Busy Day

Yesterday was a busy day.  I had a mid day commitment at work, and it was such a beautiful day that I just had to go skiing.  So I went in the morning.  No wind and still plenty of snow, and such a gorgeous view.

Then after work, and a doggie hike in Abercrombie,  I finally got most of lawn mowed.  This took almost 2 hours!  Every time I have had a chance to mow the lawn it has been raining.  Consequently, the lawn has gotten a 'ghetto' shaggy look to it.  It REALLY needed mowing.

And then finally at 7:45 PM I took a co-worker along to get the gear we left behind last weekend on Afognak.  We went along on another charter to Uganik Bay, and got our gear on the way back.  Amanda had never been in a float plane before.  It was a beautiful evening, with low raking sunset light. And we even saw whales.

A very busy day!  And I still have not posted all our pictures from the Afognak trip.  It has been a busy week!  More pictures from our Afognak trip will be coming soon!  Patrick

Afternoon Hikes

School's out for summer so when I get off of work the kids are at home.  Consequently since we got back from Afognak, instead of going skiing after work I have gone hiking with the kids and dogs.  Nora wants to do this every day this summer.

On Wednesday we climbed Pillar Mountain behind town in the fog and then yesterday we did a loop through the woods on the flanks of Mount Monashka.  Nora has been asking about various mountains and trails - 'is it steep?' she asks.  I think her ultimate goal is Shelly Lake on Sharatin Mountain.  She wants to hike up and camp.

I also know that the dogs prefer the change in routine.
Patrick

Back from Afognak

We got back from Afognak Tuesday night and it's a good thing we did because it has been raining here in town ever since.  We went up for the Memorial Day weekend with my brother, Wendy, and cousins Leo and Zeke.  Lots of kayaking, teepee time, hot tubs, zip lining, hikes, and playing on the beach.  And, for the most part, the weather cooperated.  We never did get any continuous rain - mostly sunshine and a day of squalls interspersed with sun.  More to come, but I think my highlight was reading on the beach with Brewster (see immediately below).  I think the kids most enjoyed burying each other in the sand and the zip line.  Patrick

Launching from the Aleut Town beach in a squall

End of streak

Dismal last ski of the streak

My New Years resolution was to go skiing every day, and until today I have kept it.  But today it ends at 149 consecutive days because we are off to Afognak for Memorial Day weekend.  I'll be skiing on Pyramid for another month, at least, but no longer will I have to ski in the rain to maintain my New Year's resolution.  That said I think the streak was good for me - it provided focus and kept me in shape.  My consecutive ski days streak - 149 days, December 28, 2017 to May 25, 2018 RIP.  Patrick

Dog walk in the wet photo 

Puzzles, awards and greenberries

Puzzle all sorted by color and shapes - ready to go!

School's out for Summer.  Wednesday was the last day of school, and in the morning they had the awards ceremony after Mass. Nora got a 'blue' academic excellence award.  Basically she did excellent in all except one subject.  If she had aced all of them she would have gotten a gold award.  There was only one gold award awarded.

It has been raining all week.  A good week for indoor activities like puzzles.  This winter and spring we have been doing a lot of Liberty Puzzles.  We send them a photo and they make a puzzle out of it. The puzzle pieces are wood and shaped like various people, animals and objects.  The look at your photo and come up with a theme for the pieces.  Some of our snow pictures have been full of pieces shaped like skiers, people sledding, snowflakes etc.  The latest puzzle is full of camera and binocular toting hikers and lots of animals.  I'm thinking the theme is an old school visit to Yellowstone National Park.

Yesterday at the park I noticed that there are lots of baby blueberries on the blueberry bushes.  Er rather green berries.  Last year we did not have a blueberry crop.  But this year looks like a bumper crop.  I predict July 10th for the first ripe berry.  Patrick

Nora with the other award winners from her class

Greenberries - ought to turn into blueberries by mid July

Stuey's class and award winners

Nora's class and award winners

I love the people and animal shapes in the Liberty Puzzles

Wet Week

It's been a wet 2 weeks, but it seems it has been even worse in the last week.  Before it started to rain I needed to mow my lawn.  Now I REALLY need to mow my lawn, but I can't if it is wet.  Yesterday evening it actually cleared up for a few hours and dried off a bit.  I rushed out and mowed a part of my lawn at 7:30 PM - that's desperate.  And now this morning it is raining again.  Still I am hopeful I might get to do some more mowing this evening again.  Not that I like mowing the lawn or anything.

With this weather the best part of my day is walking the dogs in the park.  It is so green in there.  And it really does not matter what the weather is doing when we go for our walk.  Patrick

Leek Latkes

At our house we eat a lot of potatoes.  They do well in my garden and last year I harvested a couple hundred pounds or so of them.  So at our house breakfasts tend to be heavy on hash browns, and lots of mashed potatoes, home fries, baked potatoes, scalloped potatoes, and Shepards pies for dinner.  Consequently to keep things interesting  I've been on the lookout for new potato recipes.  A couple of weeks ago to great success I tried Spanish Tortillas, and then a couple of days ago I tried latkes.  Latkes are like the best hash browns ever!  They sort of remind me of Swiss Rosti I once had in Europe.  In fact I bet they are closely related.

Anyway, in this house latkes are going to become a part of the potato recipe stable.  A go to recipe.  Super simple and super good! I made mine with leeks instead of onions, and I think I might try shallots next. Here is how I did it:

I shredded a couple of potatoes on the coarse hole cheese grater and then soaked them in cold water for a few minutes.  I then put the shredded potatoes into a colander and pressed out all the water.  In the original bowl I whipped up 2 eggs with salt and pepper, added one finely sliced leek, and then the shredded potatoes.  I mixed it all up with 1/2 cup of corn meal (I used 'P.A.N.' by Goya foods).

I heated up a cast iron skillet and added a copious amount of corn oil.  Then I made little potato pancakes by hand and fried them maybe 5 minutes to a side - until they were crispy.  I think you want to try and make them flat so that they are easier to cook thoroughly and evenly.

Now to see how the kids like them!
Patrick