departures and arrivals

i'm sitting in the Anchorage airport, so far, successfully resisting the urge to belly up to the bar a couple gates down. Dea and I had been in Rochester again for the past two weeks. no news to report on the transplant front, but more frustration. we had really good news about Dea's treatment three weeks ago and headed off to Mayo with guarded optimism. once there, though, the outlook wasn't much different, and after five days of Plasmapherisis and IVIG, the team opted to have a permanent access put in her arm to ease her dialysis, and relieve the risk of infection. it's a much more burly procedure than we anticipated, but she's dealing, and currently over Canada somewhere en route from a connection in Chicago. we weren't able to get the same flights out, although we will meet up here to make the last leg together on to Fairbanks late tonight. so i wait.

we're anxious to get back to Fairbanks. the snow has been falling there consistently, and by all reports the xc skiing is perfect. i like this time of year up here- we are loosing eight minutes of light a day, it's starting to get cold, but there is an urgency to living, to getting that last little bit more into each day, that i find comforting.

i have an increasing amount of photography work ahead of me when we get back- with every image i make another direction emerges. my work up north is slowly coming together, and i'm chomping at the bit to start getting images to the end stage. i have a show in June of next year that already has me anxious. all progress.

i know i've been leaning on a lot of quotes here lately, but this hit a cord today. from an interview with Josef Koudelka in the latest issue of Aperture in which he was asked "So what matters Josef?"

"Everything. Everything matters. Everything. Every day is a gift. Everything matters. This morning it mattered very much that the sun came out at 8:18. Tomorrow it is going to matter very much, if I am here, that the sun is going to rise at 8:16. Everything matters. I don't take things for granted. Everything is present for me. And if something beautiful happens, I try to enjoy and appreciate it as much as possible"


quote and photo © Josef Koudelka

listening to Horse Feathers