Latitude 61...Land of the Midnight Sun

Mount Doom

One of our local volcanoes, Mt. Redoubt has been erupting now for several days off and on, and the pictures posted by our local newspaper, the Anchorage Daily News are really spectacular.  (I'm crediting them because I am using their pictures)

I especially liked these two night photos because they remind me of Mt. Doom, in Return of the King.

Any one who wants more photos of Mt. Redoubt can see them here.

For more scientific information about Mt. Redoubt, you can view archival photos and text here.

Until yesterday, we had been really lucky because even though Redoubt is only about 100 miles away, we hadn't had any ash fall.  That changed yesterday though.  It rained down dust all night, and although we only received a light coating, things look really grey and depressing. Today my eyes and throat are burning and it really smells strongly of sulfur.

Here is a picture of the ash accumulation on our deck with the "clean snow" visible underneath.

They had to close the airport yesterday afternoon because of the hazard to aircraft engines and it's been closed all day today too.  I'm really glad I was able to fly out to Portland and back before all this began. 

Volcanoes are really interesting, until they become an uncomfortable inconvenience.

 

All this time spent indoors was good for my knitting schedule though.  I finished all the pieces and parts for the baby cardigan, so I'm ready to begin the finishing process. I don't really like weaving in the ends and sewing the pieces together but at least it's almost finished.  Once again, my knitting is keeping me sane, because this week has been a very sad time for my family.

Having the airport closed kept me here when otherwise I would have probably been traveling back to Oregon to visit my mother again.  She had a massive stroke March 12, and at least I did get to fly there to visit her then. It's very sad to me, because as it happened, she didn't survive that stroke and passed away yesterday. 

As it turned out, I should have just stayed there after my first trip, because she became much worse early this week when all the flights were cancelled because of Redoubt.  But who can predict what will happen?

Flying Far Away...

 It's hard to believe that I haven't left Alaska since January 2007 and although a lot of people stay in their home state for much longer periods of time than that, most people here routinely leave.  That's because with only a few highways, a few cities, (read that as towns), most people get to a point that they need to see something else.  However, this trip was very depressing.

My mother had a very major stroke a week ago Thursday.  My brother and I were hoping we could wait a bit to go visit, but she sent rapidly downhill and by Saturday she couldn't speak. Not a good sign...

Saturday night at 1:00 AM I flew to Portland and arrived at 5:30 AM  (flights from Alaska are always at such convenient times and involve such convenient logistics!)  I hung around the airport until 11:30 so I could ride with my brother to the coast.  At least we could have the comfort of visiting since I hadn't seen him for about 12 years.  We drove straight through to the hospital and discovered that she was far worse since Thursday, when she could speak a little.  By the time we arrived, she could only say "yes, no, and OK".  Then by Tuesday, she could no longer speak at all nor look very alert.

We both left on Wednesday with the news that all we could do was wait and see. 

We're still waiting... no improvement though.  Add to that, I have a horrible, miserable, sinus infection or bronchitis... or maybe both.  I guess I'm lucky my ears didn't "blow up" on the plane.  They felt like blowing up just driving home up the hill to our house, and it's only at 650 feet!

Now for the happy news... knitting was waiting for me.  I did take a want to be sock to knit while I was there, but I didn't get much knit.  However, no matter how awful knitting that sock was... it was a de-stressor and kept me sane!  Thanks goodness for knitting!

The sock yarn is called "Cherry Blossom" which I thought would be all kinds of delicate pinks and reds.  However, the name is a misnomer.  The dark red is really a brownish, muddy red and the colors are pooling quite unattractively.  Maybe I'll wear them to mow the lawn or shovel the driveway...

So here is "Cherry Mud"... socks of sanity.

It was nice to return home to the Dale of Norway baby sweater I've been working on for my grand daughter's birthday.  It's lots more fun to knit, but so many colors that I didn't even attempt to take it with me.  This is the matching cardigan to the "Bondegard" pullover with the baby chicks parading across the lower border.

I have a lot more finished than the picture, but didn't have a chance to take a new photo.  I'm knitting the second sleeve, although I'm not going to finish by her birthday.  I probably wouldn't have finished it on time even without taking a week off to fly to Oregon.

Best of all though, this sweater is so cheerful and keeps me focused on the trivial. I can't control the world around me, but I can control my knitting, and that has to be comfort enough.