my new sign

it was about time i batiked myself a sign for my booth so here it is...

Friends...

My good friends, Greta and Madonna. They have been at the open air market from the start. Greta is not only a well loved local and talented basket maker/bamboo sock tie dyer but also one of our neighbors. Madonna and I have become great friends in the last 4-5 yrs. and we have a funny story about how we first met. It was my first "moose dropping festival" in the summer of 2006. She had been doing it for years and is an awsome jeweler. We were only a few booths away from each other and her truck was parked next to our Jeep behind my booth. Luna was just a young puppy at the time and we had tied her to the handle of our back door while we were unloading and setting up. Well at some point Madonna noticed some scratches on her truck, above the wheel well, near where Luna was tied up and informed us she had jumped up and scratched the paint. Nobody actually saw it happen, including Madonna, but she swears that was how they got there and at the time she was a total stranger to us. We apologized for the scratches if in fact she had done it ,which was totally possible, and I'll never forget her saying "man my husband is going to be pissed!" I now know her husband pretty well and he's a big teddy bear of a biker dude, soft spoken with a long beard (of course I don't think I would want to piss him off eighter). But it was a year or two later when the Open Air Market was started and I met her again, since then she's become one of my closest friends in Alaska, someone I will keep in touch with for life. Those are the friendships that are really important to me and I'm lucky to have several women in my life like that... I also love this picture because they are both wearing my new Butterfly designs as well, too cute!

Open Air Market Day 2

My booth on day 2 of the market. One from inside, my veiw, of the booth and a new art design that I'm doing and really like.

My Booth

It was a good 1st weekend at the Open Air Market. Here is my booth on day #1.

Jaxon

covered deck project

Wow this is post 302 for me on this blog! I saw #300 coming up but it passed the other day without me noticing. In 2008 I started blogging about our family, building a house and life up here in Alaska. The kids love it when I scroll back to old photos and videos of them, and so do I. It's become an online scrapbook for me. I also love keeping my family, who all live far away, up to date on how our kids are growing and what they are doing. Many more to come this summer stay tuned...
Here is the finished (almost, the railing isn't) deck on the front of our house. I love it and will be spending plenty of time on it this summer. Bonus, the stairs will stay rain and snow free now. Our house gets a little better every year. It's a major process, one we are not going to repeat anytime soon.

Christiansen Lake

Just one of our many local lakes that we like to go hang out at. That little patch of land was declared "Jaxon Island" today, I don't have to tell you whose idea that was... The rope swing (in the previous post) is also here. I posted some photos of the boys playing with it last year too. Summer starts anyday now and it's my last weekend before the open air market. Here we go, more to come!

at the lake on mom's day...

Lake Rope Swing

Trout

A Walk With Hawk

This morning Hawken went with me to take Jax to school. After we dropped him off we went to the Post Office and for a little walk downtown. This visitors center that the Historical Society runs in the "Three Bachelor's Cabin" will have a rack of my Batik Clothing for sale this season. It's across the street from the shop I had the last two summers and the home of the iconic sign "Welcome To Beautiful Downtown Talkeetna" which was replaced last year. The old one was cooler but falling apart. Many 100's of tourists stop and take photos of this sign each summer. I even have a few photos of them taking photos from the last couple years since I was right across the road. It was pretty funny to watch from my shop. There used to be an old pair of white "Bunny Boots" (ugly cold weather boots, you'd remember if you have ever seen a pair, they also make them in black) sitting there next to the sign and there were a bunch of times I watched people stick their foot into one of those boots for the photo that somebody was about to take of them only to quickly realize  it's full of dirty rain water. Not once did I see anyone think ahead and check it for water, it was hilarious every time...

the porch

I love progress! Andy and a friend are finishing our deck. This is what they got done yesterday, I will have to post the finished photo when it's done. They are out there right now banging away. It has always been the plan to cover it, this will keep the stairs rain and snow free. Also the railing will finally be up so the boys can enjoy it with us without me pretty much holding them by the hand,  shirt whatever I can grab. They are getting way to independent these days, or just growing up I guess.