Feet & Meat... Non- Veg Post

Ah, summertime in Alaska.

I was lucky to have heard about a gathering out in the woods near my old stomping grounds from back in the day when I first arrived in Alaska.

I squatted at an old shack when I turned 20 that had once been a homestead. With no car and no rent to pay and a job cooking in a day care every other week I was pretty sure I had it made.

For a somewhat domesticated New England girl it was true pioneering... or just cheap.

Definitely was a character building experience.

I always get a wee bit nostalgic when I walk this muddy trail.

Of course none of us cabin dwellers had four wheelers then.

This cabin wasn't there. My friend Sepp is building it.

He's more of a mountain man type that actually has lived out in the bush trapping and hunting to feed himself,  a totally subsistence lifestyle. In the summers now he supports himself selling blueberries and morel mushrooms at the farmers market although he has given some slide tours of his lifestyle back in Germany where  he's from.

This is his friend getting ready to put a caribou leg on the fire.

Sepp's wild game cooking skills are legendary.

Plenty of garlic goes into the butter basting along with herbs

Sepp mixing it up

Campfire feet.

There's a gnarly story about that missing toe  but I don't want to gross you out too much. Besides it's his story.... only rivaled by his near mauling by a grizzly bear story and how the lead dog of his dog team saved his life

Good organic free-range lean meat

I told you there were feet in this post

Muddy ones.

This is the ubiquitous footwear of spring and early summer in interior Alaska.

"Extratufs"

Or this if you're extra tough yourself

Keep that fire burning

Then he shaves off the outside meat and throws it into the butter, garlic and herbs and  then it's passed around the campfire

We were under this tepee structure

Annalee found some of last years cranberries and a wolverine skull.

Some cranberries from the freezer were tossed in for flavor.

Annalee got to keep hers.

The skull went back to Sepp's rock garden

It was a hungry crowd. The caribou was melt in your mouth delicious.

See, they had to put a second leg on.

I went for a little walk and found my old shack. Some dipstick decided to blow it up with dynamite a few years ago. It had been going back to the earth just fine on its own.

Kind of made me mad that someone would do that.

My old outhouse.... sigh

And since it's light out all night I made the 2 hour drive back to Delta stopping at my son's archaeology field camp site at midnight since it was on the way.

This is the town of North Pole and Santa Claus House.

It's about 11:00 PM in this photo.

I've been using ups some scraps of copper that are left from punching discs.

I got a nice load of this textured copper from a roofing outfit...

most of it for free too.

Some enamel torch firing

I can see some wire wrapping round the stem

Fun with my new dimple pliers

torch enamel "matchsticks" on copper

The sun finally came out today after way too many cloudy or rainy days. It makes the solitude infinitely more easy to bear as Mr. Coryosity is leaving me here to my own devices for most of the summer.

So if I sound really "ronery"  here you'll know why.

Studio Tour and Environs

I thought I'd give you another tour from the outside to the inside.

Here's where some of it all happens.

Warning.... this is a long post

El Studio Norte otherwise known as the Garaj Mahal

upper left is my lampworking studio room. Upper deck is where I dip my mandrels while I sit on an Adirondack in the sun... ain't happening today, it's pouring!

New vegetable bed put in where some of the greenhouse used to be.

It collapsed under the weight of the snow this winter but we were able to save two thirds of it.

Somehow it has more usable space than it did when it was bigger. We got rid of some junk that was stored in there.

( you're probably wondering what how we define junk, hehe)

As you can see here in Alaska our growing season is a little behind other places. 

I think we're in zone 7.

June 1 is supposed to be the safe frost free day here so these guys are still hardening up for the cold cruel subarctic world. But they happily enjoy the midnight sun to make up for it.

Wildflower garden.

I found this cement mold for faces that was really cool.

Yes, I'll do "after" photos.

Fountain of Youth. 

Why do I call him Mr. Coryosity?

 Because his last name is Cory

and my business is numinosity 

and he needed a name for his branch of business selling gems and collectibles

and curiosities.... see... Coryosity... I came up with that!

Lonely Teardrop

got a bluegrass festival on the horizon in a couple of weeks.

View from the lower yard where the mooseys hang out and our bonfire pit

The upper deck

View from the upper deck... the mountains weren't showing themselves for this photo.

I'll capture them for you someday.

That mower is how I keep in some sort of shape.... that and a bunch of stairs in the house and garage.

OK, We were going to turn this into a little shop to sell overflow but then I kind of backed off on the idea thinking that maybe I didn't want random travelers and such interrupting my precious days of creating. It's still good for storing overflow. 

We scavenged that bed frame from an old building that burned down in town.

It was in a bar actually.

So this stuff could go up for sale in my vintage shop. See anything you like?

The little chairs and table aren't vintage though, they're from Bali. They're strong enough to stand on if you could fit your foot onto them.

 This is the shed that the squirrels owned for a long time. 

They've been made into paintbrushes now.

It seemed like a good idea at the time, Maybe we'll have an open house someday.

Now up to the office...

I finally agreed to not have my beading supplies in the living room anymore.

Now they're upstairs in the office and I carry them down on that wooden tray that my dad made when I want to do some work.  I'm a couch or easy chair- watching a movie-  kind of assembler. Plus I get more exercise going up and down stairs when I forget things.

This is where all of that stuff used to be.

Photo on left by Chris Cianciabelli

Upper painting by my former boyfriend

and lower painting by another local artist George Gianacopolous 

Theengs I'll never let go of

Stuff and cookbooks... my former passion before all the jewelry bid'ness was cooking.

I still love cooking but rarely use cookbooks anymore.

The stove that keeps my office warm in the cooler months

and dear old Dad, a  rusting gear photo by my son and me vamping for the camera in Cuba

Shipping table for my Etsy orders, it's usually a disaster.

I'm not very good at being systematic about anything.

my Mac and Canons

My funny doll collection

Collections. Ceramic pieces are from a sculptor that we met in Cuba

and that's an authentic Eskimo doll there.

Any questions?

This 'n' that

That silhouette is of my dad many years ago painting the trim on a Unitarian church in Maine.

We're still in the office.

A peek into the hermetically sealed man cave...

When I moved in we had to decide who would get the room with the closing door...

messy me or hubs?

He decided he would rather keep more sealed off to ensure order to his room if I promised to try to keep my messes somewhat under control

OK, let's stop in the kitchen a minute on our way to the other studio.

Trying some lacto-fermention of vegetables except without the whey... more like sauerkraut.

My homemade kim chee is out in the garage cuz of the garlic smell.

My favorite poster from Burma.

it says  "the food that shouldn't eat together"

with wise advise about disastrous pairings of food such as "ice lolly" and "meat pigeon"

Stopping into the bedroom a minute to see how I've taken up two dresser tops with my cool stuff.

Assemblage made with antique ceiling tin, Artymess- Goddess of Fibre Alchemy fabric purse

 and other sundries

More jools and stuffs

Now out to the garage and upstairs

Wall in lampwork studio

Zappa, Pee Wee, Dragnet and creepy baby.

What does that say to you?

Stuff that can be made into stuff.... or not

Serious studio stuff- my glass

My lampworking table and the jewelry bench that the neighbors GAVE me last year.

magic torching table

two words.... dimple pliers

Fun!

Some of my gals... 

Mr. Coryosity scored these when a department store was going out of business.

Not only did he get them for way less than they were asking, he nearly caused a riot with a bunch of women that were clamoring for them but his persistence paid off. I wasn't even around for this action.

Who needs flowers? Just bring me busts.

He thought I could use them to display at art fairs... a little bulky for that but maybe better for photo shoots.

'nother room

where I do sewing and collage-ing.

It's an erstwhile guest room. I managed to get one of  the beds moved out to claim some more space.

Some postcards and art cards from trades hanging there.

my vintage funny  Messalonskee Moppet rag doll collection.

I was selling these on Etsy for awhile.

 Maybe time to list some more.

They are just a little bit strange but oh so lovable

I altered some creepy faced  1970's era Bible study booklets that I found at a thrift store.

My own kind of prayer flag I guess.

 It's almost 2:30... that's afternoon union break time at my old job.

and there's a Thai calendar advertising "Alaska" condensed milk.

My brother got that for me on ebay

My first woodcut ever back in '91 (my last too)

That's my old boyfriend there.  Very serious looking.

Can you have too many sewing machines? I got this last weekend. It came with the original invoice from 1958 when it was shipped from LA to Anchorage.

I paid much less than the original price.

I really just wanted that little suitcase that came with it that says "Made in Czechoslavakia" inside it.

And to cleanse your palette from all that sensory overload,

(cough...hoarding...cough) as my sister commented on my fb page

here's a little treat of some of my "criffles" put into action

by Anvil Artifacts

And Darlicious Rejuvenations