It's raining like gangbusters here. Though, I'm sure that by September I'll actually see real rain. For Alaska, this is a heavy duty rain. I love the sound of it. I love the smell in the air. I love the way cars sound driving on wet roads and breezing through puddles.

Yesterday, I mentioned Anatoly. Well, here he is, my mentor.

A russian writer/director currently teaching at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. This picture is actually just a captured image off a home video I took years ago. He was sitting on a porch overlooking the Chena river. A bunch of us were gathered around a table, and Anatoly told us the long version of his defection from the Soviet Union. Maybe someday I'll do a transcription and put it on here.