0704newclothes

Luna’s doll, Charlotte, got a new little halter dress and matching sun hat today. It was reportedly her birthday. I’ve never learned how to follow a crochet pattern, but it’s usually more fun to improvise anyway. Head-to-toe pink seems a little daring for a redhead like Charlotte, but I think she pulls it off well.

Picture 7

We all took a day off yesterday for Canada Day, and spent a good portion of it hiking Church Mountain, the peak behind camp. It was a breathtaking climb, both for the views and the steep slopes. I’ve got several hundred photos and a few videos that I’ll get through one of these days, but for now this F10 view gives an idea of the colors.

0629lynxsalmon2

I was watching in the lake when Pete caught a feisty sockeye salmon the other day. A few hours later I ate a small piece of it. A beautiful photo below, but not for ridiculously squeamish vegetarians.

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0629potatopaint2

Hanging out with a 5-year-old is a really fun reason to spend the whole morning making art with potatoes. Our collaborative murals turned out really well.

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0628cheesecakesuccess

I shoveled sand and gravel for concrete this morning but couldn’t be very helpful with the cabin construction project this afternoon, so I decided to make cheesecake instead. A great success. Even if I got impatient and served it before it was completely chilled.

It looked prettier once I sliced up some fresh cherries to put on top.

0627mosquitotea

Two things I get more than enough of every day here at Nerka.

0625rainbow1

A rainbow appeared while we were all eating dinner on the beach yesterday evening. We call that group of mountain the Hawaiians because it looks like a caldera. I think it must be human nature to compare the scenery to other places we’ve known, and Hawaii often comes up because of the green-covered hills steeply sloping into bright water. The mountains here are so new and primordial, sometimes I half expect a dinosaur to walk around the corner.

A few other views of the Hawaiians below.

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summerreading

It’s not exactly what I meant to read this summer when I was making lists during May. But this is what ended up in my bag after a few mediocre trips to used bookstores and some last-minute rearranging, and it will be good enough. The full list is below if you’re curious enough to try squinting at the photo.

Incidentally, a fun trick for the beginning of semesters after you buy all your books: Stack them up and imagine it’s one really big, impossibly long book. It’s depressing at first, but then it liberates you from that every-semester expectation that you’ll actually keep up with the assigned pages. Not happening.

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0623sunset1

This is what we saw while brushing our teeth at the lake shortly before midnight on June 22. The actual Summer Solstice night was cloudy, so not as picturesque. We call that mountain across the bay Lumpy Mountain.

flyoverraindrop

After a glorious stretch of sunny weather, the rain rolled into camp yesterday. Our rain gear is pretty good, so it’s not all that bad. Of course, I don’t have to work outside in it for eight hours like some others around here.

Welcome

I'm Lisa Waananen, a journalist and recent graduate of Washington State University, where I majored in communication and political science while not busy writing or editing for The Daily Evergreen. Now I write, experiment with photography and graphics, and worry alternately about not having a job and getting a job I don't like.

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