Summer in Alaska

There us nothing sweeter than summer in Alaska! The days are long - the sun starts to rise around 3:30 AM and sets around 10:30 PM, with long stretches of twilight during the process. When it is sunny, folks drop their ordinary plans and schedules and get outside to enjoy the long days. A week-long stretch of sunshine means non-stop gardening, hiking, boating, and exploring (sometimes a day or two of rain are welcome after that)!

View down channel from the front porch (Chilkat range in the distance)

I've been enjoying the big sky and grand view down Gastineau Channel, from the front porch and big windows in the house that Mom and Dad built. I've also been enjoying working in the yard to weed and clip the foliage. It's a great excuse to be out in nature and soak in a little Vitamin D.

The house that Mom and Dad built

The growing season for flowers is pretty short here in Southeast Alaska. Flowers come fast and furious, as they go through their reproductive cycles. Currently a drift of yellow Day Lilies and a swath of Alaska Daisies are putting on a show in the side yard.

A swath of Alaska Daisies in the side yard

There is nothing sweeter than summer in Alaska! Seeing the summer beauty reminds me Robert Service's description of summer in the Yukon, in The Spell of the Yukon:

The summer—no sweeter was ever;

   The sunshiny woods all athrill;

The grayling asleep in the river,

   The bighorn asleep on the hill.

The strong life that never knows harness;

   The wilds where the caribou call;

The freshness, the freedom, the farness—

   O God! how I’m stuck on it all.

Shadow Play

Back with another gallery of shadow and light. I'm always on the lookout for interesting shadow play, whether on an outside garden wall, an inside wall with a garden projection, or an interesting architectural pattern almost anywhere. This taps into what we learned in Elements of the Chinese Garden, where walls are an important element of Chinese gardens for capturing shadows and displaying poetry. Enjoy this latest gallery of shadow play from everyday life.

Deck chair shadow

Wind chime shadow

Leaf and mini-blind shadow

Bouquet of shadow flowers

Light and shade with mini-blinds

Light and shade with sun shades

Holey hat shadow

Tunnel of light and shadows

Lacey leaf shadows

Mini-blind shrub shadows

Dye Project: Poinsettia Bracts

A few weeks ago I tried a new solar dyeing project, using the bracts that I collected from a Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) last Christmas. The plant was a gift from our gardener, Mr. Nygren, and was an especially vibrant red color. The growers' label described that the Aztecs used poinsettia bracts to create a pink-purple dye. I collected the bracts as they fell off the plant and let them air dry.

Solar dyeing with Poinsettia bracts - salt mordant (day 14)

I used a single dish towel (WOF is 2.7 ounces/77 grams) that had been scoured, mordanted with salt, brightened with ammonia, and previously dyed with cabbage (see Dye Project: Red Cabbage). I collected .7 ounces/20 grams of dried bracts, so the WOF% was 26%. Dyers typically recommend equal weight of fabric and plant material when solar dyeing, but I compensated with time (two weeks) to extract as much color as possible. I added 2 teaspoons of alum to the dye bath.

The results - a surprising greenish gray

The result is a surprising greenish-gray color (the photos don't capture it well), and certainly not a pinkish-purply color! Perhaps I'll try again next year with the next holiday Poinsettia bracts, and possibly a different mordant. Experimentation is part of the fun of dyeing with plants!