back from Alaska

Came back from Alaska.

I am missing Alaska's oxygen. Very much. Here is the map of my travels. No cruse. My american friends ask me "Did you take a cruse?". No. I didn't. Air-plane, float-plane, motor-boat, 4wheel drive SUV (2 thousand miles i put on its wheels!) - this was my transportation. First three islands - Kodiak, Spruce and St.Nilus island. Than main land. I have marked my run on the map with the pink marker. Anchorage, Denali, Fairbanks, Yukon, Tok (where Alaska 1 and Alaska 2 meet :), Kenai penunsula (went to Russian Old Believers there!). You can't really see the road to Yukon and Dalton highway on the map, didn't fit. But you cam imagine that the pink line goes up from Fairbanks...

Here it is, my great adventure in Alaska mapped!



Вот так.

in search of oxygen

After Alaska it is just not enough oxygen for me in the air. In search of oxygen i went to Pilot mountain today for a hike. This mountain was a landmark for indians. It is beautiful. Looks like like a green hat. Only eagles live on the top. No people allow to climb, but they can walk around in a ribbon trail. I also hikes 2 miles Ledge Spring trail, they say it is strenuous. Not with my camera :) I stop every inch to make my shots.

In several places i noticed a red ribbon, no go. Yellow jackets are nesting. We'd better not disturb them. They bite. It is their time to do their thing. I didn't know what these red ribbons are for till i came to the start of the trail - no wonder, i went the other way around, against the clock.

Have met two Romanians - Camelia and Alexandy. She works in our grocery store, and her husband is in electronics. Mesa is their last name. It means 'a table' in Spanish. Everything is so mixed up. I pictured them, and then gave my camera to Camelia, asking her to make a photo of me. She pressed the button, it was a loooooot of blue skies in the picture, but from the third try i got a chance to be in the picture to and didn't blink :))





me :)


the knob of the Pilot mountain, only eagles live on the top


trees grow holding to the rocks


lizard with a blue tail - probably prehistorical


Camelia and Alexandry from Romania


this is North Carolina and hwy 52 that i took to come to Pilot mountain


hwy 52 goes to Winston-Salem

the girl and the elephant..

i like this picture very much... it's by Gregory Colbert

i also like another picture where the girl is standing in the field and two elephant are behind her, but i could not find that one online (saw it in a magazine)

and this one i like like very much... reaching out..

hugging trees

We have a nice park nearby, Leinbach Park. It is a city park. Walking trail, tennis courts, kids playground...

I was driving Robinhood Rd to work, and I had to stop! Trees are being cut in the park! I could not believe my eyes!

These big, healthy trees were shading the park from the Robinhood road, and it's traffic, the fumes. I could not just pass by this tree cemetery... The heavy equipment was there, workers... If i could not stop them, I had stopped myself. I got out of the car and talked to the guy who was operating big tractor. "How do you feel about what you're doing to this park?" - i asked him. He said: "I love my job!" I realized that i need to go elsewhere with my question. The question was: "Why?"

I called the city, Vegetation department. They were saying that the road needs to be wider, and to do the job they need to cut big trees in the park along the road. O, yes - in order to get somewhere faster we need to cut and knock down everything that is on our way... Trees can't say much. But people can.

I addressed my question to the Winston-Salem Journal. Ronda Bumgardner
was very responsive (thank you!) and published my question along with my photo of the cut trees. Sometimes photo tells us more that words can.







I also adressed my question to the City Council. I was rather impressed with the respond from a Council Member Wanda Merschel. She really invested her time to get to the bottom of the problem, i feel.

Here is the final respond that I have received. It is from Tim Grant, Director of the Winston-Salem Recreation and Parks Department (forwarded to me by the City Council Wanda Merschel):

Todd M. Love (Public Works Engineering Division) has worked on this project with us. This project is a road widening on Robinhood Road. This project has been talked about since 2003 and it involves the road widening, new sidewalk and the underground placement of electrical/phone lines. I believe that City Council approved a municipal agreement sometime in 2003. I believe that this project was delayed due to funding for a couple of years. Connie Curtis was working on this project in 2003-04.

As you may know, Leinbach Park is an LWCF property (Land and Water Conservation Fund) and the city had to get the approval from the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources Division of Parks and Recreation. That approval was given in writing to the city by John C. Poole in May of 2008. The National Park Service (Edwolyn Dooley-Higgins) also gave its approval in May 2008 and they saw no negative impact on the recreational aspect of the park area.

The proposed roadway improvement will make ingress and egress into the park easier and safer for motorists and park users. There is a proposed sidewalk that will improve pedestrian travel and safety along Norman and Robinhood Road and the trail system. This project will also add an additional turning land off Sally Kirk Road and Norman Road. The new sidewalk will be 5 feet wide and a 10 foot utility easement. There will be minimal impact upon the park and no impact to the walking trail.

A new retaining wall will be installed along Robinhood Road (with stairs from the park to the sidewalk) and there will be new trees planted and landscaping improvements along Robinhood Road. We only supported this project with the inclusion of new buffer trees and landscaping. The landscaping and trees will be planted by Vegetation Management. James Mitchell has been involved with this project along with us. James Mitchell has put together a plan that will allow for a denser buffer zone than what was currently located there. We reviewed this project with our recreation and parks commission on June 3, 2008. The project is scheduled to be completed by the start of school in late August 2008.

I can be available to discuss this further or get Todd M. Love to provide further clarification as to the specifics of this project.
Thanks,

Timothy A. Grant, Director
Winston-Salem Recreation and Parks Department
100 East First Street, Stuart Municipal Building
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
(336) 734-1210 office

Tree are crying. Stubs are there - looks like a cemetery. My neighbour's 5 years old boy cryed when he came to his park and saw these trees being cut. He said: "Mommy, i want to plan a tree. Many-many trees!" They cut "only" five big trees. Others they considered to be "small". Our park is not quite the park we loved. Cars, traffic, the air quality has been compromised...

I observed how big tractor was fighting the last piece of the tree that still was in the ground. The tree was holding up like as if it was a matter of princip - hold on the the earth! The tree didn't want to give up... Do we?



What can stop us?

natalia tuchina

orientation ))

bought a compass today!
real one, "old fashioned"
happy (kindergarten! in the age of GPS!)
now i am reading the instructions how to use it - figuring up where the sunset, where is north (there are two! ))) and what grid north is - sic!


saw a fish eye compass in the store - looks like a fish eye exactly

hung a big world map on the wall
russian word for "world" is "peace" (мир)
feels good like as if peace is with me now

the edge

Yesterday i watched the movie "The Edge" (1997). About Alaska (to be short). About three people in the cituation of survival (recently i was in the "office team building exercise" with two mexican girls and one american... they gave us similar task... but without bears...)))

A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.

Bears are horrible...Ursus Horribles. I learned later that the bear was actually a trained one ))) But - very believable, very realistic. Great movie for those who interested in the human psychology, for "truth seekers", not "effect seekers" in life. Ironically the millioner wife's name was Mickey Morse, very close to Mickey Mouse.. but its not about her.

The film is a "man's film", activates your guts, teaches you to keep going even if you don't know exactly where the south is (i need to buy a compass!). The landscapes are supreme! This movie now is my favorite together with "Into the Wild". Рекомендую!

"We're all open to the test but it never comes in the point we would prefer..."

hi to everyone

especialy to those whom i have not seen for a long while )))

above it all

click for a larger view

Yesterday we made a air balloon flight!!!

The balloon was giant, 7-story high, the basket was attached to the balloon - kinda small, only for 3 people. We got up to 1500 feet, we taken to different direction with the wind :)
It was beautiful sunrise!
We picked a leaf from the top of the tallest tree!

Pictures are coming soon :)

Funny Thing Happened

Nadia Bakhireva and Anthony Liguori

Yesterday we went to see a musical Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum to Hickory Community Theatre in Hickory, NC. It was wonderful performance directed by Pamela Livingstone! Very bright, very funny and dynamic. The energy level was excellent, decorations and costumes creative; overall it was better than many professional productions i have seen in NC theaters! Next year the theater will celebrate it's 60s anniversary. Anthony Liguori was singing the leading part. Anthony is Nadia's voice student. She was very proud of him! They have met after the performance for a discussion. I took my camera out :)

You can click on each picture for a larger view - images copyrighted
all photos ©n.tuchina-2008 all rights reserved permission required













v

Andrew and Sasha

Today I went to picture Andrew and his daughter Sasha. Andrew asked me to make some photos so that he can send them to relatives who can't come for a visit at this time. Here are some of my shots. Sasha is so lovely! She is absolutely beautiful child. She can dance, she plays flute, she is an ice skater and a swimmer. Andrew does an excellent job on raising Sasha, he is truly a wonderful father. They both are so happy, it's a pleasure to watch them together.

You can click on each picture for a larger view - all images copyrighted
©natalia.tuchina-2008 all rights reserved permission required

nadia and the horse

click on the pictures to see the horse better :))
we were driving in the country, and could not pass by this modern

multicultural fest

we had a funny event in downtown today - multicultural festival for kids from Mexico
they were making sombreros out of newspapers, and stamping their "passports" like as if they travel from country to country

i was asked to represent Mexico (why not! :)
o, where is that picture of me in the sombrero made out of The New York Times :)))

but i was the photographer
and here are the pictures click here