Up Close Beauty

An up-close look at the Chugach National Forest with all the beauty that is on the forest floor. While you are exploring a forest near you remember to take a peek down at the forest floor and let me know what you find.

Thank you ~ You're Welcome

Do you ever find yourself dismissing a compliment or a thank you? Do you say “no problem” or “it was nothing” when you really should be saying “you're welcome”?

Me too.

Many of us have spent hours teaching our children to say please and thank you and yet we have forgotten to teach them about the acknowledgement of saying "you're welcome". And as grown-ups somewhere along the way, we have changed the “you're welcome” to “no problem”, or some variation that fits our local region.

These dismissive words do not recognize the fact that someone has just thanked us for something kind that we have done or said. We think that we are being humble but we are in fact letting the kind words fall to the ground with a thud.

It feels good to receive a compliment or a thank you and in turn it feels good to receive a “you’re welcome”. Both persons acknowledging the other in a reciprocating generous moment.

This week I am going to practice responding to thank you with a resounding “you’re welcome” in the hopes to continue to share the kindness with those around me.

Share the kindness and have a good week.

Inspired by 7 Phrases to Stop Saying at Work

Glacier Calving

It's quick. It's short. It was taken by Cousin Chewy at Surprise Glacier when she thought that she was just taking a photo.  We had a good day cruising Prince William Sound and watching this spectacular event.

High Five Friday for Mugshot

High five Friday for Mugshot! He is the youngest of the traveling Gussadings. He is a happy young fella at five years old, and will 9 times out of 10 make a goofy face when he knows that his picture is being taken.

Thanks for the laughs Mugshot; we cannot wait to see your facial expressions in your future wedding photos.

Share the love!

Radio Silence = Summer Fun

If you have tuned into this station lately you might be hearing a bit of radio static. However, do not worry we are still here, and we are living the Alaska summer life to the fullest. We have been enjoying summer visitors since the first of June and each day has been non-stop-fun-and-laughter. We have been building memories and strengthening relationships with those that have come to visit making our lives richer and fuller.

I will be sure to post photos of our summer adventures once the guest room is again available, which will be the third weekend in August. If you are thinking of a late summer or fall visit to Alaska, give us a call to reserve your room.

Hugs and love to you all. Enjoy your summer and I look forward to hearing all about your summer adventures.

Clean House

It is almost time for our next summer visitor and the house is overdue for a thorough cleaning. There are loads of laundry to wash and for this task I choose to use Seventh Generation laundry soap. They make a light smelling, plant based formula that is easier for Mother Nature to break down, and still cleans our clothes.

There are mirrors to clean, and floors to wipe down. This is where a solution of white vinegar and water shine through. I aim to make a 1/3 vinegar to 2/3 water solution but most times end up with something more like a 50/50 mixture.

Baking soda for the tub and those pesky stains on the counter, and dish soap for everything else. Dish soap to clean inside the toilet bowl, the sink, the window screens, the dishes; you name it dish soap is where it is at for the end all be all of cleaners. Currently Palmolive Pure & Clear is in our cupboard but we also use Ms. Meyer’s and Seventh Generation, both are great products.

Oh and there is one more item that the clean germ-disliking-person inside me has in the cleaning cupboard and that is Lysol wipes. I know what you are thinking but I can't help myself.  I think it is mostly because they are something that I can use to clean those really yucky spots in the house and do not have to have guilt for just throwing them away at the end of the job.

Time to get cleaning.

UAF 100 Years ~ Congratulations

James Wickersham admitted to his private diary that he was bluffing. In public, though, standing before 300 people atop a small rocky outcrop just west of Fairbanks on July 4, 1915, Alaska’s territorial delegate to Congress omitted all doubts from his grand 5,000-word speech. They were gathered, he said, to dedicate a cornerstone to a future university that would “become a fountainhead for the general diffusion of knowledge.”

Wickersham, writing in his diary two weeks earlier while preparing for the ceremony, acknowledged that he was pushing the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines as a “bold bluff” and “without the authority of law.” In addition, Wickersham wrote, his decision to hold a Masonic dedication ceremony (pictured here) so annoyed the Catholic Rev. Francis Monroe that he refused to attend the event. Nevertheless, Wickersham’s bluff on the bluff worked. One hundred years after the cornerstone’s dedication, Wickersham’s vision flourishes as the University of Alaska Fairbanks. On July 6 this year, the university will rededicate the cornerstone as a ­ first step toward celebration of the institution’s centennial in 2017.

Three months before Wickersham’s speech, Congress approved land for the college on the ridge that indigenous Dene people called Troth Yeddha’ — wild potato hill. But the Alaska Legislature didn’t agree until 1917, having been delayed by Anchorage opponents who described Fairbanks as a “temporary placer camp” and the college as a way to “loot” the territorial treasury.

The cornerstone never served more than ceremony. It sat in Cornerstone Plaza for most of the past 100 years. Before construction began on the new engineering building in 2012, it was moved to storage for its protection. The rededication July 6 will return the cornerstone to public display. All are invited, and, with good weather, the crowd should eclipse the original.


Source: “The Cornerstone on College Hill,” by Terrence Cole ’76, ’78