Hello, Sun. I've missed you.

Maybe it's the sudden glut of Vitamin D after the long dark, or maybe it's the toasty 40 degree temps, but I am so twitterpated with Alaska right now.

Our lovely teenager moose who's been hanging around lately.

We took the chance to go to Creamer's Field, a local retired-dairy-farm-turned-bird-sanctuary-and-set-of-hiking-trails.  It will shortly be covered in birds--geese, swans, ducks, sandhill cranes, and little tweeter birds. Some will just be taking a breather on their way to their breeding grounds in the Arctic, but others too old or young or lazy to fly north and breed will hang out for the summer.

Ski-joring--when you strap on skis and make the dog do the work.

We've never gone during the winter before, but nobody has to be carried any more so we suited up and headed out.  We deliberately went early before the sun could make everything sloppy.  There was easily a foot of packed hard-crust snow on the path.  It was weird how far you could see through naked trees.  We took the Boreal Trail, a mile-long hike through a seasonal lake and birch forest.  The girls were troopers.  Aeryn packed snacks and they took turns carrying the bag, including Echo.

When we went there weren't too many critters. Only one pair of over-eager swans had arrived at that point. Otherwise, there were a couple of haggard, tweaky squirrels and some bossy little chickadees.  Chickadees are one of my favorite types of bird.  I mean, they're basically a mouthful of feathers, but they've got chutzpah.  There was a trio that was fighting over territory; when we walked through they continued fighting with each other but also started chirping at us about how badly they were going to mess us up if we didn't keep moving. Fluffy little thugs.

The swans are the little white dots in the middle.

*Update* This is Creamer's two weeks after our trip.  Less white, more wet.

The days are getting longer.  The sun is up at an unholy hour and parties waaaaaay past its bedtime.  (As of this writing, sunrise is 5:34 AM and sunset is 10:04.)  It's only going to get longer.  And brighter.  It's exhausting and invigorating at the same time.

The longer days mean the snow is melting fast.  In two weeks we've gone from almost two feet of snow to piles of slush with the delightful crunch of Sonic ice. This means that everything is flooding.  The rivers are in the middle of break-up, and thanks to the longer winter and sudden warmth, it's been pretty dynamic. Ice jams have caused some minor flooding in Fairbanks, with the river riding high due to the jams and the extra melt-water.  The one in town has cleared, but there's still one on post.

Aeryn with some of the chunks of ice from the Chena after the jam cleared.  It's so clear on the bottom!  Some of these were over two feet thick.

The ice jam on the Chena where it runs through Ft. Wainwright.

The rivers aren't the only things flooding right now.  The school trail by our house is inundated; the girls have christened it The Enchanted Lake a la Anne of Green Gables...and have gone kayaking.

With break-up underway, it's also time for the Nenana Ice Classic--the town of Nenana (about an hour south of Fairbanks on the Parks Highway) sets up a tripod on the frozen river.  A line runs from the tripod to a clock; when the ice melts and the tripod falls, the clock stops.  People all over the world place bets on the date and time the tripod will fall for $2 a shot.  The person (or people) with the closest right time split the pot with the town of Nenana and the charities of Nenana's choice.  As of today, it hasn't fallen, but we're getting *really* close.

Once the travel restrictions were lifted, we got out of Fairbanks for the first time in five months.  We took a socially-distanced trip to Salcha and got ice-cream from The Knotty Shop.  The girls approved.  Bren drove back, and we all lived.  She's learning.

Our last adventure was tapping a birch tree. We've never done it, so we thought we'd try.  It was kind of a wild hare idea, therefore we didn't have the proper gear (a cord-free drill and spile, the tube you shove into the tree).  Rick recommended a video of a bushcrafter tapping birch with a knife, so after a quick watch I grabbed the KA-BAR and a cup.  First, we found a tree with a diameter greater than 8 inches.  I made my initial stab and had to hammer it in a little bit to get an inch deep.  Then I cut an upside-down V into the bark and folded it down to make a little drip-spout. I had to use the knife to pin it down, but it worked.

While the sap dripped, Brenna and I gathered some of the pitch that had crystallized on nearby spruce.  We melted it and set it aside.  After two hours we checked our set up and found we had nearly a whole cup.  Since we weren't collecting to make syrup (it can take more than 100 gallons of sap to make a single gallon of syrup) we called it a day.  Using the melted pitch, we covered the cuts I made in the birch tree--it works like a band-aid to prevent drying or infection.  

Inside, we filtered the sap to get rid of the little bits of bark and other debris.  Since we weren't making syrup, we opted to drink it.  Scandinavians (and Alaskans, I assume) have been drinking it for countless generations.  It's full of amino acids, antioxidants, vitamins B and C, proteins, a little sugar...all the things a growing tree needs.  It's a decent source of water if you're lost in the wild during the right season, and safer than drinking out of beaver-laden rivers.

I don't know what I was expecting--maybe a thinned down maple-syrup flavor--but I was pleasantly surprised.  It tasted like watery tea, with a powdery aftertaste of marshmallow. I really enjoyed it. So did most of the girls.  

That's all for now.  We'll return with new adventures soon.

The two little blurs are parachuters landing on Birch Hill.

Sunset. So freaking bright.

Behind the Curtain

We're costume people.  I love dressing up.  Halloween, Renaissance Faires, costume parties, themed dress-up days--if there's a costume, we're probably coming regardless of the actual activity.  Over the last couple of weeks in isolation we've been indulging our love of costumes by doing the art-recreation challenge.  Some of the most common questions are about my dress-up stash. Despite some of your assertions, there's nothing magic about it.  To prove it, I would like to take you behind the curtain, so to speak, and ruin the magic, and walk you through building your own handy costume closet.

Just like anything, you need to start with some good basics.  Solid colored t-shirts, leggings, and slacks are a great place to start--preferably in black, blue, white, and brown. These are the skeletons of most costumes--with the right accessories, a black t-shirt and leggings can be a cat, bat, fairy, pirate, executioner, ninja, plague doctor, mime, witch, vampire, Westley from The Princess Bride, and so many other things.

The next step is using things you already own--loose cardigans, scarves, shawls, vests, and uniquely patterned or styled dresses can all be called into duty as costume pieces when the occasion calls for them.  One of my most used pieces is a black broomskirt from my long-distant belly-dance days.  Over the years it's been part of various ensembles--steampunk, Bellatrix Lestrange, witch, saloon-girl, moon, and gypsy.

The following sequence of costumes are based around just a few core pieces: A white shirt, the aforementioned broomskirt, and leggings.  Everything else is accessories.  This should start to give you an idea of how much you can do with a little.

Thrift stores are a great place to start hunting for additions to your box.  Look for sturdy, simple pieces that can be used multiple ways.  Interesting patterns, materials, and silhouettes are perfect. Try to avoid anything that is too specific.  You can use a white poet shirt for a pirate, for example, but a cheap, one-piece pirate costume can only ever be used as a pirate costume. You'll get a more authentic look by combining individual pieces instead of buying a mass produced single-use costume, and you're more likely to use the pieces over and over again.

Sometimes, however, there are exceptions.  A small selection of costumes can be very useful, especially for styles and costumes that are difficult to replicate with contemporary clothes.  In our collection, we have several Renaissance and Medieval style dresses as well as multiple cloaks.  Even these can be tweaked to achieve different characters and effects by something as easy as tucking sleeves or adding an extra piece of fabric.  Don't believe me?

This is our basic dress.

Shawl.

Tucked sleeves, lowered neckline.

Piece of lace added as a fake front.

Extra fabric in the sleeves.

Fur cloak.

Lowered neckline, new sleeves made from spare red material.

Sheer veil brings an entirely different feel.

Another staple of a good costume box is bedsheets.  I'll say that again.  BEDSHEETS.  These are the schiz-nit.  Backdrop? Sheet. Working a Nativity? Sheet.  Roman Toga? Sheet. In fact, just have a collection of loose material of different sizes and fabrics. A little lace can be a cravat, a handkerchief, or Whistler's Mother's cap; a strip of gauze can be a veil or a shawl or a belt.  How it's draped or tied or pinned can make all the difference in the world.

Accessories are one of my favorite parts.  Gloves, headbands, shawls, goggles...accessories will change the entire feel of a costume. In some cases, they can even be the crowning touch.  Luckily, they are also usually small or multipurpose and don't take up a whole lot of room.

Hats can be fun. They're also optional. It completely depends on the look you're going for.  A small variety of hair accessories can also come in handy. I keep a small stash of ribbons for tying things and some of the fancier historical coiffures.

Somehow I forgot to add our witch hat and crowns to the mix.  Oh well.

Like everything else, get shoes that can be adapted to various themes.  With few (very odd) exceptions, these can also be a part of your normal wardrobe. Simple flats, knee-high boots that can be worn straight or folded down, and heavy black leather shoes like Doc Martins or combat boots are some of the ones we use over and over again.

I'm not a jewelry girl in everyday life, but I do love it in costumes.  Bracelets and necklaces and rings, oh my! A little bling can go a long way.  A lot of bling can go even further. Try to strike a balance between unique and classic.  Bonus points if it's something you'll wear in everyday life.

Makeup...I usually don't do a ton of makeup unless I'm doing facial hair on someone.  I actually keep an eyeliner pencil just for this purpose.  It also gets used on eyes, of course, but there's just something satisfying about sketching on a beard.

Props--well, here you can go as big or small as you want. Most of the time you can find something close enough around your household, so take a look before you go buy something, especially if you only plan on using it once. Toyboxes can be a great place to start your search.  We have a small variety of historical replicas of firearms, a couple wands, a fan or two, a WWI style gas mask, etc.  They are not a large part of our stash, but they do come in useful from time to time. (For the sake of clarification, the things I've listed are A, fake, and B, in their own tub in the garage, not my kids' toybox.  Don't call CPS.)

A great example of using stuff around your house.  Snowpants instead of coveralls, a cardigan instead of a coat, a scraper for a pitchfork.  

And what if you can't find it? Well, sometimes you have to make it.  Bren has made multiple corsets for various costumes, and enhanced her steampunk top hat.  Hot glue is a lazy costumer's best friend. For example, the tricorn hat in the earlier pictures is just a black cowboy hat with the brim hot-glued to the crown.  Add my saloon-girl headpiece (cloth roses, a feather, and some lace hot-glued to a barrette), and the highwayman's headgear becomes a lady pirate's hat. Add a face mask, and you're ready to try your luck with the ladies in the piazza during Carnival. Unglue one side and the back, and you have a Musketeer's chapeau.  See?  Reuse and repurpose.

Most importantly--KEEP ALMOST EVERYTHING.  If you like dressing up at all, you will probably find a use for things more than once.  If it's a good piece, then get a tub and put it aside for another year. If it's shredded, too small, deeply uncomfortable, or you just loathe it with every fiber of your soul, then, yes, get rid of it. Don't hang on to things you hate--you will not use them, and that's just a waste of space.  If you have a good set up, though, you can whip up costumes in less than 10 minutes.

Rick and his brother Gregg, after deciding at the last minute to dress up for Halloween.

And that's it. Nothing magical and it all fits in a pair of tubs. It's good for years, easy to acquire and, for the most part, inexpensive. Good luck on your costuming adventures!  I super believe in you, Tad Cooper.