Old School Alaskan: More March Madness

Profile of 7-dog at work by Veryl Goodnight

Holy smokes, but the last couple of weeks have been very busy around here. With Trish preparing for her racing debut at the Two Rivers Dog Mushers Association's Valley Funale, and all the other dogs needing to run as well, we've been enjoying March weather out on the trails.

March is my favorite winter month up here. The days are getting longer, day-time temperatures are very pleasant, and clear sky is the most common March conditions. Of course the down side is that we are starting the earliest stages of the spring thaw, leading up to the dramatic meltdown of break-up.

A real highlight has been a visit of fine-artist Veryl Goodnight. Veryl is a sculptress and painter, best known for her works depicting the American frontier west. One of her most well-known and most frequently viewed sculptures is "The Day the Wall Came Down". The monument's composition is five horses, one stallion and four mares, running through the rubble of the collapsed Berlin Wall. One casting was placed in a reunited and free Berlin on July 2, 1998. Delivered by the U. S. Air Force on the 50th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift, installed by the German Army, and unveiled by former U. S. President George Bush. The sculpture is a gift of friendship from the American people to the people of Germany. The second or "American" casting is permanently displayed in the central courtyard of the George Bush Presidential Library, adjacent to the campus of Texas A&M University. This second casting was first placed on loan to the state of Georgia for the 1996 Olympic Games and then moved to the new Presidential Library when it opened in the fall of 1997.

You can read the rest of the story behind this amazing work of art by click HERE.

Veryl Goodnight and her monumental sculpture at the Allied Museum, Berlin

Lately her interest has turned northward and depicting the inter species relationships between dogs and dog mushers. On Sunday I dressed in my most authentic historical clothing and we headed toward one of my favorite mushing locations for a photo shoot. Veryl captured many wonderful images, and I thought it would be fun to share a few here.

With the exception of modern harnesses on some of the team, the images are a fair depiction of a traveling dog team in Alaska between the time of the purchase from Russia through the Klondike Gold Rush.