Happy 26th Anniversary, Nathan and Kathy

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Several who read the blog were there for Nathan and Kathy's wedding in Statesboro, GA, 26 years ago.  Many moons and suns have risen since that momentous day!  

Here they are today:

Can you tell they are on a special trip? Can you tell where they are? Next photo is a hint…I took the next photo on June 3, when I was standing almost the same spot…at least near…the same shoreline at least.

They are off on a special trip for their anniversary…Alaska!  Today was their first port of call in Ketchikan, Alaska.  They had a great time exploring.  They even FaceTimed me when they were watching a stream with lots of salmon in it and there was a bear attempting to catch one.  Later in the day they sent me a video of a bear actually catching one.  This trip is doubly special to them, as they had an Alaska cruise planned last year for their 25th anniversary, but due to Joy getting a bad concussion they had to cancel it.  So the fact that they can go this year is doubly good since they were able to plan the trip since Joy is well enough for them to leave her in charge of kitchen duties while they are gone.  Sounds like they are having a great time…no rain today and it is quite warm…Nathan was bemoaning the fact that he didn't bring very many short sleeved t-shirts…never know in Alaska what the weather will be.  They will continue in a northerly direction…perhaps it will get cooler for them.  Another reason that Nathan was really looking forward to this trip is that it is a return trip for him to Alaska. 

His sophomore year in college he spent the summer in Alaska as a BSU (Baptist Student Union) missionary.  BSU is now known as BCM (Baptist Collegiate Ministries).  He is the director of this ministry at Motlow State Community College. So it has been many years since he went and at that time he spent time more in the interior of Alaska.  So their present trip is taking them to a different area of Alaska…mainly the panhandle of Alaska.  Their trip is also different than Melany, Wade's and mine as they are what is known as a one-way (ours was a loop…started and ended in Seattle).  Nathan and Kathy started from Vancouver, Canada and will end in Whittier, Alaska. And, they will fly home from Anchorage, Alaska. They have some of the same ports of calls that we had, but also have some different ones. They are traveling on the same cruise line as we did, but a different ship.  So sort of the same as my cruise…but different!!!

My day has gone well to this point.  I mainly stitched today and ended up finishing another ornament.  So the count is rising of finished ornaments! I have been to Bible study this evening.  We are back on a schedule of things at the church since school has started back up.  

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!   

Whew!!

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I'm going for ice and snow in Alaska for tonight's photo to make me think cool, at least…and remember how chilly and at times cold it was back in the first week of June…in Alaska.  We are under a hear advisory until Friday evening.  I waited till this evening to go out to take my garbage can to the road…but it was still in the low 90s feeling like upper 90s.  All I can say is, "Too hot!" 

This heat makes for lazy days.  I read more in the book I am reading.  I did get the Christmas ornament finished that I made my goal to have finished by the time I blogged tonight.  I stitched for quite a while off and on today and didn’t actually put the last stitch in until around 6pm.  

I did manage to get my last load of wash done today and it is "mostly" put away.  It will take at least one more trip upstairs to get it all put away.  But at the moment my trip outside has zapped my energy from another trip upstairs for at least a little while. I did work a little on getting organized to do some sewing.  But the only sewing I did was to serge the edges of some cross stitch fabric so I can use it for an ornament. My count for ornaments is 13 finished stitching…I think that puts me over the half-way point.  One of the things that I need to do soon is make a list of people I am giving ornaments to and put next to the name which ornament…and see where that gets me.  I feel like I should have more than 13 made for all the time that I have been stitching them this year.  It just shows me how long it takes even for what I thought were more simple than I have stitched in the past. Onward and upward! 😁

I don't have any more ornaments started so that means a decision has to be made as to what to stitch next.  Maybe I will set stitching aside for a while this evening and either stitch on something else that is started or read or…

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Monday…A Hot One!

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Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska

Today has almost come and gone.  I just got home from prayer meeting a little while ago.  I have mainly worked on stitching a cross stitch ornament…I feel almost like a broken record…it seems like I say that all the time…but with the days and months flashing by in front of our eyes, I had better spend more time on them.  I have gotten quite a few stitched…but I am still a ways away from my goal of 24 or 25.  I am almost finished with the one that I have been working on today.  I am hoping to finish stitching it this evening.  BUT…I am pretty tired tonight.  I woke up too early and haven't taken a nap so my eyes may shut before I can get all the way finished with it.  I guess I will say that my goal is to have it finished before I blog tomorrow night!  

I have a serendipitous story to share!  I have had a pair of dress maker shears for some years that are helpful for old/arthritic hands.  The handle holes are attached together with a stiff vinyl band that assists my hand when cutting…I put pressure to make them close, but as soon as I let up on the pressure they open…thus my hand doesn't have to do the work of opening the scissors…and when cutting out patterns to make garments removing that one motion from the job of cutting makes a BIG difference to hurting hands.  Well, the vinyl band broke some time back and I had been using them as regular scissors since…my hand doing all the work of opening and closing the scissors while I cut out pattern pieces.  I had been trying to see if I could buy the piece that broke, but had found no where to do that.  Plus I had been told that the company had gone out of business.  So I didn't try super hard once I learned that.  Well, the other day when I was looking at something about sewing on my iPad, I got an advertisement showing several different pairs of this brand of scissors.  So I clicked and started searching through their pages of scissors.  And, I found my pair or what looked similar to my pair.  And, I decided that I would purchase them, as they weren’t very expensive and shipping was free.  Well, they came in the mail today…but much to my surprise they were not ones like my scissors or the ones that I thought I had ordered.  They are a different style…BUT…they do have the vinyl piece that attaches to the handles to make them ergonomic.  So now I have a new pair of another style scissors that open on their own when I let up on cutting pressure…AND…I can use the old scissors with the same vinyl piece…so now I have two different style scissors that will help me when I am sewing.  I did make myself a promise that if I bought those scissors that I WOULD get back to my sewing.  So more things to do to fill up my time!

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Sunday Favorite Alaskan Photo

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A Too Busy Day?

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I think I’ve done too much today.  I did a lot of cooking and I think that today's I did too much. At the moment I’m not feeling the best.  I have about decided that today's cook may be too acid for the liking of my digestive system…this happened to me last week, too.  And, I think I may be starting to put two and two together and see that perhaps Italian made with lots of tomatoes may be something that I should avoid. I had a small amount of today's cook for a late lunch…now wishing that I hadn't put the effort into making it and wish that I had  skipped it for lunch!  Sipping ginger ale gingerly at the moment.  I wore myself out with today's cooking tasks so being extra tired doesn't help either.  I will say that I did enjoy the time I was cooking and I will be sad if I have to take Italian tomato sauces out of my cooking repertoire!  

I have done a little reading and have been trying to decide what ornament to stitch next.  Think, though, st the moment, I am going to just take it easy and sit back and feel better!  I think the ginger ale is helping.

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Friday Doings

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Icy Strait Point (Hoonah), Alaska

You might think I did some cleaning today, when you look at tonight's photo…but my broom is hanging in my laundry room just like these are hanging on the wall! No cleaning today…no cooking…did enough the last few days!  Today was a resting day…enjoying my book and plan to stitch this evening. I did finish the Christmas ornament that I mentioned last night.  So one more joined my stack of finished ornaments for Christmas gifts. 

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

International Cuisine and Grand Central Station!

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The Butchart Gardens, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

I didn't realize how international I have been lately with my cooking.  A few days ago I made Tamale Pie (Mexican). I have plans to make Marinara sauce (Italian) for what is called Inside-Out Ravioli (Italian). Today I roasted a pork loin roast (American) and made gravy that I have frozen for in-the-future enchiladas (Mexican).  When I roast a pork roast, I often cut off about a pound of the boneless roast to cut into cubes to use for Sweet and Sour Pork (Chinese).  I decided to go on and make the Sweet and Sour Pork since I had all the ingredients.  I had that for supper and plan to freeze some of the leftovers for future meals.  I had done enough cooking for one day…reason that the marinara sauce is in the plans for another day.  I "just about" have the kitchen cleaned up.  

I got pulled away from the kitchen when Joy stopped by to have me serge the seams on a skirt that she is making.  She is trying to get the projects, that she started at the beginning of summer break, finished before her next college term begins in three weeks.  Then not long after she left I had two more visitors…two folk needing to borrow some things I had offered to loan them for an upcoming Alaskan cruise. Earlier in the day Jo stopped by with some peaches and tomatoes…yum!  She caught me in my PJs as I had been so busy in the kitchen today that I hadn't gone upstairs to change.  I did start to go up one time and decided that since I had made it so long into the day that I would just stay comfy.  I did get changed before the others came!  

For breaks from my cooking today, I did some reading and boy did I get a surprise in one turn of events in the book that I mentioned last night…and this twist in the plot really tied a couple of the characters in with one of the other groups in the book.  I also did some stitching early in the morning.  I started a new Christmas ornament last night after I blogged.  I think that I will be able to finish it this evening before I go to sleep…well, I won't promise that my eyes don't close for a bit before I actually finish it…but before I actually go to sleep for the night, I should have it finished.

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!