Purl, Interrupted

knitting and kayaking

But wait, there's more.

First, an obligatory "knitting in the tent" self-portrait. The hat is for a friend's baby born last week. The yarn is that stretchy Cascade Fixation, in bright, lovely, self-striping colors. It's pretty cute.

And here's a 5th anniversary self-portrait with kayaks on Willard Island.

blackstone bay

Had a wonderful camping trip to Blackstone Bay this weekend with our visiting friends, Lauri and Joel.

Friday was cool and cloudy. We took a water taxi out on to Willard Island that afternoon, set up camp, then went for a short paddle up to the very beautiful Beloit Glacier. It was my first time back in a kayak since my second shoulder surgery ... four years ago. I have to admit that the shoulder didn't hold up quite as I'd hoped. Fortunately we were in a double and I could take lots of breaks and just hang out and take photos. It was a beautiful paddle -- I'd never been out there and it was pretty spectacular. Enjoyed a campfire -- and a humpback whale sighting -- that evening.

Saturday the weather was amazing -- sunny, no clouds, water like glass. We went for a longer paddle to Beloit and Blackstone glaciers (although were kept at a pretty considerable distance by the ice). A really amazing trip. Had another campfire that night, and, this time, actually had the entire island to ourselves as the other group of kayakers had left that afternoon.

Sunday morning was rainy and cold and I will admit that I missed the pop-up camper ever so slightly. But Terry set up the tarp over the camp table with a view of the glacier, made us coffee and kept us dry until the water taxi picked us up at 1:00.

Overall it was a great weekend. Here are a couple of photos from Saturday's paddle.

Terry and me watching the Beloit glacier.

Lauri and Joel doing their best to impersonate a guidebook cover. Wow it's beautiful here.

happy solstice

This weekend is both the summer solstice and our fifth wedding anniversary. Good times all around. Our friends Joel and Lauri are in town visiting from Milwaukee, and we're heading out to beautiful Blackstone for some kayaking -- my first time in a kayak since getting my shoulder fixed! Should be lots of fun. I'll post some photos when we get back.

first camping trip of the season

As promised, and specifically prompted by the news that Peter continues to read my blog for updates about life here on the last frontier, here are some photos of our camping trip from last weekend. It was the first camping trip of the season, the first fishing trip of the season, and the maiden voyage of our new pop-up camper, Little Nellie.

On the Kenai River, taking a break from fishing.

Terry by the campfire.

Me and Nellie.

The thing I love most about camping.

Family portrait with Little Nellie.

not just knitting ... an actual F.O.!

Shockingly enough, this will be a post about knitting. I know -- it's hard to believe.

We spent the weekend camping in our wonderful new pop-up camper (which will require a separate post extolling its virtues). It was a very low-key weekend, and I did more knitting than I've done in at least a year. I even finished a project -- a baby hat for the Haas's baby-to-be, Logan.

Here are some action pics of knitting by the campfire (and in front of the pop-up camper).

I did very little knitting this past year, and am am way too embarassed to admit how long it's been since I finished a knitting project. I have about 5 scarves really close to completion but haven't finished anything in a long, long time. But I had a lot of fun knitting this weekend ... made the baby hat and came within about 10 rows of finishing a Noro "silk garden" scarf I've had on the needles since before my shoulder replacement surgery.

The most exciting part of the weekend, knitting-wise, is that it got me re-energized enough about knitting that I'm thinking about starting another sweater. Maybe the cardigan in Hip to Knit. I have a sweater's worth of grey cashmerino to work with, so want something worthy of really nice yarn....

sequoia! (or, what makes me the worst wife ever)

This is actually not new news, but falls under "the last thing I did before getting really sick 2 weeks ago"....

I was really struck, during the GNT, at how much harder I felt like I was working and how much slower I was going than the folks who were zooming past me on road bikes. Maybe it's b/c I'm appallingly out of shape and was having a protracted asthma attack for most of the race. And maybe it's b/c I'm terribly afraid of crashing so ride the breaks on all the downhills. But maybe it's at least partly because my adorable flowered urban cruiser, my first "big girl" bike in 5 years, is not exactly a performance machine.

So ... what better way to celebrate Terry's birthday than a trip to the bike store? How about a trip to the bike store to get me a new bike? And here it is:

Yes, this does officially make me the worst wife ever. In all fairness, he had gotten both a new bike AND a new car in the previous 2 months.

No action shots of the bike yet, but I'm delighted to report that I felt pretty comfortable riding it, first around the bike store parking lot for about 30 minutes, and later out on the coastal trail. The shoulder held up nicely and I didn't feel terribly unsteady. (On a related note, I think I've discovered that the reason I was so afraid of road bikes for so long is that I've never before had one that was properly sized for me, which this one is).

Homer, here I come!

Next Stop: Homer

OK, my post-GNT blogging has been pretty severely curtailed by getting really sick for the last two weeks. We've had a terrible allergy season here, and my asthma wound up completely out of control. Many doctors visits later, I feel like I'm finally on the mend and can start thinking about fun things again.

Like doing another triathlon!

I didn't like the idea of having all of my big training goals met by mid-May, so started looking for another event to do. I thought about trying to do the Skinny Raven half marathon in August (and still might ...), but am worried that my foot/arch/shin splint problems might preclude that kind of intense running-only event. And I really enjoyed doing the triathlon. So ... the (tentative) new goal for summer is the Homer Marathon Triathlon.

It's longer than the GNT in all events -- 1000m swim (as opposed to 500m), 15 mile bike (as opposed to 10 mile) and 5 mile run (as oposed to 4.1 mile). But it's also three months away, which should allow for plenty of time to get up to speed. As an added bonus, it's on my birthday, which I figure should give me an extra push of adrenaline.

More details to come as they emerge....