Wild Strawberries

Frank drug me out of the house today to pick wild strawberries. I don't know why I'm so hard to get out of the house, guess I really am a homebody. So we strapped on the guns, and headed out the road. Once I'm there I really have a great time. I grew up picking strawberries in Oregon, well, these guys are not even close to being an Oregon strawberry! But for such a small little berry they pack in a lot of flavor. At first they are hard to find, they kind of tuck themselves into the moss and they grow really close to the ground. Most of the time we were on our knees picking these guys, but once we got used to seeing them they seemed to be everywhere! The area was flat with a big area to see around, so it wasn't as bad as I expected, there weren't many places for bears to hide and jump out at me.We pick almost 2 gallons, but cleaning them takes forever! The strawberry shortcake we had tonight was well worth the effort.We picked them all, red ones and almost red ones.
The salmon berries and blue berries are also ripe now. I don't really like salmon berries, there just isn't much flavor there. We'll wait to pick the blueberries after the first frost when we pick high bush cranberries.


The wild flowers are really in full bloom now. Frank took some good pictures of the flowers.
I love the color of the Fireweed, it's so beautiful this time of year, and it's everywhere!

Different Views

Once you live in a place for awhile you forget how others see it at first glance. Little things that we see everyday that put others in awe. I'm not saying that the beauty of Alaska doesn't still thrill me, I never forget how blessed we are to be able to live here, to see the whales, always awesome, the sunsets because they are so rare, and any wildlife. But there are times I forget we are really remote, and I forget to point out the eagles, berries, starfish or crab to others who are just visiting, even though I'm still looking at them and enjoying seeing them, I forget that others don't see them as easily as I do now. I thought I would share some pictures that were taken by someone "just visiting" to give a little different perspective on Hoonah.This is how it usually looks, weather wise, overcast, low clouds, fog. Downtown Hoonah taken from the harbor.
A many legged starfish. I didn't realize there were so many different kinds of starfish until we moved here. One of the Tlingit cemeteries. There are 2 here, one for the Eagle Clan and one for the Raven Clan. I have never figured out where they put you if you are not Tlingit.......... A sure feeling of remotenessA rare sunset.

Bubble Feed

This guy has been hanging around Hoonah right where we catch our bait in front of town. He's been bubble feeding all by himself, seems pretty content and the boats all around him don't seem to bother him at all. He's been fun to watch and tourists and locals alike line up on the docks to get his picture. In this video he's in about 30 feet of water.

Fire Works at 10pm

Oh ya, it's another 4th of July in Hoonah! We made it down for the parade today, we had to show Chase (our friends son who is staying with us and learning to deck hand) what it's like to celebrate the 4th of July in a small community. I'm sure he was terribly impressed! The parade looked the same as last year, Smoky the Bear and Sammy the Sockeye were riding high again, along with all the sirens from the ambulance and fire trucks. Chase didn't complain about all the candy he scored though. We actually went down to the park after to check out what was happening there. Not much.....not even horse shoes! A lot of food being sold, and there were races for the kids, but that was about it. Fireworks start at 10pm tonight, last year half of our van occupants were snoring before they were finished! I hope we can make it up that late for Chases sake, he really wants to go. Man, are we getting old or what?!These 3 wheeled bikes were a new addition. I keep waiting to see them around town with tourists in them, someone should be making some $ with them.
Frank (or Dread Barta) is finally getting his salmon itch scratched, we went out for fun yesterday and caught 9 Silvers, 1 big beautiful Chum and 6 halibut. Chase will learn to fillet too!