Alaska sunset; Happy New Year

I've been enjoying a super-long weekend this week. I went into work Monday, then took off the rest of the week. It's been nice to take care of some things that have needed doing for a long time and simply spend time as I want to.

I cleaned out my closet and have a pile of clothes ready for the collection box. I plan to do the same thing with my cupboards. I have such a huge supply of dishes, casseroles, small appliances and other kitchen items that I never use.

Maybe I will actually (hopefully) accomplish one of my resolutions in 2010. I am determined to downsize.

I had a lovely quiet Christmas. My daughter and her family came over Christmas Eve, so we got the excitement out of the way early. Christmas Day my good friend came over for coffee and brunch and a nice talk. After he left, I dismantled the tree and put away the stockings. Some of my family and friends have questioned why I do it so early, but that tree had been up since the day after Thanksgiving and it blocked the extra daylight we are now gaining. I cleaned the window so I could see the birds better and am now seeing a change in the daylight as well.

The day after Christmas I phoned my parents and found my mother fell on Christmas Day and hurt her shoulder. She had been visiting my brother and fell on her way out to the car, right by the concrete steps at his back door. She declined a trip to the emergency room an hour away, and she and my father sat up all night - she in pain, he to ensure she was ok.

Saturday my brother took her to the hospital in Harrisburg where they discovered her shoulder is broken. The ball is in four pieces. After many hours and much discussion and several changes, they gave her pain medication and sent her home. Her arm is in an immobilizer, strapped tight against her body to prevent movement of the shoulder. When the swelling goes down, they will operate. Right now, all we know is she will see the doctor on Jan. 5 and they will give her date for the surgery to replace the shoulder. They have already ordered a ball for it. She is in pain, but the medications are helping somewhat.

Fortunately, my brother and his wife live across the yard. One of my sisters is five minutes away. Another sister is 30 minutes away. My sisters, sister-in-law, niece and nephew (both 20-something) have made daily visits to see if my parents need anything, bringing food and whatever else they need. I've called frequently this week, and Mother seems to be holding up fairly well. She suffers a bit of queasiness from the pills and doesn't have much appetite, but she sounds good. I'm relieved that my siblings are close enough to visit daily, because neither parent would let someone spend the night with them since the accident.

I'll be phoning them tomorrow to wish them a Happy New Year. My daughter and family and good friend are coming for our annual pork & sauerkraut dinner, a nod to my German ancestry and PA Dutch upbringing.

Tomorrow is also my granddaughter Maddy's 5th birthday. She is a delightful child and I'm so blessed to have her living nearby.

I went out to the get the mail a little while ago and the sky was so pretty I had to come back in and grab my camera. I wasn't dressed warmly enough to go far enough away to get the photo without the power lines and light pole. Though my thermometer said -9, it felt much colder than that.

Happy New Year. May your 2010 be a healthy happy year, filled with much love, great friends and wonderful moments.

Merry Christmas everyone

May you all be as blessed as I am with a wonderful loving family and true friends.

Merry Christmas.

Christmas lights, Solstice

The past three weeks have been pretty hectic - working, shopping, wrapping, mailing - but it's finally all done.

I got my mailing done in two trips to the post office, and was amazed and delighted that I was in and out in under 10 minutes both times. All of my gifts have arrived at their locations, cards are received and I managed to keep shipping costs down this year. I rarely get out of the post office in less than 20 minutes and the boxes cost a mint to ship. A couple of years ago it cost me $75 to ship two boxes to my granddaughters in Spokane. This year, I opted to buy gifts that are smaller in size, including gift cards, that would fit into the USPS's flat-rate boxes. From now on, that's how we're going.

My two friends Cindy and Mae and I had our annual holiday luncheon yesterday. We went to the Silver Gulch in Fox and had a wonderful lunch despite the -25 degrees. Although it was a little chilly in the restaurant, the food was good and the company can't be beat.

Last evening the three of us drove all over Fairbanks looking at holiday lights. I figured it would be a good time to try out the handheld twilight feature on my camera, and I wasn't disappointed with it. We were a little disappointed that a lot of places we've enjoyed seeing over the past few years didn't have their elaborate displays - some of them didn't even have a single light.

However, the Larson house was as lit up as normal.

Though I'm a traditionalist and don't like to see kitschy stuff that looks out of place, I decided the palm trees did fit the theme of this display.

I really don't like those inflatable snowmen, Santas and other things people put into their yards. We saw an inflatable Nativity and penguins as well, some of them losing their air and folding over onto themselves and others tipped over by the wind. To me, they're not attractive and seem like yard clutter.

By far, my favorite lights were those on natural displays.

The street lights cast a yellow glow on the birch trees.

This choke cherry tree may have been my favorite. It was strung with small white lights, and the fresh snow gave it a beautiful ethereal appearance.

Tomorrow is Dec. 21, the winter solstice. I often think it's my favorite day of the whole year, because it means we'll start gaining daylight again. I take my tree down by Dec. 26 so I can get every bit of that extra light (even though it's only 1 minute at first). My dad enjoys telling me it's just the first day of winter, but to me it signals we're midway through winter and heading toward longer days, and, eventually, break-up. There are a number of solstice activities, including fireworks, today. I can sometimes see them from my yard, so I'll probably take the dog out and see if they're high enough for us to catch a glimpse. However, I don't plan to go downtown to see them. This is the end of a long weekend for me and I need to get back into work mode tomorrow.

Plans for today include baking a ham for the office Christmas lunch, shoveling my sidewalk and brushing all the snow off my car.

Happy Solstice everyone.

Happy Thanksgiving

I have much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving - my family, my friends, my health, my job in a place full of wonderful people, my little dog and so much more. Occasionally, I hear someone talk about how hard life is and I realize how truly blessed I am.

Instead of cooking yesterday, I went to Pike's Landing for dinner with my friend Mae. We enjoyed a buffet that included turkey, ham and prime rib, salads, all the side dishes and a huge dessert table complete with sugar-free desserts. I did splurge as I do every time I visit Pike's brunch and had a creme brulee. It's only about four bites and since I only have it 3-4 times a year, I allow myself this special treat. The food was wonderful, as always, and we ran into other friends who wanted to spend the holiday away from the kitchen.

We took the circuitous route on the way back home. The sky was blue and the sun was shining down through the trees. It looked like a winter wonderland.

It was about 10 degrees, very nice after the -30 we had last week. All in all, it was a very nice day.

Today it was 20 degrees when I got up this morning. My little dog Buddy loves the warmer temperatures. He's always excited about going out - jumping, barking and turning himself inside out. (I think it may have something to do with the treat he gets when he comes back in.) When it's -10 or colder, he's in front of the door within 30 seconds, wanting to come back inside. We were out last weekend when it warmed up to -15 and he was giving me his most pitiful look - the guilt-trip thing. After just a few seconds at the colder temperatures, his beard turns white with frost.

Today it was up to 25 degrees, so we went out for a short romp. He loves to sniff the air and check out who was near his yard last.

I opted not to shop today. I don't like crowds, and especially rude crowds. I went out just twice on Black Friday and decided I will never do it again. The pushing, shouting, running down aisles really spoils my holiday spirit. I was not raised to act like this in public (or in private, for that matter) and I simply want to grab those people and tell them to act like adults. I'd probably end up in jail :) I guess I must be getting old, because I have little patience for dealing with it. I would rather spend more money and shop in relative peace.

I cooked a turkey today and spent some time with my daughter and her family, then did some laundry and put up my tree. It's not trimmed yet, but I can do that later. I love looking at the lights on it. Hopefully all the work is done now and I can simply relax and enjoy the weekend before going back to work Monday. I have a lot of leave I need to use up over the next month, and will be taking time off.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. I hope your holiday was as good as mine was.

Looking for the good . . .

I am so glad this week is done. It's been a long one, and I'm afraid not a very productive one. I worked hard all week and didn't even take the camera out of its bag. It felt as though all I did was work, eat and sleep - and much of the eating (breakfasts and lunches) was done at my desk.

I was selected as a panel member this week to review tons of papers and determine if the ratings on them were correct. My fellow panel members were great, we got along well and were able to reach a consensus on all of them. However, that panel took up all day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and half of Thursday. That gave me just a day and a half to catch up a week's worth of work.

That made me very grateful to have a wonderful staff who kept the office running smoothly and picked up some of my tasks on top of their own work. They are a great group of people - I missed their company while I was locked up in the panel work.

Friday the temperature dropped to -30 at work. Somewhere on the way to work, one of my tires went flat. I have no idea where this happened, as there was no change in performance until I was about 1/2 mile from the office. At -30 I wasn't about to let it sit along the road - towing and repairing a frozen car would be more costly than towing it and replacing the tire. It was 5 a.m. and there was no one on the road. As it turned out, I damaged the rim, so it had to be towed anyway, but is now back in my driveway, plugged in and happy.

Once again I was pretty grateful. I have a service station with a great reputation and honest mechanics. They towed my car, dropped me off at home to let the dog out and came back to get me when the tire was replaced. They're looking for a replacement spare for me today.

I've had some experiences with shady mechanics and these guys have been great. I started using them after one guy at another place quoted me more than $400 for a fix, then told me he would do it at his home garage for $350 because he was trying to build up a clientele so he could start his own business. I decided to get a second opinion and went to the place I now call my shop. They replaced a $15 part in 5 minutes and didn't charge me for the labor. I've been going there ever since.

Normally, all of this would have had me stressed out and ranting wildly. Instead, I'm simply glad it's over. Maybe it's because I pulled out an old commentary I once wrote and spruced it up a little. It was about keeping Thanksgiving separate from Christmas (they ARE two different holidays, after all), and being thankful for what we have. Perhaps that spilled over into my week, because I don't feel any stress and I'm pretty content despite the fact that it's really cold outside.

I'm looking forward to phoning my family in Pennsylvania Thursday and wishing all of them in turn a happy Thanksgiving, and to having a wonderful dinner at Pike's Landing. I'm taking much of the week off, so will probably cook at least a turkey breast if not a whole bird - I love the leftovers. But I also love having someone else cook and clean up on a holiday, and Pike's always has a wonderful spread.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Veterans' Day

Today is Veterans' Day. Originally called Armistice Day, it noted the end of WWI.

I have a few ancestors - and still living relatives - who have served in the armed forces.

Andrew Burd, in my maternal line, served in the Revolutionary War. He enlisted at age 14 and served as a fifer until his release at the end of the war - at age 21 - according to records. His tombstone says that legend has it the fife was shot from his hand as he was playing it, but he was uninjured.

Both William Portzline (my dad's mother's grandfather) and John Hamilton (my dad's maternal grandfather) served in the Civil War, in the same company. One record says that William Portzline was shot in the wrist and was briefly a prisoner of war. I'm still looking for confirmation and more information on the POW story.

My paternal grandfather served in France in WWI. He conducted recon, then drew maps of the terrain. I remember being cautioned not to ask him about the war when I was a young girl. I suspect he had some horrendous experiences. He was a very quiet, gentle man. I never saw him lose his temper or heard him raise his voice. I can't imagine how terrible that war must have been for such a gentle farm boy. After the war, he stayed on in France to study art, and he created so many things. He had a woodshop in the back yard where he would spend hours crafting furniture with curlicues on the feet of the tables and chairs. He made the dining-room table, so many chairs my grandmother had to tell him to stop and small boxes to hold various items. I have one wooden box, with a bunch of grapes carved onto the lid, that he made to hold a 35-mm camera (I have the camera as well). I also have a painting of a stream and spruce trees that he did. I treasure them both.







My grandfather, Cleve Hoffman, with his weapon









My mother's brother served in Korea. I can remember seeing him in his Army uniform when I was young. I didn't understand the excitement among my mother, grandparents and aunts and uncle then, but I remember thinking he looked pretty official in that uniform.

My dad, his brother Neil, brother-in-law Raymond and my cousin Don all served in the Navy. My cousin was primarily in the Mediterranean.

From top to bottom: Uncle Raymond, Dad, Uncle Neil

Dad spent time in the South Pacific - Philippines mostly. He was a sonar technician on a Canadian hospital ship called "Letitia."

LETITIA / EMPIRE BRENT / CAPTAIN COOK 1924



Built as the LETITIA in 1924 by the Fairfield Co, Glasgow for the Donaldson Line of Glasgow. She was a 13,475 gross ton ship, length overall 538ft x beam 66.4ft, one funnel, two masts, twin screw and a speed of 15 knots. There was accommodation for 516-cabin and 1,000-3rd class passengers.
Launched on 14th Oct.1924, she sailed from Glasgow on her maiden voyage to Liverpool, Quebec and Montreal on 24th Apr.1925, and she ran a joint service with the ill-fated ATHENIA to Quebec and Montreal in the summer and Halifax and St John NB in the winter. In 1927 her accommodation was altered, to carry 298-cabin, 310-tourist and 964-3rd class passengers.
In 1939 she was requisitioned by the Admiralty and commissioned as an Armed Merchant Cruiser. She later became a troopship and was extensively damaged in 1943 and was temporarily repaired in the USA.
In 1944 she was taken over by the Canadian Government and converted into a hospital ship with a medical staff of 200 and a capacity for 1,000 wounded. Over the next year or so she carried over 7,000 sick and wounded back to Canada and was on her way to the Pacific theatre of war when Japan surrendered. She was then used for the repatriation of Canadian troops and families. While still engaged in this work, she was sold in 1946 to the Ministry of Transport and renamed EMPIRE BRENT. While on route to Halifax in 1947, she collided with and sank the STORMONT in the River Mersey and had to be drydocked in Birkenhead with stem damage.
In December 1947, she was completely overhauled on the Clyde and refitted as a troopship. Used for trooping voyages to India and the Far East until 1949 when she commenced an emigration service between the UK and Australia with a capacity for 965 emigrants. Withdrawn from this service late in 1950, she was laid up for about six months and was then completely reconditioned as a New Zealand emigrant ship with accommodation for 1,088 passengers in two-, four-, and six berth cabins.
Renamed CAPTAIN COOK, her ownership was to pass gradually to the New Zealand government, who were paying for her by installments. She commenced sailings from Glasgow via Panama to Wellington on 5th Feb.1952, taking about 33 days, sometimes being used to repatriate troops from the Far East on the return voyage. From April to October 1955 she was chartered to Donaldson’s and made seven round voyages between Glasgow, Liverpool and Montreal, but then went back to the New Zealand service.
In 1957 she had a fire while in Wellington, but was able to sail to the UK for repairs. She arrived at Glasgow at the end of her 25th New Zealand voyage in February 1960, was laid up at Falmouth and was then sold to British Iron and Steel Corporation, towed to Inverkeithing and broken up. [Donaldson Atlantic Liner "Letitia" of 1925 by Captain J.H.Isherwood, Sea Breezes Magazine, September 1967]

I had several friends in college who were VietNam veterans, and I work with Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. Their strength - and that of their families - is incredible. The telephone calls home and the occasional hook-ups via the Internet can't erase the  fear, the separations and the everyday challenges they all face. It requires a special strength.

It's a hard job, and it takes a tremendous toll on those who serve combat tours as well as on their families.

Today I will attend the Veterans' Day observance in Fairbanks, where I will stand at attention when the band plays the Army Song. I'll remember my days in the Women's Army Corps. I'll remember my ancestors and my living relatives who served and who had to overcome hardships and long separations from their families, without the benefit of telephones and Internet connections. And I'll say a special prayer for those who are serving today.

I salute all of you.

The lost are found

In an effort to use up some annual leave (I'll lose it in January if I don't use it up), I took last week off. Instead of driving all over the place with the camera, I hit the doctor for flu shot and the computer for some much-neglected research. I spent an average of 3-4 hours a day trying to track down some long-lost ancestors.

I started tracing my ancestry in 1999, when I visited my family in Pennsylvania for a couple of weeks.

My parents were able to give me some background on their families - parents and one grandfather's name for my mother; parents, grandparents and one side of great-grandparents from my dad. Fortunately, my mother's cousin was happy to provide some insight into one branch for me.

That trip and the thrill of finding information online when I returned to Fairbanks kept me going. I joined a genealogy group that met monthly here and solidified my interest. Each time I found another ancestor the excitement increased.

Several of us from the genealogy group made trips to Salt Lake City to visit the genealogy library there. We would go down for one week, spending hours at the books and microfilms. I became expert at loading and unloading the film spools and zipping through them to the page I needed. My bookshelf at home is now loaded with research books, papers and magazines.

Subsequent trips to PA to visit my family had me visiting the local historical society and the county courthouse archives. We took drives to local cemeteries to photograph tombstones. My dad took us by the old family homestead, where both my grandfather and his father were born. It's still owned by the (second) wife of one of my ancestors.

I backed off the genealogy for a couple of years when a serious illness and astronomical medical bills not covered by my insurance made it tough to justify paying a lot for the subscription to the best websites for the research.

However, I decided to get back into the work. I'm pretty much an indoor person during the winters here, as the cold really bothers my arthritis, and I didn't want to become just a lounger. So I reactivated my subscription. The website has improved tremendously since my last visit, and I found a quaking leaf on nearly every name in the tree I had started 10 years ago. When I clicked on the leaf, I was led to hints on the specific ancestor. WOW! Much of the information was not new to me, but other bits had me looking for sources to confirm. Once confirmed by a census, newspaper, Social Security death index, WWI and WWII draft card or other official document, I could then say with certainty this belongs in my tree.

In my maternal grandmother's line, I had her parents and her father's father. However, that line stopped there. I was relatively certain that George (my grandmother's grandfather) was the son of Jacob. But I couldn't prove it. All I had was a hunch, however strong it was. I had managed to get Jacob's family traced to France in 1520 - but still needed to link him to George.This week I FINALLY managed to get that confirmation thanks to a quaking leaf that led me to church records. So I have my mother's maternal side back to France (to America via Scotland and Ireland) in 1520 and her paternal side to Switzerland in 1634.

My dad's families are primarily of German heritage, as are many of my mother's other lines. I've hit a couple of brick walls with two of Dad's lines, but again this week, thanks to those little leaves and a much larger library available online, I got the Hoffman (my maiden name) line back to Germany in the 1600s.

As I'm working this project, I'm astounded at what these people who are all part of me must have faced - poverty, hard work, persistence, long ocean voyages - and HUGE families. Many of them had 12 or more children. Many of them lost a number of those children before they reached adulthood. Most of them were poorly or uneducated. They were simple folk - farmers, laborers, boatmen. They had no modern conveniences to help with cooking, baking, laundry or cleaning. But their obituaries describe them as "well respected citizens." The church was important to them. Thus far, all but one family line has arrived in the US through Philadelphia, and that one line came in through Baltimore. They all moved a bit northwest to what are now Perry and Juniata counties - and many of them are still there today.

As a teenager, I thought our family was rather uninteresting because they didn't come from somewhere else. As I started tracing these people, I became very grateful they were grounded in one spot. I heard my friend mutter, "He's in New York in 1850 and he's in Idaho in 1870. Where was he for the 20 years in the middle? How did he get there? Why doesn't he show up anywhere in the 1860 census?"

This past week hooked me again. I've felt once again that thrill of success. I know that the farther back I go, the sparser the records and the more difficult to find information that is verifiable. But I will press on. My greatest regret is that I didn't start this before my grandparents died. My greatest joy in it is that my granddaughter is interested in the project. Hopefully I will be able to continue finding "lost" ancestors to share with her and generations still to come.

My paternal grandmother's grandparents

My dad's parents

My dad's paternal grandparents

the Hoffman homestead

My mother's parents and me

It's still autumn

Winter is still holding off. It's been a beautiful past few days - temperatures in the 50s and sunshine. They're calling for 50s again today, and my friends Mae and Cindy and I are planning a drive to no where in particular. I'll take the camera and see if I can get a few more fall shots.

Friday I got a new flat-screen television set, 37", which looks great in the living room. I really think anything much bigger would be a bit too much. It's much sharper than the old square one and the HD is great. My friend came over to help me set it up, and after breakfast, we headed over to Creamer's Field to see what was happening.

I was surprised to see a small group of Canada geese still hanging around. I thought they were all gone by now.

I also noticed the fireweed, though completely brown and cotton, is still standing tall. Fireweed is one of my favorite plants - I love it at almost any time of year.

fireweed in bloom, July

fireweed topped off and near the end

end of the road for this fireweed plant - I love how it contrasts with the aged dark wood of the fence








We are all reveling (except the snowmachiners and skiers) in the lingering warm temperatures of autumn. My little dog loves to sit in the yard sniffing the air. Occasionally he will run from one corner to the other. Twice Saturday, when we were moving televisions in/out, he escaped and ran off down the street. My arthritic back and asthma HATE this. We got him back, but I was winded and not happy with him.

Happy October to all. I'm hoping to get more photos today.

snow

I knew the snow would eventually get here, but kept hoping I could hold on to summer and fall just a little longer. But Saturday morning I woke to a dusting in my yard. That melted pretty quickly as the temperatures warmed up a bit, but it continued to rain and/or snow all day at my house.

This morning, on my weekly trip to the grocery store, we stopped to gas up the vehicle and I noticed Birch Hill still had some good spots of yellow. The deep dark green of the spruce and the yellow of the birch trees were highlighted by the small amounts of snow and frost. Very pretty.

more gold, more cranes and moose

I had to travel with another woman from the office to Delta Junction Wednesday. We left about 8 a.m. with mostly sunny skies and some clouds. As we headed down the Richardson Highway, the gold colors on the trees were vibrant and seemed almost fluid.

About 30 miles or so before we reached Delta Junction, there's a turnout. It sits on top of a bluff overlooking the Tanana River with the foothills and the Alaska Range in the background. In the 30+ years I've lived here, I've traveled that road many times, but never stopped there.

Wednesday, we decided to stop for a short while to take some photos. It was worth it.

I love the different colors, the meandering Tanana and the mountains. On a clear day, the peaks stand out crisp and sharp. Some heavy clouds hung near the summits, but they weren't enough to hide the beauty of this spectacular range of mountains.

I also decided this was a good spot to try out the sweep panorama on my new camera. I'm not disappointed with that feature.

We got a briefing and a look at some of the off-road area near Delta, and managed to get in a little wildife viewing as well.

I have to admit I'm a little embarrassed by this one. I know (and I've been told MANY times) to not shoot photos through the windshield. But I did it anyway, and this one was covered with smears from insect hits. But I wanted to get a shot of this very young cow and her calf. They were near the road, and I know I can't outrun a moose, so the windshield it was. When they figured we weren't moving soon enough they moved into the trees where they watched us as we shot a few more photos before leaving. They were almost perfectly camouflaged among the spruce trees. We took a few more (got more moose's butt than anything else) photos and left them in peace.

We were talking with several of the people we met there and heard a babble overhead. I looked up to see sandhill cranes that apparently been disturbed. It seemed they wouldn't stop coming. I managed to catch a few in flight.

It's trips like this, even when I'm working, that sometimes leave me breathless with the beauty of this land and so very grateful that I live in a place where I can see the spectacular scenery and the wildlife in their habitat.

It's not done yet...

We had a lovely day yesterday, with sunshine and temperatures reaching 70 degrees at my house.

I spent the morning with my daughter and granddaughter. Maddy, 4, "helped" me fill the bird feeders and entertained herself looking through my mini binoculars and running from the camera.

After a nice lunch we headed over to Creamer's Field to see how many birds are left. We didn't see a single sandhill crane, but there were about 100 geese resting in the field and a handfill of ducks. Maddy didn't have quite the same level of interest I did, but she did enjoy looking through the huge public binoculars set out for visitors. They're mounted on a pole and are like those that often require coins to operate, although these don't require payment for use.

The geese were busy feeding and flying. The flight photo is one of the first I've been able to accomplish without too much blur to identify. The camera was on a long-range setting, so the picture is a little soft, but at least the geese are recognizable.

The fireweed is nearly done completely now, with much of it nothing more than red leaves now. I was able to capture this one with a bit of fluff still on it, but those little white seeds were flying all over the place yesterday!

I'm still working on building my photographic skills. I envy people who can look at something and see a story. I upgraded my camera this week, but still haven't gone to a DSLR. I like the ease of transport and convenience of my high-zoom camera. It's got the ease of a point & shoot, but a better zoom and the option of using either an auto setting or a manual one. I have lenses from my old film 35mm cameras that are compatible with a DSLR (I checked), but I know if I go there I'll be toting around 40 pounds of camera gear. And since I like to simply toss the camera into my purse when I go out, I'm staying where I am for now. I keep a small point & shoot in my purse all the time just in case something comes up, but I really prefer the high zoom when I plan to shoot.

These high-zooms have given me a lot of great photos and a lot of pleasure. However, I can't come close to some of the photographers I know. I need a lot more practice and ultimately I may have to move to a DSLR. But for now, I take photos of things that please me. It's a great hobby and I'm never without a camera.

My friend and I went to the Salmon Bake for dinner last evening and the ducks at nearby Mining Village (part of Pioneer Park - http://co.fairbanks.ak.us/pioneerpark/) were either swimming in the water by the sluice or resting on the grass. As I stepped onto the grass to take a photo I startled one very pretty duck who got up and moved away. His left leg must have been injured, as he hopped away on his right one, then stood with the left foot tucked up near his tail.

I'm not sure what the injury is, but I'm a little worried for him. I hope it's a minor one and he will be able to survive either the flight south or the winter. I suspect the ducks at Mining Village may be some of those that winter here. Hopefully he will be ok.

It's another sunny gorgeous day and 59 degrees now, so I think I'll pack up the car and head out with the camera. It's too nice to waste indoors.

Happy Labor Day weekend.

Is it over already?

Well, the fair has ended on a wet note and the kids go back to school tomorrow. For all intents and purposes, summer is pretty much ended. How depressing is that? It's still August.

I did go to the fair yesterday despite the rain. I've only missed a couple of years since we got here in 1978, and even though it doesn't change a lot from year to year, I love it every time. It's the best time to do some serious people-watching. I also enjoy checking out the various food booths (had a great hot dog this year) and looking at what won the creative writing competition. I haven't entered anything for the past few years, but I still enjoy seeing them. I also like roaming the aisles to see what "new improved" item is being sold, though I find everything incredibly over-priced. I only had to use the umbrella for part of the time, but I found it very hard walking. The arthritis in my back was really hating the dampness, and I had to find a bench frequently. The doctor told me in July I should start thinking seriously about surgery, but that scares me. I've heard too many horror stories about people who had back surgery and came out with no improvement or even in worse shape than when they went in. At any rate, the fair was fun as always.

Now I'm thinking about doing the last bit of trimming on my bushes and putting away the lawn chairs. Though winter often means I can slow down and relax a bit, this year we'll be going full-tilt right through the middle of October at work, with a lot of activity. I will be very happy to be able to relax after that.

My friends and I will probably take another autumn drive to Murphy Dome and Ester Dome, two local areas with great views. We do those drives in the fall, after the leaves have changed color - the valley is a great golden dip between the hills.

Before I go, I thought I would post a few photos from my trip to the Georgeson Botanical Garden at the university. Here are a couple of my favorites.

It seems that no matter what time of year it is, there's always something beautiful to see in this wonderful place. The colors of summer are a treat for my eyes. The vivid yellows of the autumn are calming to me and absolutely beautiful when the sunlight hits them. The pure white of the snow in winter makes this look like a Christmas card. And the greening of the grass and trees at break-up are such a welcome sight after the long winter. Regardless of the downsides - long cold winters, long distances from family, expensive heating bills - there's something about Interior Alaska that keeps me here. The northern lights, the mountains, the wildlife, the gorgeous flowers, most of all the terrific friends - all offset the cold and dark and distance. Until next time...

lots of smoke

We've got wildfires burning and growing all around us. This morning the sun was almost blood red, filtered by the smoke. I jumped into the car to get somewhere I could get some photos of it without trees blocking it, but by the time I got into the car the smoke had completely obliterated the red ball.

My car was covered in big pieces of ash (and I just washed it last weekend!). This is my front bumper and a view of the windshield from inside the car.

Since I was already out, I decided to go over to Creamer's Field to see if there were any birds around. The smoke gave the place an eerie look and the sandhill cranes look almost ghostly.

I shot some fireweed, noticing it's close to topping off. The fair starts Friday, and kids go back to school the before the 20th. I can't believe summer's almost over already.

As I have a lot of leave I have to use up, I took this week off. I'm heading to the Farmers' Market in a few minutes to see what they have. I love their new potatoes and fresh tomatoes. Hopefully they'll have some other good stuff. I think when I get home I'll try some new recipes I saw on Food Network :) Though I can't smell the smoke, it still affects my breathing outdoors, so it's a good day to stay indoors and maybe get creative.

I'm hoping that by Friday the smoke will ease up so I can enjoy opening day at the fair.

Have a good day everyone.

birds, flowers, governors

This is the third time I've tried updating - maybe it'll be the charm. Some computer glitch would allow me to get partway done, then shut down my IE. Hopefully I've been able to fix that.

It's been a busy month and summer has been flying by. I can't belive the fair starts in less than two weeks!

I've caught a number of weekend baseball games (weeknight games keep me up too late) and enjoyed watching my favorite game. It's so nice to sit in the seats with friends nearby and enjoy the sun and breeze, a hot dog and a good game of baseball. I did miss the games Friday and Saturday because of the smoke that drifted in from wildfires. That's taken some of the enjoyment out of a lot of outdoor activities. It smells nasty, puts a haze on the city and is bad for my asthma.

I don't let it destroy my pleasure in summer though. I've made some drives through the city to my favorite places. One Saturday morning I took the long way home from the grocery store. The sky was a bright, cloudless blue; the temperature was a lovely 60 degrees with a small breeze. I reveled in the cool air blowing in the open windows, the blue sky and the vivid reds, yellows, oranges and blues of flowers planted all over town. Set against the emerald green of the trees and grass it was a perfect drive.

Last week one evening my friend Mae and I stopped at a local drive-in for foot-long hot dogs, then went to Creamer's Field to watch the sandhill cranes. There were two groups - one in a dirt clearing in the field, the other in the tall grass. Soon after we arrived the group in the grass started moving as one to the clearing. Mae and I wondered if they sensed a predator in the grass, but they didn't appear to be alarmed. It was a slow stroll out of the grass. The two groups merged into one, with some occasional posturing by the younger cranes.

After we left Creamer's we stopped off at Wedgewood Resort, a popular lodging for summer visitors. For our money, Wedgewood has the nicest flowers of any other Fairbanks business. It rivals the Georgeson Botanical Garden for gorgeous blooms and we ensure we visit it at least once every summer.

Whoever does their landscaping and planting is certainly a flower genius. These are a couple of my favorites this year.

We'll be heading out today to watch our friend Dan in the barbecue competition, and will probably stay to watch the zoo at the swearing-in of our new governor, Sean Parnell. I'm still not convinced I want to do that, but my friends do, so there I'll be. I'm not looking forward to the crowd and I am not a fan of national media representatives. Having worked with some of them, I find them rude and egotistical with very little exception. I enjoy working with our local reporters and editors, but those national guys are a bit too cutthroat for my liking. However, since I won't be working with them today, I'll sit back and watch the show.

Happy Sunday. Hopefully the smoke will drift off and give us a few days of nice clear days.

July 4th, summer

I'm up earlier than usual this morning, and thought I'd do a quick update.

On July 4th I went to the big celebration at Alaskaland - Army band concert, a few speeches and salute to the union with a rifle team firing a shot after the announcers read off the name and nickname of each state in (mostly) the order it entered the union. (Alaska and Hawaii are reversed because they "save the best for last.") There were several thousand people attending, as usual and it was great fun to sit and watch everyone.



This little cutie danced to one of the band's Souza marches and earned a big round of applause.



The 50 state flags on the upper deck of the Riverboat Nenana, drydocked in the park. When I arrived at the park, it was a gorgeous sunny day with clear blue skies. The haze creeping in behind the boat is smoke from wildfires. By the time the ceremony ended I headed home instead of the baseball game. The smoke was hanging low in town and it was HOT. So I made a strawberry smoothie and sat in front of the fan reading a good book.







The smoke has continued to hang around, but it's not as bad as it was a couple of years ago. The hot temperatures (in the 80s) continue. I'm very grateful it's not humid here!



I normally drive to work early (I start at 6:30 a.m.), and it's been a beautiful summer. As I drive down a road with little traffic at that hour, I marvel at the bright green of the grass and trees. I love that there are at least three different shades, and it's all bright from the dew. On a good clear day, the white snow-covered peaks of Mts. Hayes, Hess and Deborah in the Alaska Range stand starkly against the blue sky. The mountain views are one of my favorite things about Alaska. Even from here - several hundred miles away - they look huge, and are spectacular. The fireweed is starting to bloom and its blast of fuscia really stands out against the green. (Fireweed is my favorite plant here - I love seeing a big patch of it from a distance. I also love looking at it up close.)







All of this makes me very glad to live here. The colors are so vibrant in the summer, and very welcome after several months of living in what seems a monochrome world.

Still to come this summer: the Georgeson Botanical Garden at the university, a visit to Wedgewood Resort (they have some of the prettiest hanging baskets and small flower plots in town), weekly trips to the farmers' market - and a trip to Anchorage on the Alaska Railroad.

Though Solstice usually leaves me a bit sad that we're now losing daylight, there's plenty of time left to enjoy the colors of summer.

Take care and enjoy...

Summer is here - baseball & birds

Our summer is definitely here, and I've been trying to enjoy every spare minute, so have neglected this website pretty badly.

It's been sunny and warm (on occasion too warm - I don't like anything over 75, and we've been hitting 80+ for a few days), with enough rain to keep my flowers and zucchinis growing. I harvested my first 8-ball zucchini yesterday. I'm really looking forward to trying it to see if the taste is any different from the regular ones.

We've passed the summer solstice, and as usual I enjoyed the annual Midnight Sun Baseball game at the ballpark. The Alaska Goldpanners beat the Lake Erie Monarchs 6-3 on a cool night (I wore my jacket through the entire game). The game starts at 10:30 p.m. and is played entirely without artificial lights.

The shot below was taken at midnight. The X pattern on the photo is the safety net in front of my seat.

"Anthem Annie" has sung the National Anthem at every major-league ballpark. Here she prepares to sing the Alaska Flag Song at the inning break closest to midnight. It was a little after 12:00. Estimated attendance was about 4,000 spectators.

My bird feeders are very busy this summer. I've got the ever-present black-capped chickadees, dark-eyed juncos and white-crowned sparrows. This year, the redpolls stuck around. I usually see them in the winter, then they go somewhere else to spend the summer. I guess they really like the nyjer seed. I've also got some pine siskins. When I'm watching the birds enjoy the feast, I wish I lived in a more rural area (or at least a place with more trees). My yard is pleasant with a spruce tree and several birches, but I live in town and don't get the variety of birds that some of my friends see in less urban parts of the Fairbanks area. A few days ago, I had redpolls and pine siskins on the feeders and a squirrel on the ground in front of the door picking up the seeds the birds dropped. I have a small pile of wood there for use in the fireplace in the event the power (and furnace) goes out in the winter. The seeds fall onto and between the wood pieces and looked like a buffet for the squirrel. After I got the dog calmed down (the squirrel looked like a possible playmate and Buddy was pretty excited), I was able to stand in the entry and take several photos. They're a little soft because I was shooting through the screendoor.

The redpolls are so pretty with their bright red caps. They are voracious eaters and love the nyjer seed and flax seed. Every now and then they would stop eating to look down at the squirrel. They're accustomed to seeing Buddy in the doorway looking out the window, so he doesn't scare them away. They will come in if I'm in the doorway, but leave quickly if I move fast or open the door.

Today I'm off to the annual July 4th celebration in town, then maybe the ballpark (if it isn't too hot). Happy 4th everyone.