Blogging at ya from an internet cafe in Anchorage, Alaska. Here for Bouchercon, the big annual mystery convention. My fourth trip to Alaska -- a little hard to believe. Right now it's raining, and it's been gray since I got here yesterday, but still, I'm struck, as I was the other times, by the quality of the light. When I went to Italy that's what everyone told me to notice: the light. But, though bright and soft, it wasn't unusual, to me. This is. The air is astoundingly clear, even in the rain. Colors are sharp and everything seems to just barely glow. The sky today is five colors of gray, the sea another ten. I went for a long walk, saw many ducks, mostly mallards but some little round dabblers I didn't recognize (will look them up and report) and a cormorant I also don't know. And the ravens here are beautiful, black-and-white, very handsome in this sharp light.