This and That again

What exactly is so fascinating?


An mature male eagle was perched in the tree!

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This came from Eaglechat - a southeast Alaska Birders group normally commenting on bird sightings:

Field marks and habits for the Sun (For those of you that haven't seen it much and need a refresher for identification): Generally round. Size varies depending on time of day. Color ranges from brilliant red to blinding yellow-white. Less active in winter than summer. Resident, but can be shy, often hiding behind banks of clouds for days or even weeks at a time.

Beth Peluso

Juneau

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My nephew enrolled at UAS this fall and moved into the dorms. He participated in the freshman orientation and seemed to get a good introduction to college life and what to expect for the semester. He said he's got a great bunch of roomates and so far is happy to have come. We even had really crappy weather for the first couple of days that he was here so he really knows what to expect. As an incentive or what we like to call "research tools" he was given a water resistant backpack for books and materials and a pair of Extratuffs! gotta love practicality!

Last Ship of the Season

Juneau say's goodbye to the last cruise ship of the season. I heard that there was a big party downtown at the Hangar - the place was probably filled with seasonal workers for their big night out before heading down to the caribbean to set up their tourist shop for the winter.

In this shot on the left you can see the last Jet Boat returning from the eco-friendly zip line along the Treadwell Mine. This was the last day for the tram to Mt Roberts to be open. (Luckily this wasn't the last car down or I would have had to walk!) and to the right, above the lovely blue smoke from the cruise ship is one of the last float plans taking off to go to the Taku Lodge for a salmon bake and float plane ride.


The Cruiseship industry took out a quarter page ad in the Empire yesterday claiming : 27 cruise ships called 506 times bringing 177 million to Juneau, creating dozens and dozens of jobs to support 218 local businesses, contributing 16.8 million in taxes and fees to local government.

And now to figure out how to get part of the 177 million...

Dear Mom

Just wanted you to know what you've been missing:

You've missed a wonderful wedding that took place in a beautiful setting, a high school graduation, college graduations, and the birth of your great granddaughter. You would be so proud.

You're missed buying a house, new house being built on the Kenai River, many updates and refurbishing to a home that watched us grow up, and a move to Juneau. You'd love Juneau - a new place to venture, to watch the eagles and herons, look for orca and humpback whales, watch the sea lions and harbor seals; the wildflowers that spring up in June –so vibrant and varied; walks on the sandy beaches, through the rain forest with the huge dark green trees providing a clear undergrowth to wind through, and along the rushing creeks and numerous waterfalls; the cruise ships filling the docks, the downtown shopping, and the float planes coming and going.

You've missed the slicing of a thumb, broken bones in a foot, loosing all the front teeth and graying of hair. You would give encouraging words and worry about our healing

You've missed activities of creativity and accomplishments of the digital arts; return to the physical arts, playing competitive sports, about 9 quilts, 3 fabric bags, 6 pillows, 8 sweaters, 3 hats, 14 pairs of gloves, 20 pairs of baby booties, 4 felted slippers, and a teddy bear (but who's counting). You would be right in their creating items with love.

You've missed becoming established in a profession and completing a prestigious internship. You would be proud and be telling your friends.

You've missed following an inherited desire to travel and your courage to move someplace new as a young woman. You'd be planning your next visit.

What you haven't missed…being in my thoughts every day since you've been gone.

uh-oh

Fresh snow on one of the ridges on Mt Roberts. The lower patch is left over from last winter.

What to do with cantaloupe

We got a nice cantaloupe in our food box this week. I don't really like cantaloupe. It just tastes funny to me. Sometimes buy them and then force myself to eat them because I know they are good for me. But I'm sure I crunch up my nose when I take a bite. I don't normally eat it in public. So why did I think it would be any different to get an organic one in our food box? Good question. So I started to look around for some recipes so it would not spoil sitting on my counter.

I found a recipe for bread that said, "This is out of this world good - so moist you would
never suspect cantaloupe was used!" Out of this world, might be an overstatement, but they weren't too bad. I would add some nutmeg or cinnamon if I made them again.

We made some pad thai with a japanese eggplant and chicken on saturday night before Tim's brother, Marc, left for the airport. I thought I'd make a little spicy, sweet salad to go with. I used my fancy-dancy cut-myself-every-time-I-use-it julienne slicer and cut thin strips of cantaloupe and mixed it will a little crushed red pepper, and a big squirt of lime juice. I let it sit for a couple of hours. This was delicious and just the right cool, sweet, and spice to go with the dinner.

For the final pieces of that orange stuff I paired it with my other least favorite fruit a banana, to make a smoothie with some vanilla yogurt. I had some mixed fruit jam I made early in the summer so I added a spoonful of that to give it more flavor. YUM!

Southeast Wonders

We often look for signs of the past on our walks especially on the beaches where there are large boulders and rock outcroppings. If you truly look close enough you might even see petrogylphs like these. You have to look close - they are often located in spots that are overgrown; protected by mother nature.

In all there were about 9 etchings on this one rock. A couple looked like fish, one that might have been a fish hook, and of course this one is a boobie or a CD, not sure.


We figured this one was man fell in tide pool and got dizzy and passed out.


You could tell that part of the rock had broken off and become worn away so there might be more that got buried in the beach rubble.


We actually saw two different sites located on either side of these houses.

Visualization from Conventions

Carol sent me a link to this visualization based on recent Democratic and Republican Convention speeches. I thought it was very interesting.

And here's another link she sent which uses visualization to create artistic pieces. I especially like the chess game. I have to admit that I never learned how to play chess created by The Thinking Game. Its on my to do list but I just haven't gotten to it yet. But it was fascinating to see what the possible moves might be and how often they might be played.

The Name Voyager was also fun. You can type next to the > and search for a specific name or letter.

Visually, I liked the American Varietal (directorate) created for the census bureau.

Here's another one from the NY times - medal distribution for the Olypmics

Not sure what type of visualization you might want or need for your project? Here's the periodic table of visualizaton with examples!

Ty's Quilt

I've been working on this quilt for nephew Ty for most of the summer and finally got it back from the quilters over the weekend and finished off the binding. Here's the final product!


Since my sewing machine is still in the storage unit in Fairbanks this was done all by hand. Tim also contributed to the final product by cutting it out for me (I was a bit cutter-shy since my big sister almost cut her thumb off with a rotary cutter just as I was getting started with this).

The pattern called for these "Prarie Points" which I still don't really get but I guess they add something to the design.

When it came time to pick fabric for the back I wanted it to be soft so I looked for some flannel that wouldn't pill. I didn't find any that I really liked that didn't have flowers or hearts which I didn't think Ty would like too much. I was at Costco and they had the very soft blankets so I chose one of those. I had no idea with the quilter would think of it but thought I'd try it out anyway.


I really like how it turned out. Its very, very soft and it doesn't have a seam in it. This was another reason I really liked the blanket idea because without a sewing machine that means I would have had to sew it together and I wasn't looking forward to that!



And what family picture isn't complete without the "lifting of the eyebrow" image.


Ty's birthday is on Saturday so I got it done just in time!

Whale Watching

On Saturday, the Juneau Symphony Association held a Whale Watching fundraiser on one of the Allen Marine catamarans and we thought that might be a fun way to get out on the water and support the local arts. The weather wasn't great but it wasn't raining and was pretty warm so it was a very pleasant afternoon.

Plus we got to hear some quartet music and eat our fill of hors 'devores provided by the members of the symphony. And these were just snacks they picked up at costco – these were real life goodies like Mom used to make for her parties and events. There were cut veggies, small grape tomatoes with the tops cut off and filed will bacon, green onion mixture, spicy marinated chicken wings, homemade cookies, deviled eggs (not as good as Pat Baker's though), little wraps filled with some sort of olive-chicken-mayo goop, and lots of other stuff. I should have gotten a picture of the spread. And there was lots of it!

Plus we got to sea whales and sea lions. I guess I was expecting the voyage to take us all the way up to Berner's Bay but we didn't make it that far. We went around the outside of Shelter Island and hung out in the waters watching for whales spouts. I was too slow on the trigger and never caught much of the whale so after awhile gave up. And when we saw the sea lions hanging out on one of the channel markers I completely forgot about taking pictures and just admired how cute they were. Ahhh.

Here's the best pic of two whales that were together framed by Todd and Claudia. I know, you can barely see them whales!

Alaska Brewing Company Tour

Our friend Todd was down visiting and since his restaurant in Talkeetna, Mountain High Pizza Pie, is one of the top 15 sellers of Alaskan Brew Company beer in the world, he was asked to stop by for a VIP tour. So of course we thought we better tag along in case he needed any help, ya know.

The company started out with the name of Chinook Alaskan but they got sued by Chinook Winery in California so they dropped that name and trademarked Alaskan. Long-time employee, Tony gave us a pretty good tour and plenty of opportunity to taste some samples.


After a few tastings from the sample roo, one of which was delicious dark beer they are calling Dunkel which they are only selling in kegs. I'm not even sure if you can get it outside of Juneau, Tony gave us the general beer-making spiel and then we dawned our safety glasses and signed away any liability and entered the inner sanctum. I forgot to take any pictures until we were almost done with the tour but here are a few snaps.

Here's our guide Tony - sorry its so out of focus I was so excited I just snapped.



This is a long hallway filled with thousand gallon tanks filled with different beer. There were hoses, compressors, and gauges.


They were bottling their 2009 Smoked Porter. Its a seasonal dark beer that they have been making since the late 80s and a great dark beer. You could smell the influence of the beer in the bottling room. We got to taste one right off the line.


Probably the best room was the room where all the beer boxes are stacked up waiting to be shipped out! Here is Todd and Claudia in front of a stack of Amber.


and me with the Smoked Porter.



and Tim with more Amber.

Must be a Bear Weekend

So we had the bear come by the house Thursday night, obviously trying to to find its way back to the woods as it zig-zagged its way from one end of the beach to the other. At some point he must have found his way or was "guide" by people back up the hill towards the woods.

We stopped by the Mendenhall Visitor's center on Friday to see what the glacier looked like. Its the end of the season and there was only one small cruise ship in town so there weren't too many people around. We started down one path to the lookout and there was a nice sized black bear giving a show.


The Naturalist said that sockeyes come in from the Mendenhall River through Mendenhall Lake to these small steams and creeks and provide a good buffet for the bears.






It was a little cloudy out which usually brings out the blue of the glacier. Here sit Todd, Claudia and Tim.

Bear on Beach

We had our first bear sighting right on the beach by the house. A good looking small black bear must have come down Bear Creek by Mr McDole's house to check on the skanky salmon on the beach. He/She ambled up the road and walked towards the harbor through the yards.


We'll keep an eye out - it might be back!

I forgot the mess with apple butter

Oso, Terry, Tim and I found some incredible high bush cranberries out at Boy Scout Beach a couple weeks ago. We had hoped for a perfect beach day but it started out as a drizzle and ended up pouring buckets of rain.

The bushes were really tall and the distribution of berries looked more like grape clusters. We only found a bush here and there - not a great patch of bushes. We ended up with 4 cups which is about 1/2 of what I needed.


So the next weekend Tim and I were on the hunt for 4 more cups. I was trying to remember on all the walks we've taken where I've seen berries and I remember seeing them mostly out the road. We didn't want to drive out that far so stuck closer to the house. We stopped at 4 or 5 places before finding the right combination of water and woods. The berries we picked on the lower Montana Creek trail were more ripe and not nearly the size of those we found out the road but we got 4 cups so we were happy with that.

And then I started making the Applebutter. We always made applebutter with high bush cranberries. The recipe of the UAF Coopertive Extension service was a mainstay in our household. Its in their publication called, "Collecting and Using Alaska Wild Berries and other Wild Products" (FNH-001200) which they sell for $10. I forgot how messy it was to make this jam. First you have to heat up the dried apples and the highbush berries until the berries pop. This mixture spatters all over the stove. Then, because I don't have a food mill, you have to strain out the berry-apply mixture with does have texture to it from the high bush cranberry seeds which are about the size of an apple seed, but flatter. I have 3 strainers and ended up using all them, plus the potato masher, various spoons, and several pots and bowls. Good thing we have a dishwasher–I quickly filled it up!



When I had it strained, I added the sugar and spices and again had the splitter and splatter on the stove top. Then the canning process was an entire process in inself working with boiliing sugared jam, glass jars and steam. You might as well plan a day to do all this.

But the end result is delicious. I like to have it plain and Tim likes it mixed with spicy mustard (1:1) as a sandwich spread. We have enough preserves to give away and keep until the next fall when I'll want to do it all again!