my garden

i've never had the opportunity to use a greenhouse before and i almost missed my chance this year. as you might remember, thanks to my wizard mother, i was able to get my first real garden started earlier this summer. watching the plants grow in the greenhouse is really pretty amazing. it almost feels like magic or like at the very least i'm sort of cheating. it was a lot of work to get the soil ready, but since then all i do is water and talk to them. everyday it changes and it was less than a month ago that all these plants were still just little starts hoping for a life. they are big, beautiful, growing plants now. the lettuce in particular is just growing like crazy. i'm on my third cutting already. i've been eating a lot myself, but also passing out bags of it to the neighbors because i couldn't eat it all if i wanted to. i can't wait for the rest of the goodies to mature. they are well on their way. this experience so far has just confirmed this lingering longing that i've had for working in a nursery. i've always thought playing in dirt and helping plants, flowers, food, and trees have a place to grow would be fantastic. maybe in my next life?

when my mom and nolan visited, we spent a day sitting by the river in hope painting rocks for my garden. among other things, nolan became the ladybug man and made me bunches of them in all different sizes to spread throughout my greenhouse.

and mom found a rock that became a winking turtle while i found one that became a wide mouthed fish. we found other ones too, but these are some of my favorites. they are now my happy, loving energy rocks for the garden and i think they have helped. we had a lot of fun just relaxing and getting creative. you should try it. get some outdoor acrylic paint and a few rocks of any shape or size and you've got yourself an art project.

remember the tree rescue project. well, here it is still trying to grow in the nice protected contraption my mom transplanted her in. i hope she makes it to next year. i think i'll put her in the greenhouse for the winter. or maybe even inside in my kitchen window?

and remember the patchy backyard. already its come along nicely. just some grass seed, a mulching mower, and plenty of rain. oh and check out the fire pit too. its been an awsome addition to the backyard.

san fran haiku

romy, i'm telling you, you've made me a changed girl. i feel a i must write a haiku at every turn. see what a teacher you are. one little moment on a dark ferry ride and you taught me this. thank you. you all should try it. really. just a quick little moment captured by three little lines. 5-7-5. i wrote my haiku for san fran on a napkin on the plane ride home. here it is.

sublime and divine
unknown hope and utter joy
in my heart for good

it was truly a spectacular weekend. a happiness that i didn't know was still in me.

another request

so i learned this weekend about someone else reading this blog. to my surprise and delight, i will add. i often wonder who is reading, what they think, and why on earth my little life is of interest. most of the people i know who look at this love me and so i guess that answers the why for them, but what about the rest of you? i know there are others out there that are acquaintences or people who have been led to this from a mutual friend. i know because my friends tell me you're reading. and i think its really cool. i'm glad that i get to share my silly little life with others. but, really, what is it that makes you come and read? is it alaska? maybe breast cancer? or perhaps just a little something to distract you from your work day? i really am curious.

so, on to my request . . . i would love it if you would say hello. leave a comment and tell me something you think or feel about what you're reading or seeing here. please. any and all comments welcome. (hint hint beanie)

san francisco bliss

finishing off my weekend at shoreline park where the sun is on my cheeks, the wind is cool, and the water is calm. boats are sailing by with ease and i'm looking across the water to the bay bridge. feels almost too perfect.

i'm here in san francisco for a medical appointment (which went very well by the way), but even better . . . to spend a long weekend with my girlfriend alethea. fortunately, she was able to fly in from utah and i'm so grateful. it was so nice to have this time with her. its been too long.

an overpriced, but delicious fruit stand at fisherman's wharf. i brought a mango home to alaska because i never could get my hands on a knife while i was there and it was so juicy and delicious that i wished i had bought more!

we stayed at a funky,cool hotel downtown just a couple of blocks from union square. we relaxed, wandered the city streets, went shopping, and found a great little bar for happy hour. we went there two of our three nights and both nights met interesting, fun people. there is such a friendly vibe in this city. and to my new friends . . . you were all such a nice surprise to the weekend. you are all welcome in alaska ANYTIME! Really.

susan and tim from ireland & ras from chicago

on one of our aimless drives on friday, we stumbled on a tiny, out of place cemetery. as we slowed to take a look at it, we noticed its uniqueness. we weren't sure if we liked it or if it creeped us out.

yesterday we rented bicycles and rode the bike path along the waterfront, over the golden gate bridge, and into sausalito.

it was windy, foggy, and cold by most people's standards, but i was loving it! maybe its coming from alaska, maybe its my extra insulation, maybe its just being naturally warm blooded . . . anyway it goes though, while everyone around me is in jackets and scarves, i'm good in just my tshirt. alethea must be as close to opposite to that as you can get. she was so cold the whole weekend.

i felt terrible on the bike ride because despite 5 layers, she was still shivering. she was a trooper though and braved it with a smile on her face. and the prize at the other side of the bridge was cute little sausalito, which was sunny and warm. a bit too hoity toity, but still very charming.

we wandered with the rest of the tourists looking at overpriced jewelry and various other san francisco garb. and we ended up having our best meal there at a nice little italian place. although we had planned to bike both ways, in light of how chilled alethea was, we opted for the ferry ride back.

on our way back to the bike rental shop we had one of the best parts of the ride. we weaved through quiet city streets amid towering buildings that sheltered the wind and just let pockets of sunshine in at a time. i think it must have been the business district which would explain the quiet streets on a saturday evening. there was something really great about being in that sort of scene.

after dropping the bikes we hopped on a trolley car (i just had to hold on to one of those side bars and ride around those hilly streets, such a damn tourist i am). we got off when we realized we were getting too far from where we thought we parked our car. we ended up walking around little italy and up and down various streets looking for something that was familiar to get back to our car. we obviously found it eventually, but i've got to say that i highly recommend not paying attention and allowing yourself to get lost. its such a good way to see the city. after we found the car, we took a quick trip down the crooked lombard street and then back to the hotel for a night in.

after i dropped lee off at the airport this morning, i went to berkeley to perouse a few thrift shops, and then again got lost trying to head to ocean beach. but, i stumbled on shoreline park (in oakland i think), which accomplished my goal of finding a place to sit on the water. so, here i am with a few hours with nothing to do but watch the boats go by.

sublime weekend, and now i'm looking forward to getting back to alaska. this coming weekend i'll be staying home for a change. going to see an outdoor concert, wilco, on saturday night with a bunch of friends. should be a blast!

time for a walk before i have to sit on a plane for 5 hours. i can't believe I just typed all this from my phone. ridiculous, but sorta cool too.

peace.love.shoup

i should be in bed, but i'm still so excited about this awsome weekend i had. i've got to share it. home from nome on sunday and by monday was planning another weekend away. my friend izzy had a group of friends fall through on a planned cabin rental, so at the last minute, mike and i were able to join him instead.

i'm on a 4-10 schedule now so i'm off every friday. we left thursday after work and rolled into valdez at almost 3 am. set up camp for a quick snooze and then were up again at 8 to grab breakfast and get to the boat harbor.

we took a 35 min. boat ride to a place called shoup. it seems like a little cove or bay, but its actually considered a lake. its a protected round sanctuary with a couple of forest service cabins, a big rock in the middle of it that is home to thousands of kittiwakes and gulls (and a few of these black birds with carrot beaks, which were my fav),

steep, lush forested mountains, more waterfalls than i could count, and a beautiful glacier. the water is a silty blue-teal-grey color and although cold (about 40 degrees), felt amazing to jump into.

on the way there, our boat captain stopped to check his shrimp pots and left us with a pot full to have for dinner. yummy. they were huge suckers too and super wiggly when you touch them. it was fun to see how much their squirming could make us squirm . . . well, me squirm i guess. one of the pots even brought up a little snowcrab, but he got to go back to the sea after his photo shoot.

the cabin was nice and comfy with a heater, bunk beds, picnic table, deck, and fire pit.

izzy has a two man kayak that we brought so we took turns having some paddling adventures. izzy and i found out that leaving the cove might not be such a great idea depending on which way the wind is blowing. we found ourselves dragging the boat back along the rocky shore because our paddling was fruitless against the strong current. our couple hour jaunt turned into more like four.

mike and i took a little hike up a packed avalanche of snow covered in mulched up wood. steep climb that led to a cool waterfall and of course an awsome view. the whole way up i was dreading the way down. maybe it was self-fulfilling prophecy, but i couldn't seem to keep my ass off the ground. 10 or 12 slips and we were finally back to the bottom. it was definitely worth it though.

we also took a couple of trips over to the glacier and had such a great time exploring the huge tunnel of blue ice on one side and the raging rapids on the other.

this morning we had a curious little black bear peering in the back window of our cabin, but unfortunately i was too groggy at 6am to bother getting my camera.

the drive to valdez is about 5 hours, but is some of the most beautiful landscape i've ever seen. it was dark and foggy by the time we made it to valdez on thursday night, so when we left this afternoon, everything we saw was new. much of the drive is through the st. elias-wrangell national park. skimming through my alaska book i read that this is the largest national park in the country with literally millions of uninhabited and unexplored acres. the ridiculously green mountains, waterfalls at every turn, glaciers at every other turn, massive rock walls, rivers . . . was simply breathtaking. this will definitely be a place i will return and i'm already thinking of the friends and family i hope to share it with someday.

for you romy, i even wrote a haiku and left it in the cabin journal. its 5-7-5, right?

singing birds afar

peaceful lovely icy float

calving blue mountain

not a very good one, i must admit, but ever since our southeast trip, i find myself capturing moments this way.

a great weekend of relaxing and exploring. thanks again mike and izzy!!!

there's no place like nome

i took my first trip back to nome for the 4th of july weekend. in just a few weeks it will have been a year since i left. as soon as i landed i just felt good. it was so nice to be back there and it was hard to wipe the smile off my face. thursday night i booked a mileage ticket, left early friday morning, and was already heading home yesterday afternoon. short, but sweet. my friends kim and sean let me borrow their old van which doubled as transportation and lodging. the weather was between 75 and 81 degrees all weekend. It was one of those perfect, glorious times to be there. watched the 4th of july parade and games. i got to see little baby hannah, phil and sarah's daughter who was born in january. also drove out to council and visited with buford's family and lots of other friends and nome folk, who were all there to celebrate the 4th at the stang's annual picnic. the next day missy, buford, and i left council and headed to cottonwood, where there was another big celebration, including a pig roast and bean bag tournament, on a gravel bar in the pilgrim river. we made a pit stop to hang out on the beach at safety and to jump in the water of course. in two little days i jumped into the niyukluk river in council, the bering sea in safety, salmon lake on the kougarok rd., and finally the pilgrim river in cottonwood. the bridge jump into pilgrim was the best i think. and salmon lake was the coldest by far. next trip will need to be longer so i can fit more time in with friends and do more relaxing than driving. maybe next year? my camera battery also died on me right away so i didn't get many pictures.


4th of july parade on nome's front street



baby falcons in their nest under the bridge at grand central.




with the price of gold on the rise, nome is seeing even more prospectors. you can see a just a couple out on the water here.


2am, standing on the pilgrim river bridge in cottonwood

the best week i've had in a long time

was just a few weeks ago when my mom and brother came up to anchorage for a visit. we had such a good time. nice weather, lots of laughs, projects, fun day trips, and the discovery of a new, favorite quote . . .

"there is no charge for awsomeness . . . or attractiveness" ~po

thanks again mom and nolan for making the trek here. i love you both so much!

they arrived late on a friday night and we weren't in bed until after 1am i think. but, they still got up to join me for the alaska run for women . i felt compelled to be a part of it and i'm glad i did. being around hundreds of other strong survivors was a pretty powerful feeling. one of these days i'd like to run it. this year was just a nice little walk though, even in the rain. a couple of little boys were sporting shirts from save the tatas and it was just too cute to pass up a picture.

without the help of my mom, the garden would have never happened. i have this lovely little greenhouse, one of the real attractions to the house when i bought it, yet really didn't know where to start. my mom led the way and we spent a day reconditioning the soil with new manure and compost and then planted lots of yummy stuff. lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, broccoli, cabbage, zucchini, squash, strawberries, peppermint, stevia, rosemary, lavender, and chives. It was great working with the dirt and giving these lovely little starts a home to grow. wandering around bells nursery and alaska mill and feed is never a bad way to spend some time either. thanks to nolan i didn't have to break my back carrying the big bags of manure and compost either.

i didn't want to put my family to work for our visit, but i can't say that i'm sorry they were willing. mom and i feel the same way about projects. fun fun. while nolan is super tolerant of us both, he does not share the same idea of fun. but, he was awsome and super helpful. we spent two good days working on the garden and deck awning and then it was off for some fun adventures and sights. my mom learned a lot from watching her contractors build her hay shed so she was able to help me with a better design for the awning frame than i had on my own. and again, with nolan's help, i didn't have to break my back. the project was, of course, not as simple as i had thought it would be, but after a long day, we had it completed. that same day we also got some cinder blocks to build a little fire pit, so we finished things off with some friends, a bbq, and a fire (no pictures of that though, darn).

our big adventure was monday. we took a beautiful drive to chickaloon to go on a rafting trip with nova river runners. before the raft trip we killed some time wandering on the beach at king mountain state park. mom found a little tree that 'had no chance of survival' which was growing between two rocks. so she saved it and brought it back to my backyard for planting. i sure hope it grows. nolan and i got a pretty big kick out of her little recue project. she wasn't quite as amused as we were. can you tell by the look on her face? (dillon and cerra, i know you can tell) damn she is a cute mama, isn't she?!

we rafted through lion head canyon on a stunning summer night. the trip started at about 7:30 pm. With a stop for a hamburger cookout, we were off the river by almost midnight. It was sunny and amazing with some of the best views i've ever seen. one peak we saw was actually called mt. awsome. so cool. and we were joined with some really cool people too. one of which was super cute (and nice) chris lowell currently playing 'dell' in the tv show private practice (grey's anatomy spin-off). he's the one in purple with his arm around nolan. since mom, nolan, and i are all water babies, this was definitely a highlight of the whole week. the rapids were up to class IV and although the water was nearly freezing, literally, it was one of the best rafting trips i've ever been on. we were outfitted in dry suits, with warm clothes underneath, so it wasn't too bad. nolan and i even went for a raft side swim at the end of the trip. strange to be in such cold water, yet be completely dry. i will definitely go on this trip again. notice the big rock . . . its a lions head. the snout is up at the front and the eyes are just underneath the little hump on the top. can you see it?

we spent a day down in girdwood taking a walk on winner creek trail and having a nice lunch at chair 5 restaurant. mom and i shared a musk ox burger. mom walked the little dogs, calling out 'mush, mush' to get them going. see what i mean about how cute she is?!

before heading home we took a quick detour through the whittier tunnel. its about a mile long straight through a mountain. it leads to the port where an estimated 50% of alaska's cargo comes in. the tunnel is pretty impressive, but sadly the town was not. we took the 5:30pm tunnel in and had just enough time to see the whole place, buy some fudge, and catch the 6:00pm tunnel out.

another day we headed to hope, a cute old alaska town at the water's edge. we took an awsome walk on the beluga trail and found more spectacular views. we also found a little spot by the river and spent the rest of the afternoon painting rocks, which we brought home to put in my garden. topped the day off with dinner at tito's discovery cafe.

and what trip to alaska would be complete without a moose. this is just a couple of many that we saw roaming the city this week.

the last day, nolan and i dropped mom at the mall for some souvenir shopping while we took one last hike on the hillside at wolverine trail. it was beautiful.

there is always something beautiful to see in alaska, so if you need a break from your daily grind, i hope you'll think about a visit up here. my home is always open.

peace and love.