Posting vignettes based on great postcards found in my mail box and elsewhere.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Plowing into the new year

Printed on the back of the card:
Rotary snow plow in action at Moraine, Mile post 7.1 on the Whittier Branch of the Alaska Railroad. In this area, 100-mile-an-hour winds are frequent, causing heavy drifting of snow.
Published by Ellis Post Card Co., Arlington, Washington

This year I'm thinking of New Years a little differently. I can't help but think that some sober meditation is in order. This train slogging its way through drifts of snow is an appropiate image of what the new year has in store for most of us. The proverbial tracks we run are not always clear but we will get through what seems like insurmountable obstacles by persistence and determination.

Each year the Alaska Railroad publishes an art print commemorating the work and beauty of Alaskan trains. For 2009, Alaskan artist Taffina Katkus won the print competition with her work "Clearing the Way." See an image of the print at her blog Post Cards from Alaska. She used as her subject a rotary plow very similar to the one shown on this post card, photographed several decades earlier in Whittier, Alaska.
The best to you and yours in the New Year!

4 comments:

  1. Happy New Year!
    Quite inspiring and encouraging post ))

    My best wishes for 2009

    :)

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  2. HI Kris,
    Thanks for dropping by my blog. Now I can visit yours, which I didn't know about before. I am actually thinking about driving to Alaska next summer. Take care and all the best for 2009.
    Cheers.
    Gem

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  3. Happy New Year Kris and thanks for you comment on my blog :)

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  4. This is amazing! I am so happy to be connected with you:) It is refreshing to meet someone with a shared passion! Finding this blog has made my day!

    ReplyDelete