Summertime in Alaska...

Since I'm on a bit of a season kick...spring, summer, winter, fall...thought I'd share a random photo from Alaska a couple years ago. For those of you who don't know, my mom was born and raised in southern Alaska, so we've got a great excuse to head up that way once every blue moon. The "glacier tours" from Juneau are always fun - can you believe this is in June? And whatcha think of those braided pigtails??? :)

Thinking of spring...

It's that sort of blah time of year - winter is not quite over, spring is not quite here...at least where I am. It's a good time to remember what beautiful colors we'll see in just a little while:

A Blast from the Past or, How We Helped Win the Cold War

OK, so that may be a BIT of an exaggeration. I mean, the Cold War ended in the late 80's or early 90's depending on your viewpoint. But in 1996, our college octet, Witness, did a mission trip of the vocal variety - we sang our way through the Northwest Territories and Alaska with the ultimate destination being Providenya, Russia.

I can still see the runway in my mind: a tiny, bumpy strip of asphalt with mountains looming on either side. Our 10-seater Beechcraft approached over the Bering Sea, whitecaps looming periously close - at least it felt like it at the time!

Even though officials didn't let our plane or pilots stay while we were in the country, we spent a wonderful couple of days putting on concerts and getting to know the locals. When we left, a few officers posed for a picture with Heidi and I - let me tell you, at the time I thought those boots and that passport pouch were so totally perfect for my Arctic Circle adventure. :)

Baby Boom...

Ah, Gabe and Lora, it seems like just yesterday you were about to get married...and by "yesterday," I mean the summer of 2004. Anyhoo, congratulations on the new member of the family, scheduled to arrive this fall!

So it's been awhile...

...not that anyone has really missed my scintillating tales. :) No, I'm not fishing for compliments or anything like that. I'm realistic: some people have a passion for writing. I apparently write only when I am willfully unemployed!

So that's the first update: I have a short-term contract to help a school with a campaign to build a new facility, an interesting challenge. Yea, me!

And I'm still traveling - a lot. I was at my sister's house near McMinnville, Oregon. And last October I started dating a great guy that lives in southern Oregon, so there was lots of driving back and forth on the weekends. Somewhere in there, I snuck down to Sacramento to visit friends there. And on December 23, Phil and I did a road trip back to Amarillo for Christmas. So the western loop of the road trip was completed:


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In January, I drove my car to Tennessee:


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And then I fly back and forth to Oregon every month:


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And that's the short version of what I've been doing with my winter! :)