Happy Holidays from Alaska!

 

JOY. Another year of learning, growing and appreciating what has become our home. 

Indigo finds and cuts the perfect tree.

Gotta light up the darkness in the heart of an Alaskan winter.

PLAY. Another year of exploring, adventuring and playing hard.

Dropping in as the sun drops too!

All I want for Christmas...

LOVE. And another year of living and loving each other up!!

Riverside smooching!

 Performance night at Indigo's and J's art and science school.

Cheers to more adventures in the year to come!

A Beautiful Sight...

OH WE'RE HAPPY TONIGHT.... WALKING IN A WINTER WONDERLAND. Since before Halloween the flakes have been fluttering and Alaska has transitioned from its muddy grey brown late autumnal drear, to its sparking white winter glory. 

Gotta fit those down jackets under your costume! (The colorful one is Miss Indigo)

Someone is pleased as punch!

The first snow person of the season!

We're into the darkest 3 months of the year up here - so let there be light!

And let there be gear! (Gran not only hopped off her extremely long flight to AK and immediately hit a ski swap with us, but managed to gift us a sweet bench too! Thanks, Mom!!)

SKI PORN. Just the name always makes me giggle, but I think at this point you know what I'm talking about...  a movie featuring big mountains, bold skiers and boarders, and happening sound tracks designed to get us all inspired, amped, pumped, psyched, stoked and what-have-you for the snow riding season to come. 

Well this year we noticed a theme: Girls. From the film festivals winners to the official features shown at friends houses to the home-made goodness crafted by folks like ourselves, pretty faces ruled the silver screen! (Pretty Faces is a reference to Lyndey Dyer's all female ski production featuring kick-butt athletes from all over - check out the trailer.) Considering that 2/3 of Team Leslie are ladies, it was fun to have that twist. And more than fun was seeing Indigo hit the slopes for the first time this year having watched so many people who "looked like her" doing what they love in style; she was determined!

To give Big Mountain Mama Indigo full credit: It's her first day out, we're off piste in the backcountry, she's wearing skinny x-country touring skis, the conditions are crusty Styrofoam crap, and it's 4 degrees out. AND she got up smiling! Go girls!!

AURORA. Each year that we've been up here we've managed to catch glimpses of the spectacle known as the northern lights... Sometimes a green glow, sometimes a curtain, sometimes a ray, and always beautiful. But this fall has been remarkable - we fall asleep to the aurora; find it again when we go out to start the frosty car or head to school; and a few times we've been stopped in our tracks, unable to drive home, instead veering to the nearest field away from light pollution to just gape in wonder. Swirls, circles, bursts, pinks and reds... the sort of thing that everyone is talking about the next day in the checkout line at the grocery store with a unique common Aurora vernacular:

 "Yup! Just about 9:30PM, out grabbing my water bottle from the car so it wouldn't freeze... did ya see that 'hook' sort of shape to the East?"

"Wife and I were out on account of our dogs howling - we saw it. Danced a little and almost closed up at one point, that 'hook."

In fact, the gaping in wonder has been so spontaneous and focused, that we have not gone home to grab cameras and document. Luckily for me, others have!

So apparently everyone and anyone can check in with the Alaska Aurora Cam to get the current (real time) or the latest (last night) aurora activity - even you! And J likes to check in with the folks at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks Geophysical Institute for their super science-savvy forecasts, like this one for tonight:

Without nerding out, you can see that some folks in Canada might be getting a show right now, but in AK, not so much. However we've had a few evenings that show us completely covered in red which = go outside now!!!

So there you have it. As in past years, November finds AK both cold and dark, but also sporty and festive. Our house has lights up around the door - white or colored depending on who gets to them first (I'm the classic white gal; J likes color; Indigo likes the seizure-inducing flash back and forth). And we are happily awaiting more of the white stuff, the bright stuff, and the holiday season - Cheers!

Harvest and Honey

Half light and half dark, with a SUN flower from our garden to honor our beloved star.

HARVEST. Belated happy Autumnal Equinox to everyone! Indeed, the day has come and gone that light and dark held equal ground; darkness has won and now we wake up and go to bed with black skies (and even a few snow flurries!!).

 We honored this transition with our annual Potato Parade tradition complete with costumes, bikes and light sticks. I've got to say, there's something very liberating about cruising around your neighborhood in costume when it's not Halloween. We definitely got some odd looks, many smiles, and, I'd like to believe, a few people thinking, "Damn, there goes a fun crew..." (I choose to ignore the people thinking, "Damn, I better think about moving..."). And of course upon our return home, the long awaited harvest of our root veggies from our teeny tiny abandoned-over-the-summer garden. I honestly thought there would be a few minuscule rotting potatoes in the wet soil, and maybe a stubby twisted carrot or two. But the Equinox fairies were on our side! Indigo's face shares a taste of the triumph we felt upon first digging our fingers into the soil and finding more than a few robust organic red potatoes. I admit I gave a few spontaneous hoots and hollers myself. Who knew spuds could inspire such joy?

There are potatoes under here!

Yup... Okay... So maybe our neighbors are founded in wanting to move...

Harvest joy

HONEY. I have got to begin by sharing this amazing fact: Archaeologists found sealed containers of honey in the ancient tombs of Egypt and it was still perfectly edible. Honey pretty much has an infinite "shelf life," although to use such a mundane term seems almost sacrilegious when talking about this golden treasure.  Want to read more? Check out this Smithsonian article. 

So some friends keep honey bees and invited us over to see the whole honey-ing (there's probably a much better word for this) process. It sort of felt like a childhood field trip, except that with my curious and slightly informed adult mind, I had so many questions! 

Do the bees eat the honey, or? I mean, they must, right? Why else would they make and store it? And if they do eat it, how do they fare when we rob them of it? 

It's made from nectar extracted from flowers, right? And then the bees sort of puke it up... or? And they're also building honey combs... puking wax up too? Or does it secrete from another body part? Do they pee it out?

And that super nifty hexagonal architectural perfection... how do they build that? Are these man-made wooden frames key, or would they be building the exact same combs naturally in a tree or something? Is it always hexagons or sometimes other shapes?

And do they maybe even put some of their babies in there? But probably not with the honey, right? Or, maybe? Isn't there some sort of "royal jelly" that comes into play with the Queen? So maybe the Queen gets to develop in the honey comb floating on magical honey but everybody else doesn't, or?

And there are sexy bees, drones, maybe? And worker bees, that are all girls? And the Queen makes all of them? Does she get it on right there in her hive? That'd be sort of incestual, right? Not too much genetic diversity... so does she go on royal vacations to get it on with exotic bee dudes? 

Like I said, I  had a lot of questions. Luckily, everyone was happy to walk me through the life cycle of bees. And the process of extracting honey from honey combs... the eating of which was nothing short of heavenly. Egyptian Royalty be damned, don't save the honey - eat it NOW. With butter. On Killer Dave's Bread. 

Comb honey - no bothering to drain the honey out of the comb cells - you just eat it by the hunk, chewing the wax like gum, or slice it thinly on toasted bread with butter.

The sharp hot knife used to slice off the waxy caps on the comb so the honey can be extracted.

The very smart yet simple machine - a heated metal bucket with a spinner like a centrifuge on the inside - put in the de-capped combs, and work the crank: the honey is spun out of the combs, drips down the sides of the barrel and comes out the spout at the bottom.

Raw honey carefully drained out into jars - voila!

And what might be on par with honey on toast? Fireweed jelly! Like the bees, Team Leslie harvested some of these wonderful flowers back in the summer to make our own sweet stuff.

Autumn is a tasty time!!

Only in Alaska: 48 Hours

BELUGAS. So our 48 hours begins in the middle of last Friday afternoon with a text from J:

"Baloogas at the bottom of the stairs right now!!!"

Despite the spelling and cryptic nature, I knew what was up and flew out of my office; at long last, the elusive, ivory, grin-mouthed whales were making an appearance off the coast of our beach! Sure enough, I jogged down the stairs to the wide stretch of sand below to find white backs rising up and sinking down into the water; a whole pod of them with dark headed harbor seals mingling in between were cruising up the coast, presumably munching on silver salmon. J had the fat bike and handed it over so I could ride and catch up to them...we weren't the only ones appreciating this rare visit!

And to have a sense of why these whales are interested in being here right now, check out these shots of our buddy Chris wrangling a silver - between his and J's handiwork combined, they scored four in one afternoon... tasty!

STAND UP PADDLE.  Saturday we ventured out to a favorite haunt, Engineer Lake Cabin, with the plan of picking some more berries (seems like all we do, right?) and enjoying a fall weekend in the wilderness. J decided to challenge his balance prowess and use our SUP to transport some of our gear across the lake while Indigo, Chris and I hiked around on the trail. It turned out to be an absolutely serene evening and the addition of the paddleboard made for some excellent rainbow, loon and river otter viewing.

And the cabin came with it's own row boat... but it was BYOCostumes!

AURORA. Then late that night, after a delicious mini-Thanksgiving meal with very fresh cranberry sauce by candle light, we were gifted with a glorious spectacle... not only green, but some pinks, too. Keep in mind that none of this sky light is residual sunset or anything; it's all aurora borealis!

SIT DOWN PADDLE. And to top it off, we hit the Kenai River on Sunday for a packraft trip down "The Canyons." Yellow leaves, turquoise blue water, and bright red fish that we would hit with our paddles and scoop backwards as we moved over waves trains.

From ocean to river; whales to salmon; rainbows to auroras... a fantastic 48 hours in AK!

Berry Merry

BACK "INSIDE." Before jumping into fall happenings in Alaska, let me take a brief moment to honor the truly spectacular summer adventures had on the "outside." We managed to hit all four corners of the lower 48, be loved up by friends and family galore, and party our white Alaskan buns off... Thanks to everyone who contributed to the hoopla - we love you LOTS! 

Oregon...

Florida...

And New England!

BERRIES. There's nothing like getting settled and grounded back at home than, literally, getting on your hands and knees on the ground and harvesting a bit of nature's bounty. Sure enough, in the days following our return to AK, word got out about a bumper crop of berries, so Team Leslie left mounds of laundry and unwritten thank you notes aside, and headed for the hills.

Our first attempt took us up a trail in the mountains edging the Kenai River. We passed fellow hikers happily coming down with gallon ziplocks, stuffed with high bush blueberries! Encouraged, we climbed and climbed, only to find that time and elevation were not on our side; the goods were another 3+ miles ahead. Indigo and her friend Ruby (yup, we roll with a colorful crowd) did manage to find a single bush, which they rushed with elbows swinging, to get a few satisfying ker-plunks into their buckets. Amazing how once you shift your expectations, even twelve berries can make you grin!

Our next try was the result of a failed kayaking weekend with Kim and some lady friends - Plan B turned out to be a gorgeous hike outside of Seward. Low and behold, high bush blubes were dripping from the sides of the trail!

And finally the whole fam headed out on an official mission, backpacks, sleeping bags, tent and all, to get some goods figuring that if we put our energy into hiking just one way, we could get high enough to pick and have all the time in the world...

For low bush crans,

For low bush blues,

For Alaskan autumn views,

For fun with family,

And berry picking buddies!

In classic "Blueberries for Sal" form, we even spied a big black bear across the valley, doing some picking of his own. 

Happy fall, everyone!

Eddy Out for Moose

PACKRAFTING. So this is J's newest passion. He's been taking courses, hitting rivers, and stinking up our garage with his wet dry suit all summer. In case you don't know, this is the sport where you take a 6 pound (only 6 pounds!!!) selfie raft, squash it down in your backpack, and hike to where ever you please to then float your way out on a bouncie bouncie fun fun fun waterway. Brilliant, right? We used to ask, why do you people hike down mountains when they could ski? Now we ask, why do they hike out of mountain ranges when they could paddle?

And for his birthday excursion J opted to, you guessed it, go pack rafting. And he almost hit a moose. But he braked. "Brake for Moose." You get this, right? The motto and bumper sticker known far and wide in New England advocating for moose not getting tagged and for humans not getting slammed when a high-center-of-gravity mammal hits a well matched glass sheet in front of their face. Well J and his buddy were paddling along Glacier Creek in Girdwood when they spotted a moose on a bank. They assumed it would stop at the river but no, it lumbered in. Then they assumed it would stay put and drink and turn back, but it began crossing, with a trajectory perfectly aligned to their boats. So they had to crank around, paddle hard, ferry up river, and eddy out to avoid getting a hoof through their bow. I sense a successful t-shirt slogan in our future... Happy Birthday, J!

Hiking wherever he pleases!

Bouncie bouncie fun fun fun!

DIPNETTING. Totally unrelated to moose but at least regarding AK wildlife: it's dipnet season. And unlike in years past, Team Leslie is savvy. We charge down to the beach about an hour and a half past low tide, waders on, dipnet in hand, and stand alongside our fellow residents hoping for that telltale bump and shake to the net, so we can flip it and drag it ashore. There (vegans and vegetarians, stop reading), Indigo takes her  bat, yes we have a bat, and konks the salmon on the head, pulls out her scissors and clips its tail fins (legally, you have to mark your catch as a dipped fish), and hands it back. We then rip a finger through a loop of gills, wash it in the ocean and let it bleed out a bit, and then throw it in the cooler. When they're really jumping, we can catch five in an hour... you're running in and out of the water like some sort of kid at a shorthanded swim meet. When it slows down, you drag your gear and fish up the hill, hop in the car, and head home to fillet, vacuum seal, and make tasty chowder with fresh fish. Ahhhh...

One just about down, four to go...

Indigo helps scale...

"... got three salmon."

And with that, we're off to "The Outside." We often say the Lower 48, but apparently if you're actually going there, you call it The Outside. Implying that we, as Alaskans, are on The Inside. Hmmm... That's definitely enough fodder for another blog post in itself!

Until then...