When you find that place, the place where your soul is really content and you feel at home, you still miss all of those people you love, but you don’t want to permanently leave your home… you just want your loved ones to move to where you are. 🙂
I could increase the local population here significantly!
Heck, we could start our own little village.
The following images were taken by Thing 2. He has had his own camera for about 7 months and has taken well over 2000 images. Here are a few that really show a different perspective, unedited.
First step.
Ladder
Closer
Matilda
Todd the Hound
A Silly Sister
The grass on a summer’s day…
and the sky.
Shadows.
Snowmobile
Stuffed eggs
Selfie
The Forget-Me-Not that marks where Papa’s ashes are buried.
For the last 6 months I’ve been rediscovering country music. I used to listen to it waaay back in the early 90s, and of course growing up listening to Alabama which was my Mom’s favorite band. I have a few faves such as Keith Urban and Darius Rucker. Lately Luke Bryan has been getting my attention. I prefer his cross-over mix of country and hip-hop, if you can imagine that, in “My Kind of Night”! 😉
A couple of weeks ago I heard him perform his song “Drink a Beer” and the tears rolled. There aren’t as many of those “make me cry” moments as there were a few months ago, but this song really hit home. It brought that moment back, I didn’t hang up the phone, I just handed it over and I took a walk…
I can listen to it now without crying, which is good since it plays pretty often on the radio. It brings a smile to my face now as I can imagine all of my Dad’s buddies drinking a beer in remembrance of him.
When I got the news today
I didn’t know what to say.
So I just hung up the phone.I took a walk to clear my head,
This is where the walking lead
Can’t believe you’re really gone
I don’t feel like going homeSo I’m gonna sit right here
On the edge of this pier
Watch the sunset disappear
And drink a beerFunny how the good ones go
Too soon, but the good Lord knows
The reasons why, I guessFunny how the greater plan
Is too hard to understand
Right now it don’t make sense
I can’t make it all make senseSo I’m gonna sit right here
On the edge of this pier
Watch the sunset disappear
And drink a beerSo long my friend
Until we meet again
I’ll remember you
And all the times that we used to……sit right here on the edge of this pier
And watch the sunset disappear
And drink a beer
Drink a beer,
Drink a beer.
(Photo credit: rich115)
This year, my birthday falls the day before Thanksgiving. I have been thinking about both of these days a lot lately. Dad always sent me a card, and usually a gift with it, occasionally a phone call as well. Some of the best gifts he ever sent me were canned salmon and moose meat. Last year for my birthday he sent me 6 pints of canned salmon. This year, there will be no card from my Dad, my “first” birthday without him. But I hope to make the most of it, perhaps even spending the day out at his cabin (if the weather cooperates). I will enjoy the day with a few of the most important people in my life, wishing the others could be with me too.
The First Thanksgiving, painting by Jean Louis Gerome Ferris (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Then comes Thanksgiving. Which is the one of the holidays I’ve spent with my Dad, so special in its own right. We do observe Thanksgiving as a day of special thanks to YHVH, a time to spend with friends and family, making special memories. I have to say that I’ve not been overly excited about preparing a big meal or doing a big “thing”, in part because I’ll be missing Dad and the rest of my family that I’m usually with during Thanksgiving. But as I sit here and type out these words I find myself looking forward to new memories, special friends and my babies. What’s not to get excited about? My “first” Thanksgiving, we will raise a toast to Dad and our new friends, our “old” friends (dear friends!) and our family near and far.
Hanukkah also begins on my birthday. As you can see, there is a lot going on that week! We will be busy for certain.
Life goes on.
8 degrees. That was our high today at the work site. That’s warm considering we started out at -4 degrees. Thankful for that forced air heater we have blowing in our work area! Still, the tootsies get mighty cold!
Chrysanthemums-November flower (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Birthdays have always been important to me, one of the first bits of information I usually glean about an individual or new friend, “when is your birthday?”. November has always been a big birthday month for our family and extended family (friends) with many joyful celebrations going on. Couple that with Thanksgiving, Hanukkah (this year) and anniversaries and you have a really busy month. Plus I have added two new friends this year with November birthdays.
The most important November birthday will probably always be my Mom’s. She even shared it with me.
I often wondered why chrysanthemums were the chosen birth-month flower for November? Seems like these days, these flowers are only given to folks who are sick in “get well” bouquets or in funeral arrangements. And have you ever smelled a chrysanthemum? Wow. I really feel cheated in the floral department. I mean really, June gets warm weather and roses. Although I guess if I consider the meaning behind the flower I should feel quite relieved. The language of flowers they say, meaning “with love and cheerfulness” the chrysanthemum was a good choice for Victorian era lovers, who were bound to silence their feelings and not express them verbally, yet a bouquet of flowers could say it all. Thus the chrysanthemum was preferred to express the sentiment “with love & cheerfulness” from the sender, as opposed to “with love and depression” such as Romeo might have sent to Juliet.
Birthstones go along with birthdays you know. I’ve always loved February and August’s stones, although I never really cared for my birthstone. I always thought it drab and boring until I discovered the wide range of colors that the Topaz can range in (yellow, pink, purple, gold, brown, orange and blues). Citrine, also considered a November birthstone, can be quite lovely as well. I’ve heard it said that citrine is the amethyst without the purple color. Two stones of the same substance only in different hues. Now I prefer topaz and citrine in jewelry and one of my favorite rings has Amethyst, blue topaz and Peridot, the perfect trio for me!
Now, if I just had me a bouquet of chrysanthemums…
So for all of my fellow friends and family celebrating November birthdays, happy day of your birth and be blessed!
It’s mid-October and we’ve seen the trees transition from bright green foliage to gold, to no foliage in a matter of a few weeks. The wind has kicked up and it can really blow here. The average temp range for October looks like highs in the lower 40s to upper 20s for lows, with an average snowfall date of Oct 17th. This past week we’ve been experiencing unseasonably warm weather, highs in the 50s and lows in the 40s. It has been great weather for working outdoors at least.
Last year Anchorage had its first official snowfall on Sept. 29, 2012. Parts of the greater Anchorage area did have snow a couple of weeks ago but not on the “official” NOAA measuring site, so no “official” snow fall yet this year. And we haven’t even seen a snowflake fall down here yet. And it’s not looking like we’ll see any in the next few days either.
Although, one can see fresh snow on all the peaks round about us. They are bright and pristine white with their new winter coats on. That is, one can see them when the skies are clear, not too many of those days here lately.
Our forecast is calling for warmer temps and rain, only a slight chance of snow mixed with rain showers later in the week. Not so fun for people waiting for their first Alaska snow! 😉 You know, the ones with the snow boots and warm gloves and waiting to play in the snow…
This is a eight-photo panorama of Cook Inlet’s Turnigan Arm, a few miles south of Anchorage, Alaska. The tide’s out. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Yeah, I know I already wished her a happy birthday in a prior post, but I just had to go ahead and dedicate a special post to her.
She’s getting older ya know. She’s a Grammy already for Pete’s sake (who is Pete anyway?). So here’s to my little sister, who is slightly younger than I…
Happy Birthday to you Cletus.
Happy Birthday! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
She and I used to fight like cats and dogs. She was forever getting into my stuff, ruining my make-up, wearing my clothes, messing up my stuff, a real nuisance. It took many a year for us to become bestest friends. I sure do miss her. Love you Seester.
Thursday marked our fourth month here. Wow, time flies!
We have seen the seasons change from late spring to summer, then fall. We are staring down Old Man Winter, but he seems to be holding off a bit, thankfully. I am sure that we will be excited come spring to see the end of winter’s grip, but first we will enjoy our first snow and have fun playing in it!
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Two of my three siblings have birthdays this month. For three days they are the same age, and yes, they are getting older. 😉
I miss them. My “little” brother isn’t so little anymore. And my Seester, well, she is missing from me. I long for the day she can come up here to visit. I so much want to share this land I love with her and the rest of my family.
I wanted to make sure that they both know that I’m thinking of them on their special days. 🙂 So here’s to you Bryan Jopuss and Cletus, Happy Birthday and I love you bunches!!
The Fab Four
Alaska on my mind... 