Followers a question?

Greetings to those who stop by and leave messages! 

My question to you all is I am not sure how to leave you a reply.  A message comes into my email and I reply that way when you have left a message.  is anyone getting these replies? Is there a way (I obviously don't know about) I can reply to your comment on my blog page? Below the comment you left me?

I see this on some peoples blog that use blogger.  Any ideas/help/tips would be wonderful!

Thanks!

PS---WE HAVE SNOW!

Birds Eat and Eat and Eat (A read from memory lane)

My sister sent me a great Birthday package filled with fun and yummy goodies.  One treat that was an enjoyable read down memory lane was: Birds Eat and Eat and Eat by Roma Gans and Illustrated by Ed Emberley.

This book is from first grade.  I remember reading it and looking through the pictures endlessly.  We made the bird feeder that is described in the book.  My mom always had bird feeders and her bird book was right on the kitchen table for most of my life.

This book was purchased through the school's Weekly Reader Book Club.  Any of you remember that newsprint flyer?   Kids still love these flyers and ordering books

this way today.  I know as I retired from the classroom this spring and kids still looked forward to ordering books. On the author's page, I found it interesting that she wrote a book titled Common Sense in Teaching Reading.  I googled this title and found a copy which I placed on hold! I am sure this book reflects a completely different approach in reading!

I know we have missed the boat in the American classroom when it comes to teaching reading.  Part of the reason I left teaching is all the TESTING! The constant farming of data on other peoples children-TESTING TESTING TESTING TESTING TESTING TESTING TESTING TESTING!  Reading is not about words per minute!

Reading is the love of adventures, learning, exploring, meeting new friends between the covers of a book.  Reading is a hot cup of tea or choco on a stormy day while cuddled up with a great book.  Reading is a hammock with a hot summer breeze and endless words bring you one adventure after the next. 


Reading has nothing what-so-ever to do with constant monitoring of a young developing reader!

I love this drawing as the character has on a wonderful Aran sweater! He/she is looking out through the leaves full of interest and wonder.  Will, the birds come, is my little bird feeder going to work?  I have always loved ink drawings may this love started with this book?

I sat down with Birds Eat and Eat and Eat with a nice new cup, filled with a new tea, and my new favorite delicious treat called Packaroons!

     

Knitting the Telja Sweater & Tundra Update

Three projects on the needles!  Right now the focus is a Lopi for a KAL at The Woolly Thistle.  I love Lopi yoke sweater designs.  All the colorwork added to a rather very simple design has always intrigued me.  I casted on the Telja Sweater which is a design from Jennifer Steingass.  I am knitting this sweater up in Léttlopi yarn which I have not knitted with this weight of Lopi yarn before.  I knitted up both sleeves first and did a provisional cast-on.  I plan to pick up those stitches and knit a hem to finish them.

The body has been a bit of a challenge!  I originally did a provisional cast-on which for over 220+ sts is a pain in the butt!  I then followed the colorwork pattern which I was thinking I should change but I pushed on through it.  Once I was done with the lower body colorwork, I put the body of the sweater on two needles to check the fit. I do this all the time no matter what!  This saves a lot of frustration later if you know your sweater is going to fit once done!  I put the body on two needles to see how this sweater is fitting! UGH!!!!!!!

I knew it was going to be too large!  Dang, it all!  Why is it I often don't listen to my gut feelings when knitting? I swear, I make more work than is ever needed when I ignore these little snippets of instinct!  I slammed on the knitting needle brakes and frogged all this work.  I totally readjusted my sizing and the design of the pattern. As many of you know I am a huge fan of Elizabeth Zimmermann and her EPS (EZ's Percentage System). 

EPS (from Wikipedia)

Zimmermann devised her "EPS" (Elizabeth's Percentage System) calculation for sizing garments based on gauge and desired body circumference.^[6] Her "EPS" is still widely used by designers: it consists of a mathematical formula to determine how many stitches to cast on for a sweater, given that the sleeves and body are usually proportionate no matter what yarn or gauge is used. EPS can be found in her books that are sold through the family-run business Schoolhouse Press.

Once I frogged out my work, I went right back to my gut instincts!  I quickly crunched the numbers again with EPS method.  Casted my new amount of stitches back on my needles with a Knit2, Purl2 rib.  I made several mistakes in the colorwork over and over again after knitting five rounds of gray!  All signs that I should have stopped long ago!  I removed the colorwork again and the five rounds of gray that went with this design. I did knit the five rounds of gray on the sleeves and I liked that look there, but I found on the body since I am not following the design it just looked off-ish. 

Low and behold all the color work for the body is now done! I only did two rounds of the gray to help tie in the design work. Everything is now spot on!  I can just knit mindlessly around in circles until I get to the where I will be joining up the arms.

Tundra Update! 

October 10th we saw heavy wet snowflakes mixed in with rain!  For me, this is always a great sign to know Mother Nature is doing her job and teasing me with a bit of the white stuff.

October 12th we are closing in on single digit daylight hours. I love this time of the year as we move into darkness with the hunkering down feeling for the arrival of winter.

The tundra always has some wonderful play on light.  I was biking last Thursday and was able to watch this play on light through the clouds and across the tundra.

Little Miss Tally sums up her day of beach walks, and a tundra walk . . . ah, bliss time to rest after dinner.

Thanks for stopping by!

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.