Solar Eclipse
Solar Eclipse : The solar eclipse is the main reason I came out west for vacation. I have seen a partial solar eclipse before, but never a total solar eclipse. It was like Continue Reading →
Snorkeling in Alaska
Snorkeling in Alaska : While planning for my vacation in Alaska, I learned that there is a company, appropriately named Snorkel Alaska, that leads snorkeling tours near Ketchikan. If there is a way for Continue Reading →
Carrie Blast Furnaces
Carrie Blast Furnaces : I’m in Pittsburgh for the long weekend. Today I took a tour with Rivers of Steel of the Carrie Blast Furnaces. The area is part of the former U.S. Steel Continue Reading →
Nuttallburg
Nuttallburg : I started exploring New River Gorge National Park today. It is second on my list of things to see in West Virginia after the capitol. The park is really spread Continue Reading →
Bridge Walk
Bridge Walk : I spent today doing more exploring of New River Gorge National Park, but I started the day by walking across a bridge. The walk across the bridge was under the Continue Reading →

Cross-stitched roses wall hanging

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During COVID, I have been doing a lot of cross-stitching. Then of course, the question is what to do with all these finished cross-stitched projects. Wall hangings are rather easy and give me a way to display them. I found patterns for three lovely roses on Etsy by the same artist, so I decided to finish them as one wall hanging. I used coordinating green fabric to frame each with four different colors of reds and pinks to emphasize the colors of each rose.

This wall hanging also gave me practice sewing. If you look carefully, you can tell, I still need practice sewing. [Although I have done a lot of sewing since I made this months ago.] My main issue is getting pieces to meet and square properly. I think part of the problem, at least for the below project, is that the framing fabric is standard cotton fabric, perfect for quilting. The cross-stitches are obviously done on a different type fo fabric. These are on linen. The fabrics stretch slightly different, and I think that is leading to some problems. Clearly I just need to keep stitching and sewing and practicing more.

Fabric wall hanging with three cross-stitched roses framed in fabric

Finished project of three roses wall hanging

Cross-stitched rose

Up close view of middle rose

Cross-stitched rose

Up close view of left rose

Cross-stitched rose

Up close view of right rose

Framing a cross-stitch with fabric

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With the exception of my really big cross-stitch projects, I don’t frame them. Very often I finish them by putting them on a patted mat board that I then finish with a ribbon to hang them. I really like doing this in particular for holiday and seasonal cross-stitch projects as it makes it easier to take them down and store them until I want to hang them again.

While I was in Alaska on vacation this summer, I bought some wonderful cross-stitch patterns designed by an artist there of Alaska flowers. One pattern was fireweed, and another pattern was forget-me-nots. I loved stitching patterns that represent and remind me of a place I have visited, in this case Alaska. While there, I also found some wonderful fabrics that also showcase Alaska. Fortuitously, I found some fabric printed with fireweed and forget-me-nots, so I used those fabrics to frame the cross-stitch projects.

I just sewed some simple blocks to frame the cross-stitch patterns. I then sewed a back sort of like I was making a pillow. I just didn’t put a pillow in between the front and back. I then sewed a sleeve to the top, put a wooden dowel through the sleeve, and tied a ribbon to hang it.

Fireweed cross-stitch framed with fireweed fabric

Forget-me-not cross-stitch framed with forget-me-not fabric

My Newest Hobby

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I am the type of person who always has to be doing something. It is not exactly that I can’t keep still. It is more that I feel like I always have to be productive. I grant you there are different definitions of what is and is not productive. I generally can’t just watch television. I need to have my hands doing something. [OK maybe I can’t keep still.] That could be something mindless on the computer, but most of the time, I cross-stitch while watching television. I can sit and relax and watch television, but I am still productive as I cross-stitch. Especially since the COVID-19 pandemic, I have gotten a lot of cross-stitching done because I don’t leave the house near as much as previously. Thus, in the past two years, I have finished many wall-hanging and other types of cross-stitching, both the actual stitching and the display method.

Because of the way I wanted to display many of the cross-stitch projects, I started to sew more. That has morphed into sewing becoming a new hobby. I’ve sewn before. I bought my first sewing machine at least twenty years ago. However, my sewing was generally simple straight stitch to make something basic. Most of my sewing is still very basic, but I am starting to do more complex and involved sewing like quilting. I am starting to imagine things I would like to sew now including wall hangings, blankets, table runners, and more. Something I like about sewing is that I can make something useful. Sewing can result in pretty if not exactly functional products, and you can argue about if a wall hanging is functional. Blankets are definitely useful. Table runners are too in my opinion.

I am not saying that all hobbies have to generate something functional. I just tend to gravitate towards those types of hobbies. Part of the reason may be because I really like making things, and then I need to figure out what to do with all these things I have now made. Twenty years ago when I lived in Austin, I started taking pottery lessons. I started with classes using slabs to make things and also extruded clay. I then moved onto throwing pottery on the wheel. I loved it. However I kept making things that I didn’t exactly know what to do with. I made lots and lots of bowls. I learned how to put a rim at the bottom of my steady stream of bowls, so I could make planters. I have many planters, bowls, and other items I made. For a while, family and friends were pretty much guaranteed pottery as a present from me because I couldn’t keep everything I made, nor did I want to keep them. Don’t get me wrong, I loved giving my pottery as presents, and I think most family and friends liked receiving it. It was more a matter of I made another bowl, now what do I do with it?

One of the reasons I love digital photography is that it only takes up electronic storage space. I can print the ones I want, hang them on a wall, and remind myself of the beautiful places I have been. I can keep the rest though and not clutter up my house. While I was working on my Ph.D., I started making things with beads, mainly jewelry. The problem with beading is, you have to buy a whole lot of beads to make one bracelet. I don’t make things with beads that much anymore, but I still have the beads. I can’t quite figure out what to do with them all. I could make jewelry and try to sell it, but lots of people make jewelry, so setting up a tiny, side business is generally more hassle than it is worth. However, I am now getting ideas of how to incorporate beads into sewing projects. These sewing project would not be washable of course.

So now, I am really into sewing, verging on addiction. I have found my new creative outlet. I may try to take some classes. I have already watched way too many videos on YouTube. I bought a new, very fancy, very expensive sewing machine several months ago. [Really it is more a computer that sews.] The people at the store where I bought have been very helpful with tips and information. Thank goodness for people who like to share their knowledge. I have already bought too much fabric, so I need to keep sewing to do things with the fabric.

I will be posting in the coming weeks and months more of my projects, cross-stitching, sewing, etc. I realized there is some stuff that I made that I never shared on this blog. Probably because I was too busy moving onto the next project. So stay tuned.

Ellis Island

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I went to New York City for a quick trip and finally did one of those tourist things that are generally on the last of my list to do. On several occasions, I have traveled to tour a wastewater treatment plant or landfill or some other engineering work, but pure tourist locations are things I go to if I can fit them into my schedule. I visited the Statue of Liberty a couple of decades ago, and I would like to go again. However, for this trip, I visited Ellis Island, partly because they had spots on the hard hat tour of the work being done there available. An interesting historic site plus engineering work definitely fits the bill of my interests. The original Ellis Island immigration building is open including the restored Great Hall (i.e. Registry Room) with numerous interesting exhibits. The hard hat tour however allows you to tour parts of the hospital on the other side of the island that are being stabilized and restored. The buildings are fascinating, especially from a modern viewpoint. [This immediately makes me wonder how someone in 100 years will view our buildings such as hospitals.] I also find the work being done to restore the buildings fascinating. The hard hat tour is a great way for the National Park Service to highlight work that is being done and needs to be done when there is funding. The tour is very informative, but I have to admit the tour could be a lot better. The main problem with the tour is trying to hear the tour guide. There is no audio technology used. It was only how loud the guide talked, and the guide I was with did never bothered to find out if those at the back could hear what he was saying. He rarely waited for everyone to catch up before talking, and as I was generally in the back trying to get photos, I missed half of what he was saying. The audio problem is compounded by the fact that area being toured is an active worksite, so there were also lawnmowers, banging, and other equipment noise in the background. Still, touring the area was fascinating and informative.

Note with the photos below that most of the buildings being restored have had all their windows covered with plywood that has a small plastic window and a ventilation panel. The plywood prevents the elements from getting in and further degrading the structures, and the window and ventilation panel helps prevent mold from growing inside the buildings.

On hospital side of island looking at the original building where the Great Hall is

Ellis Island Great Hall (aka Reception Room)

Building on administrative side of island

Hospital buildings

Laundry room

Hospital buildings

Hallway in hospital

Incinerator

Morgue

Hospital room

Bathroom in hospital

Hospital kitchen

Fixtures in a hospital room

Bathroom in hospital

Hospital room looking towards Liberty Island

Room in contagious disease hospital

Alaska Railroad Denali Star

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We took Alaska Railroad’s Denali Star to get to Denali from Anchorage and also took it back to Anchorage. The route is just gorgeous. It goes along mountain creeks, glacial valleys, river gorges, and lakes. I was also somewhat obsessed with the clouds and the atmospheric features on both trips because the mountains were creating incredibly interesting skies. Note: the photos below are a mix of photos from the trip to Denali and the trip back to Anchorage. Also, some of the photos below include the Nenana River on which I went rafting. Also, a different view of the Hines River, featured in the photo at its confluence with the Riley River, can be seen in my photos from hiking in Denali National Park.

As this is my second round trip on Alaska Railroad, with the trip to Seward being the first, I highly recommend paying extra for Goldstar seats if you are a photographer. Besides the free meals and glass-dome ceilings on the cars, the Goldstar cars also have an outside platform passengers can go out onto at anytime, which obviously makes for much better photos. Also of note, there is an Alaska Railroad employee pointing out places of interest along the journey and letting you know when you might want to get a photo. I found it very helpful, but for reasons that are beyond me, on the Denali trip, they kept pointing out gravel pits as points of interest. I’m a geeky engineer, and even I can’t figure out why they think we all find gravel pits incredibly interesting.

Denali seen rising above the clouds beyond the Susitna River near Talkeetna

Susitna River

Pond next to the Indian River

Hurricane Gulch

Summit Lake

Nenana River

Nenana River

Nenana River

Confluence of Hines Creek and Riley Creek (my photo on another blog post of Hines Creek was taken from that foot bridge on the right)

Denali National Park Hiking

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One day in Denali was completely full with the bus tour and with rafting. We planned another day for hiking, and the hiking in Denali, just around the visitor’s center is wonderful. We didn’t have time to do much hiking, but based on the maps, you could spend a couple of days hiking just on the trails. Then of course, you could spend lots more time doing off trail hiking. Right now, so many wild flowers are in bloom that the trails are full of color. The trees are green, and it is just wonderful.

Bike Path back to visitor’s center

Trees lining the trail

Hines Creek

Arctic Ground Squirrel in the parking lot

Spruce Grouse (hen with two chicks in the front)

Hedysarum alpinum (Alpine Sweetvetch)

Chamerion angustifolium (Fireweed)

Denali River Rafting

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While in Denali, we went white water rafting down the Nenana River with Denali Raft Adventures. I am a chicken, so the McKinley Run, which was class I and II rapids, with two class III rapids was more than enough excitement for me. I have now decided I am good with class I and II, but I really don’t need the class III. I sat in the back and took photos with my iPhone, which I then held stuck into my life vest when the water got a bit to turbulent for me. [This is why the water looks fairly calm in most of the photos below as when the water was a bit too rapid, the phone was in the life vest.] They provided dry suits, like the SCUBA dry suits (but without the BC vent), which was good because the water was cold, and everyone got splashed at least some. In any event, the rafting did provide wonderful views from the river. There was some wonderful geological features that I could admire from the river besides the river itself, which is a textbook case of a meandering, eroding and depositing river. The river also cut through geological layers and a fault that was visible, so that was fun to see.

Guide says this is referred to as neapolitan rock due to the geologic layers

Floating down the river

Floating down the river

Dormant volcano in the background

On the right of the photo, river erosion of the left side of the shore is visible

Deposition of a sand bar is visible on the right side of the river

Denali National Park Bus Tour

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From Anchorage, we took the train to Denali for the next leg of our Alaskan vacation. We took a bus tour of Denali Tundra Wilderness Tour, which takes goes about 60 miles into the park from the visitor’s center. The bus driver was pretty good about stopping whenever wildlife was spotted. Unfortunately, most of the wildlife is pretty far away or hidden behind trees. Good for the wildlife, but bad for taking photographs of the the wildlife. I took numerous out of focus photos of caribou, several moose behind a tree photos, and an impressive number of photos of far away bear sides or butts where you can barely identify them as bears. The tour also stops at several gorgeous overlooks including the last stop of Stony Hill, which provides impressive views of Denali.

Teklanika River

Toklat River

Denali from Stoney Hill Overlook

Polychrome Overlook

Bears

Caribou

Hedysarum boreale (boreal sweetvetch)

Castilleja elegans (elegant Indian paintbrush)

Anemone parviflora (Small-Flowered Anemone)

Anchorage, Alaska

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I have been in Anchorage for several days now. I don’t mean to criticize, but downtown Anchorage is an area in serious need of revitalization. It has a few nice small parks and green areas. It has lovely trails, mainly following Ship Creek and the bay. It has a couple of lovely larger parks with trails. Downtown has some wonderful restaurants and some nice shops also. However, the downtown area as a whole needs revitalization.

Alaska Railroad

Anchorage Information Center

Alaska Center for the Performing Arts

Ship Creek

Ship Creek

South of town is Potter’s Marsh, a wonderful place to bird.

Potter’s Marsh

Just north of the airport is Earthquake Park. At least part of the park, near the water is where homes used to be, but the homes sat on a cliff and were destroyed in the 1964 earthquake when part of the land slid into the water.

Earthquake Park, looking downhill at the area that in 1964 slid into the water

Earthquake Park

Kenai Fjords Cruise

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From our train trip to Seward, we then took a cruise from Seward around Resurrection Bay and Aialik Bay in Kenai Fjords National Park. It was an amazing six hour cruise around gorgeous scenery. There was beautiful tree-lined rocky shores and numerous glaciers. We also saw several humpback whales, harbor seals, a sea otter, and numerous birds, including puffins (one of my favorite birds).

Thumb Cove

Puffin

Humpback whale, mother and calf

Sea otter

Near entrance to Aialik Bay

Aialik Glacier

Aialik Glacier

Harbor seals in front of Aialik Glacier

Harbor seals in front of Aialik Glacier

Humpback whale

Skee Glacier