Thanks to the workers of the world

Let's not forget that the many protections and benefits we take for granted were hard-fought and won by everyday people in the workplace, organizing to make a better life for all of us.  With all the rhetoric these days, you'd think our gratitude should be going to rich white businessmen instead. Give me a community organizer any day!

Ajax seems quite content to be back home.  We kept him inside for a couple of days but have let him go out a little bit lately and he hasn't ventured too far.  I still wish I knew what he'd been up to!

We're still getting tomatoes!  Crazy, huh?


I hope everyone's had a good Labor Day weekend.  Rich mostly worked and I mostly did stuff around the house--nothing too exciting happening here.  I swear, it feels like fall is in the air.  I'm not ready!

Back Home

We flew in on July 18 so we've been back for awhile but I am finally catching up!  Here's our approach.

 Home, sweet home!

 Although there's still snow on the mountains, it's nice and green and the flowers are coming out.

 Shell is here this summer, getting ready to move to the Arctic. That's the Tor Viking.

 White and purple lupine

USAFV (Unalaskans Against Sexual Assault and Family Violence) had a bonfire and we released these cool lanterns with wishes for peace and hope in the world.

 And the Greenpeace boat Esperanza was here for a few days

while the Coast Guard kept watch.  Greenpeace has an injunction against it and cannot get close to any of the Shell boats or equipment. 

Last weekend we held the annual Tundra Golf Classic, a fundraiser for my job.  It's always a lot of crazy fun playing golf in the Aleutian tundra. We don't have a real golf course here so we lay out some astro-turf "holes" and people have a blast.  Unfortunately the weather was not the best this year. We usually work out of a big tent but with high winds expected, we couldn't take a chance on losing or ruining the tent. So we hauled all of our equipment in a 15 passenger van and used it as our office.  A little disorganized but at least we stayed warm.  Here's Melanie volunteering,  handing out golf balls and clubs in the rain.  We have some hard core golfers and still had 16 teams show up despite the weather.

We had high winds, driving rain, and moments of calm and clear skies.  But it was chilly enough for a hat.  :)  Below is a little glimpse of Aleutian style golf.  There are lots more photos on KUCB's Facebook page if you want to take a look. 

And our tomatoes are still going strong!  We have red tomatoes, ripening tomatoes, green tomatoes, little tomatoes and just-beginning tomatoes.  I'm so proud of them!

Vacation Count Down

This time next week, we will be on flight #3,  LAX to DFW!  I am so excited!  It's been a long winter and I am ready for some hot Texas sun, not to mention lots of time with the girls, guys, and grandkids.  We're in a race against time to see if we can make it to Amarillo before baby Luke decides to make his appearance.  Send up some good vibes that he will wait for Gigi to arrive.  :) 

Meanwhile, my tomatoes are doing great and getting bigger by the day.  However, with just one week to go, I am wondering if any will be ripe before we take off.  I will be sorely disappointed if I have babied them to this point and don't even get to taste one!

My friend Andrea's birthday is the day after mine so Melanie and Sonia fixed an early bday dinner for us last night (mine's the 13th, hers is the 14th). We're missing Tammy, who is off in China with her daughter and the Art Club from school.  Wow, what a great opportunity, huh?  We hope they're having a blast!  Anyway, we had lots of delicious (mostly) healthy food, a bonfire outside (yes, it's June and you can still see snow on the mountains...I know!) and lots of laughs, as always.

 Andrea and Sonia...something must have been really funny!

Jane and Melanie

Lovely flowers from Andrea
 

 Our yard is full of dandelions and bumblebees!  Rich took a bunch of great photos the other night.

I call it "The Pollinator."  :)

Maybe it's Spring, Finally

African Violets always remind me of my Grandmom Pratt, my Mom's Mom.  In her house in New Jersey, they filled just about every room, on windowsills, on end tables, and along multiple glass shelves lining her windows.  Sometimes she'd let us take a watering can and pour a small amount in the bottom of their pots, being careful not to get the leaves wet.  Somehow I got the impression  that they were hard to keep alive and have never tried to grow any till now.  A couple of weekends ago, I went to a craft fair at the Senior Center and one of the seniors had African Violets for sale.  It's funny how just the sight of them took me back in time to those days at my Grandmom's house.  Impulsively, I took two and brought them home.  So far they are doing okay, but I am a little afraid I am going to kill them off.  A couple of blooms have already died on one of them and its leaves don't look too great.  Grandmom would probably not be impressed!

My tomato plants, on the other hand, are going crazy!  We do not have enough room for the wild growth that's going on in our dining room!  I am very excited that several plants have already started blooming so I am diligently using a little pastry brush to help pollinate them (which you have to do if they're not outside and getting naturally pollinated) and hoping for little tomatoes to appear.  Won't that be great??! My grandparents also always had a fabulous vegetable garden and Grandpop's Jersey tomatoes were his pride and joy.  Hopefully my little Alaska version will be almost as good.

My friend Tammy had a birthday recently so Melanie and I took her out to breakfast and Andrea stopped by from work for a quick visit.   Happy birthday, Tammy!  It's been very hectic around town with all of the end of school activities, prom, band concerts, awards ceremonies, and graduation.  Most of my friends still have kids in school so they have been wrapped up in all kinds of events.  There's a part of me that misses all of those fun times, but I am also glad that I can just come home and relax instead of running all over town like I used to!

I think the weather has finally broken and we've had a few nice days. At least the snow is melting and we don't seem to be expecting any more!  Everyone has about had it!  It was the worst winter in awhile and it seems like it has taken its toll on most of us.  Thank goodness for sunshine, rain showers, and flowers starting to bloom in the yard.

Meanwhile, we are beginning the countdown to vacation, leaving here on June 18, arriving in Dallas on June 19 for a quick overnight stay with Sarah's family before catching an early morning flight to Amarillo on the 20th.  Hoping that baby Luke will stay put till we arrive!  We'll be in Amarillo with Bonnie's family for a couple of weeks, depending on when baby makes his appearance, and then will go back to Dallas to Sarah's and to Abilene to Susan's to visit everyone else.  I am more than ready, as this has been one of my longer stretches without any time "outside."  I spent over an hour on the phone with Alaska Air tonight, trying to work out the rest of our itinerary.  Even the AK Air agent had pity on me for living way out in the middle of nowhere on the most expensive route ever.  Of course, her pity did not extend far enough to give me any kind of a break.  Out of her hands.  Man, the days of cheap plane tickets are apparently long gone.