Time for a Break

Our school buses are modified to have their tail pipes exhaust out the top of the bus so that the lights can still be seen on these cold days.

We are ready for some fun in the sun on a sandy beach.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to one and all!

One Day Closer to Christmas

And you thought Santa only traveled by Reindeer.

He's checking his list are you ready?

A Little Christmas Shopping

Do you need to purchase a different type of Christmas gift this year... this just might be the place for you!

Welcome to North Pole Alaska

The place where everyone and most the businesses are in the Christmas spirit ~ year round!

Just a Little Shaker ~ Earthquake 3.54

There was a little shaker last night.  It was a low rumble that shook the house for just a few moments.  It would have gone unnoticed if we were asleep but alas we were still awake.

For the recent earthquake information in Alaska check out the Alaska Earthquake Information Center: http://www.aeic.alaska.edu/

Tomorrow

All I have to present is my silence. I stand at attention with honor and quiet reserve. Prayers of peace I offer to all with the strength to get up each morning followed by the will to go to sleep each night knowing that tomorrow will be a better day. For tomorrow we know not what gifts we have to share with another. Tomorrow we will make a difference in someone’s life.

Cold Sunrise

Cold mornings do make for nice sunrises.  

Just as long as you are above the icefog.

Icefog otherwise known as pea soup!

Ouch

Bring it On!

National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for the area until Thursday 12-13-12 at 3 pm.

Heavy blowing snow is present on all area roadways creating poor visibility and hazardous conditions. Please exercise care when driving and take precautions.

It's dark, the roads have disappeared and driving has become a slow dance.  A fancy waltz where everyone needs to know the precise steps or the entire room runs a-muck.

The best part is it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  Drive safe!

Perfection

Perfection is the enemy of the "get'er done"!

There are those days when I just want this or that done.  Finished! Checked off the list and the need to just get'er done hits me hard.

Then the need to aim for perfection knocks at the door of get'er done and has me slow down and do the job right.

Christmas projects might feel like they are stacking up against you but remember that the joy of creating should be just that ~ a joy.

Enjoy whatever you are currently creating and Merry Christmas!

Snorkeling

So what do you think... are there any sharks in there?

Pearl Harbor Remembered

The USS Missouri, also known by her nickname 'Mighty Mo', was the last battleship ever constructed by the United States. It is also the only ship in the naval fleet to have fired her guns in both World War II and Persian Gulf Wars. Most significantly, however, was her role in bringing the Second World War to its conclusion; the Empire of Japan formally surrendered to the United States on her decks on September 2, 1945.

 The Official Pearl Harbor Tour Site 

Click HERE

Busy

Busy hands are happy hands we are happier when we are busy and when our dance card is full.

May your dance card be full with wonderful partners to keep you busy.

Really?

Yup afraid so....

Such Beauty

All my life I will sit looking out the window and wonder how such beauty came to be with such precision and care every detail is intertwined.  Every tree, every shrub and all the creatures know just what to do and which season it should be accomplished.  Like clock work our sun rises at the exact moment predicted never wavering nor faltering.

With all this exactness where does man fit into the equation? What instincts do we follow as inhabitants of this earth? What benefits do we provide each other?

I am but one observer, one partaker so I know that my part is small yet I will do all I can to add beauty to the lives of those around me. Who knows maybe my small part will ripple rings of joy far into the future.

Best of Both Worlds

The best of both worlds ~ Minnesota Wild Rice and Alaska King Salmon!

Sunset Glory

Fata Morgana and Denali casting a shadow on the clouds.  

Photo taken Wednesday November 28, 2012 at 3:02 p.m.
Sunset was at 3:06 p.m.

Weather Today

I really am trying to stay pangloss about this day ~ time to put the blinders on.

Word of the Day ~ Pangloss

Pangloss

PRONUNCIATION:

(PAN-glos)                  

MEANING:

noun: One who is optimistic regardless of the circumstances.
adjective: Blindly or unreasonably optimistic.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Dr. Pangloss, a philosopher and tutor in Voltaire's 1759 satire Candide. Pangloss believes that, in spite of what happens -- shipwreck, earthquake, hanging, flogging, and more -- "All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds." The name is coined from Greek panglossia (talkativeness). Earliest documented use: 1794.

Reminders

There are those times when we all need a little reminder and this is what I needed to remember that life in the frozen North ~ the last frontier ~ has its great moments that make it all worth while.

***

Photo credit goes to my friend B.R. 

Thanks for sharing the beautiful view.

High Five Friday

I give a big high five for....

LOVE!

Thanksgiving 1941

Thanksgiving in the United States, as observed on various dates throughout history. The dates of Thanksgiving in the era of the Founding Fathers until the time of Lincoln had been decided by each state on various dates. The first Thanksgiving celebrated on the same date by all states was in 1863 by presidential proclamation. The final Thursday in November had become the customary date of Thanksgiving in most U.S. states by the beginning of the 19th century. And so, in an effort by President Abraham Lincoln (influenced by the campaigning of author Sarah Josepha Hale who wrote letters to politicians for around 40 years trying to make it an official holiday), to foster a sense of American unity between the Northern and Southern states, proclaimed the date to be the final Thursday in November.


It was not until December 26, 1941, that the unified date changed to the fourth Thursday (and not always final) in November—this time by federal legislation. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, after two years earlier offering his own proclamation to move the date earlier, with the reason of giving the country an economic boost, agreed to sign a bill into law with Congress, making Thanksgiving a national holiday on the fourth Thursday in November.

In 1941 what is remembered by Josh's Grandpa Moore is that President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving earlier so that the solders could have supper with their families before they shipped off for war.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Word of the Day ~ Hibernian

Hibernian

PRONUNCIATION:

(hy-BUR-nee-uhn)        

MEANING:

adjective: Of or relating to Ireland.
noun: A native or inhabitant of Ireland.

ETYMOLOGY:

>From Hibernia, the Latin name for Ireland. The word hibernate is from Latin hibernare (to spend the winter). Earliest documented use: 1632. 

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The worst kind of people are those who confuse kindness for weakness. -Werner Makowski, banker (b. 1929) 

Would You?

Would you run the miles to the other side of the tracks?  Would you find yourself breathless at the edge of the rails?  Would you go to great lengths to tell her you love her?

Jump

The light of day reaches us in only small doses and its heat is reflected back to the heavens as it skips off the atmosphere. If only I could jump off the ground to the sky and catch the sun’s rays of warmth like a fish jumps out of the pond for the bug.

Nourish me oh rays of the sun. Feed me your warmth. Share with me your guiding light.

Who Knew

Who knew? 

 I didn't. 

Did you?

Made my morning though.

Word of the Day ~ Mitty

Mitty

PRONUNCIATION:

(MIT-ee)                       

MEANING:

noun: An ordinary, timid person who indulges in daydreams involving great adventures and triumphs.

ETYMOLOGY:

After the title character in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, a short story (1939) by James Thurber, later made into a movie (1947) of the same name.

Your Clock

Light is one of the most important environmental factors that control you biological clock. Light sensed through your eyes helps program your body clock, affecting when you feel most awake, and when you feel the most tired.

The first light of day sets the schedule for your natural sleep-wake cycle. If you are having trouble sleeping you might need to reboot your biological clock to help you sleep and wake up at the right times.

There is nothing more refreshing than a good night’s sleep. It renews your energy, improves your ability to learn and make good decisions. For the science folks out there the hypothalamus plays a role in the regulation of sleep.

Getting a good night’s sleep in the arctic can be challenging to say the least. In the summer months when the sun shines, more often than not, almost 23 hours a day and when it is not shining it is still twilight and not really dark. During this time we have a tendency to stay up late and get up early and feel like we are on the go every second of the day. Energy to get things done is easy to find.

Then in the winter months there is barely four hours of possible sunlight and none of it in the morning hours when you need that first light of day to set your sleep-wake cycle. So we have a few tricks to help combat the overwhelmed hibernation feeling.

We have a lamp in the bedroom that has a full spectrum bright light bulb in it and on a timer so that the light turns on about 25 minutes before the alarm clock is set to ring. This helps give the eyes something to trigger wake-up time. It gives just enough light so that we can at least drag ourselves out of bed and get the coffee started.

Then there is the Happy Light! Yup Verilux named their product Happy Light and the Deluxe Energy Lamp that sits on my office desk give up to 10,000 LUX of natural spectrum daylight to help the body recalibrate or stay in a normal sleep-wake rhythm, 30 or so minutes in the morning sure makes a big difference in my day.

The only hibernations trigger that I always have a hard time fighting off is the overpowering urge to eat cheese in very large quantities. So as I go along day by day in the next three months I will fight the cheese monster and try to maintain a balanced diet of all things good for me.

Wish me luck!

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery.But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.Neither be cynical about love, for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be.And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.