Icewind's Ramblings

A warm cup of coffee is sounding pretty good right about now. With cold weather comes the desire to eat warm, comforting foods. This weekend, Anchorage finally got its first snowfall, and what better way to mark the occasion than by making a great big pot of ‘damn good chili’ and a skillet of cornbread. It’s great but I’m sure there are those around me who are not as thrilled with my ‘songs’ after eating this wonderful dish. As I am writing this, we are getting our first snowfall of the season. There were a few flakes earlier today as I was eating lunch with several friends at Henry’s. It had been raining lightly all morning when the change started to occur. The snow fell slowly at first, one flake at a time, but soon it filled the sky, spreading thickly across the entire land. With the native culture in Alaska it was almost as if the tears of the villagers gathered into clouds and, with the chill in the air, returned to earth as Alaska 's first snowfall.

Last weekend I had to drive to a town about an hour from my house for an evening get together with a few friends for a 60 th birthday party. As we arrived in the town (it’s been in the news a lot lately since our governor was announced as the Republican Vice Presidential Candidate) it was close to dinner time so I asked my father in law’s Garmin GPS to tell me what restaurants were in the area and it identified a Chinese restaurant about a half mile ahead. It turned out not to be a REAL Chinese restaurant, but more like a fast food Chinese restaurant. That’s ok since the party was supposed to have things to snack on and dinner to follow so maybe a quick snack since we had not eaten might be a wise thing to do. However two things came into play here: 1. I LOVE Chinese food, especially sweet & sour chicken or pork, fried rice and an egg roll. 2. I didn't have time to look for another place and still make the party on time. So we placed our order at the co

I was talking with my boss the other day as he was just returning from the hospital where his father in law (FIL) was being treated for breathing problems. Over the weekend while he was staying with him they started to watch television where a football game was on. For about thirty minutes they sat there, mostly quiet . . . commenting only about this play or that, maybe how hard a hit one had given . . . not needing to really say anything to each other. Both were content to just be there. His sister in law stopped by and over the next two hours was constantly talking . . . or as they said . . . yapping nonstop . . . about anything. They hoped she would just watch the game but she asked questions on what was happening during the game and on so many other subjects not related to anything that was going on with his ‘FIL’, his hospital stay, family matters, or as they said anything important. I remember reading some of the book, “Men are from Mars, Women are from Ve

One of the great things about having a non-specific blog is that I can write about whatever I want, when I want. As an observer of life and things around me it makes for a fascinating outlook on many different things. What a difference a few days makes! The rain we had constantly for most of the summer stopped Friday afternoon, much to our delight, though the news weather experts seen to have been stuck in the mode of predicted light showers through the evening hours all summer. You look at the 5 or 7 day forecast and it has constantly shown clouds, rain or both. Normal times I think summer is the best for me . . . maybe not this summer with the rain and all but the fishing and outdoors in mild temperatures is great. I enjoy autumn with the wind in the trees, the changing colors, and the brisk feel in the air. I love getting up in the morning, walking outside, and having a cold blast of air hit me in the face. If I could choose any season to live out the rest of my l