few more times before I am satisfied.

Visited with my oncologist on Tuesday, weight dropped 20lbs(more to go), PSA dropped lower, BP down, overall doing well. Received my hormone shot, butt hurts like hell. I then went and got a Covid booster, both shots on my right side. I don’t know if that was a good idea or not.

A few photos from the last week or so.

Summertime

 Summer is melting away rapidly as we move from July to August. Almost time for my second PSA Test and the dreaded hormone shot. The temperature has dropped from the 100"s to the mid-nineties, quite a relief.

Many things have been going on this summer. I continues to show and sell my work at the gallery, Mostly Madrid, in Madrid New Mexico. Have met some interesting people wandering through.

Madrid Miners, our local softball team played in a Tournament in June. Here are a few shots of the game.

Unfortunately, our team did not make to the finals.

Madrid is always up for a parade. This is the He/She Bang, theatrical group preparing a float for the Pride Parade. Plus a few pictures of some of the participants.

Which brings our to the next Parade on the 4th of July.

The next weekend I was a volunteer at the, International Folk Artist Market. Such a good experience, meeting a chatting with artist from around the world.

Bought this vest from Guatemala.

The lady on the left spins the yarn, the other lady does the weavings.

This, Heart, was a gift from one of the ladies I cashiered for.

July 22nd, Eva's birthday, may she rest in peace.

So that brings us to the present. I am preparing to leave for Alaska in the middle of August and will be returning at the end of September. That should cool me off a bit. My house sitter will be here in a few days, so I can train her on how to operate the solar system, watering system and how to heat the wood-burning Hot Tub, among other things.

These are a few images I have captured this summer.

Visit my web site for more: https://steven-natanson.pixels.com/

17th Annual Crawdaddy Blues Festival

I spent the last month taking pictures of various events around town. One of my favorites is the annual Crawdad Festival, good music, good food and the weather held up pretty well for the weekend event.

Attorney General Raul Torres, US Senator Martin Heinrich, County Commissioner Rudy Garcia

Lori, who owns the Mine Shaft Tavern, where the event is held.

These are just a few of the many performers from the event.

First PSA Test After Treatment

 Friday, the 5th of May I went to the lab for my PSA test. Today, Monday the 8th, I met with the doctor to discuss the results and future treatment. 

My Radiologist, told me he hoped to see me below 10, at our final consultation in February. I was as high as 31.7 pre-treatment. Today I was informed by my Oncologist the my PSA was .02, he stated it is basically undetectable. I am Cancer Free!!!. I then received my hormone shot, number 3 of 8, they will continue every three months until I am done. 

I sit here now as the pain of the shot slowly increases, I will be cursing the, nurse, her family, etc for the next few hours until the pain subsides. I joked about it with her, as the last two people who gave me this shot were cursed in the same way. All of the people who I have had the opportunity to work with have been great.

The community that I live in is small and we take care of each other. during the year we have various events that fund community projects. One of these is a Medical Fund. I was fortunate to have this available, as they, contributed funds to help offset the co-payments that I have been making.

Last weekend was the second annual, Turquoise Trail Pack Burro Race, I photographed the first one last year and was contacted to do it again this year. We had double the entries this year, going from 23 to 50 racers. I was a perfect day for the race.

Racing through the Arroyo

This is the start of the race in the Village of Cerrillos

Coming out of the Cerrillos Hills State Park

The Top 3 finishers

My house in the Ortiz Mountains
 March Sunset

My friends flying over my house.

I have planned a trip back to Alaska, I will be traveling up there in the middle of August and returning at the end of September. 

The He/She Bang performance will be performed over two weekends in November. We will have 5 shows, I will post the dates when they are finalized.