Holmberg visit

Friends Cyndi and Steve left Juneau after a short 1-day visit in town. I'm not sure but I think this is them on the deck!

Cropley Lake

We got invited for a hike to Cropley Lake which is up by Eagle Crest. It was also going to be a berry picking hike if we found any. You have already seen the bags of berries we found and brought back with us.

To get to the lake we headed up Log Jam Run just a short way up the trail. Although the day was a little moist, the ground was really dry and we had hardly any mud or soggy ground to slog though.


Since my camera battery died on my last trip up Eagle Crest and I didn't get any pictures, this time I made sure I had some juice left. Here we are up the run and looking back down


We stopped several times on the way to refresh ourselves with berries and to get a better idea of where we wanted to stop on the way back from the lake to pick.


Once we got to the upper elevations we came across a beautiful alpine meadow - makes you want to lay down and take a nap, doesn't it? But really the ground up here in these meadows is really water saturated so you'd have to have an air mattress to keep you dry. hmmm....maybe something for the christmas list!


At one point while trying to get around the lake to another meadow spot we had determined would be our lunch stop we had to crash through the alder trees. Luckily we didn't run into any bear or porcupine who we might have disturbed during an afternoon nap. We all had rain gear on which was a good thing because although it wasn't raining that hard all the trees had collected rain from the previous night. on their leaves.



We had had a downpour of rain the night before our hike so all the cotton plants were pretty soggy looking. But they were still pretty and we found plenty of other fresh wildflowers to brighten up the green carpet.


I almost forgot to take a picture of the lake itself. One of our friends told us that this is really called "Naked Man Lake" but we did not see any evidence of that. It was a nice spot and if the weather had been like it was the day Tim and I climbed up the road to the top of the crest we might have been able to call this spot "Naked Man and Lady Lake." Note the lake is in the back of the picture - that little alpine puddle in the front of the image was only a couple of inches deep.


We found a nice large boulder which was semi-flat so we could spread out our lunch on it. And then we headed back down the hillside so we could pick berries.


I'm not exactly sure what kind of flower this is. It was on a bush that looked like a draft willow. I'm thinking it might be Lapland Rosebay but I'm not sure.

On the Edge of Nowhere

I just finished reading a book about James Huntington as told through Lawrence Elliott, called On the Edge of Nowhere. Huntington grew up along the Koyukuk River and eventually settled in Huslia. One of the original "Huslia Hustlers" he ran dogs in a number for sprint sled dog races in Fairbanks and Anchorage during the early 50s. Before that he lived off the land hunting and trapping as a very young child with his father and brother and then as a young adult by himself.

Very interesting to read his point of view of growing up in such a rural setting, surviving off the land, traveling long distances in the winter, surviving in a larger community without many resources. What really struck me was what a hardship it was for this young man to come into fairbanks from the rural area. Where it was second nature for him to stake out his dogs pretty much where ever he wanted to, make a shelter to sleep in, or build a fire to make tea water, when he arrived in Fairbanks choices were limited and he had to come up with cash in order to survive.

I know that Jimmy's brother, Syndey has also co-authored a book and I'm anxious to get to this one too, Shadow's of the Koyukuk.

Quite a conversation

We've really been enjoying the Herons this summer. We often see three or four Heron feeding in the tidepools along the front of the house. They are so big and skinny and it amazes me how they can scrunch down to the size of a raven or extent their bodies so far out. We recently have seen a couple of the Heron perched on the 3-story condo that is down the street.

This one decided to have a conversation with Cappy!

Southern Visitors

Had a nice, but short visit with friends Steve and Cyndi today. They are taking advantage of the inexpensive Seattle-Alaska cruise which stopped in Juneau today. Haven't seen these folks for a couple of years so it was nice to catch up on what has been going on with them. And Cappy does love posing for pictures!

berries, berries, berries

Blueberries and Salmonberries make a very colorful assortment of great tasting fresh Alaskan fruit! I just love how the salmonberries can be ripe and be yellow, orange, red, and dark purple. You just never know!

The berries this year are incredible. We had so much sunshine and dry weather that the berries just soaked that all up and are nice and plump and abundant. It was easy to pick a spot, sit down and pick with both hands just reaching around you picking what was close. It was not uncommon for a single stem to have 30-40 berries.




It was very hard when we headed down the hillside not to stop at every patch and pick away. We had to pull ourselves away several times. And showing off the fruits of our labor: Tracey, Evolyn, Heidi and Terry and one begging dog: Keeta.


The bag with all the yellow that I'm holding - that was Tim's bag filled with the succulent salmonberries!

So what will we make with our berries? blueberry pie, blueberries muffins, blueberry flan, blueberry sauce, blueberry creamcheese dessert, blueberry jam? blueberry cookie bars (leave out the date mixure and use 1 cup of blueberry jame) or over ice cream or yogurt? Maybe we better go back for more!

watch the led

Check out this phone of an LED that was attached to top of his Roobma (automatic vaccum) and took a long exposure picture. Good way to check its accuracy!

Hike up Eagle Crest

The Eaglecrest ski area is about 8 miles from where we live on Douglas Island. You travel up Fish Creek Road to the very top. There are two lodges, one at the base and one at the top. From the base to the weather port at the top is about a 1400' elevation gain.

We thought we'd hike up and see what it looked like. We have been to the lower lodge a couple of years ago when we came up to pick blueberries. If you get off the packed areas it is wet and soggy. It was such a beautiful day that we had already decided that if we had to wear rubber boots or put on a jacket because of the alpine temps we would turn around and head to the beach. We had our beach chairs and sandals in the back of the truck.

The walk up is very steep but if you can take your eyes off the trail where you are walking for a few minutes, or when you stop to catch your breath, the wildflowers are gorgeous!






and then it happened:


No battery - I forgot to charge up the camera battery before heading out on this hike. dang it!

This last year the sky folks put in a new lift and punched through a road to the top. The road is very wide and some places are packed nicely while other spots have large, loose rocks on it. Road to top.

We met up with Mitch who was riding his bike up the road. We didn't want to interrupt his momentum going up the hill but we caught up with him a bit later on his way down. He gave us a good suggestion to head up towards the weather port that you can see on top of the mountain. At that time we didn't know there was an upper lodge so that was good information.

Since my camera was no good, you'll have to image if this was a summer shot (Winter view). The trees are in various shades of dark green, the sky was very blue with just a bit of haze (from the Interior fires) which softened the view of the various peaks of mountains. The slopes are a blanket of green grass, pink, white, yellow, blue, and purple wild flowers with some patches of snow and meandering creeks here and there.

On the way up we spotted a beautiful pond area with a shallow creek running through it. There were several small boulders in the pond that looked like perfect little seats. We had already decided to stop here on our way back, take off our boots and do a little wading while we ate our lunch. Pond

Here are some other summer/spring pictures from the eaglecrest website.

Information Graphics

Hellmann’s - It’s Time for Real from CRUSH on Vimeo.

We often see sailboats on the channel - this is from this spring:


Wednesday night is one of the sailing clubs weekly "meetings" where they all sail out about the same time and do whatever sailors do - tow that line, sit on the poop deck, you know.

This passed by the house today and I thought it was a cooling looking sailboat:

Herbert Glacier 09

We had a nice ride out to the Herbert Glacier last sunday. The weather was so nice and sunny. Most of the ride goes through the forest so it was nice a cool. The trip in is very fast and the trail was in really good shape.

This is the earliest in the season that we've come out here. With all the warm weather the river was really high and the low section where we can usually get across without getting too wet was to high. You can see across the to the beach in this picture and we usually drop our bikes and continue on foot over the base of the glacier. The only way around would have been to scrabble over the rocks and boulders ad we didn't really feel like doing that.


So we found a wide spot in the trail that had a breeze to keep the flies away and had a picnic. The trail is only about 4.5 miles one-way and you don't realize that most of the trip in to the glacier is uphill until you are breezing along on the way out. You hardly have to peddle at all!

My bike is making a clicking noise so I need to take it in to get it looked at and Tim needs new tires or maybe just a new bike that has suspension. Going over rocks and roots are hard on your limbs without suspension.

Tribute to Michael

Some of you have probably already seen this clip of "Thriller" performed as a tribute to Michael by some Arctic researchers up at Toolick Field. Bet even Michael couldn't have orchestrated the visual effects of the giant mosquitoes!

Beach Party and 4th of July

Hey Rune - here is someone who has your taste in haircuts!



As I've said before, Juneau really celebrates the fourth of July! Its a several-day event in normal years and this year it was combined with a celebration of statehood.

In this year's parade, a float with some of the same princesses from 50 years ago drove down Egan Drive. Along with the marching band, antique cars, fire engines, Veterans for peace - you name it - they were there (ho, everyone except for the governor). And the candy that was thrown or passed out - every kid walked away with a grocery bag full!


And then there was the beach party and games at Savikko park - always a hit with foot races, gunny sack races, dog frisbee throw, lots of food booths, face painting, tailgate barbeques and more.

In year's past the sand castle building competition has not amounted to much. I think with the incredible weather we've been having the inspiration (or desire to be at the beach) was increased and there were some very finely crafted piles of sand around.

This was probably my favorite:


and for my nephew:


This one was fun - there were hidden toys where communities would be located, for example, Ketchikan had a little crab placed at the proper place.


After riding our bikes downtown to watch the parade in Juneau, then coming back to Douglas for another parade, hot dogs at the firehouse, watching the races, cheering on the speed racing SoapBox Derby kids and the fireworks from the night before, we were glad to spend a quiet night at home.

First Friday, Statehood Celebration, Fourth of July, Friday Concert in the Park - what a day (and night)

I think I've mentioned before that the Fourth of July is a big celebration in Juneau. It usually starts on the third and continues on. This year Juneau chose this weekend to celebrate Statehood so it seems like there are extra events going on.

The weather has been incredible! Its been in the mid 70s and low 80s with a cloudless sky that has really drawn the crowds outside!

We went to the Concert in the Park which was combined with a community picnic. Hamburgers and hot dogs for everyone!

This was one of the grills that they used - isn't it huge!



Juneau is also the gathering place for the International Juneau Family Reunion. I understand that several generations of Joe Juneau decendents have been gathering here for a couple of weeks. There are a few still living in the community along with a large contingent of Kowee decendents. Here's one of the Juneau's at Gold Rush Days joking around with some guy in a blue shirt. he he

Where were you when you heard Palin resigned?

We were out at Auke Rec enjoying the start of the 4th of July weekend at the beach. Claudia sent Tim a text message but we didn't have very good cell phone covereage where we were so we didn't get any of the details until we got back to the house.

What a shocker! Of course there is lots of speculation about the real reasons but I doubt that we will ever know for sure!

We watched three ferrys come in to Auke Bay while we had a picnic lunch, sitting in our beach chairs, soaking up the sun. We listened to the kids laughing as they waded in the cool water, the powerboat making big circles pulling wakeboards, and the crazy crows dropping mussels from the sky in hope of getting a tasty morsel for their lunch. They weren't getting any of ours!

Busy Weekend

Juneau Arts and Culture Center sponsors Concerts in the Park on Friday evenings. We've been lucky enough that the weather has been cooperating so that we can enjoy these events outside at Marine Park. There are ususally three acts that get about 30 mintues to perform. This week we had some belly dancing by the Daughters of the New Moon, a rock band called Boobie Trap, and some broadway show tunes sung by the Juneau Lyric Opera.

Probably the hit of the night was the lyric opera group singing "George of the Jungle" complete with chest beating by the tall guy shown here, in the middle, in the back. This brought a lot of applause.

Also happening this last weekend is what they called "Gold Rush Days". Not to be confused with Golden Days in Fairbanks, this is more about mining and logging and the games that reflect activities that go along with the job. Saturday was the mining games and Sunday was the logging events. More later!

Good Day to By-Pass Town

I just watched the sixth large cruise ship go by the house heading towards the docks in town. In additional the amount of people, its also been drizzling on and off all morning. That means umbrellas with sharp points. Luckily I don't have to go downtown for anything! Click on the photo to get a more clear image!

Knitting Projects

I made this little hood poncho for my 1-year old great niece. It is made from Rainbow Boucle yarn with gradients of pink to white. It can easily be thrown in the washer and dryer. The hood part looks a little big but she probably won't wear that over her head anyway.



And here are some embroidered napkins. I really like to do embroidery work and haven't done any for awhile. I thought it would be a nice break from knitting. On my trip to Fairbanks I decided to take along some lace weight yarn and make lace to go around the napkins. This pattern is only 5 rows long so it was easy to memorize and I could stop and start as I needed to. I like to take lace projects on the plane because they don't require a lot of material and come together pretty quick.






And here is a felted purse that I made for Ashley. The pattern came from a knitting calendar that Tam gave me.



I was concerned that the flap would not flatten out and curl up like it did pre-felted. But it laid right down. I didn't even have to weight it down or anything. I sewed a big snap on the inside flap so its a bit more secure but it probably didn't need it.

Robyn goes to Juneau

We had an awesome visit with niece Robyn at the end of May. It was a busy weekend with hiking, eating, sightseeing, shopping…a bit of everything. Here Tim and Robyn look at the view from one of the foot bridges along the Dupont Trail.

A visit to the Mendenhall Glacier provided lots of entertainment. There were about 4 cruise ships in town so there was lots of activity. Its is always interesting what tourists find intriguing. We watched an older asian couple who were fascinated with the dogpoop bag dispensers.

We didn't see any glacier calving but there were many icebergs in the lake.





Nuggest falls was flowing with winter melt-off water:

We had a brilliant day-hike to the boy scout beach for our June coast survey. The weather was awesome. Unfortunately we planned our hike when the tide was really low so there was a lot of beach to cover. But it has such a nice day that we didn't seem to mind. I will admit that I insisted we should take a short cut since the tide was so low. This resulted in having to jump over a little crevass where I immediately turned my ankle. After a couple of minutes I was able to continue on the hike. It didn't really bother me until we got home. Its been a little tender since then.




and here is what they were looking at:


And what overnight stay at the Olson's would be completed without a picture with Cappy!


Thank you Robyn for your visit!

This and That again again and again

Dairy-Free, Sugar Free RAW Chocolate recipe - this sounds delicious!

And this was delicious! I thought we'd try out something different with some red chard this week. I normally steam the chard with some garlic and black pepper and maybe some onion slices. Then before serving drench it with rice wine vinegar. We like the taste and its easy. But we had that flavor last week so I wanted to try something a bit different: Red Chard and Caramelized Onions. The blend of brown sugar and sweet onions combined with the salty from the olives and the tartness of the lemon juice and caper - lovely explosion in the mouth! I would suggest slicing in the olives in half so they mix better with the onion slices and chopped chard.

When I was in Fairbanks in May I stopped by the Georgeson Botanical Garden to see how the Ohlsen Family Garden spot was taking shape. It looks like they might be starting work on the upper part where they wanted to turn it into a sort of outdoor patio with pavers and moveable raised beds. Our request was to incorporate some diamon willow benches or trellis' or something. Its a multi-year project but it looks like they might be starting the first phase.

Around the Americas Cruise

But not by the typical route - This sailing vessel is going through the northwest passage! Sailing experts Terry and Jim, accompanied me on a tour of this beautiful yacht during a stop-over in Juneau. I think they actually thought they should come along with me to make sure I didn't get my feet tangled in the rope (I mean line) and tumble to the sea. Or maybe they wanted me along so that I could rat them out if they actually tried to stowaway.

This crew is traveling around north and south america in the next year promoting ocean health. It seems like they are providing all kinds of information that could be used in a classroom. Plus each of the crew seems to be keeping their own blogs and sharing pictures. They are on facebook, twitter, youtube, and flickr. Check them out at: http://www.aroundtheamericas.org/

White Nights Festival

Tim and I stopped by the 2nd annual Russian Festival that was held this weekend downtown. I read about it in the Empire last year but never made it so I was happy to see that they were having another event this summer. I wanted to see the New Archangel Dancers on my last two visits to Sitka but never had the opportunity. So this was a bonus because we also had the opportunity to see some other dance groups as well as a few small groups perform and/or sing some Russian folk tunes. Due to a longer than expected walk at the airport dike, we arrived a bit late but we did watch the Kodiak Russian Players (a 5-piece group with accordion, a several Balalaikas, and vocals. We watched the New Archangel Dancers perform about 5 dances and pianists Svetlana Velichko and her great niece, Elena Smirnova perform together and separately. I just love to watch 4 hands on a piano. I purchased a music book for 4-handed piano and Connie and I used to play when we were in high schoool. Most of the songs in it were too hard though, so we got bored after only being able to play one or two pieces.

I wasn't sure why they called it the White Nights Festival, but wikipedia told that that there is an annual arts festival in St Petersburg around solstice which showcases music and dancing. Solstice isn't celebrated the same down here in the southeast as they celebrate in the interior. It gets dark here! But the Russian influence is definitely more recognizable down here in the southeast, especially in Sitka.

Someone needs to wash the windows!

Our neighbor was cutting fish so we had a large contingent of eagles hanging around the house waiting for scraps. I think we had about 10 of various ages flying around at one point. This one watched from the deck for quite awhile.