An Alaskan Freezer

In the above photo you see my freezer. I wish I would have done a better job with the photo. All you can see is the berries, bananas and ice cream (Tillamook Chocolate Peanut Butter rules around here). On the top shelf you find King salmon all sealed and vacuum packed and the door is loaded down with vension.)

This summer something happened that hasn't happened in my 3+ years here in Sitka, I now have a true Alaskan freezer! This means the contents of my freezer is overflowing with foods locally caught, shot or picked. Currently I have 3 king salmon, (each about 15ish pounds of meat) caught by yours truly (okay my husband caught two of them) venison (not as much of this because we don't have a riffle yet) so we rely on others good will and finally lots of lots of berries.

Late summer early fall every year berries come. A few years ago there were tons of salmonberries, last year there were lots of huckleberries, this year the berry of choice has been blueberries. We had blueberries everywhere!!! Sitka had more blueberries than we knew what to do with, many of the berries were never picked many of this seasons berries ended up unpicked and rotted on the vine.

After picking pounds upon pounds of berries came the question what was I going to do with them all??

I made my share of muffins and crisps, but I discovered my love: blueberry banana smoothies!!!

Here my 2 most delicious of recipes (they don't have to be handpicked berries) but if they are look out for the worms... blueberries are notorious!

Recipe #1 (my first discovery)
1/4 c. of blueberries
1 frozen banana (this must be frozen it brings out the sweetness!)
soy milk or almond milk - regular milk is just okay
a few sprinkles of ground ginger

Recipe #2 (I think this is a really good one for cold season, plus just stinking delicious)
1/4 c. of blueberries
1 frozen banana
orange juice
vanilla yogurt

Recipes for salmon and venison upon request, though I still don't feel like an expert in this field.

a blog about a wedding

This summer, as most of you know, I was married. I guess I always knew that I would get married, but never did I EVER imagine getting married in Alaska. But nor did I ever envision myself living here!? However, now I find that both have taken place.

At first the location of the wedding seemed impossible to decide. If married here I would compromise who could come, loved ones near and dear to me would not be able to attend. But South Carolina still didn't make sense. I hadn't lived there in 10 years, Aaron knew no one, minus my parents, grandparents and brother, and the remainder of my friends and family were spread out all over the country. But did Sitka make sense? It was so far away for both of our families, not to mention expensive. Plus Sitka doesn't even have a venue for the occasion?

However, in everyway Sitka was the perfect marriage spot for us. It was perfect in everyway but one which is impossible: that EVERYONE we know and love couldn't be there with us. Though that imperfection makes me excited about Heaven, where we will all be together!

Thanks to all those who helped make it happen! Thanks to those who sent cards and came to parties. Thanks to those who gave gifts and bought plane tickets. Thanks to those who thought about us on our special day. It was special and the memories live on... Now onto the adventures of marriage!

Photos to come...

Bear Lake

October is not typically the perfect month for hiking. Just this Tuesday we were getting 100 mile and hour wind gusts and roofs were being blown off houses, yes, I saw this! At work I was radioed to come and look at the kayaks that had been blown off the rack and had big dents knocked in them. However fortunately this week I found some wonderful windows of hiking opportunities. These are the photos from yesterday's hike, Bear Lake which I had not climbed since April 28th, 2009! My previous hike on this mountain snow covered the alpine and ice covered the lake. This time, fall colors were out in all their Alaskan glory!

Birthday hike

the snow is back

While on a hike with Em on a beautiful fall day in September (we had 2 weeks of glorious sunshine and 70 degree temperatures... not normal) we decided we should have our friends all try to guess the first day snow would hit Verstovia peak. Verstovia Mnt. is in a sense the momma mountain here in Sitka. It is the backdrop of the town and frequents all photos.

When I returned from the hike I immediately put out an email to our friends. The responses then began to trickle in. Yesterday I woke up and on my run it was confirmed, the snow had arrived. Snow had hit the Sisters, covered Bear and Clarance Kramer and yes it had also dusted the top of Verstovia.

Oct. 3rd was the winning date, the snow is now back! The mountains will probably not be clear from snow again until sometime in June or July. Winter has arrived on the mountain top.

Welcome Home

Well it has been a summer and now it is becoming a fall.

This all became official last week when Aaron and I returned from our HONEYMOON in Victoria, BC and jumped right into work. Currently I am employed at Mount Edgecumbe High school, a boarding school for students all over the state. 90% + of those students are Alaska native and they come from small villages all over the state. My job at the school is to be a recreation coordinator. This consists of planning activities for these students to participate in and then leading them in the activity. It actually doesn't seem like work at all. I hang out with some of the kindest high schoolers in the country and take them out into the wilderness.

This summer was a whirlwind. I was in a huge push to finish my grad program! Which I did!!! And if that wasn't enough I planned a wedding. I also moved, twice, and hosted 36 friends and family here in Sitka for a week. All of these things were wonderful, well minus the grad school, but now I am glad things are settling down. Today I spent the morning picking huckleberries and catching up on errands. It is good to be home.

water, whales and dreams

Before moving to Sitka I was a mountain girl all the way. I loved snowboarding, hiking, trails, the way the blue glow shined as the sun came up and went down across the the Blue Ridge Mountains. I loved having something painted the foreground while I biked along the blue ridge parkway, I loved the leaves changing in the fall and I loved the music that came from the mountains.

Since moving to Sitka I have realized that I am just as much a water girl. I love swimming and paddling and I love hearing the whales sing their songs. This past winter I made the best purchase since my arrival in Sitka, a kayak. I bought a 20 foot expedition boat. Since the purchase of Whale Song (it's name) it has taken me to remote forest service cabins and on quick day trips to remote sunny beaches where I sit and watch the seals and otters come alive. This week it will take it first multi night adventure to our resident volcano on an adjacent island.

On my kayak's maiden voyage I took my new kayak out with dozens of humpbacks spraying swimming alongside my boat. Now in this summer season I feel a since of loss without the whales here. Spring and fall and even winter the humpbacks are very active and I watch them feed along the coast and hear them sing from atop mountains but in the summer the whale activity is low.

Since their departure I have kept the whales with me in my dreams. I dream about kill whales and humpbacks. I dream about giant Orca pods arriving in town and men and Orcas falling in love. The water has become a part of my blood just as much as the mountains have stolen my heart.