The first ice

Venus

Yes! Venus was there this morning. Of course i didn't need all my own instructions. As at 7.30 AM it is the only star in the pale blue sky. Our thermometer reading -13C. Just before the morning glory turns the white mountain peaks in the South pink.

The Moon and Jupiter

A few days ago, I told you I saw this beautiful star in the evening.
In the meantime I have been polishing up my star knowledge a bit,
it’s Jupiter. I can see it right now! It is two hands to the left of the moon.
And the moon is so big! It’s waxing, become full on October 4. Two nights ago Marg and I saw it appear, low above the horizon, this big half moon. Last night it was cast over, but it’s light still illuminated the darkness.
Tonight higher above the horizon again in the South , with Jupiter to the East. And now, the last of an orange glow in the West.

Jupiter is recognizable as this bright yellowish star (stars flicker, planets don’t).
Venus being the brightest object in the sky, (apart from the sun and the moon.)
Jupiter comes after that.
Venus has a more white light, and is these days our morning star, I will look for it tomorrow morning if I am up.:) Venus shines somewhere in Pisces or Aries.
Maybe you could tell me, which direction to look.
I can recognize some thing in the sky agian, and will look for Gemini and then Pleiades, going in that line, I should come out by Aries and then Pisces, where Venus ought to be!

Abundance

First :) i feel an abundance of love right now. I sit in the woods and can look at anything and feel great love, i pick up a little branch, grey weathered wood, shaped very elegant, bugs made delicate wrinkly lines in it under the bark long time ago. Soooo beautiful.
The whole feeling is still with me; music, soup simmering(everything from my own wilderness here)on the wood stove, you guys out there.

I have been cutting wood with Don again. haha, all went amazingly well again, he even complimented me on how i stacked the wood. My philosophy is; there is no right or wrong way to stack wood, my way should always be the right way. Yours too that is.
So, you might assume that i feel this great love for my husband, hmmmm at him i look and wonder, enjoying the peace between us lately. Lets keep it at that.

Anyway abundance: Always lots of standing dead wood for us, very close to the house.
Walking 2 steps from where we are cutting, an amazing amount of poplar bark just right for my art. Big beautiful pieces, and i have to improve my painting skills for these big pieces.
Right where we are cutting, i pick lots of rose hips, not the big ones that are out in the open, but enough for a few cups of vermilion red beats of vitamin C.
And now of course, a woodpile close to the house, to keep us warm. Yes, Tilly, it is in that spot again, just a little over and not quite where Don always wanted it. But exactly where i like it.:)

and Nina, my love flows to you too, Happy Birthday!!!

PS. and i forget to mention, the birds, the woodpeckers and the sound of the wing beat of the ravens, and the softest, lightest, rain drops falling, those definitely not abundant in quantity(luckily) but in quality. :)

black clouds

Today i went wood cutting with Don, my husband.
Wood is our only source of heat in the house is.
I haven't gone with him for a long time,
It's not that i don't like wood cutting. Actually i love it.
I love being in the dark mossy spruce forest. He cuts and i load the wood, clean up, and wander around a bit. Today the wind picks up, i sit in the moss, have some tea among the swaying trees and all the creaking noises.
I also collect some pieces of bark for my paintings.
I use dead poplarsand just peel of the bark.
When i walk home there is one of those black clouds in the North-East again.
With the sun shining.I didn't go with Don for a long time because,
sometimes when Don and i work together, we create these black clouds. Things have improved lately. The secret: K I S S-kissing, keep it super special kissing. :)
And you know what; that wood too will make us hot many times.
Cutting, loading, unloading, stacking, splitting, bringing in and at last; burning in the woodstove in our home.

A not so eventful day

after yesterday's incredible hikei do have a stronger desire again, to be out there in the wilderness
i bike to the 911-pond
nothing exciting happens, and hardly any birds at the pond
looking at my pictures, i know, my expectation were set to high

I have a totally beautiful life!

Aishihik Tors

This morning, the frost still on the ground and warm breezes coming from the South, i walk to the highway to be picked up by this small group of beautiful people.
We are going to hike up to the tors.
Mary has all the coordinates where the hike is to start. We have some trouble finding the beginning of the trail, but we can see the mountain. And after not too long we are on the right trail and start our hike around 9.45 am.
Soon we are on the grassy slopes, and almost right away we are surrounded by the neatest brown rock. Rocks with swirling patterns in it. We stop by a little cave, but are eager to go on. We follow a wonderful ridge, in fall colors, with amazing tree trunks, similar to the one in my post 2 days ago, but more amazing and lots of them, big trees, where the life trees around them didn't reach that size yet.
Easy enough we come in the high country, above the tree line.
It's a climb and i see most of the group going straight up towards the snow and rocks, As in where there is little vegetation left and the ground just a jumble of rocks, covered in snow.
Here i am lucky to follow Mary, because i feel very tired and don't know if i can keep up with this crew. Somehow Mary knows how to circumvent the top and miraculously we come out ahead.
Now seeing the tors in the distance, my energy returns.
I feel like a sheep following sheep tracks, stepping from rock to rock slipping over snow. A long legged 'moose' reaches the tor before me, here he is!
No moose tracks up here though, just lots of sheep, ptarmigan, foxes and wolf tracks.
It is amazing how many tracks, One of us sees the ptarmigan on the ground. But the wild life we do see today is lots of Hawks. (can i call them like that as a group?)
Is it Kestrels chasing Falcons, Eagles checking us out? I do recognize the Ravens for sure who are doing their soaring among these hawks.
We have a lunch, at the tors, sheltered from the wind, huddled under a tarp.
Two of us go on, to more amazing tors higher up, with more incredible views looking North.
I went back and we take our time. Wait :) for the others behind a little clump, well worn by the wind, Spruce trees, while talking mountains, that surround us.
The other two catch up, we come back on the ridge, and the colors look more vibrant, after having been in the world of snow.
We encounter more rocks it seems than on the way up, but all too soon we arrive where the trail ended and sit upon the rocks, before entering the forest.
All rosy, i am home at six. Thank you for taking me guys!
(i will post more pictures on, je zon photostream)

Kwalin Koyotes

Tonight driving home from town, i sit in the passenger seat. It is a mystical trip.
Last night; red skies, farmers delight.And indeed after a sunny day yesterday, it rained all night. During the day it actually wasn't too bad. And i had the good fortune to walk upon some, for me, new trails today. The Kwalin Koyotes' ski trails. (i happen to come upon them, due to my new job, starting somewhere in October)
It's in Whitehorse. A very different forest again. First i notice the different kind of yellow leaves on the ground, they are Willow leaves and Balsam Poplar leaves. As i look up in this moist coniferous forest (Pine and Spruce), there are incredibly tall Willows, and skinny taller Balsam Poplars.
Gary Baylee, tells me just follow the well established trail. Which, where i come from (Mendenhall) is really a road, under a layer of now topsoil, needles, leaves and moss, there is century old, very coarse gravel.
I walk the high trail twice, all in this Little pocket in between the sounds of roads and the smell of :) houses.
Gary had drawn me a rough map, which was good, (thanks Gary) because, i would have gotten lost, and I walk the high trail twice, because i didn't really know how i ended up at the Kwalin Koyotes' ski-shed again.

Very much later, many errands later, Don picks me up again, and driving out of town, i notice something different again; in a cloudy sky, some wispy clouds very close by.
Out of town it certainly has rained more today, and now there are low clouds hanging in the valley. Mountains sticking out and strips of fog hanging over the road. Some blue sky and some pink clouds. (In our semi-desert climate, we don't get this normally)
Closer to home. Tyler Mountain only shows a completely white top, a cloud laying on top and above that in the still blue evening sky, a star shining! It must be Venus.

Tall willows, coyotes and Venus starring in the mist, if all days where mystical like this....

working on the trail

The loop around Moose Skull Lake.
I never yet finished this trail. I am trying to connect two trails, so they form a loop. I have done this loop many times, but the stretch in the middle on the highest ridge, i still have to bushwhack.
It's been a while though. Towards the end of the (west)trail there is a elk antler, that i didn't see before and it has been there a while, because most tips are gnawed off by little nibblers, rodents.
On the ridge i clear the connecting trail, removing dead fall and cutting some small trees. The view is beautiful here, the mountains in the South, the Lake, the golden forest, and some grassy slopes. With the occasional boulder to sit on.
Soon the ridge becomes forest, and the boulders increase, with some exposed slaps of bedrock. There are also some blackened tree trunks from a very very old fire.
I am not clearing anymore, just finding my way, i try to take the same route every time. I come out by the little ravine alright, but after that i loose my way. And come upon this beauty,which i had never seen before. (Do you see the peep-hole :) Around here i should intercept the perpendicular East trail.
But i always miss it, have to find my way back to come out by another ridge, where i always find the trail again. Then the trail goes down in the thick mossy forest, where i used to get lost a lot too, but now that trail is fairly clearly established.
And i come out by the old gravel pit in the subdivision and from there i walk the road.
When i left the air was still crisp, but now it's warm enough to sit, in my t-shirt, in the sun, where the Magpies keep me company eating the Honeysuckle berries.

pink sky

the morning light
soft skin touching skin
neither dark nor light
today, i will
wash windows

who am I?

at least
pink clouds on the horizon
yellow leaves under my feet
my lungs inhale the frosty air
in the dark night
the milky way
as i stood dizzy
i could not make out
any of the planets or the stars
i knew them almost all
i can no longer paint
i never wrote a thing
the forms i draw they fall apart
the words i wish they are not there
i walk into the dark
of course i'm not afraid
i have no fear of that
you're much to bright
and i am dark
relieved to see
something that i know
a falling star
close to the queen
crawling into bed
a warm body comforts me
maybe tomorrow
i know you once again
the frosty air invigorating

loving

Ahhhh i feel i have to ask you something.
I had two busy days and could come up with so many stories, but i want to keep it short.
I should mention the Fireweed community market. (which in a few posts back i called the farmers market) I didn't sell anything, and i would like to blame the executive, but really she was not to blame at all and she actually ended up doing me a favor :) (long story).
So there was the market and then there was art in general, there was Sylvie Bennet and then it came to me after i talked to Bob, he kind of gave the idea.
OK. so there is this thing going on the Western World, People say, oh this or that, but i like to see it all positive.
What has always been clear to me is that if we want to live happily ever after we have to change... somehow. I always think this change should be an improvement and not as my mother says; we all have to do a step back.
Now help me out, what do you think?
And it is probably said before.
If we all throw out our fears (one by one, no rush) and just live with common sense and awareness. All the money that could be saved! (OK, sorry we have to throw out a lot of bureaucrats and executives too :)
The thing is we could all really do what we love, art, cooking, reading, gardening, making love, whatever, if we stop doing jobs that are based on fear.
I will make one example; I have been doing some painting and it clicked on me, maybe i can make some money with it, because somehow it seems i always need more. Fear that i won't have a enough.....
I could just paint......
And then the story becomes long, because we are all caught in that cycle, spending time and money to make time and money, to really just....
And i feel that it is all back firing on us, with all the rules and regulations we are spending more then we get out of it.
It sounds kind of too easy, but think about.
Darn, it does sound clear. Please help me out?

Blogging of course is a step in the right direction :) We are doing what we love, sharing it, and getting a lot out of it. Right?

Do help me out, please. I feel i am on a right track, but......:)

a buck

Sue, while i am 'talking' to you,
come see, what appears here
not in the dark, but in the dusk
( Sue at intangibles)
Hmmm I am looking for a word for, deer in my yard, they are not quite intangible or elusive, could it be eluding?

Kusawa

all i went looking for was wind and wavesi did not find them
and everything i write today
i do erase
so don't mind me
for not saying anything
it's not that....
because i did have a lovely time
with;
birds in the water and the sky
a painter, painting mountains
hidden beaches among the rocks
the softest springy moss
an exhilarating climb
berries, two different kinds
and a breeze did come at last
to skip across the surface of the lake
coming down through all the colors
i could hear the water fall upon the shore
feathers in the ripples in the sand
what a peaceful land
:) for you

i live in the forest

And in between the trees, making use of the power line right away and the driveway, Alexander has made many structures over the years. The latest has arrived this weekend. And here he is trying it out.I was a little scared yet again, because i haven't watch him jump for a long time, just because he now mostly jumps in town. Recently in the new Bike Park at Mnt. Mac. And he has no interest anymore in his mother watching him. SO... i was delighted to be invited. Ain't he good!?

Today i dug up most of my potatoes. I have to admit it is a sad affair. hmmmm
I did enjoy digging though, It's always a delight to see the golden spuds appear out of the dark soil. We do call our local potato; Yukon Gold. And i have often compared digging potatoes to finding nuggets in the black sand in your pan. (which has been a long time, i did some successful panning) So i am very happy with my potatoes!
The reason for my crop being what it is, i could come up with several reason, one my lack of attention to the garden. But as i found today the soil is riddled with poplar roots. The forest is taking over. The big Poplar right beside it, looks very smug, still totally green. I assume due to the nice soil where it has spread its roots and the extra water it does get.
Don always threatens me to cut it, because he find it's too close to the house, but really, with all those nice new roots, it won't blow over so easy. :)

So i live in the forest. And that's maybe why my little paintings don't have trees.
Flowers, mountains and sky. In random colors. I figured; everything we see, ain't the color that we think it is anyway. Anything red, is every color except red. It's the red, that it reflected back to us, the rest it keeps. Right?

(added later; after i do this post, i sit outside in the sun, listening to Bizet, Carmen. The ravens start talking to me, from the forest. Talking up a storm, they probably say; Yes! look at us, we are not black, we are white angels, telling you.
I look at my own 20 feet wide, white wings, i am feeling very good today, and i know than, i might have white wings, but i do have a dark, dark soul, inside of me:)
Thursday i might appear at the Farmers Market in Whitehorse, to see if there is any interest in bark paintings. And it be a nice opportunity for me to see how other potato growers fared this year.

first frost

Yesterday morning, we woke up to the first snow on the mountain tops.
And this morning the frost has come to the valley.
It's glorious out! Not a cloud in the sky.

last night
at Mendenhall Landing. At first; no swans in sight.I walk to a slightly more higher spot, to get a nice photo of the mountains, and then i hear their trumpeting, they grace me, not quite grazing me, by flying right over me.
:) more photos at je zon.

Shaggy Mane

Coprinus comatus
Coprinaceae, Agaricales
Inky cap family

This morning i froze a big batch of Shaggy Manes again.
If anybody is interested, this is how i go about it;
Pick mushrooms when just coming up, when still totally white. I cut them as low as i can.
Deal with them as soon as you can, they turn to ink fast. I left them overnight outside, it's around freezing.

I wash them briefly, individually with my hands in a bowl of water, dry them briefly on a tea-towel, put them into (reused:)bags and freeze.

For cooking; put them in the pot frozen
cook or fry, very short

For a good recipe contact Michael Wanner in Dawson City or Whitehorse.
(hi Mike, a week late but, Happy Birthday!)

the garden

This picture taken this morning, but last night the light was better. When it is like that again tonight, i promise to take some photos in that light.
Orange light on a golden world.
Yesterday during the day i was in town again. These days, Alexander drops me off with my bicycle. A Giant sedona dx.
Wow, asphalt is so nice to ride on, and really you see more than from a car. The little creeks and all.
Also my bike is riding better again. thanks to Philipe! Finally i had my bike fixed up at the repair shop. Wanting to do it myself all summer, and having asked Alexander to do it. Finally i took it to Philipe.
There are two bike shops in town.
Philip's for the more down to earth green person. And than there is icycle sport for the more green yuppie type :) They're both good, for us all who just want to get the job done.
Anyway. at 7.45 in the morning i ride from Porter creek to town, for a job interview. At noon up again, to do a job(house cleaning) and later down again. Lucky for me, there was a strong wind pushing me up-hill.

Sulfur shelf

or Chicken mushroom.
Laetiporus sulphureus
Undeniable the best tasting mushroom. Here past its prime. Last time when i was with Virginia in Rainy Hollow, i picked lots. They are more yellow, when good to eat.

playing at the creek

Where we lay on the road, Don climbs the steep bank to pick blue berries.
I climb up too and then disappear into the thick foliage of bushes and ferns underneath the humongous spruces. I climb over logs, duck through the alders and elders, descending into the dephts, stepping into holes, or balancing on fallen trees.
Finally i come to the creek!
Where i play.
And pick some berries too
(see my berry blog)

sleeping on the road

You can even sleep on the highway here
me in my pyjamas
note; Don's morning cigarette,
my glasses beside the bed
even on a double line
only if you pass, you get a fine,

Haines Summit

My husband and i went camping on the summit. The new header of my blog, is part of the view we woke up to. The picture below one small part of a small glacier. Just a little, little tip of the immense St.Elias Ice fields, like smaller than the nail on my pinkie toe :)
As i am cleaning up today, i will post some more photos on flickr, je zon, and hopefully write a post.

moonlit nights

summer nights
never get dark
here up in the north
now, the first week
of september
there was the moon
still lightning my path
but,
i kept my eyes closed
bumped into things
i even tripped
over roots and rocks
i have to open them
it's hard work
to keep my eyes closed
i try just laying still
trying hard
finding
solace in that
then
i feel your lips
touching mine
i hear your footsteps
crunching
you say, shhhhh,
just open up
your mouth
you slip some berries in
cool and round
sweet juice
life is too much joy
it's way easier
to just smile
these darkest nights
i know they are ahead
by the end of october
snow will be on the ground
lighting up the nights
i know i will be scared
without the sun, the moon, the snow
but all i have to do
is look up
at you, the stars
the stars
they are sooo bright
in the pitch black night

Roses

Another beautiful day!
Some little gifts of this beautiful fall weather; I see one pink rose, two blue flowers, flax and Beautiful Jacobs-ladder. And yellow dandelions.
These are little extras. Of course there is still hawkweed blooming, yarrow and garden flowers.

I went walking in the still green waist high swamp grass off the 911-pond.
Last year there were 4 cygnets, Now i saw only the adult pair. There were some large families of ducks.
On my way back i went through the bluff, where i was intrigued by the bushes. Roses alright, but altogether very different from our very abundant prickly rose.
They looked slightly more pink in their fall colors, denser, with smaller leaves.
When you look closer


You see the hips are rounder, the leaves more serrated. And no prickly stems!!! This is the Rosa woodsii.
I am happy to have found them yet in another location.

Now look at our equally beautiful, totally abundant; Prickly Rose (Rosa acicularis)




I do have to say, because maybe i didn't do that yet, How totally beautiful it is outside, the trees still mainly green, but the mountains red. And the ground a brilliance of fall colors, bright oranges,every imaginable red, pinks for the fire weed and roses. Silver gray for the wild sage, yellow for the grasses, and still greens and browns of course and not forget beige and even white. Lower yet, on the ground a similar story.
The sun shining and sky blue with white and gray clouds.

And in the forest one of the birds let me take a picture.


Which bird is it? I couldn't tell and would love your help.

the fog is lifting

This morning here in Mendenhall we wake up in the mist. Inside the fire is burning. Outside it is pleasantly cold. After being away two days, the fall colors were even more profound. Now they're tempered, grayish through the mist.
But looking up there is bright blue sky with a purple tinge.
The sun is peeking out.
It is going to be a glorious day!

Last week i wrote this poem

hang in there woman!
life is a kite
taken up by the wind
strings attached
a tail flowing and
a taut line
who is running
barefoot
in the sand
trying to hang on
I am the kite
but please
don't let me go
free in this big sky
I am blue, yellow
and bright red
what color
is your
Spirit soaring
seemingly free


Today my kite is purple, hardly distinguishable, either dipping in that mist or high up in that sky.
I feel i am soaring. Seemingly free, but as i say don't let me go. I do need you!
In my profile you read, 'dedicated to wild places', but now looking down from way up.
These places are way more powerful than i imagined them to be. And they will survive even without me:) The joke 's on me and once again i am set free.
What i am saying, is i feel drawn to different directions. As following trails finding my way, as an actually real part of my life, is still very true. I realize i am opening other parts of me, equally real.
And as i discovered at age 47, that i have always belonged and actually always been out in the wild.
Now i am soaring at 49, i see that the wilderness is very much in me.

Only one other aspect; my paintings on poplar bark (crafts really)

I look forward to sharing.....whatever is revealed
when the fog lifts.
Thanks for being here with me.

High-Bush Cranberries

Viburnum edule


not a true cranberry, but from the honeysuckle family
The fruit not very abundant here, compared to the coast.


But an abundance of color for sure.

The weather is just gorgeous here the last few days. I set out to pick more berries, they make a wonderful 'old moccasin' jam. But... somehow i kept walking. Through this magical forest. In the green picture you see elfin creek shimmering below.
I came by elfin falls, which was just a spout running among the green moss, a drop only of about 3 feet. But some years the creek even runs dry this time of year.
I came upon wet pools with big Coltsfoot leaves growing.
i walked all the way to the beginning, Now is that called the mouth? where it flows out of Moose Skull lake. The lake still abandoned, no water bird in sight.
Luckily the forest surrounding has lots of twittering friends in it and i scared a Nighthawk sitting on the ground.

Fireweed

Indeed Anja, Fireweed grows first thing after a fire. It is an amazing sight to see a mountain side full of black sticks in a sea of magenta. And i can imagine what it will be like now. A white ocean, foam on the waves and splashes in the air above it.

Fireweed is a pioneer species. Here in the yard it grows abundantly where we have disturbed the soil, as in turned it over or just having removed some trees.

It's Latin name Epilobium angustifolium.
Epilobium meaning - upon a pod(flower and pod appearing together).
angutifolium - small leaves.
Also called Willowherb.
And i like to add the Dutch name which i love; Wilgenroosje (willowrose).
Fireweed belongs to the Onagraceae/ evening primrose family.

Here in Plants of Northern British Columbia by Mackinnon*Pojar*Coupe, quote: 'coastal groups mixed the seed fluff wit hair from mountain goats or dogs and used it for weaving and padding'.
Now there's an idea.