Alaska Views: The View That Asks Nothing of You

A couple of years ago I stood on a hillside in Alaska and took this picture. Mountains rising in the distance with late snow still clinging to the peaks, a wide river braiding its way through the valley, forests turning gold and green below, and a bright sky full of big, slow clouds. In the moment I wasn’t thinking about what came next or what I had left unfinished. I was just looking.

That is the strange gift of a view like this. It does not require commentary. It does not ask you to improve it or to extract a lesson on the spot. It simply is, and for a few breaths you can be with it. The wind moves through the trees in the foreground. The light shifts across the slopes. Somewhere far below, the river keeps moving whether or not anyone is watching. All of the ordinary noise—deadlines, opinions, the next thing that needs doing—has nowhere to land for a little while.

KassDays has always been about that kind of travel: not just the places themselves, but the way a place can clear the head if you let it. You walk, you stop, you look. The camera comes out, but the looking comes first. Sometimes the video that results is about the trail or the road or the unexpected turn. Sometimes, though, the real footage is the pause itself—the stretch of quiet where the mind resets because the landscape is larger than whatever you carried up the hill with you.

Stress has a way of shrinking the world until everything feels immediate and personal. A wide valley does the opposite. It reminds you that most of what occupies the mind is temporary, while the mountains and the river have been arranging themselves for a very long time. You do not have to solve anything while you stand there. You can simply notice the colours in the trees, the way the clouds rest against the ridges, the small bright plants at your feet. A deep breath is enough.

Then the moment passes, as moments do. You put the camera away, start walking again, and the ordinary concerns return in their own time. But something has shifted, even slightly. The view stays with you. It becomes a place you can return to in memory when the day feels crowded—proof that the world is still larger than the next task, and that beauty is still available if you are willing to stop and see it.

That is all this photograph is: one quiet minute on a hillside in Alaska, offered here in the hope that it gives you a minute of your own. Look at it. Let the rest wait. Breathe. The river will still be moving when you come back.

How to Shop the Okotoks Christmas Market

The Okotoks Christmas Market is a good place to knock out holiday shopping with local makers. Here’s a simple way to approach it. 

Know the basics first
It runs two weekends at two locations (Viking Rentals Events Centre at 204 Community Way and D’Arcy Ranch Golf Club at 376 D’Arcy Ranch Drive). Both spots are open both weekends.  
- Weekend 1: Nov 7 (4–8 PM) & Nov 8 (9–4)  
- Weekend 2: Nov 14 (4–8 PM), Nov 15 & 16 (9–4)  

Tickets are $5 for one weekend or $8 for both. Kids 12 and under are free. Get them at Market Square or at the door. Vendors change each weekend, so the selection is different the second time around.

What to look for
Focus on handmade items you won’t find in big stores: jewellery, candles, woodwork, soaps, pottery, baked goods, kids’ clothes, and décor. Check the quality of the materials and finish. Ask the maker how something is made or cared for — most are happy to talk. Look for pieces that match what you actually need rather than grabbing the first shiny thing.

Can you bargain? 
Usually no. These are fixed-price artisan markets, not flea markets. Prices are set by the makers and generally stay that way. Being polite and chatting is fine, but don’t expect to haggle the price down. If something is out of budget, just move on.

Simple shopping tips  
- Go with a short list so you don’t wander aimlessly.  
- Bring cash as a backup even though most take cards.  
- Hit both locations if you can — they have different vendors.  
- The second weekend often has a fresh lineup, so it’s worth going again if you missed something the first time.

The full walk-through video of this year’s market is here:  
Okotoks Holiday Market 2025

It shows the setup, the kinds of stalls, and the overall vibe so you know what to expect before you go.

Video by KassDays

See the Beauty, Carry It With You

This is one of those still mornings when the water is glass. The clouds sit low and heavy, the spruce line is sharp against the far shore, and the mountains fade into soft grey behind it all. Everything doubles in the lake. The reflection is almost perfect, as if the day has decided to hold still for a minute and show you what is already there.

You do not need a perfect blue sky for it to matter. The beauty is in the quiet surface, the way the trees stand straight in the water, the soft light that does not demand anything from you. It is easy to walk past these places or only notice them when the weather is ideal. It is just as easy to stop, breathe once or twice, and let the view settle.

Take the calm with you. Not the whole mountain range, just the feeling of the still water and the open sky. When the rest of the day gets busy or ordinary, that small piece is still there. You saw it. You can recall it. It does not fix everything, but it reminds you that beauty shows up in ordinary light too, and that noticing it is already a better start than missing it.

Helen  
Helen’s How To

 

Blue Resin Skull — Making Time to Make Something

There’s a blue epoxy resin skull sitting on my work surface right now. The colour is mine, mixed and poured. The eye sockets hold a metallic copper tone that catches the light differently every time I move it. It’s not finished. The surface still needs work, the photo doesn’t quite capture it the way I want, and I’m not sure when I’ll get back to the last steps. That’s fine.

I made it because I wanted to. Not for a market, not for a deadline, and not because anyone asked for a resin skull. Just because the idea was there and I had a stretch of time that wasn’t already claimed by something else. That small choice is what this piece is really about.

The practical side

Epoxy resin rewards patience more than speed. For a cast like this:

- Work in thin layers if you’re building color or inclusions. Thick pours trap heat and can yellow or crack.
- Colour thoroughly before you pour. Transparent dyes and mica powders behave differently; test a small batch so you know how the shade will look once it cures.
- Keep the workspace dust-free for at least the first few hours. Once the resin starts to gel, anything that lands on the surface stays there.
- Demold only when it’s fully hard. Flexing a soft cast is the fastest way to leave fingerprints or distort the shape.
- Finish work (sanding, polishing, additional pigment) can happen later. The skull doesn’t need to be perfect the day it comes out of the mold.

None of that is complicated, but it does require showing up when the resin is ready rather than when the calendar is convenient. The same is true of most handmade things.

Why the unfinished version still counts

A lot of creative work gets abandoned because it doesn’t look like the version in our heads. The blue skull is a good reminder that the value isn’t only in the polished final object. Part of the value is in the decision to mix the resin, pour it, and let it cure while the rest of life continues. That decision says the time belonged to me for a while.

Most days are full. Work, family, errands, and the general maintenance of living leave little leftover. The leftover is usually small — an hour after dinner, a quiet morning, a stretch when no one needs anything. Those fragments are easy to spend on scrolling or nothing in particular. They’re also the only time most of us will ever have for making something that exists only because we chose it.

The skull doesn’t solve anything large. It won’t organize a week or finish a project that actually needs finishing. It does prove that a person can still decide, on an ordinary day, to turn a material into a shape that didn’t exist before. That choice is small and it is also complete.

If you have a half-finished piece sitting somewhere — resin, wood, fabric, clay, or something else — it doesn’t have to be perfect to have already done its job. The job was to claim a bit of time and use it for yourself. The rest can wait until you have another small stretch.

That’s the part worth keeping.

Pumpkins After Dark at Canada Olympic Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

KassDays headed out to Pumpkins After Dark at WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park to see what the Calgary edition looked like this year. The result is a relaxed, self-paced evening walk that delivers more atmosphere than scare.

The pathway is lined with thousands of hand-carved pumpkins—some real, many durable synthetic pieces—shaped into larger scenes and smaller details by Canadian artists. Once the lights come on, the carvings glow from within and the whole route comes alive. You’ll pass classic Halloween figures, pop-culture nods, dinosaurs, dragons, and plenty of photo-friendly setups, including an oversized pumpkin throne that practically invites you to sit down. Music and lighting effects run alongside the displays, but the tone stays family-friendly: no jump scares, no aggressive actors, just a steady glow and the occasional live pumpkin-carving demonstration.

Most people take one to two hours to wander the roughly one-kilometre route at their own speed. Food trucks offer seasonal treats, adult drinks are available, and free parking makes the logistics simple. Tickets are sold by timed entry, so booking ahead is the safer move on busier nights. The event runs on select evenings from late September through October 31.

It turned out to be a solid, photogenic night out—creative enough to hold interest, calm enough for mixed-age groups, and easy to recommend as a low-stress Halloween stop. The full walk-through is up on the KassDays YouTube channel if you want a closer look before you go.

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/ntSrhH1RBlA  

More info and tickets: calgary.pumpkinsafterdark.com

Wild Horses Near Forgetmenot Pond, Kananaskis Country

Last Wednesday I was out in the Forgetmenot Pond area of Kananaskis Country when I came across a small band of wild horses. They were grazing on the open slope above the gravel bar, with the forest and the big peaks of the range behind them.

The light was clear and the horses were relaxed—one dark one standing higher on the ridge, a couple of browns lower down working the grass. It was one of those quiet Alberta fall scenes: dry grass, a few yellowing shrubs, spruce in the background, and the mountains sitting clean against the sky. I had a few frames, but this one captured the layout best.

People sometimes assume a shot like this has been cleaned up or generated, but this is straight from the camera. The horses were there, the mountains were there, and the light happened to cooperate. I stayed back, watched for a few minutes, and moved on so they could keep grazing.

If you’re heading into that part of Kananaskis, keep an eye on the open slopes and meadows near the water. The horses use the area and are often more visible in the shoulder seasons when the grass is still decent and the trails are quieter.

Safe travels if you’re out that way.

Helen

How to Scavenge Deals at a Multi-Vendor Antique Store

How to Scavenge Deals at a Multi-Vendor Antique Store (All Through the House, Okotoks)

The above video will not go live until October 28th, 2026, I pegged the wrong video, my apologies. 

All Through the House in Okotoks is a classic multi-vendor and consignment setup: a warehouse with over fifty vendors plus additional consignees. That model is great for variety, but it changes how shopping and bargaining work compared to a single-owner shop.

Can you find deals?

Yes. Because so many different people are selling (vendors, consignors, and the house itself), inventory turns over and pricing is uneven. One booth might have a realistic price on uranium glass or a jukebox; another might be higher. The yard and salvage areas often hold better value on larger or rougher pieces. Walk every aisle and the outdoor area—the denser the store, the more likely something is underpriced or overlooked.

How pricing and bargaining usually work 

Individual vendors set their own prices. Staff or the manager can often answer questions, but they may not have authority to discount someone else’s item.  

Practical approach:  

- Ask politely if the price is firm, especially on larger items, multiples, or pieces that have been sitting.  

- Bundling (buying more than one thing from the same vendor) improves your chances.  

- Unique or highly desirable pieces (rare advertising, working jukeboxes, clean uranium glass) are less flexible.  

- Don’t be aggressive. Many consignors are private individuals who have set a number they want.

Quick tips for scavenging here

- Give yourself time. The aisles are packed.  

- Check tags carefully—some items are pure consignment, others belong to resident vendors.  

- Look in the yard and hardware/salvage areas as well as the main floor.  

- If you’re serious about something, ask whether the vendor is on-site that day.

The full walkthrough that shows the density and the range of finds is here: https://youtu.be/5M4A_xTzjVY  

Location: Bldg 185, 100 Stockton Avenue (behind the Okotoks Cinemas; enter off North Railway Street). Generally open 11–5 daily.

Take your time, be respectful, and you’ll usually walk out with something.

This cute little Chameleon is also for sale, $25 OBO, he is approximately 15cm long and 4 to 5 cm high; if interested drop us a line or two. We are located in Okotoks Alberta and can meet up at a local public place. 

This Resin Art piece is make with Epoxy Resin and most of the colour comes from Mica Powder, there is some dye in the resin as well, that is where you can see some pink highlights in the tail and limbs. One of a kind unique piece.