Living a Full Life

From left to right, my mom, Will's girlfriend Kim, me, Will and my Dad on the deck of Pike's Landing Waterfront Lodge. We're choosing the best way to wait for the rest of the group before our big dinner party at the Silver Gulch Brewery and Grille.

A whole lotta’ lotta’ has been goin’ on! I’ve decided not to say “I’m busy” but say “I’m leading a very full life!” It’s much more descriptive and positive. My parents flew up from Washington state last Thursday for Kristen’s graduation and it was so good to have time with them. We all drove up to Fairbanks (450 miles north of Anchorage) on Saturday morning and drove back late Sunday afternoon after the commencement ceremony. What made it even more special is Kristen had a full slate of friends and family on hand for the celebration including my sister and her family. All 5 of my folk’s grandkids were finally together in one place. We were greeted by the first warm temperatures of the season making for a perfect time to have prefunction beverages on the deck of Pike’s Lodge on the Chena (pronounced cheena) River. We were able to see some of the sights in Fairbanks including a section of the Trans Alaska Pipeline near Fox, Alaska and tour downtown Fairbanks which runs along the Chena River, all under sunny, blue skies. Kristen graduated (here is a link to the commencement ceremony in the Carlson Center) from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) with a Masters degree in Chemical Oceanography.

Right after I dropped my parents off at the airport Monday morning, Gus’ class needed additional chaperones for the end of year adventure discovery field trip. We hiked the Turnagain Arm Trail system from Potter’s Marsh to McHugh Creek and over towards Rainbow…a cool 5-6 mile hike! Holy cow am I out of shape. I was popping a couple of Advil during our lunch break and paying dearly for all of my celebratory eating and drinking over the weekend! Hopefully, it’s back to welding today if I can bend down and reach the steel. I need to finish up a couple of large plant stands for the Market which opens on Saturday. I took another Aleve with my hot tea this morning hoping it takes the edge off my aching knees. What would really soothe my poor aching body is to be back on that sunny deck at Pike’s with the family!

Fitz and Felt

Mommy’s head hurt Friday morning. I surprised Daddy-O with tickets to the Fitz and the Tantrums concert at Bear Tooth Thursday night. What a rockin’ (late) night we had! Normally we would have been in bed just as the doors were opening at Bear Tooth for the concert and discovered that we’re

waaaaay out of shape for staying up past 10:00 pm –especially if you throw favorite beverages on top of a night out. Derek and I vowed to work on our “concert readiness” this year, after all we can literally walk to Bear Tooth

Theater and no DD is needed! Check out Fitz and the Tantrums, Daddy-O bird dogged this group before their trip to Anchorage and

I have to agree, these guys are going somewhere.

I’ve fed the art making need this week with more felting after seeing a post on pins by my friend Karen Tessandore who shared a link to Betz White’s tutorial on felted pins. I didn’t follow their style of making pins but wanted to make some sculptural pins after seeing some birds nests on Betz’ Blog header and loved the idea of working on a smaller scale than I’m used to. Of course, this latest fit of inspiration also required a trip to see

Pamela at Far North Fibers to stock up on more colors of Merino and Corriedale sheep wool! Spring Break started for the Anchorage School District Friday -even though it’s barely 10 degrees outside… As I made these happy little spring nests and my red “Arctic Poppy” pins it cheered me to hoping our real spring is coming. The Poppy pins were made from a beautiful red wool sweater I scored at my favorite thrift store, Bishop’s Attic. Along with pipe cleaners I use for felting for only 50 cents, look at the way cool little tin box I also found for $1!

Kristen wasn’t able to come home for Spring Break (sad sigh) because she had to finish some components of her chemical oceanography thesis at UAF before she departs on another science cruise in a couple of weeks. Fairbanks has had temps at 20 and 30 below and she has been more than ready for a break. I thought a little art making might be good for the other side of her brain. While picking up a flannel mermaid fabric, cheer-up gift for her at Quilt Tree I was surprised to see the beautiful display of my Art Quilt Patterns the store had on display!! Thank you Quilt Tree, I can see why the patterns have been selling so well!

Never All Work And No Play Here

My sister and I at the Salvation Army's "Transformed Treasures" fundraiser that would provide critical support to their life-changing programs here in Anchorage.

Yes, I was supposed to stick to my production schedule this weekend, but didn’t. I didn’t work at all -except for inputting the last of the first quarter’s accounting junk. All work and no play just isn’t how we roll anymore, I get too fussy. Saturday my sister and I attended the sold out Transformed Treasures luncheon at the Sheraton Hotel Ballroom while Daddy-O and Gus completed ALL of the yard work honey-do’s (xoxo). In March, I finished up my two donation pieces for the Salvation Army’s 3^rd annual fundraiser and thankfully

on Saturday both sold for over their value! The Birdhouse Topiary went in the Live Auction and sold for $550 and the St.

Francis Garden Sculpture sold for $160 in the Silent Auction. My friend Deanna Teders, the volunteer organizer of the event said the Salvation Army had over 50 new Transformed Treasures for this year’s event bringing the total number of items “transformed” by creative people topping 150! The event is so inspiring, you could hear bidders wandering the tables, scribbling their bids and saying “I’m going to make something next year!” Favorite items included, a stained glass window “transformed” from hurricane glass lamps, ties flatten and sewn into place mats and wool sweaters became very cool pillows with sheep on them. Many pieces of furniture were given new life with a little paint

and artful details added.

The best part of Saturday was that our oldest offspring, Kristen was able to stop in for dinner! She and a group of her UAF cohorts, School of Fisheries & Ocean Sciences (SFOS) scientists were on their way down to Seward from Fairbanks to board a research vessel. They were able to take a pit stop at our house. We happily had a couple of roasted chickens that we turned into a chicken taco feast! Knowing we always have hot showers, a spare room and PLENTY of food the group affectionately calls us their "Anchorage Shore Support!"

Sunday was also supposed to be a welding day but I chose to hang out with the Family. We first rode our bikes to City Market to grab a newspaper and hot cocoas. Daddy-O’s bike needs new tires so he rode the Long Board –which I was supposed to ride but

only made it as far as the driveway before I realized that I’d probably become an episode on Jack-Azz. Gus and I went to Bear Tooth Theatre Pub in the afternoon and caught the movie “Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief.” He’d read the books and wanted to see the movie. Daddy-O took the opportunity to jet down to Girdwood to make a few runs while the snow is still good. He even had the BBQ going with deep-fried Halibut by the time Gus and I got home. Now that’s the way to spend a weekend!

Our Very Own Belle

In the spirit of Fall, I created some new, approx. 30" x 30" “Pond Leaves” wall sculptures for The Artful Home for consideration in their upcoming catalogs. One of the benefits of being a Guild/Artful Home Artist is their  Artist Services support, National representation and ability to upload original works for sale to their web site. I'm still getting the hang of doing business this way, but am appreciative of all the support I've received from them. I especially like the results of the muted leaves (the sculpture with no burgundy leaves) on the rusted patina round stock. I welded some 

additional embellishments 

on the surface of the round stock, creating some twig/bark like texture and set it out in the rain to weather and patina naturally. Next, I hand rubbed some yellow, amber and orange enamel paint to the leaves to give the leaves a more muted look. I wanted the patina surface to not be lost under the paint. I really like the effect. The brighter leaves were also hand painted enamel with layering various fall colors. Because I use One Shot Professional Sign 

Painter’s Enamel paints for the finish, these pigments have proven to work indoors as well as outdoors. We have had such a mild Fall that I used the leaves in my garden as my inspiration for the color palette to work from.

The 12^th annual UAF Farthest North Forest Sports Festival is an annual fall event that celebrates the centuries-old traditions of lum

ber-jacking and provides students, staff, faculty, and the general public an opportunity to test their woods

men skills, learn about the boreal forest and the discipline of forestry, and simply enjoy a fall day as a spectator. The festival is sponsored by the UAF School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences and the Resource Management Society.  Events include the Pulp toss, Axe throw (Kristen smoked last year's competition in the Axe throw), 1-person crosscut, 2-person cross-cut, Jack & Jill crosscut, Fire building, Birling and Log rolling, –which this year was a balmy 40 degrees and no lake ice had to be broken to hold the event! After winning 3 Medals, Kristen, our oldest offspring, and ironically is doing her Graduate work in Chemical Oceanography, was named the 2009 Belle of the Woods! Now that's an Alaskan Grown, Alaska Woman!

Kristen’s Team PAXSON -Overall team winners of the 2009 Forest Sports Festival! From Left, John Hogue, Patrick Pritchett, Amy Rath, Josh Good, Kyle Schuman, Kristen Shake, Amy Tippery, Paxson the Wonder Dog, and Jaiden Rath

Lumberman Jaime & Kristen win the Gold with 14 seconds in the “Jack & Jill!”

Something to Crow About!

"The UAF Undergraduate Research Symposium was held at the Museum of the North yesterday. Students from across the campus came to present their research projects that had been funded through various sources. I am very happy to report that Kristen Shake shared first place for outstanding research with two other students for her work on carbon biogeochemistry and ocean acidification in the Gulf of Alaska. Kristen delivered a near flawless presentation on the work that she has been doing in my lab for the past year. Buck Sharpton and Brian Rogers served as judges and both of them spoke to Kristen afterwards about her topic and were very pleased that she will continuing on at UAF in our Master's program. If you see Kristen around, please join me in congratulating here on this impressive achievement."

Dr. Jeremy T. Mathis

Assistant Professor, Chemical Oceanography

University of Alaska Fairbanks, School of fisheries and Ocean Sciences

That's a picture of "Big Red" a plasma cut and welded steel rooster garden sculpture I made. The large, outdoor sculpture was voted "People's Choice" at the 2008 Alaska Botanical Garden Fair and Outdoor Art Exhibit. I thought it was fitting to "Crow" about our daughter's achievement!

Celebrating 2/22 With Two Posts!

The eldest of the offspring just sent these images to us. This is a picture of IARC, the International Arctic Research Center in Fairbanks, Alaska. She is up at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, UAF, doing Grad work in Chemical Oceanography. She LOVES it up there -too cold for me, but UAF does have wonderful BFA and MFA programs...

The Student Ceramics Guild Visiting Artist, Justin Novak, Figurative Ceramic Sculptor will be at UAF March 6 and 7, 2009. You can contact the UAF Art Department Ceramics Program at 907-474-7530 for more information.