Winter Break

Boy, did I get a winter break! I was in San Diego for nearly a month and enjoyed the 70 F + temperatures and warm sun. But the best part was spending time with my family, especially my nephews and niece!!
We went a bit crazy on Christmas morning playing with laser guns!!

…and had fun taking pictures with new digital cameras!

My sister and I played candyland…I think my niece and nephew were around…

yup, here they are playing chutes and ladders!

Mary made a german pancake or as the original pancake house calls it, a Dutch baby

And, of course, we all got together for a pizza party, what kid doesn’t like pizza?

I had a great time seeing everyone!!!

Mushrooms!!

Alaska has shared with me the wonders of mushrooms. Here they grow abundantly in the late spring to early fall. They are a mysterious and fascinating group and I am always on the hunt for them…even in the winter! Although winter is not the season for mushrooms, there are still shelf or bracket fungus (often called conks) living on sick and dead trees.

Love this place!

Just wanted to share some amazing photos that Mary and I have been taking. This first one is coming off the mountain from Hatcher Pass, we caught a beautiful sunset and I pulled off to the side of the road so we could get a picture. The colors were unlike anything I have seen before.

Hatcher Pass is a GREAT place for skiing. Here people strap their board or skis to their back and climb the ridges for a free fall into powdery snow, no lifts here. The hiking trails here are groomed for X-Country skiing in the winter and Mary and I are really enjoying this new sport. Our doggie, Molly, joins us too when we ski at the farm. Of course, after a ski, a pit stop for soup and bread and a warm spiked beverage at the Hatcher Pass Lodge is a must!

It gets so cold here that all the water condenses and freezes in the air, you can see the crystals magically appear and drop out of the air. Frost accumulates on the tree limbs so thick it’s like winter leaves on the tree.

Here’s Molly and me taking a walk around the farm. She LOVES this place, too!

Here’s a link to the Spring Creek Almanac, a blog about what is going on at the farm these days.