OOOPS! Time has run away!

Yikes, the time has kind of run away with itself!  I need to update the bloggerooo!  This will just be a photo essay sort of a post.

Technology:

Food for thought. . . how we use technology why we use and how much we should use this tool.  I struggle with this as well but I firmly believe we all spend too much time engaged with some device instead of talking to the people around us!

I love this rather big oops from the Nome Nugget!  What a hoot and to think the movie is only rated PG!

Knitting: 

After Thanksgiving the lights went up, cookies have been baked and more on this below. Knitting continues on this Lopi!

This sweater that has been named Lopi-Lou is really close to being done.  I started it as a Fall Knit Along (KAL) through The Woolly Thistle group.  I had to rework the pattern a bit as I don't need a close-fitting sweater.

Then the neck was a pain in the butt!  The pattern has a different neckline which is not one I like.  I needed a real stand up collar.  After frogging it out about 15 times, yes 15

times--I got it!  I now need to graft the underarms.  The last step before blocking with be the cuffs on the sleeves which I am sure will be a knitted and hemmed cuff.

A great treat I received from The Woolly Thistle with my December yarn order was chocolate!  How can you not support an online store that includes chocolate in your order!  I am falling in love with this Norwegian yarn as well and need to cast on a hat with it pronto!  The yarn is RAUMA and I have now purchased some different colored skeins to mess around with twice in Finullgarn weight.


The other great purchase which I just finished reading is Kate Davies Handywomen.  If you have not read this book I highly recommend it as an interesting read.  Kate is an excellent writer and has shared her story in an engaging unique style.  A few times her story took my breath away made me pause.  I am grateful for the life I have and I will forever be more aware of the needs of others.

Cleo:

Some of you will remember Cleo she is now gone.  I enjoyed her and her quirky personality.  Her milk was excellent.  I didn't own her but helped take care of her a bit.  She is now in a freezer and will become some middle eastern dishes at their home.  I really enjoyed visiting her and bring her veggie scraps.  It was nice in this northern realm to be back in a barn of sorts with a goat!

Wheat:

I have gone on the grand experiment with wheat.  I stopped eating wheat I think about 3 years ago.  I have recently reintroduced wheat back into my diet. I started this process with Einkorn Wheat.  This is the oldest form of wheat.  You can read more about it through the link above.  I have now had plain old processed white wheat too with no issues.  Why have I done this--well good question.  Part of the reason is I will be going to Europe in Sept 2019 to trek around Mont Blanc.  I didn't want to be the pain in the ass person with food issues.  Plus, I want to eat croissants and other lovely European bread!  What have I learned on this "No Wheat" journey?

1. Try your best to eat foods without a label.

2. Eat organic as much as possible.

3. Stay away from items with lots of ingredients/processed foods.

4. I got this off of Outside magazine online: 

There’s a reason Michael Pollan wrote a whole book on nutrition that can be condensed into seven words: 

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

5. Not eating wheat taught me to look at food and its production.  

6. That much of today's health issue can be controlled by each of us and what we think we must have or need to eat.

7. keep moving no matter what

8.  The Blue Zone lifestyle and eating are more to my liking and one I am exploring a bit more.  It is simple, it works, and is not so cumbersome.

Returning to eating eat has not been a huge physical issue as many reported.  I am not eating crap food and I feel fine.

Jan Brett:

Oh my gosh, my dear friend, Lynn was able to go and meet Jan Brett at her local bookstore.  She had a wonderful visit with her and husband.  I now have a signed copy of her current book thanks to Lynn's visit.  I adore Jan's books and artwork.  When I taught I used her website for drawing lessons.  Her books were my December staple for Christmas stories.  The Snowy Nap is a cute tale of Hedgie's wish to see winter.

Skiing, Dogs, Skiing with The team, & Grooming Ski Trails:

Our dogs hate dog booties.  When you live someplace that is often below 0ºF our dogs need booties.  Once they have them on their paws and are out the door they have a blast and certainly run more.  Once they walk inside the house they lay down until the booties are removed.  We use them over and over until they are worn out. We buy our booties from a mushers supply store here in Alaska.

It is now the time of the year were we just ski a lot!  I love to ski, I love being outside, and I love sharing skiing with others.  This ski season is off to a wonderful start.  We are getting snow and little winds!  It is really a joy skiing this year on the shores of Norton Sound.

The Whale Back mountains west of Unalakleet in stunning afternoon light!

This is the ski teams new snowmachine which is used to groom our ski trails.  We were awarded a grant through the Rasmuson Foundation. This snowmachine will be a great addition to our YTS groomer.  Grooming trails here is a HUGE undertaking and Christian does an excellent job.  It is all about working with the wind and not fighting the winds.

Beautiful fresh corduroy to cruise on makes for good skiers and a healthier community.

We have found pallets cut in half and tied together in this fashion builds good size drifts.  Below you can see the pallets spread out across the tundra.  This area would be windswept and bare!  The pallets cause the right size drifts to build and then Christian grooms these drifts.  The pallets are moved through the winter to keep the tundra ski route covered in skiable snow.

Skiers on the slough using hoops for a technique drill.

Snow pallets in action and Christian grooming the Dragon's Back where we ski.

A good groomer knows when it is time to shovel and move snow.  I am sure we look like the strangest people ever out on the tundra shoveling snow!

Elementary skiers joined by some of their parents!  

This has been a goal of ours is to get the parents out on skis too!

Race Team skiers with the moon rising above them before Christmas as we head to our darkest day.

I love that our skiers show up to practice on snowmachines.  The old coach walks over to practice and then skis across the slough!

Tally is not about the stick she is about the log.  She hauls these huge logs all over the place!

Styling Miss Sadie could be on Monica Zappa's race dog team she has the teams bright colors down!

Tally taking a breather on our ski home last week.

Nulato Hills shine in late afternoon light.  On the other side of those hills, lies the mighty Yukon River.

Mid-December ski practice on top of Picnic Hill.

Snow on trees which is happening a lot this year.  One of my favorite things is to see Mother Nature's frosting on evergreens.

Oh, the Girls being dog royalty.

Tally and I on a late afternoon ski---the light on the tundra is always breathtaking.

Winter Solstice Ski:

The bonfire is raging, the moon was almost full, skiers headlamps can be seen skiing around the Dragon's Back.  Skiers welcome the winter season once again!

An internet grab of Solstice artwork.

 Miss Sadie & I thank you for making it through this long post!

The best kind of Spring!

Most people think of spring as flowers popping up, soil starting to smell alive, buds on trees, bird songs, and their world is turning green.  I think of spring as warmer days, a huge blue sky, a night sky full of stars, shorter hours of darkness, longer days of sunshine, sea ice starting to break up, and the best of all SPRING SKIING!  What skiers wait for all year are glorious days full of great skiing, all under a HUGE blue sky! 

Today was one of those days!  We went out for a nice ski. I have been gone the last two weekends at ski races.  I got home last night and started the wash, ate dinner, hit the shower, and then a sound sleep in my bed.  Today we were up and out skiing on the touring gear after copious amounts of coffee.  Christian didn't want to groom which was fine with me.  We all had a great ski together!

Christian and Tally getting ready for the tea break on top of Picnic Hill.

Sadie really hoping there is another treat in that pack for her!

A nice flavorful tropical black tea and my own made-up dark chocolate decadence.

In the far distance is sea ice.  It is broken up and moving about these days.  The skiing is stellar.  We skied today in almost no wind and under a huge blue sky--life is perfect! 

The girls and I enjoying a very nice break from my ski coaching & racing schedule.  

Knit & Ski or Ski & Knit

A traditional Norwegian drop shoulder sweater using Bartlett sport weight yarn, EZ's percentage system, and motifs from a variety of sources.

2/16/18 Time for a blog post.  Our ski race for this weekend was postponed until next weekend due to our charming weather out here on the edge of the Bering Sea.  It never fails . . . when I felt the most organized for a ski race ever!  Bering Air said, "We haven't flown into Koyuk since last Friday, we are not flying in now due to weather: snow, blowing snow, and the death of airlines: Freezing Rain!  Now I will be honest, the last place I want to be stuck with 16 middle school kids is Koyuk!

2/17/18 Staying home and weathering out the storm in my HOUSE sounds like a grand idea.  Only the storm hasn't been bad other than a lot of wind today which is Saturday.  Our first ski practice of the day was with the elementary ski crew grades 1st through 4th. A competent group of young skiers had the great joy of tackling winds over 20 mph.  UGH!  No matter what this is one of the hardest places to try to be skiers.  Between, winds, overflow, storms, cold, and lack of new snow for long stretches . . . we keep the village kids skiing.

Groomed and skiers skiing up Picnic Hill a long climb that is really fun to blast down!

The girls sitting and listening to the kids who are way down at the bottom that came out to ski on their own.  As you can see we groom and ski the drifts as the tundra doesn't hold much snow in winds over 30mph.

My husband who grooms for us.  We use an Arctic Cat BearCat and a YTS groomer.

This is Round About that we ski out to most days. I have started to call this "Candy Land." It looks like the game board when we get all the colorful cones and hoops set up for the skiers to use for games which build skills.

This would be "overflow" usually we ski across this area but on Wednesday we had a water obstacle to add more fun or is that challenges to our skiing.

Our older skiers which we call race Team.  This is part of the crew we travel to ski races with.

Knitting . . . I am loving my sweater which I named Winter Solstice.  The motifs are coming together nicely and I enjoy planning as I knit.  The overall theme of this piece is winter, snow, mountains, and cross-country skiing.  Each motif has a meaning that relates to the theme.  I have tried it on a few times and I can not say enough why this is so important!  I place the body on two long circular needles and slip it on.  I have been able to correct most sizing errors using this method. Trying on your knitting and measuring it all the time is really important I think to have a successful and wearable knitted item.

Village Happenings:  We have clean running water again.  Some major leaks have been found and work will be done on those in the spring or summer.  There is still a huge hole out by our place and that will be there for some time I know!  We have the Iron Dog Race about to arrive early this week.  The largest event the Iditarod Dog Sled Race will be arriving in March.

Our daylight is lengthening to over 9 hours of daylight and increasing daily.  Our daylight even seems longer as sunrise and sunset are rather exaggerated this far north.  The daily colors that greet us in the sky are just stunning!  We are lucky to have these stunning northern colors close our days, too.