Lesley Navin and I always get to try out a DC restaurant. This was
at Teaism, a good pan asian place. We powered walked thru' the
National Gallery of Art first. I hope the new house and all related adjustments go great for you and Dave.

Lainy, Ellen and I spent a day and night together in Crawford. What did we do for entertainment? Ate, watched movies and slept and yacked our heads off. It was great to be together, for sure.
















I got to the Hyatt Capitol Hill on Aug 27th and somehow got involved in an Ethiopian wedding party by the Capitol. The bride & groom are on the left. The groom's oldest brother came from Adis for the wedding. Best wishes!



















Aunt Selma and I had dinner at her place in Chevy Chase. 'Also got to see Paula for a visit. They're all well. Selma, I have great confidence you'll have a publisher for your new book on modern art.

it was 8:30 as we took in the view of the Knik Arm coming into the Cook Inlet.

it's getting dark
alot earlier every night







and there's snow visible now on the peaks. 

Kito, Jane and I went blue berry picking on Wednesday evening
this week during a brief break from the rain. See Kito sitting
on the tundra? He was a great berry spotter/announcer and we
all three filled our ziplock baggies with blueberries, crowberries and
low-bush cranberries. The evening air was fresh and delicious after
all the rain. The views from Arctic Valley are magnificent.














Here's Jane, one of the original hunter- gatherers. She's as happy as a clam kneeling into the wet tundra with her fish-delish rain pants. Jane got the most berries, by far and I just had to frame her with the misty mountains in the back.




















What can I say?

This is downtown Cordova, a fishing town on Prince William Sound.
I flew there in the early a.m. and back to Anchorage in the evening
after a productive work day.

 

alaska update

alaska update
You probably know that I love water aerobics classes at the Alaska Club.
Debra and I met through the class and make it a habit to follow up the
Saturday morning class with a strong coffee at Kaladi Brothers.
If we're lucky there are views of the sunshine from the mountains as we yack and catch up with our very exciting work weeks and condomania. Here's a picture of Debra and I doing what we enjoy on Saturday a.m.

it's nice to have Dave, Ryan and Matt around again.

Toll house marble squares and home-made ice cream

made a big hit on Friday night.

The 10 Anchorage AFS students for school year 2006-07 met up for an

afternoon of exploring downtown Anchorage, using the bus system to get

around and ending up at the annual welcome BBQ. Back Row (l to r) Melanie,

Nico, YY, Lukas, Orjan, Yin Yin. Front Row Ai, Sayuri, Silvia, Eduardo.















Here the students and host siblings stop at the log cabin of the Anchorage

Visitor's Center. It was a rainy day, but they all got to know each other and

had fun.

This is Aiwaran aka "I." She arrived after a long journey
from Bangkok to Japan, Japan to Seattle and Seattle to Anchorage.
She arrived with 6 other foreign exchange students from South America,
Europe and who knows where else. I will act as a liaison for "I" and her
host family, making sure that the lines of communication remain open
and everyone adjusts well. She's very eager to have alot of adventures.
She stayed with me one night before her orientation and had dinner and
breakfast with me. She has never felt air as cold as 56 degrees F, but
is bright and adaptable and I'm sure she's going to have a wonderful year.
I'm so fortunate to have these bright international kids in my life!
And what would any of us do without friends?
This is June and Linda who fearlessly went hiking and berry picking with me this afternoon (August 12th) up in the mountains that were completely socked in. We yacked our fool heads off while picking blueberries, crowberries and low bush cranberries. We got wet and chilly, but it was glorious. We saw a big moose, a bunch of friendly dogs and apparently were almost charged by a moose and her calf, but they veered off at the last minute, some other hikers reported.
Here's we're showing off our bags of berries.
It's just the beginning of the berry season, so I look forward to going back for riper patches in the next couple weeks.

July 22 and the nasturtium have finally bloomed.






The Chugach mountains
are in the background.







There's a better view of the Chugach from the balcony.

Ruth and I had fun shopping at "the village"
and then came home and did a fashion show
for Nana. We're in the kitchen here showing
off our new duds. Like the look?
 

the three generation of ladies on the 4th of July.

 

Ruth is home -- it's real nice.


We went to see the Parade downtown Anchorage
and some hot dogs and did some serious people watching.
Very fun

















Here's a close-up of Ruth.

 

Pearl made it to Anchorage, tho' she's still wondering why the plane couldn't enter Canadian airspace and needed to stop in Seattle. Any guesses?

Ruth arrived from Montana yesterday, and now the condo is buzzing with the three generations of ladies. Lots of food going on here, and lots of computers clacking, conversations going and fun!

We're hoping for the sunshine to hold for the 4th. 

Susan Miller's goodbye from Alaska

Susan and David had a good trip. Over the weekend they joined in the fun of a neighborhood bbq, hiked on Powerline Pass, ate their freshly caught sea bass and walked on the coastal trail. On Sunday evening they drove north for a couple of days in Talkeetna that included sunshine, fishing for king salmon and seeing a black bear from the deck of their Bed & Breakfast. They're off now back to life in Memphis and Nashville. Thanks for the visit. Susan and I have known each other 30 years since we first met in Amherst Mass.

Dave and Friends!

Matt cracks himself up over crepes

Matt and Megan Dooley
Dave. Doesn't he look like a serious physicist?
Ryan, surely made to be a mech. engineer & still driving the infamous green truck.

Houseguests of Summer 06

Susan Miller, one of the college buddies from UMAss days arrived from Memphis with her son David of Nashville. He's thinking.... "so I fly all day and all I get is four lousy fruit tarts?"

Just for that, they got two days of drizzle in Seward while on a wildlife cruise and fishing trip. 

6/11/06 the three of us hiked Flattop. See Anchorage in the background?
It was windy and cold.

We hiked across some snow and went to a pass
around 3/4 of the way up.
Nice, fun thing to do on a Sunday.
It's great to have David home, even if it's
for just a couple of weeks. 

Garden at Trent Circle

The gardens are looking great at Trent Circle. These delphinium are not yet flowering for 06, but all the perennials are looking happy and getting a good rainshower today - 6/12/06.