Happy Holidays


As we approach the holiday season and prepare for the small gathering tomorrow of family and maybe a few friends it is nice to think back on summers end.  It started snowing this afternoon giving us a fresh blanket of the white stuff. 

Anchorage is known as the “City of Lights” during the winter months so I, like many people put up lights for the winter which remain on until the last musher of the Iditarod arrives in Nome completing the race in mid March.

With a little extra time on my hands I can think back on summers past where I close my eyes as the memories come back like a wild river, colorful like Northern Lights in the clear cold night, which I saw for the first time this season a few nights ago.  THE reason I came to Alaska, THE thing I wanted to see since I was a little boy in Atlanta.  There they were, dancing above the hillside, misty green, slick and wavy.  Nothing could screw this day anymore as I watched in amazement at the night sky.

Because winter approaches quickly in Alaska everyone prepares for the darkness and the cold wind to come.  We put things up and decide whether it is safe to stay outside or in a warmer area inside the house. 

Gone now so no glimpse of the gold beaming Aspen valleys . . .  only white hillsides covered in snow and fog.  Gone are the times spent hiking amongst them, and I can't help but say that period towards the end of summer it's my favorite time of the year.  The bright yellow whirling leaves seduced us into hiking but sadly the colors change and the winds blows the leaves away within a couple of weeks so it is short lived.

More than in any other area, Alaska is a place of one way roads.  You can drive to the end of the world seven times since that is about all the ‘road system’ we have here.  Every time the yellow line stopped it’s in a little town like Seward or Homer . . . at a National Park like in Denali or at the top of a mountain.  Sometimes in places like Talkeetna ‘Where the road ends and life begins’ as their slogan so proudly says.

Alaska is a place of towering mountains . . . yellow tree lined valleys . . . chatty people . . . mixed with lots of fishing & hunting, reindeer sausage, desolated roads and numerous glaciers.  There are the snow powdered mountaintops, lots of coffee and a glass of Beringer or two while watching the boats return with their catch of the day . . . wandering moose on the highway . . . campfires with frosty wood needed sometimes even in summer to knock off that morning chill . . . bottles of wine for every situation and great views from magnificent mountaintop restaurants.  As they say: ‘It’s the biggest small town you go to.’

These are nice reminders of those good times had and so much to look forward to in the future.

There is much to be thankful for this holiday season . . . a daughter half a world away doing her part to give those who want a chance for Freedom a taste of a different life.  May she and her other troops be safe and return to their families as quickly as possible.

Another daughter who has been sick the last two years having a chance next week to go to Seattle for specialist who will hopefully diagnose her main problem so she can heal and gain her health to enjoy a life with her son, husband, and return to a more normal life experience.

A son who is a single dad making his way in the world learning what it means to raise a daughter and enjoy all that being a ‘daddy’ entails. 

A wife who has been off work for several months waiting for the trip to Seattle with our daughter who in the meantime pushed for a bathroom to be remodeled hopefully by Christmas.  She has done great so far with only the occasional bickering she wants it done. 

I’m thankful for all these things and much more as my world reaches across the land and sky to all of the friends and family so far away.  Some I’ve met over the years and many friends who I have only met through this wonderful world of the internet while blogging or gaming over the years. 

To everyone I wish for you a Happy Holiday Season in the coming months and better times than we have all come through this year. 

Happy Thanksgiving!




Cheers!

Ice

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