10:15-3:47

thats right, at 10:15 a.m. a very lazy sun decides to show its face, generally veiled behind a pillar of white cloud, but sharing light, none-the-less.

im beginning to think this solstice thing is a little overrated, but we have managed to gain a mighty 4 minutes of light each day over the past 4.
thats right, one minute a day. i guess every minute does count. i have since learned that solstice actually means "sun standing still".
hurumph.

we made it through the christmas excitement and we did have an amped up little boy this year. he was full on listening for santas bells, swearing that he could see him flying overhead, jumping around the house. "IM GOING TO BED RIGHT NOW!!! OR HE WONT COME" (6:30 pm)
we were smart enough to set an alarm and put presents out in the wee hours of the morning knowing a 3 am wake up call could be expected. he awoke briefly, was told santa hadnt made it quite yet and sent back to bed while we slipped presents under the tree in the quiet and dark of early morning.

we are counting days until we depart for a southern sky with sandy beaches. 11 to be exact. ahhh tulum, i cant wait to feel the sun on my skin, sand between my toes and a cool cerveza in my hand.

solstice greetings

solstice light over the valley looking from eklutna at 2pm, december 21st.

solstice light on matanuska peak 1:40 pm, december 21st.


well, we made it to the other side. now we're on a rocket sled speeding straight down the hill toward the sun!
solstice has come and gone, we slept snugly in our beds savoring the longest night of the year. now we will patiently await the few minutes of daylight gained each day.
my anemic looking plants are barely hanging on, i think there are a few of them that aren't going to make it.












it is gray and overcast here. the forecasters predicted snow daily over the past few days but it has yet to materialize. old saint nick doesn't have too much cushion to land his sleigh on.
we are going to spend a quiet christmas here overlooking the talkeetnas.

from our family to yours, may this new year bring peace to the world and happiness and prosperity to you and yours.

cheers!

flashback

i have been sorting through some old photos on this cold and dark saturday.

i thought i would share how absolutely lovely my mothers mom was. her name was nathalie davis and she was a maine girl to the core.

she traveled all around the world after becoming a nurse and joining the army in the 40's.
this photo was taken in northern maine a bit before she left for nursing school in massachusetts. it was taken sometime around the early 1920's.
my nana is the one with the headband on the right as you look at the photo. i have many of these priceless photos.
isnt it delicious?

resistance is futile

the germ ridden environment i work in has won.
i give, i surrender.
all that coughing, sneezing and blowing on me has taken its toll on my "freak of nature, super-strong immune system". i have given in to a head full of pressure, plugged ears and a low grade fever. here i sit, sipping tea in my pjs feeling shitty and guilty knowing my colleagues are bemoaning my sick day, as they are now short a staff member and things are surely moving slowly at the clinic.

it is cold and gray and the sky really wants to snow. it was spitting earlier, leaving a slight trace of the white stuff on the deck. government peak is missing and shrouded in clouds.

i finished my art tag swap in the nick of time over the weekend and they have been packaged and sent to fort collins where delta will sort them and i will end up with 10 other mini-masterpiece tags from around the country. it was a fun project, although it took me a few trys to get going on it.














we cut a very tall tree in our back yard- yes, i am aware that its rather charlie brown looking, but there are no pines here, just spruce. i cant bring myself to purchase a tree hauled in from someplace east of here. it seems too wasteful.


















jaden didnt seem to mind its sparse-ness at all. do you think he's a bit excited for what the jolly old man might bring and put under the tree?

16 days and counting

i left in the dark, i came home in the dark and its starting to wear on me.
solstice should be the most revered and celebrated holiday on the planet. wait, i think it was at one time, before christianity...
anyway, it is becoming my favorite holiday without a doubt. if we actually knew anyone, we'd have a party. a big ol party. a rivergroove-type affair with a bonfire, lots of beer and good times. its no wonder paganism is on the rise.

one of the most interesting and addicting features in the blogosphere is that you can travel around the world, reading little glimpses of other peoples lives.
there are thousands of blogs out there, from the mundane to the bizarre. some are downright spooky. but some of my favorites feel like friends i just havent met before.

i check in, and there they are, blogging away to no one in particular about their latest knitting project, about the big pot of stew they made last night, about how much their kid has grown, their new job, their latest travel adventure.
its like taking a walk across your favorite small town on a beautiful summer night and peering in through the open windows as you pass. a baby in her highchair, a couple on the couch there. a woman drinking wine, someone standing in the kitchen cooking something to eat.
the bloggers i peek in on can be downright insightful, extremely funny or just plain full of shit. it voyeuristic and i like it.

the tracking feature on blogger allows me to see who has visited this blog, how much time you spend here, exactly how you arrived and how you departed.
many of you seem to like the photography site link, and my brothers blog. (isnt he so cool?)
wow. invasion of privacy, right? not really, i mean, here you are on my little piece of the web man. i ought to know where your from.... right?

some of the most common googled words that bring people here unwittingly are of course, "northern lights, where are they, when are they out, best time to see them", etc. but people have landed here googling things like: "daddys roomate banned". hey gibsonia pennsylvania, there are tons of banned books. hope you found the one you were looking for (and where is gibsonia anyway?)
"snorkel stove" continues to be a hot one, even though i blogged about that last winter, and only once.

i am baffled and curious about those of you visiting from places i've never been. hello paris, who are you? do you like living there?
center conway, new hampshire, you are so close to my home state. what do you do? do you blog? i notice you've been visiting alot.
hello manhattan kansas, wow. i could never live there, i mean, dont get me wrong, no offense here. i've been through it a time or six.
brewer maine, home of the witches, you came via that cute little roxanne.
valdez alaska, we'll get there next summer- we cant wait.
gay georgia
laurinberg north carolina
port saint luca florida. wow, i'll bet its warm there.

anyway, hello to all, so glad you stopped by to check in on us up here in the cold dark north. and especially my friends and family, to corey, rox, delta- my three fellow bloggers.
hello alaska bloggers, whom i dont know, but feel a kinship with. we are an opinionated bunch, and deservedly so.
keep on keepin on.
its helping me get through this darkest time of the year by looking in on a little bit of you all.
cheers!

photos

pioneer peak in the morning sunshine-


as promised, although late, photos of the avalanche shoots we saw over thanksgiving weekend en route to seward. there were dozens of these and the rain was pounding down the entire weekend.
one of these comes right down over the railroad tracks.


























and, this mornings beautiful sunrise over the matanuska river valley with pioneer peak on the far right-- at the crack of 10 a.m.
you can click to enlarge. have a great weekend!!