hot off the deck

yesterday i completed our last assignment for kim's skinny mini photoshop ecourse. i can't believe how much i've learned, she is a fantastic teacher. i can't wait to take her essentials course now.
in between snapping photos and manipulating them (gosh i love being manipulative) i managed to finish one project i can check off my list...
i found this funky little table/lamp unit a few weeks ago at a friend's yard sale for $2. i'm not much for wrought iron, but one can never have too many lamps in a house in alaska in the dead of winter...

...before....

(i just realized i'm showing my really ugly mud room to the world...great...)

...after...

i decided it would make the perfect "knitting at night" table. i spray painted the base "tomato soup", what a great name, huh? i stitched up a quick bag for the bottom to hold my numerous unfinished knitting projects...slapped some fabric scraps on an old lampshade, and popped a full spectrum bulb in it. after sanding down the table top i painted away, then gave it a few coats of sealer and put it all back together. it's bright & happy & keeps the boys out of my stuff. all for under $5. i'm feeling so frugal...

wow~

 

i think the only thing photoshop can't do is fill up my gas tank.

i know how to wield the magic eraser tool.

no one need ever know what a horrible photographer i am again.

thank you kim klassen.

it's a software miracle~

i've been working on kim klassen's skinny mini ecourse for photoshop elements this week. ms. kim is nothing short of amazing. in a series of well executed videos and homework, she has managed to unlock the mysteries of layers, blends, adjustments and textures. she's a great teacher, and so generous to offer this class at no cost. if you've been intimidated or discouraged by this software, i really recommend signing up for one of kim's classes - just click on one of her buttons i have over on the right to see some of her work.

look at the difference!

swap-o-rama

linda at a swap for all seasons hosts the best swaps ever. her latest swap challenge was to create a 5x7 fabric collage piece, simple & sweet, inspired by something our partners liked.
my partner was nancy from the vintage dresser . we share a common like of vintage kitchen linens and old stuff. and the colour green. (she has a couple of great tutorials posted for mini note pads and a sweet mini album made from coffee filters (!) go check it out!)
so, here's what i came up with for her:

the image of the fairy princess is courtesy of karen the graphics fairy , who keeps us supplied with wonderful images to use however we will. i printed her out in sepia (the princess, not karen) and freshened her up a bit with coloured pencils.

a couple of the background fabrics are actual old feedsacks, the rest are reproductions. the linen trim on the left edge is a precious piece from my memere's sewing stash, as well as the old buttons. am i the only one who has stashes of these things and finds it incredibly painful to actually use?? i don't know why, even my memere used to say "c'est tout simplement" which i think was her way of saying "it's all just stuff", and i always like the way everything looks when i'm done...

i gave it a bit of machine quilting and added a jar of pixie dust so she could sprinkle her 3 wishes around. it was very hard not to sew a binding on to this....but we were supposed to leave them unfinished for our partners to finish as they like. i mailed her off to nancy today, hope she likes it.

linda has set up a link here to all the finished pieces, go have a look, there are some beauties!

happy valentine's day!

can you find the heart?

look close.... it's on the cliff below the leaning spruce tree,

by the furthest breaking wave...

have a great day!

sunday sunshine

eat your supper....

today has been a really windy, rainy, cold cold day. gerry has been working out on a boat all day, so i know he will be frozen and wet when he gets home. the perfect day to make turkey pot pie for dinner...
i get his call to let me know he's on his way home. great timing as the pie is done. i set the table, then do the usual clean up of the counters, etc. when i turn around to get the plates, this is what i see...

never turn your back on a small white dog.

an important safety notice for kodiak residents

this is my youngest son, cullan.

he turned 16 last weekend.

he is usually the quiet one of the family, not prone to public displays of emotion of any type. what's that he's holding, you ask? that would be his still-warm-from-the-laminator

alaska driver's license.
ergo, my public warning.

this is his vehicle, so you all have a visual.

if you live on the mainland, you should be safe for another couple years.

(all kidding aside, he has thus far proven to be a pretty consciencious and safe driver. i am again grateful for the "no passengers" provision. i'll post updates should he ever venture off the island )

knitting on the dock of the bay

i would rather be here (on my sad little crumbling dock at our cabin) doing this (knitting) than anywhere else on earth. this was one of those days i will carry in my heart forever. it was sunny on the bay, and shirt sleeves warm. there was the nicest slight breeze that kept the loathsome flesh eating no-see-ums away. i hadn't yet started work at alpenview, so my time was my own. really really my own because my husband and son had returned to town the day before, and i was all by myself for the first time in a very long time. didn't have to stop and make a meal or find a hammer for someone. didn't have to start the generator or put gas in a 4 wheeler or listen to classic rock (thank you sweet clouds in the sky.) it was bliss. i spent the whole day on that dock knitting, reading, watching jellyfish float by. not a sound except for the gulls and the water slapping on the beach. it was bliss. it smelled warm and green and sea-weedy.

it was this moment in time that i kept with me during the past week. i had jury duty all last week. i've served on a jury one other time, years ago. it wasn't a messy trial or anything horrid. it was pretty cut & dry. the biggest thing i remember about it was that i had a 4 week old baby girl jury duty was keeping me from, and that enraged me. it messed up our schedules, our feedings, our everythings. but we made it through.

this was not one of those trials. we had to sit and listen to icky details. we had to relive lots of angry emotions. we had to quietly observe lawyers guiding and picking and wheedling. the entire situation left me feeling nauseous and unclean and unsettled. it wasn't black and white, and i resented being put in the position of having to make such a monumental decision about another beings' life. i don't think any of us felt like we left the jury box as better people for having fulfilled our civic duty.

i kept my day on the dock in my heart all week long.

i love my country, i understand the importance of our judicial system and all it entails.

but i really hope i never have to go through that again.

i am looking forward to tomorrow, monday, and a clean, creative week!

what i did this summer...viewmaster style

i need to confess when it comes to downloading, editing, and generally trying to make my photos look better, i have a severe lack of patience. i thought a new camera would help me overcome this problem, but all it has done is enable me to take even more photos which then have to be dealt with. so i am trying this, a photo mosaic. which i think is probably really really cheating, but in what i hope will be viewed as creative cheating. i took hundreds of photos this summer. i'm looking at this as a summary. a dim sum of many beautiful days on ugak bay.

it was a great summer. alpenview lodge hosted clients from all over the globe. it was fun to meet such interesting folks, and watch them enjoying all our home has to offer. we had pretty good weather, with a few delayed switch outs, but for the most part everyone got to where they needed to be almost when they needed to be there. the fishing was great, with the halibut and rockfish covering nicely for the late silver run.

as always it was hard to leave and return to town. we really are looking forward to the time we can retire, and snuggle in to the cabin for good.

(i think you can click on the photos to enlarge them...if i did it correctly...)

invisible me...

i guess i've kinda fallen off the blogging map...whoops.

once back in town, life kicked backed in. it's amazing how easy it is to get sucked up into the "hurry up and get all this stuff done, and oh don't forget about this and that" mode. every year i swear i won't fall into the holiday busy busy busy trap, and every year i still do. (next year i am not going to...)

now xmas is all packed up. school has started again. my daughter, who got to come home for christmas, is gone again, much too quickly. my air force son, who did not get to come home for christmas, is showing up in some pretty entertaining photos on facebook.... i'm glad to know he wasn't alone for the holidays, even if he isn't glad to know i lurk on facebook.

it's very quiet at home, time to get to work on all those things i've been very good at setting aside. we're having some pretty nasty weather which makes it even easier. now i'm off to finish the xmas cards that have turned into the new year cards...

then i'll have a clear conscience, and can get back in the blog groove.
wishing you a peaceful and warm 2011

hello! i'm back!

hi everyone, if you are still there... i am back in town after another incredible late summer on the bay. it's always hard to step off the boat and dig back into the real world. everything moves so fast, is so loud and just plain old complicated.
it's so easy to slide into the life of the fishing lodge, i never take for granted the slower pace, the absence of all things technical (although i keep my ipod close at hand... josh groban really does make cleaning the smokehouse go so much faster.) the days are long, the work is hard, but the stresses are easier to handle...instead of having to be three places at once i only have to figure out how to make my last 4 eggs into a breakfast for 12 clients....piece of cake. there is no wondering which shoes to wear in the morning. most of the time it's the xtra-tuffs. easy-peasy. choosing evening entertainment? a cinch - by the time i'm done in the kitchen i'm pooped - a quick walk down the beach and it's time to hit the hay. 4:45 a.m. comes around really fast. i love everything about this simple time of my year.
i will admit to missing my youngest son, who has to head back to town for school several weeks before i'm done. but he and dad managed to get to the first day of school fine, made all the swim team practices without me reminding him, and kept the house reasonably clean. now i just have to remember i'm only cooking for three, not eight to ten...
i have lots of photos to post as soon as i get them downloaded. it was a beautiful sunny summer for the most part. a few good foggy rainy days which delays some client switch-outs, but it wasn't too bad. so now i look forward to catching up with the blog world...and my laundry...

why i want to be an oyster catcher

oyster catchers are a striking seabird i just love watching. they are solid black, with a glorious lonnngg orange beak, and they play a great cat and mouse game to keep you away from their nests, which they tend to create right smack on the beach, just out of reach of the tide line.

so, how easy is housekeeping for an oyster catcher?? check it out - let's just scatter some broken shells and lay our eggs! jeekers! no twigs, no fluffy stuff. obviously there is no pampering for baby oyster catchers. looks like they have to break the shell and hit the beach running! i'm going to point this out to my children the next time they think they have life rough.

i found this nest a couple weeks ago when we took the skiff over to long island, just a quick 20 minute ride from town. it's taken us 8 years to talk my mom into going on the boat with us, but we finally did it:

she just turned 83. she had a blast on the ride, but made me promise not to post any of those photos because her hair was messy. it was a beautiful day, the kind that reminds you why you love living on an island in alaska.

my pal duffy loves to be the navigator. he frequently dives in and swims along. we let him go until we see the sea lions snort, then yard him back in.

we were babysitting duff's sister snickers for a week, she also loves a good boat ride. gotta love her coast guard approved life jacket!

see what i mean? the perfect place to live.

and every morning when i wake up i say a thank you prayer that i no longer have to stand on the back deck of a seiner, piling corks and getting slapped in the face with jellyfish. you should too. you should also be sure to find out if the salmon you are eating is wild alaskan salmon, because if it is farmed fish, it is taking away the livelihood of fishermen and their families like the folks in the picture above.
with that soap box moment, i will say my goodbyes, as i am leaving tomorrow for ugak bay. i can't wait to get back to the lodge, meet new folks, and cook! having all that fresh seafood to work with is incredible. i sure wish chef ramsey would drop in for a visit, so i could wow him with my fresh crab cakes - ha ha. if he ever did show up in my kitchen i would be cowering in the corner...

at any rate, there is no internet at the bay, so i'll be snapping photos like mad to share with you when i return in early october! all of you take good care! and if you are in one of those places that is sweltering in temperatures i can't even imagine...this photo is for you. it's my front yard at ugak bay. just visualize yourself there for a quick cool down.

my spankin' new remodeled workroom!

for the past, almost 2 months, i have been working on redoing my workspace. what a journey. what a bunch of stuff i have. i thought thea had a mess of stuff. i have a mess of mess. or had. i have been purge~ing, organizing, cleansing. i have scoured organizing magazines, blogs, and websites. i have thrown things away and then panicked and pulled them out of the dumpster. i wonder if there is a medication i could benefit from.

in the end, my inner feng shui master and i came to an agreement. i think it all worked out okay. i painted, changed my mind and repainted several times. i now rest easier knowing there isn't a single spider in my workroom. all the cracks & dings in the drywall have been patched. i have good lights. i've put all my awesome old wooden fish egg boxes to great use.

all my stuff is in its own special spot, and yes, the walls are the colour of pea soup, as my youngest son pointed out. i really like pea soup. i'm not a frilly person, but darn if i don't like my pink shelves. when i asked my husband if he could make me a simple workbench tall enough for me to work at without getting a neck ache, he made me the Ferrari of all workbenches, that 3 elephants could dance on. i won't be moving the workbench around anytime soon.

archie and edith, my super wonderful new washer & dryer, are thrilled to have a room befitting their status. i am thrilled to have 3 separate work areas dedicated to my different medias. my fabrics and sewing machines are housed in my son's old room for now...with the door closed so i don't start in on that room yet...

it's a great feeling to be finished. sadly, i won't be able to dig in and use it as it's time for me to head out to ugak bay for another season of cooking for the fishermen, but i will be smiling knowing my room, which has been taped off to keep they boys out while i'm gone, is waiting for me.

you may have noticed della up there in one of the photos. let me just share with you she wasn't a whole lot of help with this project. she got pretty testy when i mentioned she might put down the egg beaters and pick up a paint brush. but, i have to hand it to her, she does know when it's time for a nice glass of merlot.

okay here it is, the mom brags about college grad post. allow me the moment please.

we spent a great weekend at the coast with thea before coming home. spent a fabulous day doing nothing but flying kites on the beach. it was the best.

jeekers, isn't it something how easy it is to let things slide once they start the actual "sliding"? i never really meant to never come back to blogspace...it all started mid-may when he-who-never-takes-a-day-off-work-period and i left the island for the first time in, well a few years, to attend our daughter's college graduation.

i have to say, being off-island was, well a lot of different things. so many people! so many cars! man what a lot of cars, and roads. and it smells...funny in the states. everyone rushes everywhere. there isn't a lot of eye contact while walking around. we felt like goof balls after a while, smiling and saying hi to everyone we passed. i told gerry they all probably thought we were politicians.

we probably could have filmed an episode of the beverly hillbillies with us as guest stars. the first grocery store we went in was as good as disney land to me. so many choices of eveything!!! and all so cheap!!! i wanted to buy it all and bring it home and fill my pantry & fridge. gerry was in heaven - they sell beer in grocery stores down there! the rest of the trip he was happy to volunteer to run to the store for us... and what about those check yourselves out lanes??? how fun is that?? i've never seen that before. i scanned my gum over & over just to watch the picture pop up on the screen...until the lady in the little booth can over and asked if i really wanted to pay for it 7 times. she was very kind. when i told her what a fun great idea it was and how do you scan an onion? she gave me a little special smile and asked where i was from. i sortof wanted to tell her new jersey or something.

and there is great coffeee everywhere! sometimes right next door to each other. it was heavenly. i drank so much coffee.

my poor daughter, who has had 4 years to become acclimated to the real world away from our alaskan island home, was very patient, a true testament to her maturity.

here's another amazing thing - you don't have to pump your own gas in oregon! in fact, when gerry got out of the truck to do it, the man in the uniform apprehended him and asked him to please get back in his vehicle! we were shocked! why can't we have uniform gas station guys on kodiak, so i wouldn't have to get soaked pumping my own gas in the sideways rain???

i also don't think folks in that states know about xtra tuffs. i didn't see a single pair in salem. i did see a lot of well-dressed fellows who smelled, well, nice. as in not like boat bilge or fish sludge. another big treat. and riding in elevators - i love elevators! and escalators! it's a pity how in a hurry everyone always seemed to be - i just loved enjoying the ride up, but almost everyone else combined running with escalator riding...

and so many places to shop and eat! how does anyone down there ever decide on a restaurant - they are everywhere, all kinds, sometimes right next to each other - crazy. much easier here, there are about 8 choices. thea tells me it's all about word of mouth. i just know when i finally found the dunkin donuts i beat on gerry til he pulled in, and ate 6 sugary wonders in under 10 minutes, and, felt no guilt. it'd been a lonnnng time since i had a dunkin donut.

then there was the graduation event itself. it was a glorious sunny day, and we had not seen the actual orb of the sun for a couple of months or so...but we had to sit under a tent.

this tent was bigger than our local high school. it gave me a stomach ache thinking about how many people could, and did, fit under it. more than in our town i believe. and these folks were wonderful to behold, all dressed to the nines, i felt like i was at the grammy awards or something. then there gerry & i were, freshly scrubbed day-glo skin (a result of not seeing the sun for a very long time) in our flip-flops and aloha shirts, trying not to move so we wouldn't break a sweat - man it gets HOT down there. at any rate, we minded our manners and gerry stayed awake for the whole thing. i cried so much the nice fellow next to me gave me all his kleenex.

one of the things i remembered while all the important and really smart folks were speaking during the ceremony was an afternoon when thea was around one and a half. i had taken her to the beach for a picnic on a wonderful sunny day. we had a great time, she splashed, we made castles, she found a nice dead fish, put it in her mouth...but it was time to go home. thea didn't want to. she screamed, rolled on the ground, threw her toys, all the things a tired sun kissed toddler does. my arms were full of blankets, baskets of toys, stuff. i was just trying to guide her to the car. along the way through the woods we crossed paths with an elderly couple. i thought what a horrible impression we must be making. the lady stopped me and said "don't you ever wish these moments would hurry up and be over, because you know what? they will be, and you will be wishing them back."

- oh my gosh, she was so right. here i am thinking - when did this

turn into this?????????

or this (her little tights were so baggy we could pull them up over her head)

into this???

and how did she get so much stuff??? (what a good girl though, see her box of wild alaskan cod fillets!)

so, she is all graduated. she is the first one in our immediate family to do so (her mom still needs a math and oral communications credit. not going to happen at this point) and she managed to get not one but two degrees, in anthropology and english. she has a good job and a decent apartment. and a lot of stuff. we are really proud of her. and while i really really miss my snowboarding partner....

...since she isn't coming home looks like i'll get to drive her sweet ride! oh yeah!

so this is the end of my bragging post. for all of you young moms with little girls out there let me take on the role of the elderly lady (since i am). here's my two cents. pick your fights. ignore their stink eye looks (you will know what i mean when your girls reach the age of roughly, 14. never stop brushing their hair. never let them fall asleep with tears in their eyes, especially if they were put there by a boy. let them have a boyfriend - boyfriends are a mom's best teaching tool. remember they are never too old to bundle into the car in their pj's past bedtime to make a late night run to mcdonald's for ice cream. tell them they are beautiful every day. tell them you love them more than once every day. and when they are in college and they ask for your opinion, hedge, because they really don't want it, they want to be able to show you they have their own opinions now.

girl time with della

you all remember my friend della? we recently had a little girl time when she came to my hair appointment with me. my wonderful friend valene has been washing the grey right out of my hair for quite a while (so long now i can't really remember what color my hair actually was...). valene is a true artist, a dear friend, and has the kindest soul ever. our daughters are close in age and have been friends since grade school, they've grown up dancing together. so valene and i always have lots of fodder to chat about during my monthly visits to her happy chair.

a little over a year ago valene joined the local gym and decided to take part in their body transformation campaign. man oh man did she ever whip herself into shape. she not only won the campaign, or challenge, but she took it to the next level by competing in the alaska body building championships in anchorage this spring - and won her division!! then she went to the competition in boise idaho, and won there as well!

and do you know - they don't hand out trophies at these events....she got a tricked-out shining awesome sword!! really, a big ole "be nice or i will cleave you in half" type thing. she has it hanging over the mirror at her station. i told her i was pretty sure she would never get a complaint on a hair cut or color no matter what she did now.... (seriously, she never gets complaints, she is amazing)

i am so proud of her, and happy for her. she has weathered some rough times this past year, but never gave up. she is a strong, beautiful person, and my personal hero.

and since she found nothing at all she could do that would improve della's beautiful hair style, della likes her also. we shared our mad housewife wine and a t shirt with valene, because she deserves it!

yay valene & della!

i've been gone so long i don't know where to start...

yikes, i've been away from my blog since early may??? how can that be? and now how will i ever be able to catch up?? so much has happened, so much to tell and show...i'm overwhelmed. i've made stuff, went on a trip - off this island!!! - graduated a daughter from college, came back home, made more stuff, am tearing apart my work room, petting lots of new yarn at work...my air force son became an F-15 crew chief... so much stuff... so let's just jump into the "really really big news" (do any of you remember the ed sullivan show?)

remember back in my last post (i know, dig deep the memory should be there somewhere..) i mentioned a super secret project i couldn't talk about yet? well, now i can, and here it is:

some of my sea glass necklaces are being featured in the gift bags being handed out to celebrities this weekend at the MTV Movie Awards!!!!! can you stand it? i can't, i am totally besides myself. just think, by this time monday maybe lady gaga will be admiring her new dye~ing to be yours sea glass necklace from kodiak in her boudoir mirror....or perhaps johnny depp will be hanging his from the rear view mirror of his newest BMW....or maybe the entire cast of glee will be wearing them in the next episode....

hey, a gal can dream right?here they are before i sent them off on their big journey. they were shaking in their wrappings they were so excited!

my second big news is that i have finally taken the giant step of opening an etsy shop. i've been lurking etsy forever. it's a frightening thing offering your work to the public. what if no one looks at it?? but i figure as soon as lady gaga steps out with her new deb-bling, her fans will track me down. (more dreaming)

so, go take a peek. i'm just posting a few new pieces here and there, no sense flooding the market... www.etsy.com/shop/debsea61

and i will be back soon with more catching up stuff!

della gets some freah air...

i took advantage of a glorious sunny day to get della out of the house for a quick trip down to the boat harbor earlier this week. i can already tell this will be a fun journey for she & i.
check this gal out. fearless in the grips of a world famous kodiak brown bear. just goes to show you what a pair of egg beaters can do for a women's courage. well, that and a bottle of mad housewife merlot

i really loathe being photographed, but della wanted in on some "deadliest catch" limelight, and i didn't trust her at the edge with the breeze that was blowing (the poor thing is thin as a reed) mostly i was hoping the fellow making google eyes at her from the wheelhouse on the left would show up, but he hid too quick. trust me, it was comical. stay tuned for lots more from della soon!

i am excited about my new camera - a far cry from the super simple point & shoot kodak i've had for years, this is a brand spanking new scarey black canon powershot G11, with buzzers, buttons and twisty things. i've got a lot of reading to do. it took me a week to get photos downloaded from it...but look what popped up out of the dirt for me to take my first photo of! see, it is spring for us now too! and it hasn't snowed yet this week!