mixed brew

 a few last photo's from lost lake and the start of july finally.  summers go so fast and this one has been as full as last years.  i had in my head that i was doing a laid back summer this year.  it never works that way in alaska.  always fun though, then you start to wind down and get ready for the peace and quiet of winter.  wouldn't mind doing a few winter things though...like a winter trip to fairbanks and the area up there.

 the lost lake cabin had beautiful views of seward.

 love being around men who are not only great men, but great daddies!  men who truely love their kids and are willing to play and be silly with them.  what a gift these two are to their kids.

 the wildflowers of an alaskan summer are always a highlight!  soon the flowers will back off and the mushrooms will take off.  the berries are already starting to ripen as well.

 my next summer plans are for my brother and his wife to come up, another brother is also coming up for that first long weekend.  hopefully, we will have decent weather and they will all have a great time up here.

 tom sounds a bit nervous now about bears and glacier calvings and earthquakes...

 can't promise none of those things will  become realities, they are always possible, but more of a remote possibility.  bought them all bear bells today.  have a box that i've put a few things in for their kids to enjoy while they are here.  like the maddie bag of fun...this will be the grayson and elijah box of fun.

 this was taken from the car one morning as i drove home from work.

 my last two nights at work this stretch were in the pediatric icu.  the hospital really hasn't slowed much for summer.  last summer co-workers called it the summer of miracles.  this summer has been a summer of death and sadness though.  more sadness last night it seems.  you try to say the right things to parents, but the loss is so great there just are never words. hopefully, i was able to give them some comfort and make the night less of a nightmare for them all.

 oddly, i find that as a nurse, my job is most appreciated in these times.  in peoples worst moments you have the opportunity to make the greatest positive impact.

 above is from campbell airstrip trails, below are flowers from my garden.  the blue flowers are himalyan poppies.  love these flowers.

 top view.  my garden is a mess, which seems to happen each summer.  i begin with good intentions, but i just get busy doing other things.

 these are from a walk along the coastal trails.  today i headed to point worzonoff for a short stroll on the beach.  i haven't really hit this spot in the summer, quite popular.  the planes take off right overhead.  fun to watch, noisy i guess.  not a fan of being in big jets, but always am fascinated watching them from the ground.

 the planes from the military base have been using a different runway of late, guess the main one is being worked on?  anyway.  that means a bit more plane traffic over my house.

 the city of anchorage always has some area's with beautiful flower gardens.  westchester had a few spots so i took a few snap shots.

 found the geese. the babies are getting so big already.

 loved these sunflowers

 rio is still having a tough time dealing with the summer heat.  we are currently the 5th warmest summer on record.  nobody is really complaining, though i have enjoyed the clouds and rain these past few days.  both days though the clouds wore off and the day became sunny and warm again.

 was laughing as i spoke to my brother the other day.  he was asking about going tuna fishing up here on their trip.  not really a tuna place, alaska.  hehe.  will be fun for them to come and see alaska.  it's a tough place to understand unless you've actually been here.

 just took a nap a bit ago.  wasn't planning on it, but i was super tired i guess.  i had my latest readers digest and i couldn't even get through the editors note before dropping off to sleep.

 liked the colour of this rose.

 scott and i were noticing maddies "dinner" plate at bob and tanya's bbq the other week.  scott's plate is to the left, maddies plate with just chips and salmon dip on the right. haha.

 lena and i took a walk to the bridge one day.  it was slightly cloudy up there and lots of water for the dogs to cool off in.  i was happy to have a break from the heat.  rio appreciated it as well.  she did well on this 4 mile walk.

 a few moose sightings that day.  this one was on the trail...in the fall this area will be packed with bull moose in rut.  it's one of their hangouts.

 saw a few more moose coming down elmore, headed home.  snapped this picture of a mama and calf while i was stopped at a red light.

 another trip to the beach access from kincaid park.

 never can pass this tree without taking a photo of it.  perhaps one day i'll have so many photo's of this trunk it will have it's own book!!

 side trail to the beach.  blossom was so excited!

 once we pull onto this part of the trail, the leash comes out and the tennis ball gets tossed.

 another cloudy day.

 saw a cricket leap the other day. don't really recall seeing crickets up here before.  south dakota had loads of crickets.  every time you took a step they would all jump. kinda cool and creepy.  the dragon flies are out in droves now...love them, they eat mosquito's...go dragonflies!!

 it looked as though the cairn guy had been down at the beach before me.  there were some pretty cool balanced cairns out there.

 that guy is pretty patient in his rock piling.

 i always enjoy these rock pilings.

 blossom is pretty oblivious to them.  she does notice them in their oddity.  she will walk right up to them and take a sniff..it could just be the hundreds of dogs before that have pee'd on them though now that i think of it, rather than blossom being wise enough to notice that these rock piles are not the usual in nature.  i like to think she is one smart labradoodle.

 my car is again safe to drive.  the other morning as i started my car in the dark to head to fishing my last headlight went out leaving me without any low beams.  not something one really notices for several months in an alaskan summer.  the darkness is slowly returning though and so i do have to occasionally use my headlights again.

 my brother asked me a question the other day that i wasn't able to answer to his satisfaction.  he asked me what time the sun was setting and rising.  you do kind of lose your ability to remember these details.  our sun sets at different times every day of the year.  we tend to lose or gain 5 minutes every day depending on the season.  so that means the sunset/sunrise can change about 30 minutes every week.  we have some slack time the weeks of winter or summer solstice, but otherwise it's always changing.  he found it so odd that i had no idea how to answer his question when he asked it.  i went to my computer and looked up the official sunrise/sunset times.

 it's 11pm and it's for sure getting darker.  in a few weeks when they visit we will be getting closer to the halfway mark i think.  we'll be further north though for the cabin so i think the time curve is different up north.  i remember a super long sunset when we were at deadhorse in late august. the sun and moon are just strange up here as are the people.

 i'm one of the strange people of the north though so i don't mind having a strange sun and moon.

 alaskans are quirky and independant, like me.  i like it that way.  it works for me.

 nice to get started on these july photo's.  hoping to get them in before august starts, but no promises.

 need to make a few phone calls and make a choice about kaktovik.  could be spendy, but i love exploring the remote places of alaska.

 they are filled with unique photo opportunities.

 it may be too late, but i won't know until i make that phone call.

 a few more beach shots and then i guess i'll head to bed for real.

 debating weighing in on the whole zimmerman case, but it's been beaten like a dead horse all over the news.  our reporters are no longer good at reporting news they do best at sensationalizing news.  we have become a nation that is forced to become fixated on one case thanks to lousy news coverage.  i'm always amazed that in this huge world full of news we hear so little of it.

 wish reporters would just report facts and let people formulate their own thoughts as to the meaning of the news.  i do prefer news magazines/newspapers and documentaries.  the news casts just take the same thing and repeat very minimal information over and over and over, adding nonsensical fluffand idiotic opinions in a poor attempt to keep it interesting and out there.

well, this is july.  not sure what to do on this stretch off.  i should do my to do list.  clean the house, get the carpets/couch cleaned.  do some yardwork that has been neglected this summer.  family is coming. not sure why i feel more of a need to make things right when it's family coming instead of friends.  do i feel more judged by family?  do i feel some sick need to impress them that all is well  with myself and my life?  it does probably stem from my choice to leave the church i grew up in and some sort of need to prove to them that this choice hasn't left me in some sort of tatters.  we all seem to revert to the kid we were when we get around family.  good night.