Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

Steve and I are home from Sacramento and our visit with Steve’s sister Julie and her partner, France.  I took so many photos, and I’m still working on them, so I’ll have a more detailed account of our visit in my next entry.

We had a fantastic time in northern CA! It is a beautiful part of our country, with awesome coastal views, a winding road that takes you through quaint and colorful hamlets, and the most spectacular gardens I’ve seen in a long time. Folks in northern California take landscaping to a new level. There is a treat for the eyes in every direction you look.

The vineyards between Sacramento and the coast are beautiful, and worthy of a stop for some wine tasting. We did - several times - purchasing delicious bottles of wine to enjoy with dinner and evening relaxation.

It was sad to say goodbye to Julie and France, but it’s not *goodbye*. It’s merely “so long”. We’ll visit with each other again, I’m sure of it.

I know that Steve and Julie were so thrilled to be with each other again. It’s been a long time - too long. I was happy to see their joy in reuniting, and happy to have spent a week with two of the most wonderful people in the world.

Our family has grown again, and we couldn’t be happier.

Until next time…

Steve and I are leaving for Sacramento tomorrow. The dog is being boarded, the house sitter is arriving tomorrow morning to take care of house and cat, and we’ll be *flying the friendly skies*.

We’re visiting Steve’s sister Julie - who he just regained contact with, a little more than a year ago.  He’s really excited and so am I.

Unfortunately, the weather in that part of CA isn’t the best right now. In fact, the temperature at Mendocino Beach (where we’ll be heading this weekend) is in the 50s and it’s drizzling. Julie called to remind us to bring jackets. No worries there; we’ve got jackets for all kinds of weather. Guess I won’t need my t-shirt and capris! OK… maybe one set just in case it warms up.

I don’t really care about the weather. It’s all about spending time with family.  And despite the rain, I’m sure I’ll find things to capture with my camera while we’re there.  Maybe rainbows!

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CELEBRATING NEW LIFE

I had a maternity photo shoot this past Sunday. The couple is expecting a little boy in about two weeks. I’ve photographed this couple before - their engagement photos -  so it was a thrill to share in such a beautiful and personal time of their lives.

Here is just a small sample of the photos I took on Sunday:

(more…)

I took my camera out for a walk around the yard. The mosses and lichens are growing in the woods and on the trees. I love the intricate detail of these plants.

They are low to the ground, which made for some interesting contortions to take photos of them. Fortunately, the lichen growing in the spruce and birch trees are mostly eye level.

This orange moss is called Pohlia Nutans. Nutans means “nodding or drooping”, as you can see the larger green tops doing. These plants are a mere 2-3″ tall, and grow throughout the wooded area around our home. I love the orange hue of the stems against the green of the other mosses and foliage.

Close up of catkins that have gone to seed:

This is Horsetail. It’s classified as a fern. It is so neat the way the plant grows, with new stems coming out of the *toothy* bud (for lack of a better description). I believe these are referred to as fertile shoots, as opposed to the later vegetative shoots we’re accustomed to seeing in the woods.

Lichens on a birch twig. There are two (maybe three) different lichens on this branch. Beard Lichen (Usnea) is the hanging moss that looks like hair. Parmelia is the flat white lichen at the top of the beard lichen. At the very top of the photo, there is a lichen that looks a lot like reindeer moss (looks like antlers), but I don’t think reindeer moss grows in trees. If anyone has better information about the mosses in this photo, feel free to correct me!

Moss at the base of a birch tree:

Here, you can see moss on a paper birch. Notice how the bark is peeling back on the tree. The bark of a paper birch constantly peels. Native People use birch bark to make baskets and other crafts.

New green leaves above:

New Prickly Rose buds and thorns. I can’t wait until the pink flowers bloom!

New leaves on birch saplings:

Visiting snowshoe hare. Just about all brown and tan now:

Until next time…