We are back to zero temps here in Alaska. Ordinarily I would complain and hole up under my electric blanket for the day, but I have a reason to get out of bed today! My suitcase is packed, my spending money is in my pocket and I'm heading for a warmer climate! Yes, Tom and I are going to be cruisin' for the next ten days. Sea, sand and sunshine are on the agenda and I'm voting "YES!"
Tom, unbeknownst to me, has been saving and planning a Mexican cruise for a couple of years now. I can see the signs now that I look back. My jealous rages when a friend got to go to Hawaii caused him to snicker behind his newspaper, my complaints about gaining at weight instead of losing causing him to grimace when he thought I wasn't looking. Yes, all the signs were there, I just never thought I would see the day. But at last, it has arrived!
We are keeping a close eye on Mount Redoubt today. If she decides to blow her top and the wind is blowing in the right direction, our cruisin' plans could be put on hold. We have been holding prayer vigils that she would calm down and let us get to Seattle before the excitement begins. After that...let her blow! I've been here during one volcanic ash event and that was enough to last me a lifetime. There is not a paper mask to be found anywhere (except Tom's garage has a stash), computers are sporting garbage bags and people are stocking up on groceries just in case. Life in Alaska is always a little on edge. My youngest son asked me why we live here when Alaska is daily trying to kill us? Well, in spite of the cold, the ice, and volcanic eruptions, or maybe because of them, Alaska is an exciting place to live!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
New Year News
The new year has started with a very cold bang! It seems since Christmas we have had sub zero temperatures almost constantly! We have doubled our hot coffee and tea consumption, carb loaded without meaning to, turned up our electric blankets and waited out the high pressure system that has been trying to hold us captive.
Finally the last two days have been a sultry 10 to 20 F. It feels like a heat wave! I guess cold can be relative. For those who live in the southern states our fairly freezing Fahrenheit temps would seem very cold indeed!
Speaking of warm southerly places, Tom and I will be leaving on a cruise to Mexico in a couple of weeks. I have dreamed, longed and gave up hope of such a wonderful excursion! I am constantly distracted by thoughts of sandy beaches, moonlit ship decks, and sunshine in my hair! I can hardly wait to get on that red eye flight and I doubt that I'll sleep a wink en route.
It has been my New Years tradition to set goals for myself and not resolutions. I cannot keep them no matter how hard I try! My goals for this year? Hmmm.... I haven't really thought about them much yet and it's already, what? The 12th? 13th? Spiritual: to improve my prayer life and read my Bible through again. I also would like to be more creative in my ministry opportunities and endeavors. Physical: Simply to be healthier December 31st than I was on January 1st. That means less potato chips and more exercise! Personal: to not waste so much time doing the nothings that steal my time. The Nothings would be TV shows that are not time worthy, books that are not worth my reading time, arguments that lead no where, etc. If someone out there in Blog Land would keep me accountable, that would be great!
Happy New Year to All!
Finally the last two days have been a sultry 10 to 20 F. It feels like a heat wave! I guess cold can be relative. For those who live in the southern states our fairly freezing Fahrenheit temps would seem very cold indeed!
Speaking of warm southerly places, Tom and I will be leaving on a cruise to Mexico in a couple of weeks. I have dreamed, longed and gave up hope of such a wonderful excursion! I am constantly distracted by thoughts of sandy beaches, moonlit ship decks, and sunshine in my hair! I can hardly wait to get on that red eye flight and I doubt that I'll sleep a wink en route.
It has been my New Years tradition to set goals for myself and not resolutions. I cannot keep them no matter how hard I try! My goals for this year? Hmmm.... I haven't really thought about them much yet and it's already, what? The 12th? 13th? Spiritual: to improve my prayer life and read my Bible through again. I also would like to be more creative in my ministry opportunities and endeavors. Physical: Simply to be healthier December 31st than I was on January 1st. That means less potato chips and more exercise! Personal: to not waste so much time doing the nothings that steal my time. The Nothings would be TV shows that are not time worthy, books that are not worth my reading time, arguments that lead no where, etc. If someone out there in Blog Land would keep me accountable, that would be great!
Happy New Year to All!
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
The Christmas Season
Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat and so am I! I've been munching on green and red M&Ms all afternoon! I can't seem to sit still and I keep turning the radio up during I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus. The Christmas Spirit is upon me and it is making me long for malls, Christmas wrap, ribbons and eggnog lattes. I've watched four Christmas specials in the last two evenings and every Christmas movie that hits the basic cable channels (that's why we only have basic cable, I'd be in front of the TV 24/7!). I have ignored my Homiletics homework, laundry and cooking dinner to write Christmas Newsletters, knit mittens and go to choir practice. My family keeps looking at me like I'm someone else. What's the deal?
I'm usually the commonsense person at our house when it comes to the Holidays. However, this year I'm thinking that I may as well make the most of the season, after all, I'm turning the five-oh this year and how many more Christmases can there be ahead of me? Thirty tops! That means I don't have any mistletoe to waste! I have a feeling my husband will pull me in when we set out on the shopping trip next week. Little does he know I've already hit the Internet and a couple of stores at the mall. That'll be our little secret!
This is a picture of my brother, Bob, at about 4. I love this picture. He looks so sweet and innocent. He lost that look at about 6! Just kidding, he's really a great guy. That look of concentration as he listens to the rattle of that package reminds me that the anticipation of Christmas is sometimes the best part. My mother used to tell us kids, "Christmas is a season, not a day." I'm feeling the truth of that statement this year. Therefore I will go to choir practice tonight to sing about baby Jesus, eat red and green M&Ms, hit every potluck party I'm invited too and probably spend more than we can afford. I will leave the tree up until New Year's Day and watch Christmas movies until the kids complain!!! Have a Merry Christmas Season!
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
HAPPY THANKSGIVING
The season for giving thanks is upon us. I try to be thankful everyday, but when a special day is set aside for thankfulness it makes it even more in my thoughts.
This Thanksgiving I will be cooking. Dinner will be at my house. The whole family, well, most of the family will be there. It will be noisy, crowded, and wonderful! I will think of my brother Bob and his family in Idaho, and my sister Lenora and her family who are also in Idaho. My little brother, Ken is around the state somewhere, and I will miss them all. I will also think of my mom and dad who for so many years made Thanksgiving a memorable holiday for me. This year our new little grandson, Julian will be here. He was just a day old at Thanksgiving last year. This year he will get to sample some of the goodies from the table. Kristen will be absent. I'm still trying to reconcile myself to the fact that this new boyfriend must be a serious matter for her to be invited to his parents house for Thanksgiving dinner! But she'll drop by with Josh for desert later.
Other than the well loved family mentioned above, I am most thankful for my good health (except for my arthritic toe of course), a warm bed at night, and someone (Tom) to cuddle with when my feet are cold. The Lord has been good to me and mine and I pray he has been to you and yours also. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
This Thanksgiving I will be cooking. Dinner will be at my house. The whole family, well, most of the family will be there. It will be noisy, crowded, and wonderful! I will think of my brother Bob and his family in Idaho, and my sister Lenora and her family who are also in Idaho. My little brother, Ken is around the state somewhere, and I will miss them all. I will also think of my mom and dad who for so many years made Thanksgiving a memorable holiday for me. This year our new little grandson, Julian will be here. He was just a day old at Thanksgiving last year. This year he will get to sample some of the goodies from the table. Kristen will be absent. I'm still trying to reconcile myself to the fact that this new boyfriend must be a serious matter for her to be invited to his parents house for Thanksgiving dinner! But she'll drop by with Josh for desert later.
Other than the well loved family mentioned above, I am most thankful for my good health (except for my arthritic toe of course), a warm bed at night, and someone (Tom) to cuddle with when my feet are cold. The Lord has been good to me and mine and I pray he has been to you and yours also. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Friday, October 17, 2008
My BFF!
Every two years my office sends me south for a conference. It has been my extreme pleasure to stop in Seattle on the way home and spend a couple of days with my friend Lisa. Lisa and I have been friends now, oh, forever and a day (15 years). We are not the most likely people to grow attached to each other. She is thin, I'm...well, let it suffice to say that I am NOT. Lisa is amazingly talented in the musical department, I'm only mediocre. She is an extremely light and silent sleeper, while I sleep deep and "whiffle". She informed me that my "wiffle turned into a waffle" that last night and she tried to give me that devastating evil eye look she has so polished, but with her hair tousled and her sleepy look, I felt no threat what-so-ever! We both love reading though and exchange book ideas at every opportunity. She is my BFF!
Rich and Tom, our husbands, tend to look the other way when Lisa and I are together. They are left out of the private jokes, the hotel stay, long dinners and window shopping trips we share. They shake their heads when we return without packages from shopping and once again we explain it's not the shopping so much as it is talking and sharing.
The down side of our visit is leaving. After laughing and sharing for 48 hours solid, I miss her as soon as I get on the airporter (she hates goodbyes at the airport). Now it is emails and a stolen 45 minutes of telephone time if our families will allow. Carrumba! Only 23 more months, Lisa, and I'll be camping on your doorstep!
Rich and Tom, our husbands, tend to look the other way when Lisa and I are together. They are left out of the private jokes, the hotel stay, long dinners and window shopping trips we share. They shake their heads when we return without packages from shopping and once again we explain it's not the shopping so much as it is talking and sharing.
The down side of our visit is leaving. After laughing and sharing for 48 hours solid, I miss her as soon as I get on the airporter (she hates goodbyes at the airport). Now it is emails and a stolen 45 minutes of telephone time if our families will allow. Carrumba! Only 23 more months, Lisa, and I'll be camping on your doorstep!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The Harvest
We are back in that wonderful season of crispy leaves, juicy apples and cool mornings! Fall! I love it! We have had several days of sunshine and we are relishing it since our summer was so cloudy and cool.
It's a great feeling to know that the raspberries are all picked and are either frozen or made into jam. There is something about harvesting and preserving that brings a real sense of satisfaction. Even though the urgency of the harvest is a pain, the cupboard shelves full of dark red jam makes me feel I'm prepared for the winter.
My husband, Tom, was born a Wisconsin farmer. The harvest is very unsettling for him. It made him crazy to see the raspberries ripening every day and no one running out to frantically pick them before they fell to the ground. I'm a more relaxed reaper. I enjoy being out in the backyard alone with my MP3 player on a Saturday afternoon when my household chores are done and the kids are all doing what they do on a weekend. I can pick a few for the bowl, eat a few, watch the neighbor kids at play, stretch, etc. Tom has the need to be out at the bushes when the berries are perfect, morning, noon or night! One evening he picked a bowlful of berries and left them on the picnic table to stay cool overnight so we could freeze them in the morning. Not the best idea, the camp robbers (black and white birds who's real name of which I haven't a clue) were chowing down on his hard earned harvest! Lucy, the watch dog, smiled at them as they feasted... We rescued the bowl of berries and added them to our store of frozen summer sunshine.
The harvest is a complicated time. I imagine that's why Jesus talked so much of the "harvest." The urgency of the harvest, caring for the harvest and preserving the harvest. Harvest season is definately not the time to rest, there will time for that when the snow lays deep over the fields (or raspberry bushes) and the darkness of long nights keeps us close to the home fires. We will be able to enjoy the satisfaction of knowing the fruits of our labors are safely where they belong.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Knitting on Spider Legs
Fall is here and I'm jealous of the children and adults heading off to school! I did sign up for a Homiletics course at my local AG Bible College. That helps some. I also signed up for a sock knitting class. Now that is FUN!
The yarn I chose for my socks is a self striping yarn and it is also very fine...skinny in fact. Due to the skinniness of my yarn I also had to use skinny needles....four of them! To top it off, the main color of my yarn is steel gray and of course my needles are, what else, steel! Add the skinny factor of my yarn and needles, the indistinct color of gray and steel, my middle-aged failing eyesight together and the total is trouble!
The next challenge I faced was using four needles on one project! I have seen this done and it looks deceivingly easy! First of all I had to divide 54 stitches into even groups of 4 on 3 needles. They didn't tell me it was also a math class and story problems always throw me for a loop. Once I got the stitches on the needles I was ready to get down to knitting business! Knit two, purl two, knit two, purl two...that I got down pretty quickly, it was how to hold all the needles pointing this way and that that made me crazy! It was like knitting on spider legs. I chanced a gander at all the other beginning sock knitters around me and noticed the strained and determined faces as they concentrated on keeping yarn and needles all straight. It was at this point that the teacher explained secret of reducing "4 needle stress", concentrate only on the two needles you are working on and ignore the other two! They will just fade into the background when you focus! What a deal! It worked! Suddenly foreheads unwrinkled, protruding tongues were pulled back into suddenly smiling mouths and peace reigned supreme at the knitters' table!
As I juggle work, home, church, class and even knitting, I find myself often feeling like my life is being knit on spider legs. I feel poked and tangled by the things waiting for my attention. I'm learning to focus on the "stitches" nearest me at the moment and the confusion of the "yarn and waiting needles" patiently wait their turn. Suddenly I can relax and even enjoy the portion of my day I'm concentrating on at the moment. My forehead relaxes and my smile returns...Sigh! It's nice to not be unraveled.
The yarn I chose for my socks is a self striping yarn and it is also very fine...skinny in fact. Due to the skinniness of my yarn I also had to use skinny needles....four of them! To top it off, the main color of my yarn is steel gray and of course my needles are, what else, steel! Add the skinny factor of my yarn and needles, the indistinct color of gray and steel, my middle-aged failing eyesight together and the total is trouble!
The next challenge I faced was using four needles on one project! I have seen this done and it looks deceivingly easy! First of all I had to divide 54 stitches into even groups of 4 on 3 needles. They didn't tell me it was also a math class and story problems always throw me for a loop. Once I got the stitches on the needles I was ready to get down to knitting business! Knit two, purl two, knit two, purl two...that I got down pretty quickly, it was how to hold all the needles pointing this way and that that made me crazy! It was like knitting on spider legs. I chanced a gander at all the other beginning sock knitters around me and noticed the strained and determined faces as they concentrated on keeping yarn and needles all straight. It was at this point that the teacher explained secret of reducing "4 needle stress", concentrate only on the two needles you are working on and ignore the other two! They will just fade into the background when you focus! What a deal! It worked! Suddenly foreheads unwrinkled, protruding tongues were pulled back into suddenly smiling mouths and peace reigned supreme at the knitters' table!
As I juggle work, home, church, class and even knitting, I find myself often feeling like my life is being knit on spider legs. I feel poked and tangled by the things waiting for my attention. I'm learning to focus on the "stitches" nearest me at the moment and the confusion of the "yarn and waiting needles" patiently wait their turn. Suddenly I can relax and even enjoy the portion of my day I'm concentrating on at the moment. My forehead relaxes and my smile returns...Sigh! It's nice to not be unraveled.
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