Homer's Best Bets </MCC HEAD>

Story last updated at 12:08 AM on Thursday, May 7, 2009

Homer's Best Bets

Shorebirds and sunshine, oh my. Amidst the doom and gloom of Mount Redoubt, swine flu and the recession, for a moment there it seemed like the end of the world as we know it. OK, things aren't quite hunky-dory yet, but hey, we might pull through after all.

A good sunny weekend and thousands of shorebirds can bring hope to our little town on Kachemak Bay. If you saw people walking around town with glows on their faces, that wasn't just from big smiles. A lot of us got tans. The bird nerd set have been ecstatic over daily arrivals of dowitchers, dunlins, plovers and sandpipers. Each morning's walk brings a new voice to the bird chorus.

Photographer: Michael Armstrong, Homer News

"We are smiling" Homer artist Michael Murray painted this photo of two Soldotna artists who came to a Kachemak Bay Watercolor Society meeting the morning of the April 4 explosion of Mount Redoubt. His painting which includes Redoubt ash is on display at Ptarmigan Arts.

Even cooler, the Homer Chamber of Commerce said registration for the Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival is up from last year -- yes, up, as in more people, yee haw.

It's spring by any way you measure it. This is our month to enjoy before before we get sucked into 12-hour work days and fishing until we drop. Get out the sunscreen, shine up those binoculars and roll out the red carpet for our weekend visitors. For the 17th annual Kachemak Bay Shorebird Festival, if you can't find anything to do, you're not even trying, but just in case, hey, how about these Best Bets?

BEST HAPPY BIRTHDAY BET: Alaska celebrates 50 years of statehood all this year, and as part of the big bash, the Kachemak Bay Campus has invited Willie Hensley to give his perspective on how the state has changed. Hensley, one of Alaska's top leaders, period, speaks and reads from his memoir, "Fifty Miles from Tomorrow," at 7 p.m. today at the Kachemak Bay Campus.

BEST MORE CANDLES ON THE CAKE BET: Speaking of birthdays, for many it seems like yesterday that McNeil Canyon Elementary School opened. Now, children of the first class are attending. Come help McNeil Canyon celebrate its 25th anniversary with a potluck at 11:30 a.m. Friday at the school out East End Road.

BEST AND STILL MORE CANDLES BET: What? Another silver birthday? Yup, it's the 25th annual Homer Quilt Show. The Betster is continually amazed at the fabric magic local quilters perform. See the latest show from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday at the Homer Elks Lodge.