long weekend

I decided to use some leave time and have an extra-long weekend, and it's been well worth it.

I went into the office for a couple of hours Thursday just to certify time cards, then started my weekend. When I got home my daughter and two granddaughters were already here and had raked the front yard and bagged all the leftover leaves from fall.

The girls helped me fill the bird feeders. I keep them up year-round and am rewarded by the company of a number of small birds. Right now there are redpolls and white-crowned sparrows out here, and I hear the black-capped chickadees calling so I expect they will stop by soon. The raven who likes my spruce tree is already up there chatting with the dog, who lies by the screen door sending out quiet little "woofs" every now and then when the raven squawks.

After the girls left Thursday, my friend and I went to lunch, then drove around the area enjoying the sun.

Friday I went to Chena Hot Springs with my friends Mae and Cindy. We had breakfast (ok, but not great) at the lodge, then wandered around the resort. It was bright and sunny and about 60 degrees - perfect weather.

The resort consists of a main lodge with gift shop and restaurant/lounge; several larger buildings with rooms; several small cabins; the frame for the ice hotel and (of course) the bathhouse and hot springs spa. Around the grounds are old rusting vehicles, many from the old gold-mining days.

In the summer, this car becomes a planter, filled with colorful flowers.

I love this old snowmachine. It looks like it got plenty of use!

The hot springs spa and fountain -

The frame of the ice hotel. In winter the ice blocks go up. Everything inside is made of ice - beds, bar and stools, glasses.

The resort's owner is experimenting with alternative sources of energy and has hosted several symposiums there.

Located about 60 miles from Fairbanks, Chena Hot Springs is a popular destination for many visitors and locals alike. Busloads of tourists from Japan visit it in the winter to see the northern lights. There are a number of outdoor activities for guests, including skiing, hiking and dogsled rides. And there's always the obligatory soak in the spa.

Saturday meant a visit to the Farmer's Market, my first this year. It's still a little too early for many of the vegetables we'll get later this year, but the baked goods and crafts were plentiful.

After the market, we headed to the movie theater to see "Star Trek." As a fan of the original series, I wasn't too sure how I'd feel about new people playing Kirk, Spock, Scottie and McCoy. Having seen the movie, I will probably buy the DVD when it comes out. I think it was perfectly cast and the actors nailed their predecessors. It was nice to see Leonard Nimoy playing Spock again.

After the movie we went to our favorite local greenhouse and bought flowers for our yards. I bought mostly petunias (they're hard to kill), but this year added two begonias. I love the showy blooms, and wanted to see if I can get them to grow well. I also bought zucchini plants. They had only the yellow zucchinis and something called an 8-ball zuke. I'd never seen them, but thought I'd give them a try. When I googled them, recipes said they are great for stuffing with rice or other foods. I'm excited to see how they turn out.

Sunday Mae, Cindy and I went to the Tanana Valley Kennel Club dog show. Our friend Nancy from Anchorage raises golden retrievers and shows them every year up here. This year she showed Logan, 1 year old, in his first outing. It's always good to see Nancy and her dogs, and I enjoy watching the other dogs as well.

Logan

When we left the dog show Mae and I headed up the Elliot Highway to Olnes Pond where my daughter and her family were camping. It's a pretty little pond, off the road, but it had attracted a lot of campers. They were staying in tents, fully contained RVs and tow-behind trailers. We visited for about an hour then headed back to town.

When I got home I planted my flowers and zucchinis, then decided it was time to call it a day. Temperatures were over 70 (and that's getting real close to TOO hot for me) and I was worn out. I sat on my bench in the yard, enjoying the shade of my birch tree and the pretty colors of the flowers. Buddy did his numerous trips around the yard sniffing everything, then joined me on the bench.

I may grill some salmon, but that's about as hard as I plan to work today.

Later this morning I'll go to one of the several Memorial Day services. Every Memorial Day, I remember our small Pennsylvania town's observance of the day. We had a parade, and I was part of that as far back as I can recall - first with my Sunday School class, later as a Brownie and Girl Scout. We carried handfuls of flowers from our yard, usually iris or narcissus, and placed them on veterans' graves at the cemetery where the parade ended. Someone would read a roll call of the town's veterans of all wars, back to the Revolutionary War. It was a very solemn affair, and was far more than just another long holiday weekend. Please join me today in special thoughts of those we've lost in wars over the years, and in a prayer for the safe return of those who are deployed to war-torn areas.

smoke

What a relaxing weekend it's been so far.

I returned to work Monday after nearly 3 weeks away. I found more than 500 e-mails, about half of which were spam and could be deleted easily. However, I couldn't do much about the remainder until Wednesday afternoon, as I was in training the early part of the week. I managed to get through them, though, and handled the majority easily enough. I still have a few of them hanging for action, and since I want to take Thursday and Friday to make a nice long holiday weekend, I'll have to hustle through the early part of this week.

I came home Friday completely exhausted, so I made a quick supper and spent the evening reading a good book. Saturday I slept in, then took a friend to lunch for his birthday. After lunch my friend and I got shakes at Carls Jr. - their orange cream one is great. It reminded me of the creamsicles we ate as kids. We drove out to Hilltop Cafe, just past Fox, then had a bowl of chili at the Silver Gulch in Fox. Their chili is really good, made with nice chunks of beef and stout.

As we drove back to town, we saw large plumes of smoke. I thought it may have been from a controlled burn by Alaska Fire Service. They do this regularly in the late spring and early summer, weather and winds permitting, to burn off brush and grass that could fuel a wildfire. Though it does create smoke, at least it's monitored to prevent a runaway uncontrolled fire.

I really wanted to sit on my bench in the yard, playing with the dog and relaxing, but by the time I was home the smoke had drifted into town and made breathing uncomfortable. I decided it wasn't perhaps the best thing for my asthma, so stayed indoors.

Today it's another sunny pretty morning, just 41 degrees now, but with the promise of warmer air later. Maybe I'll grill a salmon filet this afternoon. I've cleaned off the grill and it's all set for summer quick meals.

I'll be doing a bit of shopping, and have wash going, so it won't be completely idle day, but there's nothing pressing or difficult that needs to be done.

I'm considering a road trip with the camera over Memorial Day weekend. Since I'll have five days off, I can relax and enjoy time off. I lost leave last year because I didn't take all the use-or-lose leave, and I don't intend to have that happen again.

My friend Nancy from Anchorage will be up to show her puppy in his first dog show, and we'll go out to watch. It's great fun to watch all the different breeds, and Nancy's golden retrievers are beautiful. It's always fun.

Have a good week everyone.

I'm home

It's been another long stretch since posts, but the first few weeks were rather uneventful, and then I was on the road with no computer.

I was lucky enough to be able to upgrade to first class the entire trip from Fairbanks to Washington, DC. It's much more comfortable than flying coach, with so much more space. The plane arrived at 4:45 p.m. (10 minutes early) at National Airport on Apr. 28. I was very pleased to find the Washington area subway system, the Metro, has a station immediately adjacent to the airport's baggage claim area. I grabbed my bag and headed for the train. Surprisingly, the huge rush hour crowds I expected weren't there. There were a lot of people, but the crush I dreaded didn't happen.

I had to change from the yellow line to the red line several stops from the airport, but the signs in the stations were clear and easy to follow. Additionally, people were friendly and very helpful with answers to my questions.

It took me about 40 minutes to get from the airport to Shady Grove, MD, the final stop for the train. My sister and brother-in-law were waiting for me. From Shady Grove, it was just under 2 hours rainy drive to my parents' home in Liverpool, PA.

My stay in Liverpool was shorter than usual because of the conference in Arlington, VA, I had to attend. However, I was able to visit with all of my PA sisters and my brother. My sister in AZ phoned while I was there as well, so we were able to chat a few minutes.

I didn't do a lot - shopped with my mom, my sister Leesa and her son Jed; drove through Liverpool to see how it had changed; had breakfast with my mom; sister Leah and her husband Paul; and sister Luci and her daughters Lindsey and Meghan; visited on the porch with my parents, sister-in-law Karen, sister Leah, niece Janine and great-niece Elizabeth and chatted with my brother John.

I enjoyed some PA Dutch food - scrapple (a personal favorite), pot pie (beef, another favorite), liver puddin - but had to end the trip with scallops and shrimp with fresh pineapple & berries. As much as I love the PA Dutch food, I'm not used to eating it any more and found it too heavy.

It was wonderful to sit on the porch and see all the trees in full leaf, robins building a nest and other birds all over the place. I think one of the most serene scenes is the Susquehanna River from my dad's porch. I felt all the stress of work and winter lift from my body and simply enjoyed sitting doing nothing but being with people I love and miss.

I enjoyed the lilacs, bluebells, paper whites (narcissus) and other flowers. My lilacs here are the very light lavender color, and I love the dark purple in the front yard in PA.

My dad is an outdoorsman and enjoys taking his fox hounds out for a run when he's able. The three are tied in an area out back, and Dad visits them several times during the day. He feeds them each morning at 9. They apparently have an internal clock, as they'll begin standing and looking at the house about 8:30 each morning. I shot several photos of them, and Dad and I agree that Kate exemplifies the phrase "hangdog expression."

All too soon the PA time ended and I had to get back to Arlington for the conference. It was a very good conference, with a lot of seminars on various public affairs topics. I was able to see a number of old friends and former coworkers - both bosses and people who had worked for me.

I sat in on sessions with presentations by people from Google, Facebook and Twitter, as we are being encouraged to create web presences on those sites. I'm looking forward to putting some of the information I got to work.

Unfortunately, I didn't do any touristy things in the DC area. There were icebreakers and banquets 3 of the 4 nights I was there, and it rained nearly the whole time, including our last night. So I spent most of the time right in the hotel. I really wanted to see the women veterans memorial and revisit the Mall and Smithsonian, but I guess I'll have to save that for next time.

I wasn't able to upgrade on my return trip, so was crammed into an aisle (thankfully) seat in row 21 from DC to Seattle. Then I had a 6-1/2 hour layover in Seattle. My seat from Seattle to Fairbanks was in row 7, so there weren't a lot of people passing by the seat and that plane had a little more room than the earlier one. Nonetheless, I was so happy to see Fairbanks again and the trip at an end.

When I arrived at 9 p.m., it was daylight and sunny with a light breeze. It felt wonderful, and I was elated to see almost all the snow completely gone and trees beginning to show just a hint of green.

As much as I love visiting family and other places, there's no place like home - and these days that's Fairbanks.