Puzzled at the Mainstay Gallery

This month, I decided to enter a piece in the exhibit, "Puzzled," at the Mainstay Gallery in town. I picked up a "puzzle" piece - a piece of paper with black and white forms on it which resembled a quilt. There were two other "puzzles" but they didn't appeal to me as this one did because I used to make quilts.

I wasn't sure what I wanted to do and then it came to me that a quilt is like a book - in both you are fitting things together. In the middle of the night, I wrote this little poem - "A quilt is fabric joined with care. A book is words, with none to spare."

Next, I copied the puzzle piece and then cut out the black shapes. I traced these on pieces of fabric I had once used for quilts. After I glued them on, I worked on the words. I used the title and the first lines of my teenage novel, Loulane Lambert's Lists for Life.

The photos show the progression. The opening is March 6 - all the artists get to "place" their piece in the puzzle. Even though I'm not an artist, I really enjoyed the creativity that went into this.

Crepes?

You read right - I have finally attempted crepes. It's Gates' birthday, and that's the surprise dessert. I don't have a crepe pan, but I do have a trusty old 8 inch iron skillet - the kind that could break your toe if it fell on your foot - and high hopes that I can do this.

The recipe is truly French, as it's from my friend, Michele's, grandmother. My first biggest fear was that I wouldn't be able to swirl the batter easily to fill the pan. The second was that the batter would stick to the pan, as maybe I hadn't "seasoned" it sufficiently with enough oil.

As you can see by the photos - my first crepe attempt was a success.

Anybody out there remember the chain of creperies in the 1970's? They were called The Magic Pan. I used to love their Chicken Divan crepes. Hey, I've got some leftover turkey and gravy, maybe I can concoct lunch ala Francais... Later, amis!

Rainy Day Quilters' Show

Yesterday I walked down the hill (in high 20's - low 30's temps...) to see the Annual RDQ Show. I was expecting a couple of quilts hanging up. The show was amazing! All different categories from lap quilts to wall hangings to beginners to bed quilts with hand quilting and machine quilting were represented. It really made me want to drag out my ol' bag of scraps and see what I could do...

Years ago I made a log cabin quilt which took forever to cut out since it had over 1,000 "logs" in it. Then some college friends and I made quilts for our children. I've also made some for wedding and baby gifts - but none for many years. Maybe this is the year to begin again! It certainly was inspiring, that's for sure.

The photo with the stars is a "Last Frontier" quilt - I had to take that one. The top left was one of my favorites, and the one on the right is just a room shot.

I continue to be amazed by the incredible talent of these Ketchikan-ers!

Avalanche

No, we didn't have an avalanche. (Although, we did have a mudslide at Mile 5 on North Tongass Highway on Tuesday... blocked the road for about 5 hours.)

But we did have an avalanche expert, Jill Fredston, come and talk about her new book, Snowstruck. She also talked about what she does when she's not rescuing people caught in avalanches - rowing with her husband (in a separate kayak) on long distance trips in all sorts of chilly waters like around Norway to Russia. Her hour program consisted of gorgeous slides and her witty commentary. Apparently, avalanches are a big problem in certain areas - like Alaska and the West - where there is considerable snow and steep inclines.

The night was very cold as I walked to my car after the program. I was glad that it was not snowing...

Radio Show on KTKN

I am sitting in the front office of KTKN listening to Robert participate in a live hour-long radio show on this local Ketchikan radio station. The topic is National Dental Health Month and also dental history, one of Robert's favorite topics. He is sounding great, with minimal mumbling and some terrific historical tidbits.

I was really disappointed that I didn't have my camera to record this momentous event. But then I remembered I had my cell phone. Then I further remembered that my phone had the ability to Bluetooth information from one device to another. Since I lugged my laptop down here so I could work while Robert spoke, I was able to figure it out - how to transfer images from the phone to the laptop! Whoopee! The image above is one of those!

Just so you don't unrealistically think I am a true computer magician - I wouldn't have a clue about this except for the fact that last week Gates got a new phone because his old one had a crack in it. The ATT store was able to Bluetooth the contacts and photos from the old phone to the new one...)

Here's to more brushing and flossing making healthy strong teeth!

Also - this tidbit: Did you know that dentists are responsible for (among many, many other things...) cotton candy, a camera and even Welch's grape juice...

23rd Annual Wearable Art Show

Last night I went to Feast Your Eyes, the 23rd Annual Wearable Art Show, an Alaskan tradition. (I've never even heard of such a show, but apparently they have one in Sitka, too, so it must be an AK tradition.)

Artists design costumes and then they, or models of their choice, parade the creation (accompanied by their selected music) down a long, lighted runway for a true Last Frontier fashion show! The creations were unique and original as designers used materials such as coffee bags, yogurt lids, plastic utensils, as well as more traditional items such as feathers, sequins and bows. There were 41 costumes in the two hour show. Here are some photos of The Phoenix, the coffee bag creation, as well as the final encore with all models on the runway together.

Snow, snow, snow - and even more?

It continues to snow. I read in the Ketchikan Daily that Juneau just broke their own record for the snowiest winter. I know Ketchikan has broken its records, too. This week was a crazy weather week with sun, rain, fog, mist, and snow all occurring within a 30 minute time span on Monday. Did I mention that if you don't like the weather here, wait five minutes? (Local advice!) Monday night we had a big "blow-in" which means windstorm. The wind whipped all night, and then on Tuesday the rains came and washed away most of the snow. I was excited to see the sidewalks again which meant that I could soon be back on my bike, zipping off on errands.

Not to be. It has been snowing (was supposed to be rain...) since 7 AM and does not look like it will let up - ever.

I have to say, it is beautiful. Everything is white, and the way the snow sticks to the pine trees behind the house is gorgeous.

Punxy Phil said 6 more weeks of winter. As usual, I guess he's right.