Purple Heart

Last weekend I drove with two friends to Delta Junction for the dedication of a portion of the Alaska and Richardson Highways as a Purple Heart Trail (http://www.purpleheart.org/Membership/Public/Programs/PHTrail/Default.aspx). The ceremony was attended by a fairly large crowd. Speakers included Army and Air Force officers, state legislators and local officials. Diane Benson, the mother of a Purple Heart recipient, was a gripping speaker, talking of her own experiences dealing with her son's injuries. The Vietnam Veterans Motorcycle Club performed a solemn ceremony setting up the memorial display of weapon, boots, helmet and dog tags. This display is set up for all military memorial ceremonies to honor fallen warriors. I'm very glad I had the opportunity to attend.

The signs will be posted along the highway.

saluting the memorial display

I'm now following my niece's new blog at http://www.troupstravels.blogspot.com/. She leaves today for Uganda where she will spend six weeks teaching. Lindsey loves her job teaching in PA, and is very excited about this summer position in Africa. I'm very excited about following her adventures in Uganda.

As summer progresses, I'm loving watching the flowers grow in my yard; my zucchini has no flowers yet though :(. That happened several years ago - I had lovely green leaves, but not a single flower. The woman at the greenhouse told me they had likely not been pollinated. I hope that doesn't happen this year.

My bird feeders are very busy this summer. A new crop of redpolls are visiting daily (hungry little buggers) and I've seen a couple of small black-capped chickadees. It appears my squirrel family has moved from the front yard to some trees in the back. My large spruce tree has a raven coming by every day. He's a raucous bird, constantly calling and chattering when he's in residence. He drives the dog crazy. Buddy sits inside the screen door making little "woof" sounds, the bird clicks and makes odd sounds in his throat and it goes on for 30 minutes or more.

It's just a few more days until the Alaska Goldpanners come back for the summer. (www.goldpanners.com). I'll be attending the games, weather and smoke permitting as often as I can, but it's tough sometimes getting up for work the next day. I'm looking forward to sitting in the sun watching some baseball.

The sun is shining nicely and it's 59 degrees (at 7:25 a.m.), so I think it's time for Buddy and me to go sit on the bench in the yard. Happy summer everyone.

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.

Not much happening here...

It's been over a month of busy work and completely full weekends since I've sat down to update this. I feel I've done nothing really significant to even post here! Some of the days at work have been extremely stressful, with staff problems and more work than I can keep track of. I've been going in an hour early and working through lunch, so at least I'm managing to keep it up and not drop anything.

I'd go home, grab a salad or something to eat, and fall asleep early. Weekends mean grocery shopping and morphing into a vegetable.

However, as March moved into April, we started seeing longer daylight hours (YEAH!) and warmer temperatures. It hit 50 yesterday at my house. There's still lots of snow on the ground, but we're starting to see bare earth in the driveway and we can see the snow (slowly) melting into the ground. What once reached my knees is now at calf level.

The great news is the geese are back. This rite of spring always picks up my mood. Every April the field at Creamer's Field (a local waterfowl refuge) is plowed and strewn with seeds (barley and others) for the birds. This is a joint effort between the Alaska Department of Fish & Game, Fairbanks International Airport and local military airfields, to keep the birds away from the runways and avoid bird strikes to the aircraft. It's very successful, with hundreds of geese, ducks and sandhill cranes, among others, spending a couple of weeks there on their spring northward migration. I love going out to watch them flying in and out or just meandering among the ponds and seeds. To us, it's a sure sign winter is done. Two Canada geese showed up Thursday. We stopped by Friday evening after a wonderful dinner at the Princess Hotel, and there were about a dozen geese and ducks. I'll be dropping by frequently until they have eaten their fill and flown on to the northern part of the state.

In two and a half weeks, I'll be leaving for PA and DC. I'll have a few days to spend with my parents in central PA, just north of Harrisburg, then go back to Washington for a conference. I'm looking forward to seeing lots of folks in the public affairs field, some of whom I haven't seen in 10 years or more. I hope to see some of my former bosses and co-workers, as well as those I work with now via e-mails but don't see often. I'm planning to attend some sessions in Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. I really need to learn more about how best to use those sites.

This morning it's bright and sunny - looks like a gorgeous day.

Soon we'll be sweeping sidewalks instead of shoveling. Maybe that's why I love spring - the longer days, warmer temperatures, everything greening up - it's a new beginning.

Happy spring everyone.

trying new things

I was born and raised in Pennsylvania Dutch country. Though I didn't grow up in the heart of Lancaster County, it was about 1-1/2 hours away, and we had Amish families living within a few miles of our home. That translates to plain cooking - lots of fried foods and starches. I've found my family and friends are not necessarily interested in trying exotic foods. When the trip to Hawaii came up, I decided I would try some of the items I had seen on television. (I'm a Travel Channel and Food Network junkie.)

I had enjoyed seeing a Hawaiian chef named Sam Choy, a rotund man with a constant smile on his face. On one particular show, he enthused about something called poke (po - kay). It's a raw tuna marinated in pa`akai (Hawaiian salt), limu (seaweed), kukui (candlenut) and chilies. Not being very adventuresome in my culinary experiences, I have not (until this trip) tried ANY raw fish. It simply didn't compute. However, this was something I was determined to taste. Our regional public affairs officer in Hawaii told me, "be careful what you wish for, girl." That didn't fill me with any confidence I would like this stuff.

Our first day in Honolulu we found Sam Choy's restaurant - http://www.samchoy.com/restaurants_bigaloha.html - and decided to lunch there. I ordered the raw poke (tuna) and a seared poke (marlin), and found both delicious. The tuna was very tender and soft, making me wonder if it had been "massaged," which I know the Hawaiian chefs do with salmon before serving it.

On our second day, we went with our counterparts to The Willows, a beautiful restaurant built on artesian wells - http://www.willowshawaii.com/. Our table was situated under a roof next to a pool. The side wall was completely open to the air. Their poke was even better than Sam's. It had a wonderful bite from the chilis and, I think, a better flavor. I went back for seconds on that.

The most disappointing food of the trip was the kalua pig. I tried it at two different restaurants, including The Willows. The smoky taste was almost too strong, and at both places it was dry as bone.

I was told (later) there was poi at The Willows, but I didn't see it and therefore didn't get to try it - though from what everyone says, it's an acquired taste and I probably wouldn't like it.

One of my favorite foods there was the mahi-mahi (or dolphinfish, not related to the mammal). This light flaky fish was delicate and absolutely wonderful. Though I'm not overly fond of ginger, this was grilled with just a hint of it, enough to give it a little ginger bite but not overpowering.

I also ate a delicious dish at The Willows called haupia. This is a light, sweet, melt-in-your-mouth coconut pudding. It was exceptionally creamy, and I tried both the regular and the fried haupia - though the original recipe was better.

I enjoyed taro-root pancakes, though not the taro root itself. I do not like sweet potatoes, and this purple yam-like dish had a texture I didn't like and the taste was too much like a sweet potato. The pancakes had none of that flavor, but were more like the buckwheat pancakes we ate growing up.

The best food by far was the abundance of fresh (REALLY FRESH) fruit. The pineapple was perfectly ripened, not picked early for shipment to places like Alaska. It was tender and juicy and so sweet, my mouth is watering as I type. Every buffet we ate at included a section of fresh fruits - pineapple, strawberries, guava, mangos, melons and papayas. I could have easily bypassed everything else, but my eagerness to try regional dishes made me spoon out just a little of everything.

As you might guess, I enjoy eating, and I found this trip full of wonderful aromas and flavors. It was such fun to let go of my "safe" foods and try something different. I look forward to returning so I can get it fresh and am thinking of trying poke and mahi mahi here at home (if I can find the mahi mahi locally).

Hawaii

I just returned from a wonderful (mandatory) trip to Hawaii, my first time in the islands.


We had a conference there, attended by our counterparts from Hawaii, Japan and Alaska, as well as from the regional office.


I arrived Monday, Jan. 26, about 7 p.m. As soon as we entered the airport, the humid air hit me full in the face. By the time I retrieved my bag at the baggage carousel, I was sweating. What a change from -20 degrees!


I traveled with Kent from down the road about 100 miles. We both had rooms at the Hale Koa Hotel, owned by the Army. It's in Honolulu right on Waikiki Beach. After a shuttle ride, we arrived at the hotel. I was surprised to see there was no front wall at all on the hotel. We exited the shuttle and walked directly to the desk with no doors or walls. The entire lobby is open to the air. There were a lot of large pillars to support the ceiling, and numerous little conversational seating areas, as well as two benches streetside. We checked in, then met downstairs to have some supper.


I did have a rice bowl on the plane (NOT recommended - it wasn't very good, and definitely not worth the $5 they charged).


Biba's restaurant on the lower level sits on an open courtyard with both indoor and outdoor seating. We opted for outdoors, as it was a pleasant night. Their mahi-mahi was wonderful - moist, flaky with a delicate fish taste.

After a good night's rest, Kent and I tried Koko's Cafe in the hotel and enjoyed an excellent buffet breakfast. The eggs were perfectly cooked and the buffet was full of fresh fruit, a rarity in Alaska especially at this time of year.


After breakfast, we walked through the Hale Koa grounds to the beach, where we shot some photos of Diamond Head and the grounds. I was bummed out that I had forgotten my good camera - it was on the desk at home. However, I had the smaller camera - about the size of a deck of cards - so I made do with that. I can get good photos with it, but the other one is much better.

We found a free trolley to Hilo Hattie's, which I'd been told I HAD to visit. The day was overcast, but very pleasant temperature-wise - about 60 degrees in the morning. The trolley skirted through the Waikiki area and on to the store. I was able to find a cool Hawaiian shirt and skirt, as well as a few items for gifts.

Bob from Anchorage arrived about 1:30 p.m. so the three of us went to Sam Choy's for lunch. I've seen him on television and read that he's an excellent chef, so we decided to try it. I had poke (raw tuna in oil and spices), which I heard on TV was a kind of Hawaiian comfort food. I liked the raw form, and also tried a fried poke (marlin seared and served with rice).

After lunch we decided to recon our conference location and drove out there. It was interesting looking at all the sights on the way, but the traffic returning to Honolulu about 3:30 p.m. was horrible, backed up and crawling. I noticed the houses are built very closely together, without enough yard for pools or much other activity. The city of Honolulu seemed to be full of high rises (and lots of high-end stores like Coach, Tiffany's, Prada, etc.)

Our conference lasted 2 1/2 days. It was very good to meet all the people we correspond with via e-mail all the time, to learn that we all face similar challenges and hear how they deal with them.

The second day of the conference was a "cultural day." We were booked on the Admiral's barge from Pacific Command for a trip to Pearl Harbor and the Arizona Memorial. We motored past the memorials to the USS Utah and the USS Nevada, as well as by the USS Missouri, where Japan signed the surrender papers. We also saw the USS Bowfin. The USS Arizona Memorial was a beautiful white monument above the sunken ship. We learned the ship is still leaking oil and were able to see the oil slicks.

USS Missouri on left, USS Arizona Memorial on right

oil slick from USS Arizona

The USS Arizona Memorial was a solemn place. There's a place the park ranger called the shrine room, a room at the back of the memorial with the names of all the casualties on board when the ship was attacked. The white monument is beautiful and I think a fitting memorial. It's like the VietNam wall in my mind - a simple but emotion-provoking reminder of those young men who lost their lives.

I had a very special surprise on this trip. My dad told me he spent a few days in Hawaii as he waited for transport to the Philippines during World War II. He said the name was Aiea Landing, but he wasn't sure it still existed. All I'd been able to learn was that Aiea today is primarily a residential area. I couldn't find Aiea Landing anywhere on a map or on Google in today's geography.

When we arrived at the Admiral's boathouse, the young sailor on duty said, "Welcome to Aiea Landing." So I was able to get a lot of photos for my dad. I'll print them out and mail them this week.

Following our tour, we shopped a short while. Though I wasn't all that interested in shopping, I decided to check out the electronics. And there it was - the cameral model I'd been eying for a couple of months. It's an upgrade from the one I left back in Fairbanks, with a better optical zoom, and it was about $150 less than online (it hasn't hit Fairbanks stores yet). So I came out with a new camera.

The shopping trip moved into a tour of part of the island. We visited the Punch Bowl National Cemetery, another solemn place, and very beautiful.

Punch Bowl National Cemetery

Bird of Paradise

We visited the windward side of the island, but it was very cloudy and rainy. We drove to Hanauma Bay and watched the surf, then on the Blow Hole, where the water surges up through a hole in the rocks in a spout. The tide wasn't right, however, so we didn't see any spouts. We did see some whales spouting and the surf surging into the rocks was cool.

surf crashing at Blow Hole

We also drove by the Iolani Palace and other sights on our way back to the hotel. The lushness of the place astounded me. I love palm trees, and there were so many different varieties. There were gorgeous flowers everywhere. What a wonderful sight for eyes that have been looking at nothing but white for the past few months!

Following our conference end, we had about 7 hours to kill before turning in the rental car. We drove to Hickham Air Force Base where Kent lived a while back and to Kaneohe Bay Marine Base where Bob lived when he was a small child. Both installations were beautiful, so green.

We got back to Alaska Saturday morning, and I spent the day sleeping. There was little of that on either the flight to Oahu or the return flight. Both planes were packed and I have trouble sleeping when I'm crowded in like a sardine.

The trip was great in several ways. I'm so glad to have met my counterparts and to get some great ideas, as well as support for the challenges we still face. I loved the warmth (the locals were all cold - they were having a "cold spell" with temperatures dipping to 60 degrees at night!) and the green and the blue of the water. And the friendliness of the people we met was unmatched.

I will say, however, it's good to be home again. As much as I enjoyed myself, I still found it a little too warm when the thermometer hit 70 and the humidity was high. I don't think I'd want to live there - too many people, too much traffic. I do want to return, though, for another visit. I didn't get to the North Shore and I spent the entire time on Oahu. I'd like to see more of the islands.

It's definitely something I'll remember for a long time. I've already set a photo of one of the beaches as my desktop background, so when the winter here drags on a little too much, I can remember how warm and nice it was.