Berry Season

Did I say that there was only two seasons in Alaska?
Well, actually there is three; Winter Season, Getting ready for Winter Season, and finally the short but beautiful Berry Season (commonly called fall by Outsiders).
For the last few weeks my life has consisted of picking and processing nearly 50 lbs of Alaskan wild berries.
We have Crowberry pie, Crowberry jelly, frozen Crowberries, and Crowberry syrup.
Blueberry Jam, Blueberry desert sauce, and frozen Blueberries.
Raspberry freezer jam.
Current Jelly.
And best of all, Current Liqueur.
As I have been picking berries in the autumn hued mountains, winter is moving in. With every clearing of the cloud cover, the snow has moved farther down the mountains. Soon we will wake up to frost. After first frost is when the low bush cranberries come into their own, and then I will go into another frenzy of berry picking. In the meantime, I hope to find time to get out and get some high bush cranberries before it's too late.

Fall colors in Arctic valley where I pick Crowberries and Blueberries.



From bush...



To bucket...



To Jar.

Whales

Three Beluga Whales

Even though I grew up here, Alaska still continues to amaze me. Tim and I had decided to drive out to Portage Glacier on a beautiful Saturday a couple weeks ago. Driving by Turnagain Arm, we noticed some movement in the water; Beluga Whales! We stopped to watch them as they moved down the arm, feeding, playing, and blowing water through their spouts. Sometimes we saw seven or eight at once-altogether I think there were 100's out there. We spent two hours following them up the arm and then back down. A week later, I went out before high tide to see them again. On this day, there was a strong wind blowing the water back out of the arm. There were only a few whales this day, working hard to swim just a little way before turning around to swim out. They were not playing, just raising out of the water slightly as they swam a straight, difficult line.



Beluga Whales in Turnagain Arm







Sunset as we headed home

Busy Weeks

A poppy in my window

With everything there is around here to do, I have not written much lately. After getting our wood ready for winter, we had a new, huge chore to get through; unpacking our stuff, which finally arrived from Colorado. Although we were quite ecstatic at no longer having to sit on lawn chairs in the house, as the movers continued to carry box after box and brown wrapped piece of furniture after brown wrapped piece of furniture we were wondering how on earth we were going to make it all fit. Finally they left us amid floor to ceiling boxes with a small, winding path in the center of them. A week or two and a couple new hanger rods later, we are finally beginning to be able to see the floor. Next up is the desk, which is still piled high.

In the meantime, my grandfather has just returned from about one week spent in the hospital after having a complete knee replacement. Now, in addition to having a black butt, he has a bionic knee. A black butt, you ask? That happened when the zipper on his sleeping bag broke in the Arctic. During his knee surgery they gave him an epidural and goofy pills instead of anesthesia. The first day in the hospital, he described to us how he could hear the saw being used to cut through parts of the bone, and how he could feel the vibrations moving through his upper body. Although he does not remember it, apparently he talked nonstop throughout the entire surgery!



Piles of boxes



Piles of wood



A hail storm in August