Martha Stewart would be so proud

So, while it's been a quiet winter, I've been semi-productive concerning indoor activities. I played in the pit orchestra for a community musical Peter Pan:

That took up a ton of time- the rehearsals were long, and the play ran three weekends. The actors were on flying machines which was kinda neat. But we had a ton of fun down in the pit. We had endless snacks and didn't take things very seriously since no one in the audience could see us. I felt honored to get to play- the pit was invitation-only and there were four violinists. It was really fun getting to play with such great musicians, and the music was literally changed and re-written every rehearsal, so we were always on our toes.



Having had the back-issues, I have perfected my sock-knitting, and moved onto knitting socks in patterns. I really like the pattern-thing, it makes the socks thicker and warmer, and I don't think I can go back to just plain socks any more. It's hard to see the details on this yarn though because it's so dark:


We've also continued our Dessert of the Month nights- we make a dessert from Martha Stewart's magazine based on what's seasonal for each month.

January: Banana Tart Tatin:


February: Chocolate Hazelnut Meringue:


March: Lemon Thyme Pound Cakes:


Another teacher at my alternative high school was having hip surgery two days after my back surgery- in honor of it, they made him this cake (it's a pretty big joke because he's the biggest stickler about the high school guys not 'slouching' their pants)... it's called a Kasilof Man Thong....

Wildlife Sightings

So here's a collection of wildlife pics from the past few months:

Mama and baby moose on the way to work in the morning, around 8am:


Bald eagle hiding in the snowy trees:




Law-abiding, anti-jaywalking moose, waiting at the crosswalk:


Just grabbing a bite while he waits....


Moose strolling through the post-office parking lot:




This poor paranoid rabbit feels like he's being watched....


Unwittingly stalked by a creepy kitty:


Overachiever cat-stalking.... not going to happen buddy:


Can you see the moose in camo?


Magpie on a tree:


Tuxedo cat in his natural habitat:


Gotta love Homer.... OF COURSE everyone down there would have the freezer space for 10 chickens:

Tustumena 200

So we went to the Tustumena 200 again this year. It's one of the qualifiers for the Iditarod, so usually there are some big mushing stars. There were a lot fewer of the stars this year. No Lance Mackey, or Sebastian Schneulle, but DeeDee Jonrowe was there and she's always a crowd pleaser.

Dog mushing transportation accommodations- definitely traveling coach the whole way:



Hands-down the most well-mannered team:


This is my favorite sled dog- Varmint. The name does not fit the dog. He's owned by a friend in Clam Gulch who trains mushers. If I could have a dog, it would be him:


Leading the first team out to the starting line:

Alaska vs. the Midwest- No Horizon in Sight

I know it's been a long time since my posts lately. I had back surgery two weeks ago, and leading up to that, I had a nerve that wasn't firing in my leg. So it's been a pretty quiet winter, without much action or excitement, since I've had some precarious back issues and ice is not necessarily my friend. But now I'm catching up.

So I really liked my pictures of the Midwest- it was nice to see the open sky and lone trees. I thought I'd post some pictures of the typical Alaska winter as a nice comparison. No horizons to be seen:









(Funny what a difference blue skies make)




Turnagain Arm: it's neat to see the chunky ice on the water


Mountains instead of Fields:




(See the power line?) :








Gorgeous sunrise around 8am on my way to work one morning:


It's undeniably beautiful, but I still miss those open skies, and those lone trees and wind breaks though.

My Own Private Midwest

Christmas 2010- my Midwest Tour:

It was so good to come home to MN after a year- to see my family and friends, and their kids who are so much older and bigger than last year! It was hard seeing everyone because it made me realize how much I love and miss them all, and made leaving that much harder. I have been sitting in Alaska now for a few days reliving my travels and freshly hurting, missing everyone back home. I traveled through a huge chunk of the midwest while I was home- first from the cities to Fergus, then across North Dakota to Bismarck and back, then through southern North Dakota, all of South Dakota and 2/3 of Iowa to Nebraska to see my Omahomies, and then across and up Iowa to get back to the cities and fly out again.

I realized as I was home how much I have missed the midwest landscapes. Especially the trees in winter, with their bare branches and sparseness. In Alaska the huge green spruce trees are so dominant, there isn't the beautiful zen emptiness that the midwest has in the winter- the white-on-white so that you can't tell where the horizon begins and the snow ends, the nakedness of the trees and the huge open skies. It's why I love Charles Beck prints so much. I keep looking back at the pictures I took at home, and thought I would post some.

These are the views of my parent's backyard:


Downtown Fergus Falls- I miss downtowns so much- the only town with any semblance of a downtown around the peninsula is Homer. Everything else is just stores along a highway. I so miss walking through downtowns. Especially Dundee in Omaha- my heart hurt when I was back there.



Lake Alice- I have always loved the canopy of trees over the road in the summer- they don't look too bad in the winter either:


I drove through the country near my parent's house one afternoon, and it felt so good to see the familiar farm scenery:








Icehouses- no one in Alaska uses an ice house for fishing- I miss seeing them scattered across lakes all winter long:


On the drive down I-94 through North Dakota to Bismarck on Christmas day, I shot a few pics through the car window- it was another beautiful, cloudy grey day. I love seeing windbreaks- that man-made symmetry throughout the fields that is so unnatural, and yet having grown up with it, the most normal and common scenery:






The drive back through North Dakota from Bismark the skies were blue for the first time since I'd been home, and the trees were beautiful and frosty white:






After Christmas, I drove down to Omaha. It felt good to drive such a familiar route and re-visit the common sights.

210 to Whapeton was covered in wind-blown snow and drifting the whole way- it was beautiful:


Looking across at some of the world's flattest land:





I-29, entering South Dakota


Watertown- the Terry Redland Center:


Sioux Falls:


Cows on the loose:


Omaha and the old crew:



It was so so good to see everyone, and I miss them so much right now. It's hard to be so far away, and a few days a year just isn't nearly enough time to catch up, but I feel really fortunate for the time that I had