The approach of Winter Solstice brings the crafts out of hiding

The days are very short now. It's getting to the point where there is no temperature variation between day and night. The only thing that consistently correlates with temperature now is cloud cover. Or if it's actively snowing. Below are pictures from a noon ski in the fresh snow! 

I like how the snow piles up on the spruce. Don't bump up against one though, or you might get a load of snow dumped on you!

In preparation for winter, I made some BIG rabbit fur lined mittens. Now that I've lived through a couple Fairbanks winters, I know the features I want. Most importantly, a cuff that goes all the way to the elbow.

I used two whole rabbit skins to make this pair of gloves.

When the weather is overcast, even in the middle of the day the woods are only seen in blue light.

The hay field is often a good place to get a look out towards the mountains (and just to get out of the trees), but in the clouds you don't see much.

The darkness is great because it makes it easier to schedule your day. My priority is getting outside in the daylight. When I have only a few hours to do that, it's easier to decide what time of day to go skiing. Or exactly when to start and end your hike. 

These quilt squares have been a long time in the making. They are actually not for a quilt, but are insulated hot-pads for cooking and kitchen use.

I've had fun making these! "Brann" is "fire" and "Hei" is the equivalent of "yo".

A very belated Halloween

In a belated effort, we carved our halloween pumpkins yesterday. I carved a lot in the hopes that some of them would survive the hungry moose (we have already had one casualty). The lighted pumpkins make it more enjoyable to walk in the dark to the outhouse at night.

Butterfly owl

Abstract squid monster

Behemoth

Montage!

The incredible leaning snowmen! I can't believe they haven't toppled yet. When they were first made, they stood about seven feet high. They have been gradually leaning back (but not falling!) ever since.

I want to add that the lack of snow since the first big storm is my greatest source of anxiety right now. I just want it to snow a couple more inches, and then skiing will be perfect! I love running, but I am ready to switch to a different sport.

I experimented with making stamps and painting a water bottle. Round surfaces are not the easiest to print on. I've been thinking about ptarmigan a lot, now that I see grouse tracks all over in the snow.

Of course, one of the ptarmigan has to die.

Painted caribou antler

This moose antler has glow-in-the-dark paint that reveals a starry sky when you turn the light off! This antler is also so heavy that it's uncomfortable to lift with one hand!

I also painted a pair of Dall sheep horns that I found on a hiking trip a couple years ago. In painting these, I tried to imagine what the sheep would be thinking. Braided rivers, berries, and tundra in summer with starry snow in winter, with the moon tracking across the sky.

Prindle Spindles

On the last weekend in September we took a hike out at Mount Prindle in the White Mountains, to catch some early season snow and also get in some climbing before the snow gets too deep.

It was not too cold, but the wind was brutal. We weren't sure if there were still bears out, but we dutifully carried our food in bear barrels just in case. 

As the sun set the silhouettes of the mountains reflected on the other side of the valley. At night the northern lights were out, and next to the bright stars it looked like those photos of nebulae in deep space! 

The next day was gloriously clear and windless, which made up for the cold evening the day before. The trail follows a long ridge with lots of tall granite tors for several miles before reaching the peak. We left our camping gear behind and took light day packs.

Some of the tors are climbable, and there are lots of nooks and crannies to poke around in.

The ridges along the other peaks have lots of little spires too.

The snow was just deep enough to make bouldering a little sketchy. We found a set of sheep tracks that we followed on our climb - after all, the animals are experts!

It was so warm. And sunny. 

Assuming the position of the hunter.

We found my spinster sheep friend whom I met on a previous hike here - it's a very curious animal.

On our way back we took an alternate route down the Quartz Creek trail, which goes up the valley just to the south of Prindle. We didn't have an accurate distance from our map in the trail guide, so we estimated that it was probably not much longer than returning on the trail we hiked up. But it was not so. We hiked about 5 miles farther than we expected - I was starting to wonder if we were ever going to get back! We saw lots of bear tracks in the snow, so we felt vindicated in hauling the bear barrel along.

Fall colors in Fairbanks

I need to first acknowledge that these photos are not from October, but from the second week in September. Fall happened a long time ago.  Now that the world is snowy outside, I wanted to share these pictures from the briefly intense leaf change. 

I have been lucky enough to live so close to incredible trails in the hills above my cabin.

The fallen leaves rest on the spruce boughs like confetti.

Some of the aspens have a really black fungus that contrasted well with the gold leaves.

Birch trees are always splitting out of their skins.

Kenai Fjords and Exit

We took a half-day ferry ride out of Seward to see Resurrection Bay and some of the fjords in the national park. The seas were high due to a storm that had been hanging around for the past couple days, but we chose to brave the bad weather for the chance to see cool wildlife.

There are a lot of boats in the harbor, and one big cruise ship. The tourism slows down in late summer, but Seward is still a fun town with great food.

Large glaciers hang in the valleys along the ocean.

The coastline had lots of involutions and caves where the waves had weathered it.

The seas were rougher than anything I had been on before. At first, that was kind of fun - like being on a roller coaster - but, inevitably, the constant lurching will get to your stomach. 



Gulls everywhere.

We got close to a colony of wonderfully fat sea lions. They are very noisy, constantly grunting and barking at each other. We also saw many humpback whales, which apparently are abundant in the bay in August. 

Puffins are so heavy they can hardly fly!

After an eventful boat ride we decided to stick to dry land and hike to Exit Glacier. It's very accessible from the road.

The glacier is apparently retreating 100 ft per year. The outwash is an elusive turquoise-blue. 

With a little scrambling, we climbed right up to the ice. The glacier is one of many that pour from the enormous Harding Ice Field.

The juxtaposition between rainforest and ice was beautiful

Looking back down the Resurrection River you can see an opening of sunshine over the bay. The ocean weather was much better today than yesterday, when we took our ill-fated boat trip.

 Mist and rain over the Resurrection River