Twin Spruce: The Story Behind the Name

Twin Spruce Studio

As you may have read in my “about” page, my family and I live on a lovely piece of property in a tiny village called Ninilchik, on the Kenai Penninsula, Alaska. The property is mostly wild, with a small area cleared for my garden, chickens, and ducks, and a small yard around an old log cabin which we are restoring.

The old cabin and the beginnings of a garden. Excuse the mess, we are just getting started.

If you look to the south of the garden, you see these lovely old Sitka Spruce trees.

Which, upon closer look, are actually two trees of the same age which have grown together into one beautiful twin spruce. I wish I had a better picture because this one doesn’t really show how they have wrapped around each other and joined not only at the trunk but also at several branches. (I will try…

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Denali

Denali showed all her faces to us on our drive back home from Anchorage.

South view:

East view:

North view:

And no west view as we were driving, not flying.

The neigborhood…

I love living in a state where I can come across these guys on a drive, or in my backyard. Of course always good to keep a respectable distance…

Denali

I never tire of seeing Denali when I travel south from Fairbanks. I find it inspiring all the time, in every season, with clouds, clear sky or a mixture such as this picture from a week ago.

The neighborhood

I love living in a place that frequently hits 40 below, and can go even into the negative 60s.

I love living in a place that frequently hits 80s and 90s above.

All this I experience here in the Golden Heart Valley of Alaska.

But what really touches me and warms my heart is having moose roam the neighborhood around the house and even bed down in my yard. Puts a smile on my face every single time!

 

Monochromatic day

Monochromatic day today due to the cloud covers, still rather warm by Fairbanks standards, so a good day to hike with Sam the dog mushing trail that runs behind the house,

down through the Birch forest,

and the Spruce as well

with Sam stopping to get a different perspective,

while I continued to focus more on minutia today…

This weekend…

Went down to Anchorage to check out UAA with my son. Looks like it will be a good fit. Made it back home tonight with the Northern Lights dancing across the skies…it is such a privilege to live here and be able to enjoy them!

 

Winter solstice

Winter solstice is always a nice milestone to reach, and now it’s been a couple weeks since and the days feel longer, but it is probably not more than 20 or 30 minutes longer at this point. But at long last our days have stopped getting shorter, about 31/2 hours of direct sunlight here a mere 120 miles south of the Arctic Circle.

 

Went hiking/ snow shoeing out in the Chena Lakes area, just past North Pole, which ironically is south of Fairbanks. At a little past 1:30 in the afternoon the sun has already peaked.

Ice Lanterns

Made some ice lanterns right before Christmas. With small candles inside they cast a nice light on the porch, although at 40 below there was no warmth to them. With our subarctic temps they should stay around through late April when the Spring thaw finally arrives.

Fairbanks’ fireworks on New Year’s Eve

Happy New Year!