photography

Last minute projects

/ one2travelfar / Leave a comment

I hesitate to say I’m a procrastinator but it’s true. Deadlines focus me. We head off to Alaska next week and I still have some quilting and weaving projects to complete. My house is never cleaner than before a party or trip.

I finished knitting the cute little sea glass skirt. I may make another for me.

20130706-114624.jpg
Next I have to plan my island projects. I may keep it simple and take only wool for a shawl and pair of socks but I’m also thinking of lots of twined mittens and perhaps a sock yarn blanket.

On the home front, I’ve been yearning for an outdoor shower. I had considered threading a hose into a watering can but settled upon this cheaper alternative, all available from my local hardware store. We have hot water at our outdoor faucet and I’ve already tried it. A resounding success.

20130706-115500.jpg
After a great trip downstate to hug my kids before I leave, I returned to more super cumulous storm clouds.

20130706-115752.jpg

20130706-115823.jpg

Kitchen produce

/ one2travelfar / Leave a comment

This photo shows why I must exercise.

20130612-162151.jpg
On the left, is my latest loaf of sourdough bread. The recipe is loosely based on a PBS episode with Julia Child and the owner of La Brea Bakery, Nancy Silverton. .

From the episode, I learned three important facts about bread baking. I made my own sourdough starter with red grapes, flour and water, which sits on my counter and ferments away; keep one hand clean while kneading dough; and taste the raw dough and adjust.

I’ve made several delicious loaves and hope to keep the starter happy. This was my best one yet.

20130612-163041.jpg

Next to the bread is a fruit pie, not really one of my vices but dear Tim loves them and I go along for the ride. Any fruit will do. I only like pie the day it is baked. After that, I’m only interested in the filling.

Next up is white bread, albeit a bit overdone. I make two loaves a week (whether we need them or not). This is definitely not a gluten-free household.

Finally, pasta. I received an Atlas pasta maker for Christmas and love it. I roll out a batch of fresh pasta a week. Semolina flour, salt and water. Run it through the machine several times to get the right thickness, then put it through the cutting blades. Because it cooks so quickly, the whole process doesn’t take longer than boiling boxed pasta. And clean up is a snap.

20130612-164048.jpg

Other kitchen additions include an old fashioned, metal bread box with holes and a magnetic knife rack. Aah, domestic bliss.

20130612-164757.jpg

20130612-165004.jpg

I’m waiting for my new hula hoop and jump rope to arrive so I’ll be able to exercise on that tiny rock of an island in Alaska.

http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=islandnorcoul-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B0009U5OSO&ref=qf_sp_asin_til&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&m=amazon&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr

Preparations begin

/ one2travelfar / Leave a comment

Our departure is a month away and our thoughts point west to Alaska. I was googling Five Finger Lighthouse and came across this link about our temporary home.

Just when I have embarked on a regular running regimen, we head out to a three acre island. Three acres! 130,680 square feet or 361.5 x 361.5 feet! Oh my. That’s a lot of laps – 3.6 laps to run one mile. Luckily the island’s size doubles at low tide. I’ll have to watch out for slippery rocks.

We’ve asked the three most important questions: Is there internet service; is there cell phone service; and is there hot water? Happily, the answers are yes, yes and yes. There aren’t mosquitos or gnats but spiders were mentioned twice. Can’t be as bad as Australia’s huntsmen spiders. I hope.

We will miss prime boating season on Lake Champlain so yesterday we boarded our sailboat, Boreas, and headed up the Otter Creek in grey, misty weather to Vergennes, VT. We only hit one log in the water but this one is waiting to make the dive over the falls!

20130609-100720.jpg

We could hear the falls before we saw them and I’m glad we approached from the downside.

20130609-100827.jpg
Very dramatic.

http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js

Enough weather

/ one2travelfar / Leave a comment

This is my last weather post for a while.  It should settle into normal spring weather at this point, right? No more snow.  IMG_9044Good old thunderstorms instead.

IMG_9045

We had a slew of visitors, 4 sets, last week!  The first set arrived the day we learned our well had bacteria in it.  Ouch.  I began boiling water and advising guests.  Then the rains came and the rivers rose.

IMG_9034

It was very dramatic at the local gorge.

I found a quiet moment or two to get back to spinning.  The funny thing is, I don’t think I took this photo but there it was, on my camera.  Very nice.  Andre?

IMG_9040

I am spinning a local alpaca fleece from the lock.  I washed it last year or so and now  I just grab a lock, flick it on a brush and spin away.  I have been plying it with some Blue Faced Leicester and may dye it with my lichen stash.  What will it be, what will it be?

The Indigo Bunting woke me yesterday and I managed to get a better photo of it later in the day.  Dawn is about 4:30 here and the birds sing their little hearts out.  Better than an alarm clock but  I wish I could set it a little later.

IMG_9064

Sailing with snowy mountains in the background

/ one2travelfar / Leave a comment

Yesterday, Memorial Day, a dry high pressure finally moved in and we went sailing. The temperature was in the mid 60’s, like a nice fall day where I come from. We donned sweaters and I considered, but did not wear, long johns.

It was lovely; early on Lake Champlain, which rose a foot after the week of rain. Little to no boat traffic and we ate lunch in a quiet, picturesque harbor.

In the distance, there was snow on the mountains in New York and Vermont.

20130528-094013.jpg

20130528-170238.jpg

More spring visitors

/ one2travelfar / 3 Comments

Avian and mammal.  Spring brings feathered friends and family.  All welcome.

Bluebirds found the new house by the cabin and are making a nest. IMG_9017

My sister-in-law and I walked through the grasslands and she spotted a Chestnut sided warbler by the road.  You can just make it out hidden to the left in the brambles.  It’s not the large tan leaf in the upper rightChestnut sided warbler.  IMG_9020She also spotted an Indigo bunting just outside our screened in porch.IMG_9004

The lilacs are in bloom all around us. Their scent is the harbinger of spring.  With nice weather, cool (40f) nights, visitors return to the Adirondacks in heaps.  I love hosting guests during this time of year although there was snow in the forecast for tonight (Memorial Day Weekend)!

So I clean my house before guests arrive.  Tim likes to wait until they leave.  Any thoughts?
//
http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js

Fiber Play

/ one2travelfar / Leave a comment

Yesterday was a perfect day to spin outside and whatever I left behind was a gift to the birds for their nests.

Grey bulky

I have plans to make a pair of leggings for a friend in South America, where it is almost winter.  She wanted grey.  Amazingly, I don’t have any grey yarn but I had grey roving and I spun it up into a worsted/bulky two ply.  Not my best effort but I have let my spinning wheel languish for far too long.  In order to wind a skein of my new yarn, I had to take a skein of Blue Faced Leicester/Alpaca blend off the bobbins.  It is luscious and I have tons of it.

BFL - Alpaca

I think I bought a pound of BFL roving and I distinctly remember buying the alpaca fleece.  There are several breeders in the area and when I saw an ad for alpaca fleeces I headed out to the address.  To my surprise, it was a chiropractor’s office.  I walked in and approached the receptionist.  As if I was engaged in an elicit trade, I quietly asked if I was in the right place for an alpaca fleece.  Sure enough, she pulled 3 bags full from behind the counter and I paid with my credit card.  I cleaned it and carded it and have been gradually spinning it.  I plied it with the BFL and think I’ll either knit a soft, cushy warm garment from it or use it as weft for a blanket.  After I dye it.  Perhaps with the lichen I have been collecting.

IMG_8948

My braided rug is coming along.  I tore strips from several old sheets and it will make a great rug for one of the bathrooms.  I began with an old table cloth in the middle and it wasn’t the right weight or material.  But it will remain as a reminder.

This little dress is on the needles and the baby has been born. IMG_8952 It’s the Clara dress and is an easy, knit, great for meetings and travel.

Spring is in the air

/ one2travelfar / 1 Comment

The weather has warmed up – a bit too much – and spring is in the air.  Yesterday, the high temperature  was 85 degrees f and the low was 35 f – a whopping 50 degree spread.  What to wear?  Actually, we don’t even notice the cool nights, except we sleep well, or I do anyway.  We’re outside doing all sorts of projects – Tim is working on his cabin; I’ve been trying to figure out what are weeds and what are not; and the boat is ready to launch.

Trees are blooming and  love is in the air (and in the hills).  I see a heart in the trees.

Love is in the air

 

Our first Humming bird returned, Bluebirds are checking out the boxes (including  the Purple Martin house, which is supposed to be used by Purple Martins) and Eastern Phoebes keep trying to build a nest inside our porch.  It’s complicated when the birds refuse to keep to their own neighborhoods.  Goldfinch are wearing their bright yellow feathers and are so colorful.

Goldfinch feeder

 

It’s so nice outside, I haven’t been doing any quilting or weaving.  I still do laundry though and love to dry clothes outdoors on a windy day.  I may find clothing scattered around the lawn, but they smell nice.

Laundry            One of my favorite pictures is my porch swing in the snow.  Here it is in the spring.

swing and laundry

Time to go enjoy another day.

//
http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js