Pennsylvania

Now that I've recovered from a fast trip back home and had some time to resize and edit photos, I figured I'd share some photos of where I grew up and where my parents still live.

My dad continues to recover and is working hard to leave rehab and return home. I took most of these from his favorite spot on the front porch.



Foggy morning sunrise from the porch





Hummingbird at the feeder





visitor on the grass






Butterfly bush, so named because it attracts butterflies





close-up of butterfly blooms





Another butterfly bush



trumpet flowers growing on a vine on the porch rail





black-eyed Susans outside the kitchen window



Although it was wonderful to see my dad beginning to recover and to spend time with my family - mother, sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews, it was even better to return to Fairbanks. The heat (90s) and humidity (90th percentile) were almost unbearable. I'm much more comfortable here. (Someone remind me I said this come January :O)



Fast trip to PA

Hearing encouraging news from Pennsylvania about my dad's progress, I made reservations to fly out July 18 and stay through the 28th. However, on July 4th my sister phoned and said his kidneys were failing and the doctor said they should call in the family. He had only been in the rehab center for less than two days.

I was frantic. I phoned Alaska Airlines and explained the situation, hoping for an early flight out of Fairbanks. They were extremely helpful, and less than 24 hours later I was in Harrisburg. I spent the entire trip alternately crying, praying and hoping he would still be alive when I arrived.

My brother picked me up at the airport and we stopped at the hospital where he was in ICU. He was awake and alert and his kidney failure had completely reversed itself. The doctor told us later it was caused by severe dehydration.

I spent the next 10 days at my old home with my mother. Much of the time I was on the porch in Dad's chair, taking photos of his flowers, the squirrels and rabbits and his beloved hummingbirds. We went to see him every day, but the time was like a yo-yo. He spent several days in the hospital, then was transferred back to rehab.

The next day, as we were driving to the rehab center to visit him, we got a call that his heart rate was seriously elevated and erratic and he was on his way back to the emergency room at the hospital. We arrived before the ambulance crew had even completed their gathering of equipment. The doctors were afraid he was prefacing another heart attack, so he stayed in the hospital (again) for several more days.

He is now back at rehab, walking with a cane several times a day and is in physical, occupational and speech therapy sessions daily.  I am cautiously optimistic that this time will work. He does not want to even discuss nursing homes.

The stroke has affected his manual dexterity a good bit. He has a tough time holding utensils, but has been feeding himself most of the time since he started.

He sometimes has to think of a word, but his speech is clear enough to understand, though very soft. He appears to have his memory intact and he has not lost any of his sense of humor.

It is very hard to see him struggle like this. More than once it brought me to tears to see this once vital man work so hard to simply bring a spoonful of soup or a sandwich to his mouth. I had to leave the room, because I wanted to remain positive when I was around him. I'm still trying to remain positive and believe that his determination and willpower will pull him through it.

All that said, I'm so grateful I had a chance to see him again and assure myself that he hasn't changed fundamentally - just the shell. I did enjoy spending some time with my mother, brother and sisters, as well as numerous and nephews.

I arrived back in Fairbanks July 14 and was so happy to see it was not 90+ degrees and humid. I love seeing my family - though not in these circumstances - but that weather makes me miserable.

Many thanks to all of you who left comments and e-mailed me with thoughts and prayers for my dad. They were all appreciated.

Dad update, more travel

It's been a roller-coaster week. After I posted last week (or maybe while I was posting) my dad suffered a stroke in the hospital. He wasn't able to lift his right arm and his speech was garbled. By Monday I could understand what he was saying and although it's weak, he can now lift his arm again. He has some problems with manual dexterity, but is working on it.

He has been released from the hospital to a rehab center and is working on various therapies daily. Hopefully he will be home in about 2 weeks, or maybe less. I will head down there to visit for a while after he's back home.

I've been trying to remain optimistic. I know my dad as a strong, determined man. He works hard for what he wants and up until a short while ago took walks in the woods, usually at least a couple of miles. This is at 85 years old. I think he will try to regain his strength as quickly as possible, for he really doesn't like to rely on others to do a lot for him. I appreciate all the prayers that have come his way. I think the prayer is underestimated by a lot of people, but his recovery from the surgery and stroke has been, I think, very good in such a short time.

I had to go out of town last week to Delta Junction. It was a gorgeous sunny day and we saw some beautiful scenery and a poor skinny moose. She was feeding along the highway, and didn't even flinch when we pulled over to take some photos. I'll print a couple of photos off for Dad - he always likes seeing wildlife. I wish he could come up here to see them in real life.



I love these mountains - so beautiful.




Tanana River




Another view of the Tanana



Poor thing - you can count her ribs.



Tanana again

It's hard to believe July is here already. I don't know where June went, but it's gone. Enjoy July everyone.





Dad, family

I received word Friday that my dad in PA had suffered a heart attack, so spent a restless night waiting for word. He had been doing some work outside the house and started to suffer extreme shortness of breath and profuse sweating. Fortunately, my niece - who's a CNA - was there and knew just what to do. She gave him piece of an aspirin and convinced him to get to a hospital.

He underwent surgery Saturday morning and today was sitting in a chair, off the respirator. He's still on oxygen and very weak, but coming along as expected.

It's hard to think of my parents as getting older. I don't get down there as often as I'd like and the changes I see in them when I do visit seem drastic. My mother seems to have shrunk. She seems frailer and smaller than a few years ago. She has suffered several broken bones in the past two years, one the ball of her left shoulder and the other - just last month - her right wrist.

My dad also seems smaller, and has started moving much more slowly than he did just a few years ago.

I always counted on their strength and can see it waning now. I hate being this far away from them. I was planning a trip down to see them in October, part flying and part Amtrak. I've now shelved the Amtrak trip and will fly down earlier. I want to wait until he's released from the hospital and rehab, so am waiting to hear what will be a good time to get there.

They raised six kids in rural Pennsylvania. We lived a simple life, growing up in the country. They taught us ethics, how to live a good and moral life. Mother taught us how to cook, clean and take care of each other. Dad taught us about nature through walks in the woods just across the yard. We had walnut trees, raspberry bushes and cherry trees just outside the door. We ate game - rabbit, squirrel and venison, among others, that Dad shot. We fished and swam in the Susquehanna River just across the highway.

I miss that simple life now, and especially miss being near all of my family. It will be good to see them all again.

Hawaii

It's so good to be home after two weeks in Hawaii.

I went to Schofield Barracks where I was an observer/controller for an exercise they were doing there. It was good to connect with my Hawaii counterparts and to see that we all do things in pretty much the same way in a crisis - kind of validates our own activities.

There were a total of six of us from our garrison, and we had a fair amount of free time to visit the island, taste the Hawaiian cuisine and take photos. I had some very good Thai-style fried rice with shrimp and pineapple from a camper in a parking lot and fresh seafood at other locations. Most of the food was mediocre, however, or disappointing (the seafood platter, a bit pricy, had just one piece of ahi tuna, two shrimp and two scallops). The fried rice and the rib-eye steak at Sizzler were the two best meals of the entire two weeks.

I was able to link up with Tracey, who worked for me several years ago. Her mother was visiting from Florida, which was very nice. I had the pleasure of meeting her almost six years ago when Tracey's son was born prematurely. Connor is an active little boy, a huge fan of "Star Wars." His little sister Amelia is a smiling good-natured baby. Tracey's husband is deployed and due to return this month. I know she will be glad to have him back home.

Tracey was good enough to take me for a ride on the North Shore, where we visited several beaches and saw Sunset Beach and the Pipeline.

A sea turtle had hauled out on one of the beaches. It's illegal to bother or touch them, so volunteers stay nearby to keep the tourists at bay.

We could other turtles pop their heads out of the water, then almost instantly submerge again. They were so fast I couldn't get a photo of them.

We all spent some time in the town of Hale Iwa, a terrific little surfing town. The shops were rustic and the pace slow. We had lunch (very good) at Hale Iwa Joe's and shave ice on the way out of town. Although I thought it would be a big snow-cone, it was surprisingly good. I had one with mixed flavors (banana, pineapple and something else - I don't remember) and ice cream in the bottom of the cone. Very good.

It was great to see Tracey and her family doing so well. And I truly appreciated her hospitality. She showed me her home, one of the historic ones on Schofield Barracks and took time out of a busy schedule to play tour guide and have dinner another evening.

Our next to last evening we had dinner on the lanai at a restaurant across the road from another beach. The sun was starting to set and I was able to get a few shots, some with outrigger canoes that were paddling back and forth.

I enjoyed watching the birds and seeing the gorgeous flowers. These Brazilian cardinals are among my favorites. Their brilliant red heads are really set off by the white, gray and black.

I truly love seeing tropical plants. I love palm trees and brightly colored flowers. The hotel on Schofield was beautifully landscaped, with plenty of both. I especially liked the Hawaiian red ginger.



This was the first time I'd ever seen the hanging crab claw:

Although the hibiscus and rainbow shower trees (and everything else) was beautiful, I think my favorite is the bird of paradise.

We had good weather, not too hot and plenty of nice breeze. While it was a good trip, the actual travel part was brutal - 5 1/2 hours from Honolulu to Seattle, a short layover, and 3 1/2 hours to Fairbanks.

I'm very happy to be home. May/June is not the time to leave Fairbanks. It's green, warm and so pleasant - my very favorite time of year.

Happy summer everyone.



photo excitement

Several months ago I decided to enter a photo contest, so selected three of what I considered my best. On a whim, I added a fourth, not my best, but I liked the colors. The contest was sponsored by Ruralite, the monthly magazine published by our electric cooperative. The prize was $100 per photo chosen for the covers.

I checked the website and found none of my photos were selected for the cover. This didn't really surprise me, because while I love taking photos, I am certainly not a professional - and at times I think I'm mediocre at it. I'm truly excited when I get something I really love.

A couple of weeks after the announcement of the winning photos, I received a letter from the electric company. They told me that although I didn't win the cover contest, they want to run one of my pictures in a section inside the magazine. I completed and signed the release form immediately, and shortly after that I received a check for $25. The money is just gravy. I'm simply excited that one of my photos was selected to run in a regional magazine.

The winner? It was the fourth picture - the last-minute add-on. It was a photo I shot from the window of a moving bus in Denali Park.

Even though it was a spur-of-the-moment addition, I loved the fall colors and the contrast - the low brush and tall trees, the reds set against the green of the spruce.

This isn't the one I sent in, but it's similar. So I'm now waiting until Sepetember to actually see one of my pics in print!

I will probably spend more time concentrating on photo composition and really working to improve my technique. A lot of the time I simply point and shoot without really thinking about the end result. But the rush of excitement when I read the letter has me wanting more!

travel, travel, travel

I have recovered from the various infections (all respiratory related) and from the trip to San Antonio. The conference was a good one this year, with excellent workshops, especially on social media and an overview of our career field (public affairs).

I was still in the recovery mode for the upper respiratory infection and the heat and humidity in San Antonio didn't help at all. It was 95 degrees during the day (went down to 72 or so at night) and VERY humid. That's weather I really don't like. I'd rather have 35 or 40 below than 90 above with humidity. However, I connected with some old friends and brought back some great information.

As promised, I've got a few more photos from the Las Cruces/Phoenix trip.

I love the palm trees in Phoenix and was able to shoot a few through the windshield as we drove around the city and surrounding cities.

I really liked this tree-lined street.

My cameras are all automatic digitals because I know if I go to DSLR I will end up carrying a huge bag full of heavy lenses. I have one small pocket-size camera with a 10X optical zoom that is with me all the time. My "big" camera has a 20X optical zoom and I'm able to really bring in scenes from a distance with it. Both have a sweep panorama function and various scene modes such as water, snow, dark without flash, sports and fireworks.

One night following the baseball game there was a fireworks show, so I decided to see what happened with the fireworks mode. I wasn't disappointed. Here are two examples.

There's a whole different effect because the lens is open for quite a long time.

On the way back to Las Cruces, we stopped off in Tombstone. The historic town is a little off the beaten path, but was a fun ride. We had to leave the freeway and drive several miles down a two-lane road, past houses and countryside. It was fairly early and there were not a lot of people. It reminds me a great deal of Alaskaland (now Pioneer Park) with gift shops, boardwak sidewalk and historical buildings. We shopped and stopped in a few of the old buildings before hitting the road again.

There were several stagecoaches and one covered wagon traveling Tombstone's dirt streets, but we opted not to take a ride. I rode the stagecoach in Dodge City years ago, and I recall a hard wooden seat and a very bouncy ride - not at all comfortable. Sadly, the OK Corral was closed and we missed the "gunfight" there.

Back in Las Cruces we did more shopping in Old Mesilla and had two wonderful dinners - one at a great Mexican restaurant and another at a Japanese one. We rested and visited with Bonnie and Junior, then hit the skies again to return home.

These cactus are in Bonnie & Junior's yard. I was pleased to see them in bloom.






I've been given a heads-up for another possible trip coming up - this time to Hawaii, again for work. It's not a done deal yet, but I'm on alert for it.

I'm so glad to have warmer temperatures, more daylight and snow melted. Happy spring everyone.