Winning

Oh my!  Discovered a new trail today that knocked my socks off, and with 35+ more miles of trail system, the possibilities are immense.  So many great camping/backpacking areas!  I'm in awe.  We do have some pretty fantastic high alpine hiking trails in my hometown, but none so extensive as the networks here.

The top was windy enough to make my companion and I laugh at ourselves being buffeted around by the force.  I had to turn an ear away just to hear what was being said.  At just a guess, perhaps gusts to 30-40 kts...?  Anyway, that constant barrage left rock formations in the crumbling granite.

             

Finally, we tucked into the lee side of one of these rocks, had lunch and high fived to our wildly successful day off.  Putting this one in the record books as a"win"!

These Days

These days are a blur of summer.  Work, sleep, work, sleep, work, sleep, play.  Camp life can grind and we live in close quarters, but each day we hike, we reset.

I am often reminding myself to be deliberate, in my footsteps, thoughts, words and actions.

Rinse, repeat.

One Second

Lately I've been working on a project.  This is a daily project that I, amazingly, have remembered to do every day.  Wild.  The inspiration came from a TED Talk I watched a while ago.  In it, a man takes a video that lasts one second, every day.  He never takes a video of himself, which is noteworthy in the Time of the Selfie; in fact, each video is meant to be from his point of view.  It concerns the most noteworthy, poignant, funny, whatever, part of his day.

While the creator is discussing his idea, his own year of one second videos is playing behind him.  That's 365 seconds of video, one year.  Something about that tidy package encapsulating a full year strikes me.  His video covers happiness and hospitals, heartbreak, joy and mundanity.

All this to say I've been shooting my own one second videos.  Actually, they last however long I please, depending on how much I love the shot.  I haven't been editing any of the clips before I put them in the reel. This feeds into my goal that they actually resemble my life, rather than a gorgeous filter or well placed edit.  The clips are 1-3(ish) seconds, and thus far, I love them.

So, eventually a 6 month update of one second videos will be posted here, but until then, check out Cesar Kuriyama's TED Talk:

https://www.ted.com/talks/cesar_kuriyama_one_second_every_day

Craft Swapping and General Life

First off: I am participating in Amanda's craft swap!  Now, it was not the reason I started blogging, but the promise of new friends and treats in the mail was the impetus to get this thing off and rolling.  Thanks for the push, Amanda!  I should also say that I originally saw an invitation for it on Beauty That Moves, which led me over to Sweet Potato Claire.  At any rate, 68 bloggers signed up, we all made a homemade something-or-others for the blogger we were assigned, and now have either gotten packages or are waiting with bated breathe.  I am in the latter category and it. is. kiiiiiilllllllling me!  I have been stalking the other bloggers, oohing and aahing over the gifts they've been sending and receiving.  Seriously, stamps, knitwear, soap, snacks, jewelry... you bloggers are a talented bunch.

So, here's my contribution:  I did a little research about the geographic local of my partner (that map thing, I just love them) and incorporated that into my gift.  Gah, I hope she likes it!  Here's the wrapped package, all ready to head to the post office:

I was nervous sending this off into the world!  Totally excited/nervous, like in a check yes/check no "will you be my friend?" sort of way!  Dudes, I hope she likes it.  A picture of the craft would really narrow down who its for, and she's supposed to get it Monday.  Yay! 

Now... what else has been happening in my world:

Crafting at work:

The month of March is themed "Travel With Books" at the bookstore I work at.  BossWoman wanted map luminaria, and after some fiddling around I came up with these guys.  They are fun in the window display, and generally anything involving maps looks attractive to me, but I think the paper needs to be a bit more sheer.  Either that or the lights a higher power (ahem, fire at the bookstore, anyone?).  The Christmas lights we are using just don't quite shine through the cutouts like I wanted them to.  Ah well.

Also at work, we are rearranging and painting the back of the store to turn it into a children's section, with an adjacent break room/hang out and read space while your munchkins roll around on the carpet.

Reading, at home:

I just finished Mink River, by Brian Doyle, which I disliked, and then loved by the end.  A nice surprise!  More on this later, I think.  ( And this weather!  Again!  Lets skip the part where it snowed like crazy for a while, those photos didn't turn out as pretty.)

I saw this post on Pinterest, and decided to make my own...

I think I like the final result... I'm going to have to leave them up for a while and think about it.  I'll also have to get a good photo of them later.

Finally, in closing, a gratuitous pup photo, because she's the best:

Back At It

Lets take some time to talk about the weather.  I am from a small town in SE Alaska, and windy/rainy/gray is the norm.  Lately, though,we've had a stretch of high pressure giving us cold, clear, gorgeous days.  The blue sky is notable because its seen so rarely, and all the rain gives the trees a green that shines the most when hit with sunlight.  However, that sunlight is limited with Alaska's (still) shorter days, and my work schedule makes mornings the best/only time to be out in it.  So, here are Morning Forest Tromps with Milly, my 1 1/2 year old German Shorthaired Pointer.

 Looking north of town:

and towards the south.

This fall my town's most popular/controversial story involved the design of a new rain gauge.  Measuring 12-13 ft of rain a year is no laughing matter.  To me, all this means is that the sparse sunny days are not to be wasted.

So we hiked mountains,

went to the beach,

and got out on the water.

Glad we did, too, because now its back at it, this time with snow accumulation heading towards 9".

The First One

Starting this thing off with photos of two of my favorites.  Undersea critters + knitting equals a result I am in love with.  A lot more tweaking to come in this blog, but the first post began to take on mythic proportions in my brain.  Might as well just start.

Patterns are Jellyfish and Kraken from Amigurumi Knits by Hansi Singh.