Homer's Best Bets </MCC HEAD>

Story last updated at 8:49 PM on Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Homer's Best Bets

Happy Beltane! That's right, Betsteroids, today all good neopagans around the Gaelic world celebrate the start of the pastoral season. It's time to round up the sheep and move 'em out to the fields. In the Celtic calendar, Beltane marks the halfway point between the equinox and the solstice kinda like Feb. 2, or as we call it in Alaska, Marmot Day.

You know all those beautiful sunny mornings when the sun rises at what used to be oh-dark-hundred? By the solstice, that's it, poof, finito, the sun will rise later and later until once again we're immersed in deep, dreadful darkness. The old earth keeps whirling round the sun, and once you get used to something, the planet moves on.

Photographer: McKibben Jackinsky, Homer News

Keepin' it clean

Anthony Jones, left, and Zakk Williams, right, show off their clean hands with "germ" Kelly Dennison of South Peninsula Hospital's Education Department during Saturday's Safe Kids Fair.

We're shedding darkness now, not growing it. With this ash-induced spring, breakup roared faster than you could say, "Honey, did you buy the Nenana Ice Classic tickets?" Real soon now it could be your lucky day, a $283,723 personal economic stimulus.

It's warm enough now you don't have to be a foolhardy teenager to wear shorts it actually makes sense, or at least isn't deadly. Motorhome camps have begun to appear from Ninilchik to the Spit, some of them even with Outside plates. Holy Ripstop Canvas, there were even tents at Mariner Park.

Spring makes us all optimists. The rhubarb seems to be popping up early this year, doesn't it? This stretch of sunny weather seems a little hotter, eh? We always want to believe this summer will be warmer, clearer, with a good run of kings and plenty of tourists here to share their wealth.

It's May on Friday, citizens, a First Friday on the first. Homer wakes up after a long, wild winter. Best Bets? The choices are almost endless, like these cool things to do:

BEST SIGN IN BET: The Pratt Museum's ongoing programs for the 25th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill continue this week with a presentation and booksigning from 5-6:30 p.m. today at the museum with Stan Jones and local writer Sharon Bushell, authors of "The Spill."

BEST GROWING GENIUS BET: What? Another book by a Homer writer? We might be a hot spot for literary genius. How talent gets grown, and why some obscure places generate greatness is the idea behind Dan Coyle's "The Talent Code." Coyle reads and signs his new book at 7 p.m. Friday at the Homer Public Library. See story, page 16.

BEST ALL SPORTS ALL THE TIME BET: Our intrepid sports writer, Aaron Selbig, will be working double-triple overtime this weekend covering all the events happening in town. From soccer to softball to track to baseball, the Mariners play all over the place. Check out the schedule on the Calendar, page 19.

BEST B.E.M. BET: That's B.E.M. for "bug eyed monsters," creepy things that terrorize innocent children. In the ultimate horror smackdown, it's "Monsters vs. Aliens," showing at the Homer Theatre. Catch the 6 p.m. showing on Friday and proceeds help the Homer Middle School eighth graders fund their trip to Washington, D.C.

BEST FRESH ART BET: Local art galleries start the summer season off with a bang on May Day, with new shows all over town. As college and high school students wind down their school year, don't forget to see what they've been up to. Catch ceramic students' work at the Homer High School library, and see Kachemak Bay Campus work at the Homer Council on the Arts. The high school show is 5:30-7:30 p.m. and the college show from 5-7 p.m. Friday.

BEST KEEP IT CLEAN BET: With the snow mostly gone, it's not just piles of ash lying around town. There's a lot of, well, yuck littering our streets and sidewalks. Grab a trash bag, slip on some gloves and get out and clean up the town for Homer's annual Cleanup Day, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday. Pick up bags and return them at the Homer Chamber of Commerce. There are prizes, food and beverages, too.