Driggs Ski Trip

Two weeks in Idaho skiing...got my winter fill, but now I am ready for spring. We are hiking up the Nipple at Targhee.

Uncle ALAN

My sister had a healthy baby boy on December 21st!

More Roofing Verde

We installed a green roof on top of Hamilton County's Public Health Building in Chattanooga, TN.

Check out the time lapse!

Holy Cabooses!

It's been a long time. My blog is somehow symbolic of my life....moments of intensity followed by periods of transience. Anyway. What have I been doing since Alaska? Trying to get settled....not just in a place but in my life. Going up there for three months to work with Steve was an awesome experience that I will carry with me for the rest of my life, but now I must turn attention to what I want to accomplish in the southeast US, where my family lives.

In the past 2 1/2 months, I have run a half marathon, worked on a green roofing job in NYC for three weeks, and gotten a clearer picture of my life for the next year.

My green roofing boss, Emilio, and his wife, Kate, have offered me a salaried job in Asheville, and I have decided to make the commitment to the company and join them in the mountains. The decision was a hard one to make after all the work I have put into Fiddler's over the past 2 1/2 years, but the bottom line is: I love Kate and Emilio, I love Asheville, I love the job, I love the pay, and I will love being closer to my parents as they head into the next phase of retirement/aging. I will certainly miss Charleston but will never be far away because of Chris and Jackie and the fact that we have three roofs in the low country.

The pictures are from the job in NYC at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. Hard to believe that I am standing on a building! This roof was about 10,000 square feet and was planted with about 50,000 plants! It was great experience for Emilio and I to work with another green roofing company on such an interesting project. It was also a perk to wear out my welcome with Paul and Laura (my brother and his wife) and close friends Erica and Timmy for three weeks.

We have two more jobs this fall: one in Lake Toxaway and one in Chattanooga. I will get pictures of them once they are complete.

Farewell Juneau

Just wanted to throw up some quick pics from the halibut trip in Glacier Bay. This fish is definitely the most beautiful, amazing marine creature I have ever been around. I was in awe when it came up the long line, and I deeply appreciate it's life. This 350 pound fish will feed many many mouths. Took Steve and I all we had to wrestle it aboard. The best part of the trip (besides visiting a friend's remote log cabin complete with kick-ass garden, mud oven, and wood fired hot tub) was waking up to piss in the middle of the night. I could hear whales breathing clear across the bay in complete darkness...it's quite a sound to behold.

It has been a wonderful summer...full of adventure, great times with loved ones, and many many laughs. Now back to Charleston to plant the fall garden :)

crab Diving

Wrapping things up.

We finished our crab season on Tuesday with our final shipment to Portland and celebrated with a big crab dinner. Moving 300 pots back onto dry land was a little easier on my back this time through because of the two months training! The picture shows the boat stacked with 72 pots...barely any room to stand on deck. Those had to be loaded onto the skiff (20 at a time), and then hauled up the beach and into the woods.

The "booby" picture was a creature growing on a rope that we hauled up. With 30 years experience working on boats, Steve has never seen anything like them...they even included eerily similar "nipples?" Haha.

Other pics are us goofing off on a bike/run to Herbert Glacier (the same Glacier Tyler and I hiked to 3 years ago and went into an ice cave), and Steve and I enjoying a rare sunset from a real fishing boat.

The boat is now outfitted for long lining, and we are leaving tomorrow for Glacier Bay to catch 4,200 pounds of halibut. The weather forecast is grim with 4-5 foot seas and heavy rain...should be a good trip. NOT