JOHNNY CASH LIVES.....and he is singing in the Anchorage Folk Festival.
The traveler gang, minus Dave and Kathleen, met at the Village this am for breakfast (gotta try the San Antonio skillet-great, I just have them leave off the eggs and add sour cream, salsa and avacado). Afterward we went to the Junior Native Youth Olympics. We saw the stick tug....a game that historically helped strengthen youth to be able to pull seals and walrus out of the water. Two kids sit face to face with the bottom of their feet together and their legs at about 90 degrees bent. They grasp a stick which is centered over their feet. With the signal to pull they each pull (no jerking or twisting) until one is lifted up off the floor or breaks the grip-s/he is the loser. There were other events but it was a double elimination and there were TONS of little kids-my attention span didn't last long enough to see another event. By, the way one was the leg wrestling contest that I must have played a billion times with my sister (and lost every time).
One reason my attention was distracted was that we were just a block from the auditorium where the Folk Festival was being held! I finally left to go there...dragging Jane with me (Kathleen and Gary had a date with a dog groomer). The talent was not the same caliber of Friday night but there were two that really stand out.
One was a gospel trio featuring Johnny Cash (ok, not the real one). This older man played guitar and sang. Half way through the first song I whispered to Jane, "my gosh, he sounds just like Johnny Cash." I thought I would have to do CPR on her when he started singing the last song-yep, it was "Ring of Fire." She just kept looking at the expression on my face and trying not to laugh! I promise-this man was channeling Johnny Cash! Unfortunately, the woman on fiddle decided to sing one song and she was not June Carter Cash! Jane swears it actually hurt her ears to listen to this woman sing!!!! I wanted to send a note back stage to Johnny that he should go solo!!
The other group I really, really liked was a group that meets on Tuesday night at a local cafe to jam-anyone invited. There were a bunch of them-2 mandolins, two guitars, a banjo, and a wash tub (yes, the galvanized steel kind) bass. One of the guitar players sang and he was just great. This made me think of how folk music started in America. I could just see a bunch of neighbors or friends getting together to play and enjoy music. This group represented to me the roots of the music.
I would have loved to stay longer but I decided I better take care of life business-like buying groceries and doing laundry to start the new week.
The weather is mild-by Alaska standards. Things are mushy. Today was beautiful. We are having more light-it is 4:45 and it is light outside, the sun is just setting. I remember making a note that earlier that the sun was setting at 3:30. It is also getting light earlier but I haven't paid much attention to when the sun is coming up.
So, off to steam some red chard for my weeks breakfast-my new favorite breakfast is steamed chard with a boiled egg sliced on top and a slice of bacon crumbled over. Delicious! Of course, since I preparing them ahead of time (no time when you get up at 5 am to make it to 6 am water aerobic class!) the chard tend to dye the egg a rather unpleasant green-oh, well I used to dye BJ's eggs green to make green eggs and ham!
Have a good week and if you get a chance to see the movie, THE SECRET, watch it-wonderful, live affirming, life changing!!!!

ANCHORAGE IN THE AOL NEWS.........Well, well, well I was just signing on to discuss the weather a bit when I checked my e-mail and found an article about Anchorage's record snow fall. Everything they say is true but when you are here it just seems like no big deal.
I am glad we finally talked them into changing us to SUVs-actually, I have an AWD (all wheel drive, which is not as large as an SUV but better than a Pontiac G-6). The side street I live on had narrowed down to one lane but last weekend they cleared it back to a whole street and the dump trucks hauled off the snow. I guess that's an advantage to living near downtown.
When I go for a walk on a side walk that has been cleared the snow is between shoulder and elbow deep on each side. That does seem rather amazing to me.
I was going to remark on something someone said to me the other day, "you must just run from one building to another." I got to thinking about that and realized I spend more time outside than I did in Texas in the winter. I guess it is what you get used to-and, the length of the winter. At home you are stuck inside, what-maybe 2-3 months? It's actually a nice break...some introspective downtime.
But, in Alaska if you stayed in during winter you would be stuck indoors for more like 6 months. That is a lot different! From the beginning of my arrival here people urged me to find something I like to do outside during the winter and do it! There is a good awareness that staying indoors leads, not only to weight gain, but to depression.
So, I don't know if it is a matter of that realization or just the nature of the folks who choose to live in "the last frontier" but people spend lots of time outside. When I look out the window at work I always see walkers and skiers on the trail across the street (also moose). At noon we walk around the lake (4 moose yesterday) and there are other walkers and skiers there all the time. People are outdoors in all sorts of weather.
Having said that, I will say that my outerwear has consumed much of my attention and money. Thank goodness for the big coat I got for Christmas in 2005-that has pretty much taken care of winter coat issues. Except for the fact that I need something for the rainy times-I bought a fall coat but it isn't as warm as I'd like. I now own wool caps, mittens (much warmer than gloves) and three different shoes/boots (none I am real happy with-the ones that I like best where given to me by another traveler).
So, one just bundles up and heads out into it-and it is a wonder to behold!!!!
Having said that I have decided against Eagle River today. I think that the highway would be ok but the road into the Nature Center is really windy and sometime steep. Instead I am going to walk downtown and take pictures of the ice sculptures. I didn't even realize they were there until I went to the concert last weekend. So, expect pictures (finally) this weekend.

THE SAME BUT DIFFERENT: Last weekend I spent a fair chunk of change to go to the symphony and hear the violin and the cello and the harp....this weekend, for free, I heard the fiddle, the base (fiddle) and the (mouth) harp. I also heard the mandolin, the hammer dulcimer, the concertina, the banjo, the guitar and the flute. Guess where I was?
I'll give you another hint-instead of tuxes the musicians wore blue jeans, flannel shirts, hiking boots, the women tended toward long skirts...there was more hair in the pony tails the men wore than there was on top of their heads and the women mostly wore long hair parted in the middle or buns.....Yep, you guessed it:
I was at the 18th annual Anchorage Folk Music Festival!!!!!! It lasts all week with music on stage in the evening and workshops the rest of the time.
Sounds mostly different? One thing was the same-the music was fabulous in both instances.
But, I will admit I really enjoyed the laid back, folksey atmosphere of tonight's venue.
There was no way I could sit still in my seat-I found my feet tapping or my hands clapping all night! And no one cared because they were tapping and clapping too!
We started with an acoustic set-Joe Page and friends. Talk about some fine mandolin playing-there were times when this guys hands were a blur! "Friends" brought along a guitar, steel guitar and the ever present base fiddle.
Lynn Marie and The Wobbly Boy with Dawn Lindsey-now that's a name to fit the group. Actually, Lynn Marie was the central figure and she was a fire ball. Little bitty thing, played the accordion and the piano and belted out music with this voice that should have come from a lumber jack! Interestingly, I heard Dawn Lindsey play last week in the symphony-only there her instrument was a violin and tonight it is called a fiddle. The wobbly boy-that's a long story-but he plays a mean guitar and has a fine singing voice.
We had two dance groups-one was a group of young people doing Irish Dancing along the line of Lord of the Dance. GREAT! The second was a group of, shall we say, mature women who were the Anchortown Cloggers-now these ladies were having themselves on good time!!!
Oh, and I have to mention Midnight Starlight-what beautiful, smooth classic jazz!! And the young woman from the University that sang with them easily moved from a sultry Latin number into a voice that reminded me of the great Ella Fitzgerald!!!
Denise Martin performed with the concertina-I have never seen one played. She made it look like the easiest thing in the world. She has a CD coming out called "Laptop"-a play on the fact the concertina is played with keys on a keyboard and held in the lap. Her busband accompanied her on the guitar for most of the reels she did but one included a fiddle and was really lively.
They both appeared later in the night and she was playing the hammer dulcimer-I had never seen one and thought it was a xylophone (sp?) for a minute.
Lost Riders may have been my favorite if I hadn't have liked them all so well! They were Traditional Bluegrass. A woman with a voice to die for on guitar, a mandolin player/singer, banjo player/singer and, once again, the big base fiddle. This group has been asked to go on tour to entertain the troops in Iraq-those guys are in for a real treat.
There was a couple that usually perform independently-she plays "claw banjo" (I think that's what they called it) and he is a singer/song writer on guitar. However, she has a wonderful voice that sounds like it came right out of someplace like West Virginia!
The guest artists were a group of guys, The Improbabillies-one from New York on the banjo (a rather small, slender guy with New York clothes, streaked purplish/red hair and a deep bass voice that is really startling out of that small body!), the main singer who played the mouth harp and was from somewhere in the lower 48, three guys from Anchorage that played the fiddle, the guitar and, of course, the bass. They were really, really good!
So, it was a great night!!!! A welcome end to a rather grueling week that saw me getting home every night at about 8:30!
So, how's the weather you ask??? I have interesting news-it is NOT snowing. In fact, in addition to being beautiful today it got up into the high 30s. Not, actually, something I am excited about. It melts the upper layer of ice and snow on the sidewalks and roads...turns them to slush and guess what-yep, freezes. Tonight will get back down below freezing and I don't believe it is expected to get above freezing the rest of the week.
But, we are supposed to have another nice day and, depending on the roads, I may go out to Eagle River to the Nature Center....it's time for pictures-don't you think?
I'm off to bed to read the program for the Folk Festival and see what else I may want to attend before it's over!

Today is my PE shift (I really wish they would use another term...it makes me think of phys ed in school and that gives me a stomach ache, along with all sorts of other automatic anxiety reactions!)....which just means I go in at noon. Actually, I start seeing patients at noon. Here they schedule you per the times you have patients. For example, when I work days I work 8-4:30 which is an 8 hour day with a 30 minute lunch break....but my last patient is scheduled at 4:30 and an unlimited number of patients can be scheduled into that slot. On Friday I had no one in my 4:30 spot but one of the other travelers had 9-I went over and helped so he saw 7 and I saw 2 (we finished at 6:30). I am paid by the hour so I don't much care but the regular providers are salary-I'd hate that! And the pay isn't too good so they end up signing up for the Public Health Core (or something like that-they are the Attorney General's uniformed, noncombatant force) which pays much better.

Somehow there is a lack of understanding that if you have a patient at 4:30 and they arrive on time (they are allowed to be 15 minutes late and we still must see them), they have to be checked in up front and then the nurse must pull them back and do her part ...so by the time the provider sees the patient it will be at least 10 minutes past the 4:30 appointment time (and that is only if all goes well). Then after I see the patient I have to complete the chart (they must be completed same day as there are bar codes on the forms that all have to be checked in before the day can close-I know providers that this would KILL). So in reality, all things working on perfect and the patient only having one problem, able to easily are readily express the problem and requires no diagnostics and is an established patient, the best one can do is get out by 5 or 5:30. But, it seems that the easiest patients never wait until the end of the day to come in....it seems to always be the sickest or the most complex in that time slot! Ideal seems to happen only on some management planning sheet.

Another interesting scheduling issue here is that the patient can reschedule repeatedly throughout the day-I have had patients in my 10 am appointment slot who misses that appointment, reschedules for 1, calls and reschedules for 3, no shows that appointment and is see as at 4:30. That is just an example but, talking to other providers, we all experience patients who appear on our schedule two, three or four times in a day before we actually see them at least two to three times weely...or sometime we don't see them at all. Of course, if you have a busy schedule that blocks numerous appointment times during the day for other patients so they get pushed closer and closer to the end of the day (all patients must be seen on the day they want to be seeen).

Oh, and did I mention that we are expected to run our clinics on time....even though the patient can be 15 minutes late and we only have 2 exam rooms?

This is a very patient oriented system and I am all for that-but, I think there has to be a balance. If I were a full time employee with a family working on salary I wouldn't like this very much....even if you don't have the overbooks you never know when you will so there is not a feeling of control over your life....you never know when you will be home in the evenings. I don't even think it is the number of overbooks or how often they occur-I think it is the potential for it everyday giving one a feeling of lack of control. I read once when I was in management that an employee can handle incredible amounts of stress on the job if they have control over their workload whereas the employee who does not have control over the workload can handle very little. I think this is very true!!

Having said all of that-I would love to be a patient in this system. This is amazing-especially considering it is an IHS facility and they have a reputation for poor service. This is cutting edge health care....health care at it's best!!!

It's too bad other health care systems can't be set up like this. The patient gets great service at no charge for visits, procedures, diagnostics or meds...or anything. OPPPPS.....I guess that would be socialized medicine wouldn't it??? Very patient oriented but not very profitable for the provider-well, we will never see that with the powerful AMA lobby.

I'm glad I will be opening my own practice!!! I hope I can provide compassionate care, that is individulized, and gives the client a feeling that they have been heard and empowered in their own healing journey while providing a comfortable income and a good quality of life for me.

OK...on to another subject.......the Nakai concert. I have reflected on the concert. I have decided that the music was good-probably great. It' s just that I am a Carlos Nakai fan and wanted to hear more of him and less of the orchestra. My issue-not one of the composer or conductor (same person). I think the dancers, both modern and native, were really good (the male modern dancer was not as strong as the female but who am I to comment on a grad from the Julliard school who dances all over the world?). It was a good, probably great, symphony-well worth the money I spent! It was R. Carlos Nakai with the Alaska Symphony Orchestra-which means he was a guest muscian. That is exactly what it was!

Guess what? It is snowing today. Most of the snow had blown off the trees and they were once again just evergreen trees but today they are dressing up in a wonderful coat of white again!!! I really do love the snow!

This is a wonderful house from which to watch this funky, eclectic neighborhood! Even with huge flakes of snow falling the streets are alive with people walking back and forth, going about their business. To and from the bus stop, to and from the grocery store, to and from the corner liquor store, to and from the corner drug salesman, to and from the homeless shelter.

Just in writing the above paragraph a man in a dark coat and cap walked by, kind of slumped in this posture and carrying a backpack....and a 30something woman with the posture of a dancer and a bright red coat with her waist length hair exposed to the wet snow. Wouldn't you love to know their stories?

Last Friday on the corner across from the house was a working girl with a barely there top and a less than miro mini (about 12 inches of clothing from the top of the shirt to the bottom of the skirt) coat open to expose it all...working the street. I feel so for her and wonder what dire circumstances landed her in the streets selling her favors for food or booze or drugs.

This is a unforgiving environment for the homeless....it is not unusual for someone to be found dead. For some reason they didn't make it to a homeless shelter...or passed out from the drugs or booze and froze. The homeless shelters try but there isn't enough room-each person is limited to a certain number of days per month in each shelter so they roam from shelter to shelter and try to stay with someone or find someplace in between to make their nights last the full month. One of the shelters has an inner courtyard and when the temp is below 0 they let people sleep in there. Also I think the neighborhood vans that roam around checking on the homeless call the police if they find someone who is passed out or incapable of getting to a shelter and they are hauled to jail for the night. And then there is Beans soup kitchen-they feed all that they can. But, the alcholism nd drug addiction has created a huge population of homeless souls roaming the streets of Anchorage and it is a sad and pitiful situation. I don't know if it is worse than any other big city-probably not. And I am impressed with the services that are put in place to try to help....it's just such a big problem! When I go to water aerobics in the morning at 5:30 or 5:45 there are more people walking on the streets then there are cars....always, day and night, there are people on the streets. In reflection, looking back to the beginning of this blog it is easier to understand why you would need to allow so much flexibility in scheduling when some of your customers come from this population that is just struggling to survive-to make it to the clinic they have to be sure they can get a bus and that they are back at Beans when the meals are served, and at the shelter so they won't loose their spot-thank goodness they can receive free health care if they are lucky enough to be Native.

Oh, well, I better get ready for work! Hope you have a good day with a warm roof over your head, plenty to eat and people who love you!

Ok...the jury is out on the Carlos Nakai concert. He was wonderful-what I heard of him. The dancers were great but.......I was left with this feeling that once again the loud techno world (represented by the orchestra) drowned out the quiet nature, based world of indigenous man (represented by the flute). That's all I want to say until I read the story behind the symphony and process the experience.
It's snowing again......

ANCHORAGE WEEKEND:
There is a lot going on this weekend in Anchorage, including:
The annual Alaska Folk Festival
A Celtic/Irish Festival
Some sort of brewery festival/event
The police dogs demonstration
And so much more I can't remember

And my favorite-the multicultural drumming and dancing at the Alaska Native Hertige Center.

BUT....drum roll, please::::: R. Carlos Nakai is in town!!!!

Saturday he is giving a short demonstration of the native flute at the Native Hertige Center (free). Saturday and Sunday he is in concert with a Navajo Dance group and the Alaska Symphony!!!

When I heard this I almost jumped up and down like a teeny-booper groupie!! I have listened to Carlos Nakai for years and years and have many of his cds (and tapes from the old days). What a thrill to have a chance to hear him perform in person!!!! You can't know how excited I am!!!

I heard this good news from the ladies in my water aerobic class and ran straight to the computer to see if there were tickets available....a few for Saturday night and many for Sunday at 4pm. Well, since I have to work Saturday I decided to take myself to the Sunday performance. It was a bit spendy-the tickets were around $32-37....which, frankly, for Nakai I thought was a real deal!

I AM GOING TO HEAR CARLOS NAKAI....I AM GOING TO HEAR CARLOS NAKAI IN CONCERT....I AM GOING TO HEAR CARLOS NAKAI IN CONCERT!!!!!

I'll tell you how wonderful it was on Sunday!

Another holiday.....yes, I'm home again. It's another holiday, Martin Luther King I believe. Last pay period I only worked 56 hours! I saw this one coming and offered to work next Saturday for the doctor who had center team clinic so I won't lose the days pay!
I went to the Native Heritage Museum film festival on Saturday-at least part of it. I didn't get there until late due to the bathing suit issue, which I am not going to go into again-we've all suffered enough over that problem! Only to mention I bought TWO suits so I won't be caught suitless again!
Anyway, I got there in time to see a couple of shorts and, most importantly, the film I most wanted to see-Mystic Ball. What a wonderful film!!! Gregg Hamilton was there for the screening and received the only standing ovation of the weekend....and it was well deserved. The film is about the game of chinlone, but it is about much more. It is about friendship, love (not the romantic kind) and how this noncompetitive game brings this to people. I said noncompetitive-not easy as it requires great skill!
The other full length feature movie was at the end of the night (scheduled for 9:45 but the festival was running late) but I decided to stay. There were a couple of shorts between the two, including one that was from New Zealand.
But, the final film was Expiration Date and it was also very, very good! I would recommend it also....but, Mystic Ball was by far my favorite even though it was a documentary and the other film was a movie type movie.
This is one of the real advantages to the city- two days of FREE wonderful films introduced by the film maker who then answered questions and hung around after to just talk about their films!
Well, while in the film mode I am going to sign off and watch the Al Gore film with my landlady, Joanne.
News from Texas is that after two or three days or being confined indoors due to ice the sun appeared briefly today and they were able to slowly crawl out to go to the grocery store or whatever. Mike hasn't worked in three days and is still not sure about what tomorrow will bring-I'm glad he had a few days to enjoy. He had my mouth watering talking about what all he cooked-beans (if you've had his beans you're mouth would be watering now too!) and mince meat pie (if you aren't from the south you might not know what that is and most of us from the south haven't had it since the generation before last stopped fixing it!)....if he's said chocolate chip cookies or apple pie I might be highjacking a plane now! (Oh, I guess I better be careful saying something like that-I might get thrown in jail under the Patriot Act!)
Happy Martin Luther King day!

Crazy weather....you'd think I was in Texas. The first of the week it was -23 and tonight it is 31! On some of the more heavily traveled roads I actually saw solid yellow and broken white lines tonight (mixed in with slush). There is also a tsunami alert out for much of coastal Alaska...apparently there was an earthquake somewhere in or around Russia which was an 8 on the earthquake scale. This could lead to tsunami in some part of Alaska.
The best laid plans, etc, etc, etc....I didn't finish at work until 7:30, Kathleen has had 10 hours of sleep in the last 72 due to her Urgent Care schedule and Jane passed on waiting for me so we didn't have dinner tonight at our Friday place. I'm really glad, I was just too beat after 11.5 hours of work!
Besides I didn't sleep last night-I was up half the night trying to decide if I was desparate enough to keep the swimsuit I ordered-it arrived yesterday and was just horrible. I didn't want to miss water aerobics because my knees have been absolutely normal until I missed 4 days and the last day they started to hurt again. So, I obsessed: keep the horrible suit, wear the one with the butt worn out, miss aerobics. Finally, I decided to wear the old one and go to aerobics....so, I woke up at 3:30 and couldn't go back to sleep-I guess I was afraid I would miss the class! Good Night!!!! People tell me to watch out for the winter crazies-I don't know if this is what they are talking about but that's pretty crazy!!!
That said-it was heavenly to be back at class!
Tomorrow it is swim suit shopping day-I HATE to shop. Believe it or not it is not that hard to find swim suits in the middle of winter in Alaska-Wall-Mart has them, Fred Myers has them (they just don't have the right size for Goddess sized women). The deal is that tons of people go to Hawaii in the winter-like almost everyone you talk to!
Ok...I've obsessed over the swim suit issue enough. I'm off to my warm bed (well, sort of warm) with a cup of hot tea)!

A LUNCH TIME WALK ABOUT: If you've been reading the blog you are aware that I have been moaning and groaning about my mid day walks-actually, they are a great break in the day and it is beautiful....but, I do want to get full credit for getting out there in the minus 11 temperature (although today it was more like 12 and I was pulling off my gloves, my hat and unbuttoning by coat).
It was warm enough today to take the camera out-so I took a few pictures. As usual I am disappointed in my inability to capture what I am seeing!
I hope you enjoy the pictures. I am not sure I will be snow shoeing this week so no change of scenery...
The Native Heritage Museum is having the Native Film Festival this weekend and it just sounds to good to pass up. So, right now the plans are:
Friday night-out with the travelers to Sullivans in downtown Anchorage. We love to eat in the bar-the bar menu is cheaper (no food in Alaska is cheap). They have a to die for salad, great beef tips and deserts that I won't even talk about!
Saturday-the Native Film Festival (check out the list of films and their descriptions). Maybe all day there (well, except for my yoga class-can't miss that!)??? This is probably something I'll do by myself although I have met a real nice, real interesting soul sister person, Cathy, that is a case manager in the clinic. She will meet me there for some of the films. We especially want to watch Mystic Ball...supposed to be excellent!
Sunday-a party in Eagle River at some friends of Cathy's. This will be a new experience....it is an olive oil tasting party. Apparently someone has a friend who has added olive trees to her grape vines in her Somona Valley vineyard. She is trying to market her oil so we are all taking our favorite oil and challenging her!

THE MORNING COMMUTE: The first thing I noticed when I walked out the door this morning was that it was WARMER! I checked the time and temp at the bank and it was 11 degrees!! The second thing I noticed was that the one inch of snow predicted for last night didn't happen-there was a slight dusting of snow on the windshield that was easily brushed off with my handy brusher/scrapper.
On the way to work I was thinking about the things I appreciate about the morning commute in Anchorage and the things I miss about the commute in Texas.
First, I miss line dividers...you know, those solid yellow or broken white things that tell you that you are in the correct place in the road...I really miss those! We sort of take them for granted until they disappear beneath several inches of ice-to reappear, I suppose, in March-April-May ("it depends" according to my handy team in the clinic).
I also miss zipping down the relatively empty highway between Snyder and Trent at 70 miles an hour without worrying about slipping, slidding, or otherwise ending up in a 6 foot snow bank! It took me 60 minutes to commute 60 miles....here it takes me 15 minutes to go the 5 miles to water aerobics at the YMCA....with my knuckles white and my shoulders tense. So much for doing all of my phone calls and catching up with friends on the commute like I did in Texas.
Now, the things I appreciate about the Anchorage commute. You understand that Anchorage is a "big city." What do you notice about big city traffic! Lots of horn honking.....something that you just don't hear in Anchorage. These are without a doubt the nicest, most considerate commuters I have ever driven with! They understand that a blinker means you need to change lanes and they slow down so you CAN!
I imagine that all of the drivers in Anchorage get frustrated with my slow driving...but, in actuality, no one has ever honked or otherwise been rude or impatient. And this is something you don't see commonly-several times I have seen both lanes of traffic backed up for a couple of blocks, slowly creeping up to the light and waiting and waiting and waiting. Then here is a car wanting out of a parking lot. The drivers wait and let the car in-I used to try and avoid these situations, sure I will never get in the traffic-no need to worry, just put your blinker on and in you go! But, here is the real shocker!!! The first time I saw someone trying to cross both lanes to go the opposite direction I thought, "good luck, buddy." I was the one in for the surprise-both lanes of traffic stopped and let the car go through and onto the other side of the road. I have seen this repeated enough times now to know it was not just an accident-it's those Alaska drivers!
Yesterday, however, was the highlight of my "driver watching".....I was waiting in line for the light to change (I think I sat through the light 5 or 6 times before I made it). This little car two lanes over suddenly jumped forward in a strange way so I looked over to see what was up and noticed a truck backing up. I realized that maybe the truck had rear ended the little car so I kept watching (it gets really boring sitting at red lights)....sure enough the lady in the truck got out and then the guy in the car got out. He was laughing! I heard him say, "It's just a little bruise....don't worry about it....have a good evening." All the while laughing. They both got back into their vehicles and moved on....yep, these Alaska drivers are something. You wouldn't see that in Dallas-probably not even in Abilene!
So, enjoy your morning commute-I might be afraid to sip my coffee, change the radio station, or, heaven forbid, use the cell phone....but, I will enjoy sharing the road wtih those Alaskan drivers.

Went on the noon lunch walk today- 45 minutes in -12 degree temperature! Interesting things happen at that temperature...for example, your eyelashes get a build up of frost and you get beautiful spikey white eyelashes. But, important information: you must not mess with them until they thaw because they will break off....same with the frosty hair!!
Very, very cold here-everyone tells me this is colder than usual for a longer time than usual with more snow then usual-hummmmm. I figure the summer must be really beautiful for people to actually be living here!
I'm thinking of taking my camera tomorrow on the walk because it is so beautiful. But, the camera doesn't work real well at those temps...and 45 minutes is a long time to have it out...so we'll see.
I'm off to my room to read a book Joanne just gave me-Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn. Sounds interesting!

SUN DOG...... Do you know what a sun dog is? Didn't either until today. Beautiful!!! It is a partial rainbow caused by the ice crystals in the air. The one I saw today was like a pillar of color rising from the horizon straight up into the air. I heard that some time there is one on each side of the sun and sometime surrounding the sun. It was really beautiful, so was the sparkling ice crystals moving through the air-like it was snowing glitter. But it is God Awful Cold!!!!! Supposed to be minus 25 tonight....my love affair with Alaska is being challenged!

I channeled my inner turnip (round, white and living underground) and have returned. I watched 8 mindless comedies, drank heavily (a six pack plus two 20 ounce bottles of diet Pepsi), ate birthday cake (you can buy it by the piece at Fred Myer-don't even have to have a birthday) and peanut M&Ms. Hopefully that stage of my life has passed.
It is cold, very cold. I have provided an interesting weather link. Check out the temps for today and tonight! But, no snow. NORA weather people say sun today but I don't see anything out this window that resembles sun. Of course, it is only 10:13 and sunrise isn't until 10 today-maybe the sun is running behind schedule!
Stay warm!

The life of a vegetable: Here are some more pictures of snow and my neighborhood. I am imitating a vegetable today and vegetables don't blog so that's all I have to say.

Happy Saturday.....I am laying low today. Went to yoga class today and then to the great massage place where you lay on these really fabulous massage tables for free...I am going to link you to this site as soon as I find it so you can find a place near you-it's a wonderful experience!
Then I bought a hamburger, the second one I've had since coming to Alaska, and rented some movies. Oh, I also bought a six pack of Diet Pepsi-only a six pack! I am giving in to the urge to become one with all things vegetative. I think it is a premordial urge to hibernate. I have tried to resist but this one weekend I am giving in!!! I have checked out totally mindless, chick flick, romantic comedies and one film with the Dali Lama.
I am going to post some pics also this weekend but they are pretty boring-the neighborhood. All of the others have been at night so I thought I'd post some in the daylight. I haven't been getting out much-it's so cold and I really don't have clothes for this!
But the best thing that has happened this weekend is that laura g. signed on to the blog. What an interesting site! What an adventuresome woman! What awesome photography of Alaska! Check out her site and be sure and click on the list on the right where it says "another cool Alaska adventure" or something like that! Wow!!!
Oh, did I mention that it is snowing?

IT'S A BIG 'UN...

The bike is almost covered and the cars I've posted before are just big piles in the snow. We had over a foot of snow yesterday! Even the Alaskans are saying this is A LOT of snow!!! The totals for December were almost triple!
Yesterday was the worst day I've had here-the snow was so deep and falling so heavily. I had to go to the dentist at 1:30 and I was actually happy to get to the dentist and crawl into the torture chair (to be fair he was the nicest guy and didn't hurt me at all!)
It was so bad going there-the windshield wipers kept freezing up and then I couldn't see out! And everything was white: the falling snow, the roads, the piles of snow next to the road. Everything just sort of blended together. Then I got stuck trying to turn into the dentist's parking lot. I would have to get out and scrape my rear windshield so I could see well enough to back up....I'd back until I was stuck again and then I'd go forward, then I'd get out and scrape again, then back again, then forward, the out and scrape...until I managed to get out. (It's not actually scraping-it's brushing the snow off because it was falling so fast it would obscure the view out the window that quickly!) I didn't try to get into the parking lot again!!! I parked next door and waded through snow above my ankles to the dentist office. I had wet shoes, wet socks and wet pants....talk about COLD!
After the dentist I decided there was no way I could drive back across town (the dentist turned out to be just a few blocks from the house)....so, I just went home. I was gonna shovel snow but it was so deep it was really not fun-so, Joanne went out to do it. But, luck struck...the workers across the way offered to plow it with their pickup and snow blade if they could park here during the day....DEAL!! They did everything, except where the two cars are parked...not just the drive in and out!
The moon was full last night so I took a walk-it was just beautiful. I took some pictures but it is kind of hard to tell the moon from the snow flakes falling!!! See if you can find the moon!
Anyway, after the walk I discovered the most wonderful food treat!!! It's Brown Cow cream on top chocolate yogurt----it is as good as a fancy resturant desert (and has as many calories!). Oh, but is it to die for!!!!
Today dawned with no snow and intermittent sunshine! It also brought a new car for me!!! We finally convinced the company that we needed 4 wheel drive-YEAH! I am now driving an all wheel drive Equinox-red. Even though I did slide sideways across Tudor (like a really main street) shortly after I picked it up, I think it will be better!
Well, it's off to bed with me-5 am comes really, really quick and I haven't packed my bag!

GUESS WHAT????
Yep, it's snowing again! We had 32-36 inches of snow in the month of December. It's snowing like crazy now and we are supposed to have a foot of snow today. Then no snow after late afternoon until Saturday but the temps are falling into the VERY COLD range-I'm talking zero to minus 10!!! Wierd-you'd think I was in Alaska!

2007.....the new year is here! I did see the new year in after all. I had just turned the lights off when I heard Joanne come in so I got up and we had a glass of wine and some to die for chocolate mint cookies while we watched the neighbor set off illegal fireworks!
Yesterday I went down to the lagoon and watched the skaters for a while. I tried skating once when BJ and I lived in Iowa-didn't like it then and don't plan on trying it now. But, it was fun to watch. I especially liked to watch the mother and father teaching the little one to skate-I included a picture but you can't hear their frequent words of encouragement: "you're doing good...that's right...good job." There was a black dog pulling his kids around the ice-I think he was having more fun than the kids. The little girl in red looked like a bright cardinal on the ice-she was accompanied by a grandfatherly looking man who appeared not to be skating but stood near the edge of the ice. She stayed very close, not venturing far from her saft harbor. There were many groups of all ages with their ice hockey equipment playing and talking. And of course the couples skating together and talking together. I missed the group pulling a little one on a bright yellow sled-that was so colorful!
As I took pictures of the skaters there were skiers and walkers and joggers passing by on the coastal trail between me and the lagoon. Alaskans are an outdoor bunch and they don't let a little cold weather slow them down. To prove that I included a picture of the couple with their baby. The babies are bundled up like mad and then enclosed in the stroller. Start 'em young!
Well, I am going to put on some laundry (yep, the mundane chores of life go on even here) and then get out amongst 'em. Just gonna walk today-one day there might be pictures of me skiing or snow shoeing....but, don't expect me on skates, won't happen!