IRIGAK II Maverick Seizes the Land (A book Review)

Purchase from Amazon

Local writer Amber Cunningham has released her second book in her series Irigak - Land of the Little People in May (2018).  I purchased a copy yesterday at our Saturday Market here in the village.  I had a very enjoyable read as I stepped into the mysterious land of the Irigaks.

Amber captures the reader's attention with an action-packed read.  IRIGAK II has the added bonus of artwork by Bulgarian illustrator: Ralica Mladenova!  The combination of an intriguing storyline and creative illustrations will draw in young readers from far and near.  Irigak - Land of Little People has a few activities on the author's blog to help enhance discussion and comprehension.

Posted below are photos from my tundra walks.  I get out daily on the tundra as I am fascinated by the vegetation and expanse.  Tundra walking may look smooth, but it is rough, full of holes, water, lichen, mosses, and berries.  I find tundra walking is an excellent workout!


I am sure there is a hidden world that shows itself to those who believe in the Little People!

I often think of the Irigaks' and their magical world.  I have always been intrigued by the folklore of Native cultures.  Amber R. Cunningham now shares this mysterious world and adventures with her readers!

Sky Runner by Emelie Forsberg: a Book Review

I am not too sure how I stumbled across this athlete but over the last few years, I have followed Emelie Forsberg on twitter and her blog.  An amazing lady who loves the mountains and outdoors.  An ultra-long distance runner and a ski mountaineer. Emelie is a person I find interesting and motivating.  I no longer run and I never ever ran these distances!  I find her insight on her training and life intriguing and motivating.  I might be a tiny bit jealous that she lives in a stunning spot on earth with water, mountains, great skiing, and what appears to be a darn cute home.

The format of her book is both relaxing and informative.  Great photos, recipes, workout information, and yoga it is a nice mix and a breath of fresh air in this genre.

Thanks, Emelie for sharing your world with us!

Shipping Food & Fall Fun

Here is part of our fall order from Amazon on a pallet being delivered to our container.  I then unpacked it all and ran it inside to the pantry and any other open space to tuck it all away! Yes, of course, it was raining--August in Alaska is mostly about rain!

The question most asked when people find out we live just over 400 air miles from Anchorage (ANC) is "How do you get your food?"  Over our time here in rural Alaska, this has changed greatly!  We used to buy food at Sma's Club and pay them to ship it out to us.  Then this morphed to buying food from Costco and we packed and sent it all out to ourselves.  All of this no matter what takes a lot of time and costs a lot of $$$$!  We would haul our totes to and leave them in ANC at the motel or a friends, then shop and fill our rig to the gills, haul this back to friends or the motel and pack it up in our totes, haul the totes to the 24-hour airport post office and ship.  The Post Office has changed as well!  Once they had a bay area where you could drop off all your stuff as long as you had enough to make a pallet and this was wonderful!  That went away and then we had to go stand in line in the P.O. and we discover don't ever go when they are processing passports--UGH!!!!!!!!!  The whole ordeal was just that an ordeal and one had to have a good sense of humor and a lot of patience! 

Let's just add 2 dogs, a duffle bag or two full of cheese, dropping off our rig for winter storage and returning to the village as part of this shopping fun!

Fast forward to 2018!  On our way out of the village this spring at the last minute we said, "Ok let's try a grand experiment and not take out the totes and shop online instead!"  Over the years Amazon has become better and better at getting "stuff" out to rural Alaska, and has increased what they carry as we all know all too well!  This year we have been ordering what we would have bought in ANC online and it is GREAT!  No more packing, hauling, shipping hundreds of pounds of food!  It is saving us $$$ and saved us tons of time and running around!

FALL FUN!

I am always searching for a rich hot chocolate with ingredients I can pronounce, organic/non-GMO, and not a ton of sugars.  I have found a real treat!  If you haven't tried this hot chocolate give it a try yummy! After a bike ride in the rain, this is a great treat!

For those of you who follow the Iditarod or the Iknitarod this photo is to show you the checkpoint in the summer.  As you look down the slough here on the right where all the boats are located.  That area is basically the checkpoint.  In the slough to the left of those boats.

Biking!  On the way out to the village this August since we were not shopping, we bought Fat Tire Bikes!  YAHOO!  Our bikes will not be here until later in September.  Last weekend some friends and I were out riding under a rather nice sucker hole (Blue Sky clouds all around to suck you out!).

My old and I do mean old mountain bike on the left in the photo above in the back is looking like an anorexic bike compared to the rest of the Fat Bikes! I can not wait to be able to ride on the beach here, plus ride in the winter when I am not on skis.

The biking crew her in the village---nothing but fun and great energy!

Miss Sadie out on the tundra with me.  Fall colors are coming on and it really happens here overnight! The changes are dramatic int he northern latitudes!

Sadie cooling off in one of her favorite spots.  She knows where these are located on our tundra walks. She just lays down for a chilling soak to cool off!  She always smells so nice and her coat is like silk after tundra-bathing.

My work out girls in the waxroom.  Five days a week I am here at about 6:00 a.m. to do my PT for my knee, yoga, ski erg, and my situps.  "The Girls" tolerate this time with me and try their best to be on the yoga mat!

Closing with a nice cup of green tea from the CHAI Diaries.  Thanks for stopping by!

Knitting: Lopi and odds-n-ends in Wool

First thing Alaska Fans!  I know many of you visitors to my blog are Alaska fans and if you have not checked out some of the blogs I follow you should certainly follow this one: livingthedream-kathy.blogspot.com  Kathy is a very talented writer and her writing is a joy to read.  If you are taken by Alaska and just want to know what people do, how they make a living off the grid for the most part work---get a nice cup of coffee or tea and sit down for an enjoyable read!

Knitting & the Fall Knit Along (KAL)

I start a fall KAL with The Woolly Thistle on Ravelry  I am working with Léttlopi yarn which is an Icelandic wool and yarn.  I have always been taken by the Lopi sweaters colorful yoke designs.  There is a wonderful designer whose work has caught my eye, Jenn Steingass.  It was a great opportunity to order yarn from a new store, The Wooly Thistle (which has a podcast as well) and join the KAL.  I am knitting Jenn's Telja.  I am making a few small modifications tot he pattern which is pretty normal to me.  I love the yoke in this sweater design!

The blue is the main color for the sweater and the other 4 colors will be the yoke and the details on the lower body and sleeves.  

One of the great things about technology is being able to work off my iPad and write notes on the pattern.  It is just so slick!  At this point, I am thinking I will knit a hem for the sweater cuff and body as I did a professional cast on.   This is still up in the air and I have plenty of time to think this out a bit.

Selling Knitted Items

Now that I am retired from full-time teaching I am knitting and selling some of my work.  I have a lot of yarn that needs to be used up, none of the yarn is enough for a sweater, and why not knit up some smaller items and sell them? Well, why not!?  Over the summer I knitted a few pieces and thought I will just give this "Saturday Market" thing a try.  This is the equivalent of a "Farmers Market."  I sold everything but one pair of fingerless mitts!  I was thrilled as the yarn is only sitting around taking up space, and most of the yarn was bought on sale but is very high-quality yarn.  This way I can charge a reasonable price for my work.

That was the first batch of knitting that went to the market.  I am now working on a few hats and felted baby booties.  I hope to knit up a few more pairs of fingerless mitts but that may be over ambitious for this upcoming weekend.

One more very fun hat The Coming Home in PDS yarn as well.  This is a stunning hat and fun to knit!

I don't plan on making a living from selling my knitting at all!  I do plan on using up the odds-n-ends of my yarn stash!  I never want my knitting to feel like it is something I have to do.  I jokingly call myself a Shetlander knitting away to earn some funds.  I do think of these women, men, and children who had to knit and keep their hands working at all times to earn money for their families. How hard this must have been for them all!  Knitting was work and not something to enjoy while sipping tea.  It makes me appreciate these fine artists and their skills even more.  If you follow Shetland Wool Week then you are up on this event and what it offers knitters around the world.  I know I speak for us fiber folks when I say that the Shetland Isle knitters have helped immensely to save and preserve knitting heritage and traditions for all the world--THANK YOU!

Fish: Silver Coho Salmon

Fish:  In this part of Alaska this time of the year is about FISH more precisely "Silvers" COHO Salmon.  This year we have had some very kind people drop fish off for us to process.  Fillets go either into the freezer to eat through the year or fillets are cut up and head into a brine for the smoker.  Christian does a wonderful job of smoking fish.  I do a great job of eating it!

It all starts with either fish we need to gut and fillet or once in a while fish will show up all filleted and what a huge treat! The fillets are a few pounds easily and bright orange!

Once the fillets are washed and cut into smaller pieces the fish is rolled in a dry rub.  We use brown sugar, raw organic cane sugar, and salt.  This sits in the frig for 12 hours.  When the fish is taken out in the morning there is a lot of liquid and the fish is firmer.

Christian washes of the brine off the fish. The fish is then placed onto the smoking racks.  We always put some seasonings onto the fish at this point.

Olive oil is wiped onto the racks first, then the cut brined fillets, and a bit of spice.

Perfect! Off to the smoker for some Cherry wood smoke about 2 hours worth.  Then the fillets are left int he smoker with the heat on until ready!

Oh so dang good!  Fish is then vacuumed sealed and placed int he freezer for winter snacking!

Tundra Times

I love this time of the year on the tundra!  Blueberries dot the ground cover and brilliant red cranberries are ripening.  The bugs are pretty active.  I always have to laugh about the BUGS!  We live in a pretty windy place. Until you want to pick berries, "What wind you will say?" as there is usually none this time of the year!  Like one elder told me years ago, "If you don't like the bugs just wait for winter!" Reassuring when you are swatting black flies and mosquitos and trying to pick berries.  Yesterday we were out picking berries in between all the small rain squalls that were blowing across the tundra.  All rather dramatic as you would be able to watch the squall build in the distance and then see it approach your spot on the tundra.  We would get a good healthy dose of rain.  The rain would move on and things would clear for a bit.

The tundra is green and lush as can be right now.  Fishing for silvers (salmon Coho)is supposed to be fantastic.  Early fall on the tundra is a time of abundance.  This morning the temperature at about 5:25 a.m. was +38ºF which is a wonderful sign of things to come.  The air is now cool and crisp just like it should be as fall starts to approach on the tundra. Changes happen fast and can be very dramatic in the northern latitudes.

Water just isn't always clear but with the help of a filter, it is drinkable.

Water is always a bit of an issue for us out here.  We are in a village which has water for the most part.  This time of the year with a lot of people coming through for sport-fishing, the cannery is up and running processing fish, and the school district has new teachers coming in for training.

All of this places extra demands on the village water system and supply.  Then there can be issues with old pipes, pumps, electricity.  Presently our water looks like this with a nice golden yellow hue.  This means we are on a boil notice and I am hauling water from a friends house that lives up the road who is on a well.  Yesterday as I was heading up the road I thought, "Well the winds are not blowing 40+mph, and it is not -20ºF or colder!"  I am grateful!

Looking south across the tundra to Nulato Hills.

End of summer Fire Weed gone to seed.

Dear Followers!

I went into my comments and saw a handful of comments I hadn't published or noticed Gosh----my apologies to you all!  ooops!  There were a few questions as well.

No traffic jams at all on our drive south or north. Once in a while, we have to wait for road construction work.  We just drive. When we hit a town or a city then we have a few red lights to deal with, but we just drive along through stellar country.


Rain, sad to say we did have a good amount of rain in June.  Since leaving Montana and now being up here in Alaska.  Glacier Park has had several lightning strikes and these strikes have started devasting fires.  July was very dry and towards the end of July, temperatures started to get hotter as well.

Golden Milk is made from turmeric and is a bit of an acquired taste. However, turmeric has many wonderful properties for overall health. I make it with either coconut milk or almond milk without sugar, but I will add just a bit of date syrup or maple syrup to sweeten it up only slightly. I find I just feel good the next day and it helps my joints.

This is the brand I am currently using but you can make it yourself as well.  Think of the flavor if Indian rice!  Then you should also add ground black pepper which helps to absorb more of the health benefits.  

From a basic internet search:  A warm, healing beverage also known as turmeric tea, golden milk has natural anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-arthritic, and anti-cancer benefits, among others . . .

Link to Wikipedia with more information.

MIGRATION---NORTH!

Home!  We made it back to Alaska just fine and dandy.  The drive was very relaxed and easy which makes for a nice time.  Since I was not recovering from knee surgery like last year it was a comfortable drive north.  We started off crossing the border with a fire ban for BC which is a bummer as camping and a campfire go hand in hand.  It was hot and dry as well so a fire ban was a good thing despite our feelings about having a campfire each night.

Cooling off at a nice little creek we have been enjoying for years on our 1st day north.  Crystal clear water, cool, refreshing and easy to access. Our first night, camping was in a campground we have used before in southern BC.  It was really buggy but we survived by using incense to keep those bugs away!  Morning came bright and early as it should. Off we went over the pass and down to the Lake Louise.

 As we started to drive north from Lake Louise we made a few stops to cool off and to enjoy the drive.  I love the drive up or down the Icefields Parkway.  The drive is slower and often you get to see people doing stupid things as they watch/photograph wildlife.  Outside of Jasper, there was a group running towards a rather large Grizz on the side of the road to get photos.  UGH! We drove on!

This was our lunch stop along a creek a great view up into the ice fields. Once again Christian never takes a shortcut and puts out a great spread for lunch picnic.

 A place we enjoy camping at is Mount Robson.  We had a nice walk down to the creek to cool off and to just enjoy the water, rocks, and views through the thick forest.

 At Mount Robson, we could have a campfire which we savored! My favorite, of course, is the early morning light, a cup of coffee and relaxing by the fire.  We are still using our Helinox chairs.  I have a newer one that I will write about in another post.

 There is the massive Mount Robson in the side view mirror as we drive north.  It really is a beautiful mountain.

Heading onto the Cassiar Highway.  This area we could not have a fire as the burn notice was moving north as we drove.  The Cassiar is a narrow two-lane road with great views and wonderful BC campgrounds.

 One of the single lane wooden bridges on the Cassiar.  These are in great shape and make the wonderful clapping noise as you drive across.

Always time for a swim to cool off the dogs.  Sadie just wades about and swims some and Tally is all about the stick, and airtime as she sails into the water.

 Intense---Tally waiting for the "get it" command!

 The wonderful Kinaskan Campground which sits right on this lake.  I would love to get our kayaks up here for some paddling!

 

Lightning strike fires along a ridge as we drove north on the Cassiar Highway.

Another favorite campground is Boya Lake.  Great swimming and the water was pretty warm.  The lake looks like Carribean waters due to the mineral content.

Ol Miss Happy Tally with a stick and a lake to enjoy!

Camp!  Pretty amazing all of our stuff fits into the 1995 4-Runner but master packer Christian gets the job done!

Miss Sadie enjoying tailgate view!

Kluane Lake in the Yukon is a great place to stretch out your legs and to give the dogs yet another chance to swim.  I love the Yukon it is HUGE, & STUNNING!

I am not sure of this flower actually!?

Besides swimming, Tally's next favorite place on the drive north or south is the TENT!

Sadie Loves the tent as well since it is a bug-free zone!

This campground was a rec site and off the road a bit.  Silverthorne is also a cross-country ski center.  The terrain looked great for skiing!  One must remember these campgrounds at not managed and can be party spots for the locals.  Once they were done for the evening we enjoyed the lonely call of the loon and stunning views.

Morning in camp!  My time of the day, up early, making coffee, stunning light, the loon calling out, fairly bug-free and a nice small fire!

Hauling water for fire safety. Look at the mirror reflection in this lake!

Camp!

This outhouse was really clean considering its location!  I was pleasantly surprised by this humble little structure.

A nice view out of the outhouse.  The remoteness of this campground one could leave the door wide open!

Now we are back in the village set up for another year.  I am retired from the classroom but will be subbing and coaching the ski/biathlon team once again.

All our travel went smoothly, we are home, and had an awesome 1st night sleep back in our AK bed!  Now onto the morning routine which I have been craving!  Ski erg, PT for my knee, yoga, sit-ups and then my day can carry on from this point.

Good Morning from the north!