What is that?!

I was watching the Florida football game on TV and glanced out my window and was surprised to see a pickup truck driving by with an extremely large bull moose head in the bed of the truck.  I was quite surprised – even after a year of living up here on the foreign tundra!  Huh, I thought.  Did they just “catch” that moose on a hunting trip?…It’s so large – the antlers must be 4 ft long! – and the head is unusually upright and clean…No, no…That is a stuffed moose head…by my taxidermist neighbor.

Then I went back to cleaning and watching the game. I live in a weird place.  I’m just glad that scene surprised me!  I’m holding on as tight as I can to normalcy, but I feel it slipping away…

By the way, these are photos of a caribou, not a moose.  I think this caribou (in the top photo) looks as shocked as I was today in seeing the moose head.  And then like myself, he quickly returned to business as usual (in the photo below).

The Perfect Winter Pastime

In a place where snow falls on October 5 (!!!!!), finding pleasant, engaging and warm wintertime activities is of the utmost importance!  Baking is a very popular among Alaskanettes, including my friend Hannah who has been rigorously pursuing pie making perfection for a decade!  “A decade?” you say.  “How can that be?  She’s so young!”  I know.  Very few of us settle upon such an ambitious goal at the young age of 15 and stick with it!  As a teenager Hannah noticed that no one really made pies from scratch anymore.  This was especially apparent to her at Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Hannah saw pie making as a rare and estimable skill.  “I thought it would be cool to be a Grandma who makes really good pies.  So I figured if I started at 15, by the time I was a Grandma…” – she’d be feeding more than just her grandchildren!   No wonder this determined, hardworking young woman thrives up here on the tundra!

I think the most important lesson I gleaned from Hannah is that it’s all about the perfect crust.  First, you have to find the recipe for the perfect pie crust.  Hannah selected her favorite recipe (which uses 1/2 butter, 1/2 shortening) from among 25 pie crust recipes in Pie: 300 Tried-and-True Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pie by Ken Haedrich.  Not only must the crust taste delicious, it must look delicious!  So Hannah taught me the art of fluting (pictured above).  After trimming the dough to the edge of the pie dish (using kitchen shears), use your index finger to press pretty little indentions all around the edge of the crust as pictured above.

After Hannah demonstrated making 1 crust, she had me make one.  I tell you, learning in person is so much more empowering than watching the Food Network!  Just like the pros on the Food Network, Hannah had previously-made pie dough standing by in the fridge so we didn’t have to wait 10 minutes for the dough to firm up in the freezer, but rather could instantly move on to the next step: making the pie filling.  We made 2 pies this day: a chocolate cherry (Black Forest) and a chocolate raspberry (pictured below).

Here are Hannah’s most useful tips for pie making…

Hannah’s Top 10 Tips for Perfect Pies

1. Keep all pie crust ingredients cold (i.e. in the fridge) – except for the shortening
2. Don’t use too much water or flour as it makes the crust tough
3. Don’t handle the crust too much as it warms up the dough
4. After fluting the pie crust, set the crust in the freezer for 10 minutes.  This will prevent the crust from sliding around and potentially breaking once in the oven.
5. Use canned cherries instead of canned cherry pie filling.
6. Use a marble rolling pin – if you are so fortunate as to have one!
7. When you bake a fruit pie with a top crust, make sure the pie is completely cooked by looking for these two indicators:
   1. Juice bubbling thickly around the edges and through the steam vents.
   2. The top crust is slightly moving because the filling is boiling underneath.
8. Half way through the baking time, transfer the pie from the bottom rack (nearest the heating element) to the top rack and rotate.  Placing the pie first on the bottom rack enables the crust to set promptly.
9. Reserve and bake crust trimmings for a delicious snack while you’re waiting for the pie to finish baking and cooling (pictured below).
10. When in doubt, buy Pampered Chef baking utensils (e.g. the personal-sized baking sheet below and the saucepan and spatula above)!

It didn’t take much begging on my part (okay none at all), to get gracious Hannah to share her Black Forest Pie recipe with us!

Black Forest Pie

Ingredients:

3/4 c sugar

1/2 c baking cocoa

2 T flour

1/3 c milk (Hannah used coconut milk)

1/4 c butter, cubed

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 can (14 1/2 oz) pitted tart cherries

1/3 c sugar

1 1/2 T cornstarch

1/4 t ground cinnamon

1 unbaked pie shell (9 inches)

Directions:

1. In a saucepan combine sugar, cocoa, flour and milk until smooth.  Add butter.  Bring to a boil.  Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.  Remove from heat.
2. Sir a small amount of hot mixture into eggs.  Return egg mixture to the saucepan and mix well.
3. Meanwhile, drain the cherries, reserving the juice.  Set cherries aside.
4. In a saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch.  Gradually stir in cherry juice until smooth.  Bring to a boil over medium heat.  Cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.  Remove from heat and stir in cinnamon.  Gently fold in cherries.
5. Fold cherry mixture into chocolate mixture.
6. Pour into pastry shell.  Bake at 350º for 35-40 minutes or until filling is almost set.
7. Cool completely on a wire rack.
8. Store in the refrigerator.

Who knows, maybe one day Fairbanks will have its very own pie shop owned by Miss Hannah and/or all of Miss Hannah’s friends and grandchildren will clamor to sit in her warm cozy kitchen waiting for her delicious pies to come out of the oven.   Either way, Hannah inspires me to find my baking forte.  Will it be cookies, sweet breads or muffins?  Do I have the attention span to focus and buckle down on just one thing?  Maybe I’ll find out this winter – it’ll definitely be long enough to make some progress and test my desire and tenacity!

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=lithouonthetu-20&o=1&p=12&l=ur1&category=kitchen&banner=0FNCR9B2J7F8PHAZGG82&f=ifr

Celebrating 3

During the too few glorious days of fall we have here on the tundra, I had the immense pleasure of photographing a sweet family celebrating the son’s 3rd birthday.  Just look at that beautiful sun!

“I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house.
So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air.”

~Nathaniel Hawthorne

This spunky little birthday boy knew how to make the most of a beautiful afternoon.

I could’ve given him a run for his money on the trampoline if I’d wanted to…but it was more fun to watch him.

A lot of play calls for a little rest.

Diehard for Blueberries

Alaskans are DIEHARD about their blueberry picking.  Maybe it’s because blueberries are one of the few fruits that actually grow here.  Or maybe it’s because Alaskans are diehard about everything that they do.

Here are the strict rules to being a diehard Alaskan blueberry picker:

1.  A diehard blueberry picker must NEVER EVER reveal her SECRET sweet spot for blueberry picking.  Secret sweet spots remain in the family and  are passed down from one generation to the next.  If the picker generously concedes to bringing a friend with her to her sweet spot, she must first blindfold the friend from the moment her friend gets in the passenger seat of her car.

Fortunately for me, my friend Hannah, who graciously brought me to her family’s blueberry sweet spot, is not completely diehard, so she kindly did not blindfold me.  However, I have several friends who have been blindfolded!

This brings me to rule number 2…

2. A diehard blueberry picker must drive MILES and MILES to her secret picking spot as she would never want others to find this spot -clandestinely or accidentally- and steal all her berries!  The further you drive, the higher your diehard rating.

My friend Hannah did try to point out the way we were going to get to her sweet spot, but I was too busy talking and thinking about how far we were driving (20+ miles each way?!) for small, hard-to-pick blueberries to remember all the turns. After passing many “No Trespassing” signs, we arrived at Hannah’s blueberry sweet spot (pictured below).  Let’s just say, I would never go there alone!

But at least we had an intimidating, manly vehicle (Hannah’s brother’s) to ward off any would-be threats.  I’m so glad we went blueberry picking in this giant truck. It really was so fitting!

3. A diehard blueberry picker must happily squat among the blueberry bushes picking berries for HOURS and HOURS to get anywhere from a pound or two of berries up to several gallons as legend has it.

4. A diehard blueberry picker unhesitatingly forgoes meals in order to have more time for picking.

I, however, could not forgo dinner nor let my friend Hannah do so.  So I packed her a tupperware full of pasta salad, which she ate while picking.  Let it be known that she did not lose any picking time!

5.  A diehard blueberry picker is NEVER deterred by any of the following when picking berries:

• Clouds of mosquitos – A diehard blueberry picker never lets mosquitos get the best of her!  In fact, she doesn’t even notice them, she’s so consumed by her berry picking.  I, however, did notice the mosquitos!  They were biting my back like crazy!  Next time, I must where a thicker shirt and not leave an inch of skin exposed to those merciless beasts!
• Rain – A diehard blueberry picker enjoys picking berries rain or shine.  Yes, it did rain on Hannah and me – and we kept picking!
• Sunset – A diehard blueberry picker can pick berries just as well in the dark as in the light.  We definitely did that too!
• Stains and Dirt – A diehard blueberry picker gladly sacrifices her wardrobe for the sake of the harvest!  And she knows how to remove those stains afterwards – Oxyclean!

6.  A diehard blueberry picker ALWAYS thinks “it was worth it” (the 40 miles of driving, lack of food, dozens of mosquito bites) no matter how few berries are picked.

Remember, Alaskan blueberries are NOT like the large, plump, juicy and sweet California/Oregon/Washington blueberries you buy at the grocery store or easily pick at a blueberry farm.  Oh no, Alaskan berries are small, tart and grow amongst thorny brush in boggy areas.  And after you pick them, you’re work is not done as you still have to wash and clean the berries, separating out all the twigs, leaves and debris!

And, perhaps most importantly, rule number 7…

7. A diehard blueberry picker NEVER compares the time and money spent picking blueberries in the wild to the time and money spent buying berries from the grocery store – NEVER!

I cannot say that this thought did not cross my mind more than once.  And I’m positive it’s most time- and cost-effective to go to Sam’s Club or Fred Meyer.  However, you can’t put a price on quality time with friends and genuine Alaskan experiences!

My 1 Year Anniversary

July marked my 1 year anniversary of living in Alaska.  This called for a celebration!  I had moved to the frozen far north and I had survived!  Not only had I survived, but I had made great friends, taken excellent care of my little igloo, grown a garden, memorized many facts about Alaska and convinced more than a few people that I really was an Alaskan woman!  To commemorate this momentous occasion, I made a delicious chocolate cake from scratch and served it with fresh raspberries, which I picked from my in-laws’ garden.  If I do say so myself, the cake would’ve made any frontierswoman proud!

Even though I feel like I’ve won Survivor Alaska this past year (because I’m still here!), according to my hometown honey, the jury is still out as to whether or not I’m a cheechako (an Alaskan newbie) anymore.  To help this so-called jury out, my hometown honey drafted a not so fair and balanced Cheechako Test for me.  I’m guessing most Alaskans would have fared worse than I did!  Maybe it was my hometown honey’s way of implying I need more time here on the tundra!

Here’s how I did.  If you’d like to take the test (I highly suggest you native female Alaskans do so I have some objective comparisons) have someone read the questions to you as the answers follow.  To add insult to injury, my husband made me look up all the answers myself!

ARE YOU A CHEECHAKO TEST?

HISTORY

1. Alaska was purchased from whom in what year?
   • Libby: Russia, 1873 (I was so close! I think I should get 1.5 points for this 2-point question, but I’ll give myself 1.)
   • Correct Answer: Russian Empire, 1867
2. Who was left on the banks of the Chena River in 1901 and later set up a Trading Post, founding Fairbanks?
   • Libby: E.T. Barnette (That was a give-me.  1 point!)
   • Correct Answer: E.T. Barnette
3. What was his wife’s name?
   • Libby: Really, Dave?   Millie.  To be fair, he did give me a hint – her name is the name of a pass near Summit Lake.  Thanks for that.
   • Correct Answer: Isabelle
4. Felix Pedro discovered gold in 1902, who was his partner?
   • Libby: He teamed up with E.T. Barnette, that’s all I know.  I’m thinking you want me to fail…
   • Correct Answer: Tom Gilmore
5. Who was Fairbanks named after?
   • Libby: A governor?  Some political person I’m sure.
   • Correct Answer: Charles Fairbanks, a Republican senator from Indiana (Dave wasn’t even positive about this answer!)
6. Who was the first president to visit Alaska?
   • Libby: Harding.  (His train car is on display in Pioneer Park in Fairbanks. 1 point!)
   • Correct Answer: Warren Harding
7. Who was the first man to climb Mt. McKinley?
   • Libby: I should know this!  I saw the Mt. McKinley musical at the Salmon Bake in Denali with my aunt and uncle!
   • Correct Answer: Hudson Stuck
8. One of the largest ________s in the world occurred in Alaska in 1964 what was it?
   • Libby: Earthquake (1 point!)
   • Correct Answer: Earthquake
9. This occurrence has been given a nickname what is it?  (HINT:  On what day did it happen?)
   • Libby: April…Fool’s Day Earthquake?
   • Correct Answer: The Good Friday Earthquake
10. Which river over ran her banks in 1967 causing the worst Flood in Alaskan History?
    • Libby: Chena.  (I know this because our little house went through this flood.  1 point!)
    • Correct Answer: Chena
11. What happened on June 20, 1977?
    • Libby: They finished the pipeline (Close enough!  Dave said he’d give it to me.  1 point!)
    • Correct Answer: First drop of oil flowed through the pipeline
12. Name the famous Alaskan born on January 12, 1979.
    • Libby: Dave Selle (I was waiting for that one.  1 point!)
    • Correct Answer: Dave Selle

POP CULTURE, SPORTS, ENTERTAINMENT & POLITICS

1. Name two Alaskans who have played pro sports:
   • Libby: Doh! He’s always talking about these people.  I don’t care about cross-country skiers!  Barry Bonds, who played for the Alaska Goldpanners of Fairbanks, and Jewel, who competed on Dancing with the Stars!  (I should get at least 1 point for cleverness!)
   • Correct Answer:  Chad Bentz, a Major League Baseball pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, and Carlos Boozer, a forward for the NBA’s Utah Jazz (List of Alaska’s Great Athletes)
2. Is it Pioneer Park or Alaskaland?
   • Libby: Pioneer Park because that’s what it’s been ever since I’ve visited and lived in Alaska. I know you’re trying to trick me!  (1 point.)
   • Correct Answer: Pioneer Park (since 2001). (Dave would argue for Alaskaland.)
3. What is the first line of the State Song?
   • Libby: Oh Northern flag…with it yellow stars and blue…Sigh. I don’t know despite hearing you sing it many times!
   • Correct Answer:
     • Eight stars of gold on a field of blue –
       Alaska’s flag. May it mean to you
       The blue of the sea, the evening sky,
       The mountain lakes, and the flow’rs nearby;
       The gold of the early sourdough’s dreams,
       The precious gold of the hills and streams;
       The brilliant stars in the northern sky,
       The “Bear” – the “Dipper” – and, shining high,
       The great North Star with its steady light,
       Over land and sea a beacon bright.
       Alaska’s flag – to Alaskans dear,
       The simple flag of a last frontier.
4. Where does the Yukon Quest start?
   • Libby: Whitehorse or Fairbanks (1 point!)
   • Correct Answer: Whitehorse or Fairbanks
5. Unlce Ted Stevens often wore a tie with which super hero on it?
   • Libby: Roll of eyes.  Superman.
   • Correct Answer:  The Incredible Hulk  (I could see the Incredible Hulk being a mascot for Alaska.)
6. What grueling snow machine race is former first Dude Todd Palin renowned for running?
   • Libby: Arctic Man. No the Ice Dog!
   • Correct Answer:  Iron Dog.
7. When was the last year Alaska cast it’s electoral votes for a Democrat?
   • Libby: 1972?
   • Correct Answer: 1964 for Lyndon Johnson  (Dave wasn’t sure about this answer either!  Does that mean it doesn’t count?!)
8. The mascot for UAF is the Nanook.  What is a nanook?
   • Libby: Polar Bear (1 point!)
   • Correct Answer: Polar Bear
9. Name two Iditarod champions.
   • Libby: Jeff King and Lance Mackey.  (It’s a good thing I went to the Huskie Homestead recently for a job!  2 points!)
   • Correct Answer: Jeff King and Lance Mackey (List of Champions)
10. What is the state bird?
    • Libby: The mosquito!  Just kidding. Ptarmigan.  (At least I didn’t have to spell it – this was an oral test.  1 point!)
    • Correct Answer: Ptarmigan

EXPERIENCES (1 point for each)

1. Have you seen the aurora borealis?
   • Libby: Yes!  (1 point!)
2. Have you fished for Salmon or Halibut?
   • Libby: No?
3. Have you lived through negative 40 weather?
   • Libby: Yes!  (And technically, it’s 40 below!  1 point!)
4. Have you lived through 80+ degrees in the same year?
   • Libby: Yes!  Thanks be to God!  (1 point!)
5. Have you actually seen Mt. McKinley?
   • Libby: Yes!  (I saw it yesterday.  1 point!)
6. Do you grow something that you’ll put up for the winter?
   • Libby: Yes – potatoes, parsnips, tomatoes (as sauce and salsa), lots of blanched and frozen swiss chard, beans and carrots.  (1 point for each?!)
7. Have you shot a gun (pistol, rifle, shotgun)?
   1. Libby: Yes.  (Did I like it? No!  1 point!)
8. Have you been to the Arctic Circle?
   • Libby: No?
9. Have you seen the Yukon River?
   • Libby: No
10. Have you been bitten by giant mosquitoes?
    • Libby: Yes (1 point!)
11. Where is your home?
    • Libby: Fairbanks  (I had to smile.  I know that meant a lot to my husband.  100 points!!!)

FINAL TALLY

Libby: 21 points (58%)

Total Possible Points: 36

Well, what do you think?  Did I pass?  Or am I still a cheechako?  I guess I’m probably somewhere in the middle.

There’s always next year.

Am I Lost?

Yesterday, I was in Manley Hot Springs, but today I think I’m Lost…in a lovely place which must be the island.  They grow grapes here!

Could this be the Manley hot springs?  Four private pools bathed in soft sunlight and surrounded by lush, tropical vegetation?

Enclosed in a plastic green house.  Yes, that seems more like Alaska.  I’m sure people soak in the hot springs all winter long as they do at Chena Hot Springs.  You’re only in the cold in your bathing suit for a very short time – not long enough for any body parts to freeze!

True to the Alaskan independent spirit, there are very few rules and nothing but a bowl collecting patrons’ money.

And just in case you’re not convinced these beautiful hot springs really are in Alaska – below is a photo of the facilities.

Now you really want to visit Manley Hot Springs, right?!

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=lithouonthetu-20&o=1&p=13&l=ur1&category=home&banner=1KCJXE8FXDSDTBZ6SWG2&f=ifr

Manley Hot Springs – A Retreat from the City Life

My in-laws have bought a cabin in Manley Hot Springs – their haven from the bustling city life of Fairbanks.    It’s their secret hideaway.  Their quite place on the slough (where children do go swimming without wetsuits!).  It’s literally at the end of the road.  Manley Hot Springs is the westernmost location you can drive to in the United States.

My mother-in-law claims she’d like to live there and come into “the city” every now and then!  Note: It is a 3-hour long, uncomfortable drive along dirt roads filled with potholes from Fairbanks to Manley.  Yet, Manley is a charming small town (the 2000 census determined a population of 72) where one can really feel a sense of belonging and community.  I really didn’t know what to expect when I went there.  What I found was a little neighborhood of quaint cabins, a couple of public buildings (a roadhouse/restaurant, post office/store and school/library), peaceful waters and chirping birds.  It reminded me of a permanent campground.  Although, the campgrounds I went to as a kid all had bathrooms with running water for showers and toilets.  In Manley, unless you go to the roadhouse, you get outhouses – a big wooden bench (that was vexingly too tall for me!) with a hole in it that you have to put your shoes on to get to!  Or you could opt for an indoor port-o-pot.  Either way, you’re roughing it!

I really can’t believe people accept outhouses as normal!

But at least you have a pretty view while you hike to the bathroom.

There’s all sorts of abandoned treasures to find in Manley, like this food cache – at least that’s what I think it is.

For fun, one can go for a walk through downtown and stop and talk to the local townspeople who are out and about on foot, dirt bike or four-wheeler.  My big stop was buying candy at the small store/post-office!

The airport is always fun to visit and look around.

Or you can drop in at the old school house, which took me back to Anne of Green Gables and childhood.

But my most favorite activity is peaking in the windows at the locked-up and closed Northern Commercial store.  It’s jam packed full of vintage goodies just sitting there unused and unappreciated!  I was all in favor of calling together a town meeting to petition the store owners to hold a yard sale!  Manley is a great place to find antiques.  When my in-laws bought their cabin they inherited most of the cabin’s furnishings including several really nice anituques, which I regretfully forgot to photograph!  As it was my first time in Manley, however, I decided to wait until my next visist to stir things up.  I’m guessing this town isn’t too fond of change.

The slough runs into the Tanana River, which one can also walk to in Manley.  I was surprised by how wide the river is!

The natives in Manley live off of this river.  It’s where they catch their samlon – including the best-ever king salmon!  We had the special honor of watching one native family filet and brine their salmon in preparation for smoking and canning.  They had it down to an art!

Below is a photo of a fish wheel on the Tanana.  The natives use it to catch lots of fish at one time.  They float the wheel in the water and it spins as the fish swim into either of the two scoops.

As the fish are scooped up and the wheel spins, the fish fall into a trough…

which then dumps the fish into a collecting bin at the base of the fish wheel.  Pretty cool, huh?  Betcha you wish you could use on of those!  I know I do – did you read my last post about fishing?!

By far, the crown of the Manley metropolis is the Historic Manley Roadhouse, built in 1906 when gold mining was taking off in the area.

At the roadhouse, you can stay in a typical “hotel room” or rent one of three super cute cabins.  I’d go for the cabin myself.

The roadhouse is nothing short of a hot spot in Manley.  And how could it not be with it’s fabulous decor, drinks and dining?

You could sit in this room for hours just looking at everything…

But don’t forget to have dinner – we chose to sit at the bar where all the action is and one can catch up on all the local news.  The food was great and the service was even better.   I can see why eating here is one of my in-laws’ favorite things to do in Manley.  But then again, they love everything about their home away from home.  I’ll enjoy visiting them, but I could never live that far off the beaten path – I already feel like I live on the frontier!  Alaskans’ strong desire to get away from it all never ceases to amaze me.

I’m saving the ultimate tourist attraction in Manley – something my in-laws haven’t even done! – for my next post so check back tomorrow!

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=lithouonthetu-20&o=1&p=12&l=ur1&category=amazonhomepage&f=ifr

Fish Big or Go Home

I’m no newcomer to fishing – at least, Southern-style fishing.  The kind where you sit comfortably in a motor boat or canoe and drift lazily along a river or lake talking and fishing on a warm, balmy afternoon.  And then when you catch the fish, a man (i.e. my dad) removes the fish from the hook and puts new bait on your hook if needed.  I found fishing to be a fun, relaxing way to spend quality time with my dad and I was hoping it would be the same way with my husband.  But, I really should’ve known better than to think fishing in Alaska would be anything like fishing in Virginia!

Everything has to be harder and more extreme in Alaska – including fishing!

Fishing in Alaska requires you to show up prepared and with your best game face on.  It means wearing huge, man-sized hip waders that make for extremely awkward trudging through – and falling down in – rain (it always rains when you decide to go fishing), brambles, prickles, brush, trees, mud, swarms of mosquitoes and rivers to get to a “good spot.”  More often than not, the hike to the fishing spot also requires a gun to protect oneself from grizzly bears, black bears, moose (which attack more humans than bears), wolves, etc.  Once you’ve reached your chosen spot, you frequently find that the water is just too clear and there aren’t any fish which leads to more trudging and falling.

If you make it to actually fishing, you have to fly fish – well, if you’re a Selle you do.  Or Brad Pitt.   I just don’t get it.  I don’t see how it can possibly be more effective than a spinner reel with a lure.  But who am I to argue?  I’m just a Southern gal from Virginia after all…

Sometimes, you might get to the point where you’ve just had too much – brambles in your hands and boots, mosquito bits, soaking wet clothes (hypothetically speaking of course!!!).  So you might decide to turn around and head back to the haven of the dry car.  Walking back by yourself, you may realize you don’t have a gun (the men who are together do!) to protect yourself from the bears, moose, wolves, etc.!   This may perhaps cause you to panic, cry, swear, and pray all at once – hypothetically.  But more likely than not, you do make it back to your car where you can finally breathe easy and focus on swatting the hundreds of mosquitoes that swarmed into your car in the 5 seconds it took you to climb inside.  And by the time you feel like you’ve killed almost all the mosquitoes, the rest of your group will be back to let more in!  And the fishermen will not be carrying fish because it was all catch-and-release!  So much for relaxation and quality time…and fish!!!

But Alaskan men, my hometown honey included, love the “sport” of fishing – you have to call it a sport if you can’t keep the fish!  And for some strange reason – despite all my hypotheticals mentioned above – these men frequently ask their sweethearts to accompany them and their sweethearts agree!!  I haven’t quite figured this one out.  The photo above was taken the last time I went fishing with Dave and another couple this summer.  I do look cute in my pink LL Bean raincoat, but I’m wearing a sweatshirt in July!  Notice my hip waders are much more like torso waders!  To be honest, I didn’t do that much fishing that day.  We went with another couple and the other wife and I explored and relaxed on the rocky river bank – that is after all 4 of us (she and her husband plus Dave and me) huddled under a small shelter for 45 minutes while it downpoured!  No fish were caught that day, but we did see some beaver dams and manage to stay relatively dry and out of harm’s way.  I guess I can’t complain.  Maybe this Alaska fishing will grown on me after all…even if I am a wimp.

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=lithouonthetu-20&o=1&p=12&l=ur1&category=outdoorrecreation&banner=0MBAF39GNAEMHM4QXY02&f=ifr

Playing in Pioneer Park

This summer, I tagged along with 3 generations of the Mays as they strolled and played through Pioneer Park.  As you can tell, they were really hard to work with!

The kids, parents and grandparents were all great sports – and models!

There were so many fun moments…like Gabe (above) playing in the puddles and then…well, take a guess…

Mom getting her baby boy to giggle infectiously!

But the very BEST moment was Eli’s first bite of icecream!

Now that’s contentment!

Summer Don't Leave Me!

In early August I left the tundra to visit my family in Virginia – my homeland.  It was deliciously hot down there.  I spent almost every day next to the lake soaking up as much sun and sweating as much as possible.  It was heavenly!

A few weeks later, I returned to the tundra golden and glowing only to discover cold, crisp air and cloudy skies.  So much for getting to show off my tan!  Autumn is here and it’s time to dig up the winter clothes!  What can I do but remember the glorious days of summer?

Here are a few photos from beautiful Laguna Beach in June.  Just picture myself building a sandcastle…