solstice..snow and lights....

slept in, but did make it out for a walk with the pups. should have bootied rio up as it was colder than expected. 3-5 degrees F. not that there is a big difference between 3 or 5. it's just chilly at those temps. went up to prospect heights trailhead for a loop i often do up there. still battling this month long cold bug so got a wee bit short of breath out there today. worth it i think. it's better to get out there and open up the lungs. besides, nothing like cold air to help clean out those sinuses!! one of the skills i've acquired since moving to alaska is the ability to get a snot rocket shot out. does come in handy.
past this bank of mailboxes on the way up. not sure why, but i always think these rows of mailboxes look cool, especially all laden with snow.

i believe that is redoubt. it's an active volcano. had some good blows last year. occasionally i'll look across and see it smoking. looked pretty in the sunset light though. took this while on my walk still. i walked from about 2pm-3:30pm. to the north denali mountain was also visible. seems to come out for our viewing pleasure frequently during the winter months. funny as so few tourists get to spy it.

cruised around a few neighborhoods on my way home from the hike. nice to be able to looke at christmas lights and still be home before 5pm. i really should be experimenting with my camera to get my night photography improved. mostly i just whip out the point and shoot and see what comes out not half bad.

these neighborhoods were east anchorage, on the other side of muldoon. my old apartment was out this way and i often did dog walks in the area so it was a familiar cruise. always like the "life size" moose cut outs.

thinking i should grow me a big ole pine tree so i can put lights on it and make it look totally cool in the winter.

seem to always run across at least one wildly decorated place no matter where i roam in anchorage. this one had the golfer and driving range, along with a bunch of little snowmen. very cute!

bought a footstool for blossom for christmas and the "dogs" bought me a nice reading cushion for the bed. they may buy me a new ring for christmas as well....we'll see. they are very generous that way. got a great gift card from my brother and his family. REI...a girl's gotta love that. the only problem with gift cards is there's nothing to unwrap christmas morning, right? overall, they are easiest though, especially when you live far away from each other and don't really know what the person has already. can't put the dog presents out too soon as they will open them the minute they discover it's edible or has a squeaky. they do keep knocking into the tree and the needles are dropping like crazy.

aren't these little snowmen lights adorable?

very festive house...well done! since i'm too lazy to go nuts with lights at my house i enjoy seeing what others can do.

ode to my brothers....the unused and completely snowed in basketball set up. i saw several of these on my ride through the streets of anchorage. basketball is an indoor sport at this time of year. oddly enough, or so i thought, basketball is huge in many of the villages. they love it.

may be a good night for northern lights out there, but pretty dang cold...the bed sounds more comfortable. i got my new christmas dvd's in so i could snuggle under the covers and watch one of those. those are thanks to another gift card from my friend michelle. when i got my christmas music/movie container out, i noticed the movies were all vhs. can't really watch those anymore on what i have at home so decided to upgrade to actual dvd's.

this house had all thier trees lit up, looked so pretty! corner of pussywillow (my old street) and 32nd i believe.

i thought it looked pretty anyway.

i'm easily pleased though, pretty lights and some christmas music...though i have no music still in my car. i called honda but they never called me back.

liked that someone had to clean off the stop part so folks would actually stop here. have no idea what the streets are...can be tough giving/getting directions. one christmas, when i was more social, i gave my address, but apparently only the pussy part of pussywillow was showing. people found me and i got a few jokes made about it.

just looking across the inlet to the alaska range i believe. that is a huge range and denali is part of it.

sunset on solstice. soon the days will get longer and longer. no two days are ever the same here and don't try to tell the time by the sun, you'll never to right.

blossom enjoyed playing with her tennis ball today. we almost lost it a few times, but she is really good at sniffing it out of the snow.

again..redoubt.

hopefully, i wake up before noon tomorrow. i still have a few packages to mail and i should call employee health since i had that temperature again last night. seems like i should be over this by now and just down to my usual hacky cough.

mount susitna (also called sleeping lady) in the background, you can see downtown anchorage in here as well. great views from prospect heights trails.

guess i shall attempt to turn in early...or layer up and look for northern lights or something...hmm...which will it be??