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By Mark Zeiger, November 30, 2010

We’ve been waiting for it to start, and now it has: we’ve begun the roller coaster ride of winter in Southeast Alaska.

I truly, deeply, passionately love a White Christmas. As a kid, I used to fret about it a lot, but then I realized something that has helped me be philosophical about it: in our region, snow is primarily a transitional weather condition.

Have you ever read about what, exactly, has to happen to make snow? It’s complicated! I won’t go into it (because, frankly, I can’t quote the process from memory) but let’s just say that it leaves me wondering that there’s so much snow in the world!

In most of Southeast Alaska, snow falls in the transition between warm and cold air masses. If we’re lucky, it’ll fall as warm gives way to cold, as that means it’ll stay around awhile. More often, it comes at the end of a cold snap, and quickly turns to rain. Continue reading 'A Winter Wonderland, Southeast Alaska Style'»

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By Mark Zeiger, November 30, 2009

Today is Saint Andrew’s Day. I wasn’t raised Catholic or Orthodox, but I’ve had a certain fascination with iconography for a long time.

Saint Andrew depicted in a Greek icon.

Saint Andrew is significant to me mostly because my middle name comes from him. He’s also the patron of Scotland, one of my several  ancestral homelands (Andrew’s X-shaped cross forms part of Scotland’s flag) the patron of fishermen, and sailors, among others.

Celebrating his day also allows one more observance in our ongoing Christmas season.

When my parents toured the Holy Land back in the ’70s, they brought back many gifts. The most precious, to me, is the metal tooled Greek Saint Andrew icon above, which now hangs on our bedroom wall. Come to think of it, this is the icon that got me interested in them in the first place.