Wildflour Bakery Anchorage, Alaska- Guest Blog

My wish is you get to Anchorage Alaska and taste Wildflour Bakery pies. Although I am back in the lower 48 today I have some more Alaska posts.

When visiting friends in Homer Alaska, we met some very nice people in their interesting home that our host had helped build.

The first thing they did was offer us pie and coffee. Who could resist?

Three types of apple pie. As we sampled a sliver of each type, we talked about the excellent flavor and crust (one gluten- free) and then I learned about the pie creator, Wildflour Bakery Owner Olivia Allen of Anchorage. Although I took a few photos of the pie (see below) I wanted to know more.

Meet bakery owner Olivia Allen- photograph by Julia Bevins, I asked Julia if she would like to be guest blogger! What a great photo.

Then I called Olivia. She returned my call just as we were entering our departing flight but emailed me more photos and information about Wildflour Bakery. Here is her blog link Look into the World See Olivia’s watercolor illustrations and follow her on Instagram Wildflour Bakery Handcrafted pies and galettes made with foraged wild berries, organic ingredients and lots of love 🌸

Olivia writes-

Wildflour Bakery uses locally sourced and foraged wild berries, herbs, flowers and backyard honey to craft beautiful and sweet treats with creative flair.

Each pie or galette is handcrafted with the intention of highlighting the Alaskan spirit of our wild spaces, near and far.

Beautifully photographed by Julia Bevins.

Gallery of photos below , sent to me by Olivia

Here are my pie photos so you see why I needed Olivia to send me some more.

And here is her artwork. I love the part about “serve generous slices.” Yes!!

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We fairly well decimated the pies! You can see why I needed more photos to create this blog post as you look at my three photos I took at the kitchen table.

A few years ago I featured friend and pie judge Rob Bard.on National Pie Day. I know he would have enjoyed the pies.

September 19, 2016 by Ruth Categories: Baking, PhotographyTags: Anchorage Alaska, apple pie, apples, artist, bakery, bakery owner, baking, blueberries, dessert, Farmer's Market, galette, guest blog, illustration, Julia Bevins, Olivia Allen, people at work, photography, pie, pie baking, postaday, Spenard Farmer's Market, Wildflour Bakery 10 Comments

Alaska Railroad Conductor

Meet Will H. Our conductor on the train ride from Denali to Anchorage. Army veteran. They even slowed the train so we could photograph Denali and two other mountain ranges which were all completely visible on a beautiful clear day.

Although we are back in NYC and I like to keep the blog in RT, now that computer access/internet is available, I want to post some photos I had in my real camera not iPhone.

September 18, 2016 by Ruth Categories: People at Work, PhotographyTags: Alaska, Alaska Railroad, Anchorage Alaska, Army Veteran, conductor, Denali, people at work, photography, postaday, railroad, train, travel 4 Comments

Train Ride to Denali

Mary and I got a cab to the Anchorage Railroad Depot, checked in our tagged bags, drank a delicious coffee and waited to board the glass roofed train to Denali.

At the start of the train ride there were just nine of us and then 58 joined us at Talkeetna. It’s now the end of the season that started in May.

We decided to get breakfast after an early start

Mary ordered the reindeer/ egg scrambler skillet.

Chef Malachi cooked our breakfasts to perfection! Delicious.

Jerrica tended the bar at the front of the car

Our conductor A.J. He has to get off the train to manually switch the tracks so we could wait on the side as another train passed, going south.

Matthew our excellent server on the left and Crystal our knowledgeable tour guide.

Both of them made it a fun and memorable adventure. The train ride is about eight hours. We didn’t knit or nap, didn’t want to miss a single second.

(Good sports to let me photograph them, thanks!)

We saw a pair of Trumpeter Swans who mate for life.

Their young ones were swimming on their own

After the lunch crowd left the dining car and went back upstairs, I enjoyed a Forest pie with rhubarb, apple, blackberry and strawberries topped with vanilla ice cream. Matt asked if I wanted a lot of whipped cream or a little. 🙂

Everyone was so nice, the scenery so incredible. Andy took a photo of us at the table too, which was great for the memory book, but unfortunately I did not take his pic.

We highly recommend the train tour.

September 8, 2016 by Ruth Categories: Photography, TravelTags: Alaska, Alaska Railroad, Denali, dining, food, Forest Pie, Gray Line, Holland American, people at work, photography, postaday, railroad, train, train travel, travel, trestle bridge, Trumpeter Swans 20 Comments

Species-Specific Nests Made in Twisp WA

We walked down from the center of town to TwispWorks (in Twisp, Washington) today. A nice woman in the Office/Art and Craft Supply Store recommended we walk down and see a native garden and check out some of the artists’ studios. More on that tomorrow….

One of the workshops, Nice Nests was open and Patrick Hannigan was working on building species-specific nests, using salvaged scrap wood.

I bought a Swallows Nest that had a purple edge, signifying the color of a lilac bush on a homestead in Carlton. The homestead is gone, but the lilac bush thrives, he told me.

My sister-in-law Carolee feeds a lot of birds and I wanted to get a nice hostess gift for her.

The rust color represents a certain lichen found on the trees in the area. All the colors represent native plants in the region.

Meet Patrick, owner of Nice Nests and creator of all the species specific nests

“Installation/consultation services available. I work with private landowners, land conservation organizations and public agencies to create, enhance and preserve critical breeding habitat for native cavity-nesting birds.” from website

Be sure to click here to read an article about how Patrick began his business

Nice Nests: Not Just for the Birds

by Ashley Lodato
Methow Arts staff writer

Ventilation at the top

A pin to lock the door or to open to clean out

Rough texture for the young to crawl out

Click the photo to see the features, there is also drainage at the bottom. He’ll build you a custom nest for your needs. the one above is the one I chose.

Swallows and bluebirds nests- There are nests for owls, and chickadees and many other types of birds, large and small.

A giant nest for a Kestrel

Flying Squirrel Nests

The tiny ornament nests are made by Patrick’s daughter, Posey

The tools of the builder of Nice Nests

September 1, 2016September 1, 2016 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: bat boxes, bluebirds, builder, carpenter, Kestrel, lichen, lilacs, Methow Arts, Nice Nests, Okanogan County, people at work, swallows, travel, Twisp, Twisp WA, Twisp Works, wood 11 Comments

Meet Flashes of Fire Author

Ed Lipsman. Author of Flashes of Fire. His debut novel.

(Priced reasonably @ 3.99) download onto a kindle. I love the Pittsburgh place references in it but you can live anywhere and enjoy his writing.

I know Ed from working together in an After School Program where he ran a terrific physical fitness program for our 4-8th graders.

He’s a loyal blog follower since the beginning, too. An all around great person!

I’m honored to have taken his author photo and happy to get the word out about his book.

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Biography

For most of his adult life, Ed Lipsman studied a variety of martial

arts, including sword. He was a successful fighter in a medieval group,

winning a number of tournaments. Currently, he is an Adjunct Professor

at Chatham University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where one of the

courses he teaches is a sword class. Flashes of Fire is his first book.

“What’s Chase Harte to do??

He gets struck with lightning while leaving a medieval fighting tournament and is transported to a strange, brutal, feudal world where swords rule and law doesn’t.”

July 29, 2016July 29, 2016 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: author, author photo, Chatham University, debut novel, fantasy, martial arts, medieval, people at work, photography, postaday, sword 10 Comments

Hart’s Artist Consignment- Carson Street- South Side

Meet Claudia Hart- People at Work Series- Artists’ Consignment Shop OwnerWatermelon Onsesie (tie-dye) by artist Susan. (yes, I bought two!)

There it is, tucked in the middle with the green awning. 1905 Carson St., SouthSide.

July 10, 2016 by Ruth Categories: Art, People at Work, PhotographyTags: art, artist consignment store, artists, baby clothes, Carson Street, consignment store, creative, fashion, Hart's, jewelry, neighborhood, onesie, people at work, photography, Pittsburgh PA, Pittsburgh Photography, postaday, South Side Pittsburgh, tie-dye 7 Comments

Look Up – Panza Gallery

Weekly Photo Challenge: Look Up

He looked up. I looked down. Can it count for the challenge?

Mark Panza, artist, photographer and gallery owner.

He looked up at me on the stairs. Oh no, all I had was my phone.

You’ve met Mark on the blog before. He creates those peaceful mediation lights.

I was in Millvale Friday afternoon. The Pittsburgh Society of Artists Show is up and the opening is 6PM Saturday night. They were asking members who are photographers to volunteer to photograph events so I said I would. Thought I’d check it out when it was empty first. A sneak peek below. More to come.

Tomorrow night the gallery will be filled with people!

Etna Memorial Day Parade 2016 is my piece on left.

On the way home, stopped at a light in Lawrenceville. I looked up -saw the Artist Crossing Sign

Sign on Butler Street, Lawrenceville in front of Paint Monkey

(Note to self: I’d better get my windshield washed if I am going to photograph through it)

July 8, 2016 by Ruth Categories: Art, Photography, Weekly Photo ChallengeTags: art, artist crossing, look up, Mark Panza, Millvale PA, Panza Gallery, people at work, photography, Pittsburgh Photography, Pittsburgh Society of Artists, postaday, signage, weekly photo challenge 16 Comments

Making Kettle Korn at Fleatique

People at Work series. Sunday morning at Fleatique-Tarentum PA,

A former colleague, Jen, called yesterday evening to see if I wanted to go to Fleatique and I’d never been. Jen’s been going since her daughter was in a stroller and she’s now headed to High School in the fall.

Meet Dustin Hall. Two Korny Kettle Korn.

You’ll find him at Festivals, Fund Raisers, Arts and Craft Shows, Car Shows, Bazaars and Charity Events. He gets the kettles from a place in Ohio and he told me they are not old as I thought. It’s hot work. His son and daughter help him at his booth.