Juneau Day 2

Ferry in the Gastineau Channel as we flew into Juneau from Sitka on Friday evening.

Juneau from the air.  I really wanted to get up to visit the capital but since we were afoot and there were many hills, I did not. Knees do not like to climb hills any longer.

Another view of Juneau from the air.

We got to downtown Juneau on Sunday morning before all of the tourists were out and about.  I managed to get this picture of one of the streets without interference of tourists.

Juneau is built at sea level, but the mountains begin immediately and it is not at all unusual to see these stairways going uphill to homes.

I love Turrets.

Another downtown picture.

Stairway between two buildings up to homes on the hill.

We took a bus out to the Mendenhal Glacier in the afternoon.  The walk out to the glacier itself was a rather pleasant one. About one mile along a very well maintained trail. Of course, with my bum knees, it took us much longer than normal but I made it.  Along the way, I spotted this huge boulder with the white rock embedded in it. I have no idea what it was, but you can see veins of it running through the rock.  One thing about walking slowly, you see so many more things that you miss when you make a beeline to the destination.

A blooming cottonwood. May have missed this too if I were not strolling (limpimg) along the path.

As close as we could get.  Apparently a few years ago, the glacier covered the rocks to the right of the picture completely.  By looking at the picture, you could imagine that it also went up to the green line to the left side of the glacier also. Because it was a rather overcast day, the glacier presented as a beautiful blue.

Nugget Falls, right beside the glacier.  In the foreground is the reflection of the falls in a small pond.

I wanted to stick around long enough for Cassandra to arrive and see how she answered but we had a bus to catch and I do not walk a 10 minute mile any longer.
Hope she said yes.

Fireweed along the trail.

I have no idea what they are, but I found them rather pretty.

Again, I know we missed much of what there is to see because we were afoot. A car would be nice so we could explore the 40+ miles of roads. I really felt like we missed a lot, but after walking all over Sitka and the walking we did do in Juneau, we were beat and made an early retreat to our hotel.

Happiness is

RUNNING THROUGH THE SPRINKLER WITH YOUR COUSIN

That's all.

A weekend in Southeastern Alaska Day one.

On Friday morning, Stan and I got up early and caught a flight from Seattle to Juneau Alaska.  From there we immediately flew to Sitka. I apologize for some of these pictures.  Some were taken from about 30,000 feet in the air. Others were taken from the ground, but through dirty airplane windows and a few were taken through the mist.

As we approached Juneau, Stan spotted this volcano in the far distance. You can see the steam rising from it.

I had heard many stories about the Juneau airport being one of the most dangerous in the country.  It has a short landing /take off strip. When you take off, it looks like you are flying directly into this mountain.  You do make a right turn and follow a channel up and out of the valley.

This is one of the first sights that greets you when you land in Juneau.
The Mendenhal Glacier.

I really do like taking pictures from the air.  This is one of the sights between Juneau and Sitka.  You get a far different view of the world from the top :)

The harbor in Sitka with Mt. Edgecumbe in the background.

Fishing boats in Sitka Sound, with lighthouse in the background.

Russian Orthodox Church, built literally in the center of town. The street splits and goes around it.

A few steps short of 100 take you up to the site known as Castle Hill. It was at this spot that  Russia transferred ownership of Alaska to the US.

Sitka is the home of the amazing Sheldon Jackson Museum. Mr. Jackson was a Presbyterian missionary and the first General Agent of Education for Alaska.  In his travels, he collected an amazing collection of artifacts. The curator of the museum allowed and even encouraged taking pictures.
The above picture is of bags made from gut.

The museum artifacts cover all of the native cultures.  The Inupiats and the Yup'ik of the North west The interior Athabascans,  The Aleut and Alutiiq of the Aleutian Islands, the Peninsula, Kodiak Island and parts of the Peninsula. The Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian of the Northwest Coast. Sitka is included in the later group.
The bags shown here were used as common household items, holding food and tools, much as we use our Tupperware today.

An amazing beaded bag.  I would carry this today if I were so lucky to own one.

This basket was made of sea grass.

Waterproof hunting clothes.  The stitching in this was so amazing.  Even stitches and so close together. If one did not know better, one would think it was sewn on a Bernina.
Sorry for the glare.  Everything was, understandably, under glass. I felt lucky to be allowed to take pictures.

A birch bark canoe.

I just found this smoke stack interesting.  Do not have any history on it.  It was one one of the buildings in the Sheldon Jackson  school compound

The people on this boat must have just returned to the harbor. They were sorting fish.

Another view of the harbor with the lighthouse in the background.

The old High School.

I did not get the history of this building, but loved the architecture.

We did not have a car on this trip.  I would love to go back and rent a car so I could go further out. There is so much that we did not see. I would also like to get out of the downtown tourist area. There are not many roads here at all, but I think we could get a few miles out and take in even more of the breathtaking beauty.

I did not get a picture of the airport, but you landed on an island across a channel from Sitka and then drove across a bridge to reach the city.  We were lucky enough to catch a ride with a man whose son picked him up at the airport. They dropped us off on the main street with direction to the "best" breakfast spot in town.

We flew back to Juneau in the evening and spent the night there and walked Juneau on Saturday.  Those pictures next.

Dress a Girl around the World.

About a year ago, I joined this organization as a sewer. We sew dresses for disadvantaged girls around the world. The original premise was to take a pillow slip and create a very simple dress from it.  Many still do that, but I have kind of left the reservation. I found I did not enjoy sewing pillowslips into dresses. I wanted to create more. Today, I use exclusively fabric and have altered the original pattern a bit.

One of the first changes I made to the original DAG pattern was to eliminate the elastic across the top of the dress and add a yoke instead.

Made from coordinating fabrics with the added yoke.

My eldest daughter, who does not sew, crocheted four tops for me.  I added the skirt.

Sometimes, I like to add a peek a boo of lace under the dress. I added the contrast fabrics to extend the print I had. By doing this, I had enough fabric for three dresses. The yoke is shirred with three rows of elastic. I started making headbands to go with each of the dresses as I make them.

This dress is probably made closest to DAG specifications. A tube of fabric with an elastic top, Bias binding and straps with a pocket. I added the touches of lace just because I can.

This is the back view of a dress I created. It is opened a little down the skirt for ease of putting it on.  Since many of these dresses go to places that the mother may not have access to needles, thread, and/or buttons, we make the dresses as simple as we can. Here, instead of button closure, I added ties to the back.  I also used two widths of fabric because I really do like the extra fullness.

The front of the dress with the headband.  I did not have a red flower.  I  keep my eyes open whenever I am out. If I find a red flower, I will replace the one on this band.

I made this dress from a package of coordinating fat quarters I bought. I tore each quarter into three inch strips and then sewed and serged them back together. The straps are made by constructing tubes that are about 1 inch wide and inserting 3/4 inch elastic into them. When I was finished, I think I had a 3x4 inch strip of fabric left.

A close up of the straps and yoke.

This is the underside of the next dress. I sewed this dress in tiers and at each tier, on the inside, I added a ruffle of lace.

This is my twirl dress. I think every little girl deserves a twirl dress at least one time in her life. On this dress, instead of adding the bias ties, I scooped the front out just a tiny bit, then I sewed a piece of fabric that was cut to fit 1x1 across the top front and back. Across the shoulder area, I added 12 inches for each shoulder into the measurement. Once I sewed it onto the dress front and back, I created a casing that I added elastic to. I have used this idea for several of my dresses.

Almost all of the fabric we use in making our dresses is donated so there is very little expense involved in making a little girl happy. If you would like to become involved, you are welcome to contact me for information, or you can find their website on line.  I am planning to make a trip to Africa next year and have hopes of taking about 1000 dresses with me. I would love to include some of your works in my suitcases.  If you do not feel like you have time to sew, perhaps you have fabric you would like to donate to this project. Again, you can contact me to find out how to do that.