Alaska Beauty

Look at this HUGE cabbage! We have seen many gardens with cabbages this size.










Beautiful hanging basket of Petunias at Pioneer Park.


Moose like cabbage too.


These baskets of petunias are at least 5' long. They are hanging by the entryway to the local imaging center where I had some medical work performed.



Take a look at the size of this dahlia. Again, we've seen many this size and larger.









I phoned my recently widowed aunt in California, who happens to be nearly blind, and had a nice chat the other day. She mentioned how Uncle Bill would read my blog to her and she would look very closely at the pictures I posted on my blog. Talk about giving me satisfaction at the time I spend on my blog. I promised her more photos, as I have many, many more that I've taken but just didn't get posted (yet). After telling her about some of the beautiful flowers I hadn't yet photographed Nate and I took a little trip around Fairbanks with camera in tow. Figured I'd better get photos soon, as the weather continues to edge down towards freezing.


Actually the weather has gotten cooler, but not drastic. It's about 55 during the daytime and 40-45 in the evenings. The last couple of days the sun has been hidden behind the clouds and we have had some sprinkles. Normally Alaska has very low humidity when the sun is shining. I've noticed that my skin is much drier here than ever before. I also notice the difference in my hair between dry and humid days. Humid days my hair is fluffier. Makes it kind of nice I can change hairstyles without having to really do much to it!






Here's a fun photo Nate took of me at Pioneer Park - my hands and head...the rest is painted on wood. We have been scrounging around for Alaska winter gear and I got lucky at a recent garage sale - got myself a pair of snowpants and a Columbia jacket. Also found a hooded gater which I plan to use as a pattern and make one for Nate, too. Camilla ordered a pair of warm hiking boots, then found a different pair in a local store she likes better so gave me hers. Basically I'm down to needing to find warm gloves and possibly boots for deeper snow. I've looked at mukluks in the local fur shop, but not sure I am ready to spend their asking price just yet.

We will be moving to Brian and Camilla's duplex the first of the week. We stopped by there and dropped some boxes off today, as they have plans to use our stow-n-go mini van to move their larger items tomorrow into their cabin. The van was emptied out until I went to Sears and bought a mattress and box frame this afternoon. I'm feeling kind of smug about the bed purchase. Each year Alaska residents receive dividend money from the oil profits and on the state's investments. This year's payout was a little over $2000. In addition to their PDF (permanent dividend fund) this year each resident also received $1200 for energy. The requirement is that residents must live here for a minimum of one year (Jan 1-Dec 31), so we don't qualify for it this year. I'm not upset about everyone receiving $3200 per person September 15, because I didn't meet the qualifications. However, I did cash in on it - in a round-about way. Sears was having a PDF sale on their mattresses, and I took advantage of that sale :-)

Tomorrow we will get to see Brian and Camilla's cabin for the first time. I'm looking forward to seeing it. Camilla says it's just what they were looking for - it's log and a cabin and has a loft. Something it doesn't have is indoor plumbing or running water. They will need to haul all their water and heat any water they want warm/hot. It does have an outhouse near the cabin, electricity, and is heated (I think the fuel barrell contains fuel oil). I'll be sure to take some photos to post....oh yeah, and to go to the bathroom before we leave!