Fruit of Fall

Rosehips

Highbush Cranberries

Sleeping Lady

Beautiful drive off the Kenai Penninsula today. Looks like I'm going to "winter up" in Anchorage. Join a bowling league, swim at the Y and enjoy beautiful sunsets on Sleeping Lady.

Dusty Millers

Still growing pretty good. Took this pic today.

As an added bonus try this on for a laugh: Download

One last look

at the lodge view on the Kenai.

Thanks Jimmie Jack's Lodge for an exciting summer!

Hope in the Fall

Took the side road to Hope on my way down the Seward Hwy.

Up on the Roof

Snowmachine decoration on the roof of a cabin on the Richardson Hwy near the Edgerton cutoff. Caught my eye.

Sketti Faces

Only the kid in us knows how to eat Grandmama's woodstove baked meatballs and sketti.


Bunch of sketti faces at my sister Niki's in Kenny Lake tonight.

Boats Galore

This was yesterday around the spit at the Valdez Small Boat Harbor. Beautiful day and I went to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned and ended up getting a cavity filled and 2 back upper and lower molars pulled. So I was out of it.

Valdez Bound

Saw these two rigs micro hunting on the Glen. Who made these?

The Edgerton Hwy 10 to Kenny Lake, Chitina and McCarthy.

Port Valdez.

Downtown Alaska

Only minutes away.

And we got guns.

FishTaxi Pointed North

Off the Kenai for a bit. Beautiful drive with the fall colors turning. Took my time and enjoyed the scenic Seward Hwy. Safe and sound in Anchortown.

Alaska Caviar & Vodka

The Cure.

Its all in the cure.

Eat local, drink local.

Fish Kabob

Don't these fish look good enough to eat.

Thank-you Phyliss! Hope you make it back to Alaska soon.

ALBERTS Fish Kabob~ made in china

On Top of Spaghetti

All covered with cheese

I lost my poor meatball

when somebody sneezed

It rolled off the table

and onto the floor

then my poor meatball

rolled out of the door

It rolled on much further

and into a lake

then my poor meatball got

ate by a snake

The snake got digested

My meatball at him

And they both went to heaven

In a bottle of gin

~author unknown

Got a hankering for a big ol' pot of spaghetti and meatballs. Course you can't make a small pot. So what does a cook do on her time off? Cook and clean and sing and blog.

A trick I would like to pass on is bake the meatballs. My mom used to stand there and fry them. Thats what I did til I found out baking them is just as good and easier on the cook.

Last Weekend

Of the summer on the Kenai. I'm getting short on my time here. Yesterday I was enjoying a Permafrost Martini at the Duck Inn when who pulls up but the Candy Van. All the way from Willow down here for a headbanging concert at the ranch. Serving up soft ice cream cones, espresso, 50+ candy bars and foot long hotdogs.

A real ranch with horses, llamas, chickens and a boat!

King Crab Crackers

...all clean on a green kitchen towel.

Pale Ice

Got a couple good tips lately for making dinners so I splurged and bought a six-pack of Alaskan Brewing Company - Our Brew - Alaskan Pale. I usually drink Coors Light which is picnic beer compared to Pale Ale.

Not sure yet where I'm going for the winter but I do know I'll be going to Valdez and picking up my canning equipment. I can store it here and next year set up in the garage and can Kenai River Sockeye instead of Copper River. A reds a red.

Texas Ceegars

"Mama, don't let your cowboys grow up to be babies. "

Hunters were stranded in Dutch Harbor due to remnants of a Japenese Typhoon. So, instead of Scotland Scotch and a fresh reindeer kill somewhere on the Aluetian Chain, it was fishing on the Kenai. And my cooking. So much for down time. Is August over with yet?

Blogging from the Bluff

We had some down time so I hooked up my laptop out on the bluff and tuned into Radio Paradise.

I wanted to do this all summer.

Wish you all were here with me.

Cook/Cleaner

Here is a perfect example of what I do for a living. Thats my mop bucket whom I dance with every other day. On the burner are 4 different kinds of mushrooms. The grill is preheating to just the right temperature for searing steaks. In the oven is Alaska fresh caught salmon. The twice-baked potatoes are hot on the stove. The table is set and the salad plated. Wine is opened, poured and everyone is seated. The aroma of tarragon sifts through the door open while I'm bbqing in the August rain.

Beefing up my resume.

Loose Moose

Moose hunting opened on the Kenai Penninsula August 20th. Seems early to me since I'm used to Unit 13 where it doesn't open til the 1st of September. Where did the summer go.

Went into the Moose is Loose and never did find out what a Hunters Loaf was. My mission was to buy 3 Red Salmon Cookies to put on the table for centerpieces. Found out at 11am that I was making a King Crab dinner for the lodge at 6pm. No time to make fish cookies. Thank goodness for local bakeries.

Dinner was a success! I gathered all the scissors and let everybody crack their own King Crab. I wasn't cutting them in half like they do at Louie's Deadliest Catch.