Wishing you a Very Happy (and Healthy) New Year!!!

A Very Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Lovely New Year !

A Shortage of Gold...

5 Gold Rings...nope just one on my finger..we could read Lord of the Rings again... but no that was the Summer's read and as now it's December we've just started J.R.R.Tolkien's "Letters from Father Christmas" a fun read that has become a tradition for us.

It's warmed up from the frigid temperatures....which should be yippee...but....we got freezing rain instead..darn it.
Schools are shut but teachers still have to go in ..so after some major ice chipping off the car  my other half set off (and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he made it unscathed..yes he just phoned Good).
Disgusting colds continue unabated so it's mugs of tea and  Jim Dale reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkhban on my ipod while I'm trundling around rather grumpily doing necessary chores. The girls are working on the Christmas project of furnishing the Dolls house and listening to Cabin Pressure.

Photo courtesy WIKI

We bought a dolls house kit in a sale last year and now we are finally getting round to working on it!
The Museum displays a dolls house each Christmas that contains several hidden White mice ..I think ours will contain hidden Ginger Cats. If it's still in one piece that is.... Colds are not making my off spring more Lovable or co-operative (Is alcohol in my Tea permissible at 10 in the morning?) Perhaps we'll all just listen to more Cabin Pressure and break out the emergency Chocolate.....

and the Second went where?

It's the Third day of Christmas ...what happened to the Second?
Atrocious colds are working their way around our household ...my poor other half has just struggled off to work ..his version has become a serial cold that just doesn't go away ..it kind of looks like it's fading and then like a huge wave comes rushing back ..darn it.

We continue to have a Cold spell ..it is stunningly beautiful with frost crystals coating the trees  and the light is Wonderful. Deep sultry blues over the Mountains at night and pale pinks on the horizon in the evenings. But it remains very cold ...at least it's warmed to around 5 or 6 f now it was well into the minus range.

I've  refilled the little feeder by the front door ..it's one of those 5inch square mesh containers that hold a square slab of fat and seeds. The Nut hatches and Chickadees are faithful visitors and a Wood Pecker occasionally pays a call. How they survive I do not know ..but they eat early and late. Thinking of small birds.. Banty the hen is resident once again in the laundry room . She lives in a cat carrier and chats when I throw the washing about. She's a Dutch Bantam like this one (Photo kindly provide by Wiki from here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dutch_Bantam_Pullet.jpg )

Banty looked just like this...now imagine a little grey old lady version.

She's tiny, just literally a small handful of feathers . (One handful not two) She was bought as a day old chick to encourage the pheasant chicks we were hatching to peck ..they need an enthusiastic example and she was great at that role. She then became the girls pet and survived Much love... and many interventions (Be gentle ! Put banty down!) Memorable achievements were made "We've taught banty to fly!" "and look at banty balancing on the beach ball!" She somehow  survived the affection (She may be small but my crikey she is tough) and when she went broody she was given half a dozen day old chicks to rear (from large breed hens as they are meant to cope with the cold better) she reared them well  and they were intended to be company for her until we realized that she was so dwarfed by her huge children ( she nipped around beneath them) that it might not be such a great idea.

So back she went to retirement in a nice airy pen with a pheasant next door for company and she lived on ...and on ..and on ..outlasting (so far) all but one of her huge off spring. Three Winters ago I though the cold was going to be too much for her so I smuggled her into the house to die in peace ... and here we are three Winters later! She is outside in the Summer and returns to her laundry apartment for the Winter . She has her pen and a budgie mirror with bell for entertainment .. I just wish she could read.

So if perchance you need a recommendation for a sweet natured, charming breed of naturally tiny hen...  Then may I recommend A Dutch Bantam (They are also Very! very! sturdy!) and gosh darn it this has turned out to be a post about a hen on the third day of Christmas ..so if I was capable of sticking to a theme it would be spot on ...I have to confess though it was an accident...such is life :0)

Well now I better return to the chores I've been avoiding ...but perhaps a cup of tea would be in order first and then ....I'll have used up all excuses.

On the first day of....

Christmas, My true love sent to me..

A Partridge (Looking for a Pear tree?)

Photo courtesy Wiki.

Good Books

Nan shared this poem and I enjoyed it so much I thought I'd share it too... Thanks Nan :0)

Good Books

Good books are friendly things to own.

If you are busy they will wait.

They will not call you on the phone

Or wake you if the hour is late.

They stand together row by row,

Upon the low shelf or the high.

But if you're lonesome this you know:

You have a friend or two nearby.

The fellowship of books is real.

They're never noisy when you're still.

They won't disturb you at your meal.

They'll comfort you when you are ill.

The lonesome hours they'll always share.

When slighted they will not complain. 

And though for them you've ceased to care

Your constant friends they'll still remain.

Good books your faults will never see

Or tell about them round the town.

If you would have their company

You merely have to take them down.

They'll help you pass the time away,

They'll counsel give if that you need.

He has true friends for night and day

Who has a few good books to read.

Edgar Guest (1881-1959)

Rustic loaf

Last night I dumped 3 teacups of flour into a big glass bowl added 1 tsp of salt, 1 rounded teaspoon of dried yeast and  about 2 teacups of warm water ..perhaps a little more  and stirred it all together until it was a rather soft almost sloppy dough.
  I put the lid on and left the mix on the kitchen table until the next morning (so it proved for about 18 to 2 hours.) This morning I set the oven to 450 f and put in the cast iron lidded pan to preheat for 1/2 an hour. Then I took the hot pan out of the oven rather carefully and added the soft ball of dough (that I'd very roughly shaped into a sloppy ball on a well floured board.)
Popped it into the oven  with the lid on and there it stayed for 30 minutes.Then the timer buzzed and I removed the lid and let it cook for 10 more minutes. Then it was lifted out onto a rack to cool and there was my first Rustic style loaf, crusty and tasty...yippee!

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Where did the Summer Go ? (Catching up - part 1)

It went so fast....and it was very full...

from our camp out into the bay..just the setting for Lord of the Rings.

Last night we finished The Lord of the Rings. The final chapter was read and the ending was  a rather poignant mixture of  happiness and sadness. We began the satisfying fat story in June after speed rereading The Hobbit. We were camped on a Glacial spit in Prince William sound in our version of a portable Yurt (Actually just a large tent with a wood stove ..and Oh how we love the wood stove)
Prince William sound is a beautiful place, wild and unforgiving but also intensely beautiful. We base camp which means rather than carry a smaller tent in our Kayaks and moving from place to place we set up our tent in a central location and Kayak out on day paddles or not as we feel like it (and as the weather allows) This year as we all except the youngest had decided to indulge in bouts of whooping cough base camp was the only way to go as we were unfit and my other half and my eldest were still in recovery stage. For a time I thought our trip would have to be canceled but we gathered our kit together and the great crew at Epic Charters carried us all (including dog) to our out of the way piece of heaven.

Bringing in a party of Kayakers.

The lagoon the odd red arrow points to our camp site (sort of)

Our base camp almost on the same spot as last year.

Setting up camp was hard and made us realize how well everyone wasn’t. But once camp was set we could relax and recover. The weather was so kind to us the first 2/3rds of the trip was sunny ..so sunny we really needed the sunscreen and we got great tans! Gradually as the peace and beauty of the place took hold we began to unwind and slowly the poorly ones recovered. We read, drank lots of tea, waded across the river to walk by the lagoon each day (Much easier when we mastered the art of calculating the tides and the right spot to cross …at the right time you could have a couple of hours walking before the danger of the icy water overtopping our welly boots was serious . I did try wading across one day before we got our timing right…it ceased to be amusing at half way and I could’ve (and very nearly did) cry because the water was so painfully cold. There is something about fresh snow melt pouring down to the sea that has a rather brisk nip to it! It increased my desire never to try exiting the kayak into the sea there. 

The River charges down the rocks in a noisy splashy waterfall.

Cold, Noisy and Beautiful!

Over the river you walk across the tidal flats to the lagoon.

The lagoon is very beautiful we lay snug in  our sleeping bags and listened to the Glacier grumble and rumble in the night then we would cross the river and look at the Icebergs, growlers, brash ice and bergy bits that were beached on the shore. As they broke up and were re-floated by the tide they would be carried out down the channel to the sea with the out going tide. 
We did cautiously enter the lagoon several times by Kayak ..the channel is navigable for a hour or so around high tide when the tide is slack. So providing you time it correctly it's quite possible and we always took warm gear and something to munch so if we muffed our calculations we could just wait patiently for the next tide change. It was important to stay well away from the floating bergs..not least because they were unstable and some where the size of double decker buses but also because Seals and Otters breed in the lagoon and in order not to disturb them we kept to binocular distance ..the exception being a raft of otters that approached my husband and daughter while they were sitting quietly admiring the view..they swam up checked them out and then carried on their way.

Long lens shot of curious otter in the lagoon.

Nature spotting from the water.

As we regained our fitness we  also made some lovely longer  day paddles but as I haven't done the washing up yet..that must wait for another day :0)

and they didn't forget me ..I had lots of long walks ..but I had to stay leashed for the sake of the wildlife.

A short break.... Cough Cough

Actually it was a long break ....we got whooping cough...We thought it was a flu virus that wouldn't go away ..and I was really puzzled why youngest daughter didn't join in ...she's usually the first to catch yukky viruses and they aren't nice to her..but this time she remained untouched ..most strange..until we finally realized what we had...yes we were vaccinated.... but they wear out ...who knew? we didn't ....bit of a oops that .
Well we are now on the mend , although the addition of a cold has elder daughter coughing again.
It's a horrid bug, I really don't recommend it ...If you get the chance I'd suggest keeping your vaccinations well up to date!  (Eldest daughter wasn't due for her booster until next year but the protection had worn off before then...you live and learn..and cough quite a bit)

Ah well on a different and Much Brighter note

I Nearly suffered heat stroke ..the junior charmers insisted on the correct amount of candles for me and also decorated the cake with the Christmas cake reindeer...who now has no antlers as the resultant firestorm melted them off...... lovely cake mind...they made and decorated it "All by themselves" totally actually ...very yummy Lucky me :0)

Project..... A Log Cabin scrap Blanket

I was laughing at a silly knitting song linked from a face book page and came across this video tutorial . I'll try and post/link to the video below.
It looked very inviting and the kind lady  (Staci) linked to her page here which describes and shows her "Log Cabin Scrap blanket" .
She also provides a free pattern as a free Ravelry download (link on her page) .
Although if you can't access Ravelry (it's free to join and fun but you may not wish to) I believe she provides enough info on her video tutorial to work it out .

I don't knit very often so I'm not very skilled and my skills aren't very secure...but I would like a project to pick up and work on that is easy and useful and that will give me some practice... also one the girls may join in with if they so choose.
 Another factor for us is we have quite a few , Ok a small stash! of small and larger balls of Acrylic yarn that was inexpensive but it is less suitable for warm mittens etc.
It was cheap and cheerful but now needs using up... it takes space and the old Ginger cat likes to run off with any he can find and walk round with it in his mouth yowling like a Lion announcing his  prey.(this has to occur when the house is asleep and now the dog tries to grab it too)..so rather than a plain square blanket we can use up odds and ends making log cabin  squares ...it doesn't hurt that I find the pattern attractive :0)

So this is my project... I'm going to have a go at a Log cabin Stash blanket ...wish me/us luck!
and anyone who wants to join in and knit along feel free :0)
And Huge thanks!!!!! to Staci at verypink.com

Wishing you a Happy Easter

We have baked our Hot Cross buns and eaten some for breakfast ...to the accompaniment of the tune Hot Cross Buns on the recorder.
Today is an ordinary school day but tomorrow we'll be making Chocolate Easter nests ..inspiration from Rattling on
Then on Sunday we wait for a visit from the "Easter Bunny" ...

courtesy http://amyvermillion.com/blog/2011/04/happy-easter/

or should it be "The Snow shoe hare"

courtesy wiki

Either way have a lovely and peaceful Easter from us all to you and those you care about.

c1911 from http://www.postcardroundup.com/easter/page/3/

Glimpses of "Arctic Flight" at the Museum

On view Feb. 9 through Aug. 11 at The Anchorage Museum

    "This exhibition demonstrates how, in just 100 years, airplanes have evolved from frivolous spectacle to crucial part of the Alaska way of life."

 

The exhibition's centerpiece, a 1920s Stearman C2B biplane.

It is a beautiful machine!

Bush pilots had to carry emergency kits..snowshoes,rifle,food and a means to keep warm.

More about the Norge airship which flew over the pole in 1926 here and here

Plane Fuel

Skis for small planes

these fastened over the tyres

"Aviators Capt. James V. Martin and Mrs. Capt. [Lilly Martin] with their aeroplane - The first in Alaska - under the midnight sun, Fairbanks, Alaska, 1913" photo from here

Lily Martin (nee Irvine)  "Englands first Woman Aviator" for more information on this intrepid lady click here and here

A Model T ford from 1914

A Mail Sled

and you could even get to play!

It is a small but fascinating exhibition!

"Today Alaskans fly 30 times more per capita than other U.S. citizens. In rural Alaska, people still greet airplanes, anxiously awaiting mail, fresh food and a glimpse of the pilot. Air traffic is at the center of the state's economy and lifestyle, whether it's a commercial airline delivering cargo, the U.S. Air Force moving a family to Anchorage, or a flight seeing service offering tours of Mount McKinley."

A Truely Good Man

When he was asked in a televised interview who owned the patent to the vaccine, Salk replied: "There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?"

 

Photo/poster credit from facebook source unknown

 Magazine photo by Yousuf Karsh, 1956

Sking on a frozen Lake

 This is where we started.
Normally it's Kayaks we carry down here..not skis.

 

It was a bright, sunny but rather cold day.

The tracks are set from this end of the Lake all the way to the end!

but we didn't make it that far (it's about 8 miles one way)

 

We skied out then my OH skied back to put the parking sticker in the truck window!

 We skied on then the wind blew and we came back I decided to stay return to the shore and take photographs and the girls set off out again with Dad.

 The lake occasionally boomed, creaked and groaned..which I found rather disconcerting never having been on a frozen lake before...

 

 That's them in the distance!

honest those dots....

 

 Can you see how deep the ice is? At least two feet..probably a lot more was the conclusion.

 

 

 

 Back and skis off ready for home!
Another Skier is returning too.

 

It was a good day out!