We were saddened to report the death of former Kenai city manager Rick Koch earlier this week, and will miss the contributions he had continued to make to the community after he stepped down from the position last year.

Many contributions make for memorable graduation

Sometimes, the grass is greener

On a summer night in Alaska, there is no shortage of light but Friday Night Lights at the ConocoPhillips Kenai Multi-Purpose Facility is offering something more vibrant than the midnight sun.

East is east and west is west and never the twain shall meet. True or not in geopolitics, it fits the Kenai Peninsula’s two landscapes. There’s an unmarked border somewhere around Skilak Lake where a traveler from Anchorage — as I was in autumn 2014, ending a cross-country trip with my first drive across the peninsula — finds he’s run out of mountains. The winding road is now a line cut through a rolling swath of birch, aspen and black spruce. There are mountains on the far horizon, but they’re across the Inlet and, unless you trade your car for a charter plane, out of reach. It was autumn and the aspens were yellow, but I was sorry the road hadn’t stopped back in the mountains. Having recently lived in Vermont, I regretted that in Kenai I’d be a flatlander — though with snow-capped peaks in my eastern backyard.

I first experienced the Far North in 1960 on a family road trip up the Al-Can Highway from California to Alaska. My father fixed up the back seat of our Dodge sedan with a wooden bench creating a wide bunk. With pillows and blankets, my sister Pam and I had a roomy travel nest in an era before seat belts and children’s car seats.

By ANDREW SELSKY

Seeing gardens awash in rose blossoms this time of year is undoubtedly what prompted my sister-in-law to call me for suggestions on what roses to plant.

It has been a special privilege of mine in recent years to be able to take the Memorial Day weekend to ride my motorcycle on an extended trip. I find myself anticipating the adventure long before I warm up that big V-Twin to take off down the road, I have dreamt of the hours seeing the majestic vistas, sweeping curves and wildlife that we are privileged to enjoy in Alaska. Willie Nelson’s popular song, “On The Road Again” is the tune I find myself humming over and over and then burst out singing, “I can’t wait to get on the road again” because those are the only words I have ever bothered to remember to that song. It’s the journey I look forward to, the discovery, the new adventure, it’s worth the risk.

Soldotna Bible Chapel hosts free event