High Five Friday for Accomplishments!

High five Friday for accomplishments! It has been a busy week for two of my people; they have been preparing and studying, with a bit of nerves thrown in for good measure, for their big moments.




Congratulations to our oldest son for passing his Master’s thesis defense in Physics! Take a moment or two son, to bask in the glow of 'woof that is done' before you head out on your big adventure to the ice!

Photo copyright by Dietmar Schrelber – from the interwebs – thanks for letting me grab your photo from the interwebs and post it here.  I will have to get out and take my own photos of the DC9

Congratulation to my husband and best fella for passing his check-ride! He is now the proud ticket holder for a type rating in the DC9!

He can teach us all a lesson on how to let grace shine through while under Wormhole X-Treme pressure. Don’t let that shiny new ticket burn a hole in your pocket until you get home!

Have a great weekend my friends! Share the love!

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Jane Goodall ~ Human, a film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Published on YouTube Sep 11, 2015 by Human the movie

"Jane Goodall is a primatologist, ethologist and anthropologist. She is the first to have observed and reported that chimpanzees use tools for feeding, deeply transforming the human-animal relationships. Today, Jane is committed to the crucial mission of alerting the public about the dangers our planet is exposed to and of changing individual behaviour towards a greater awareness of our environment. For more information on her activities, visit the Jane Goodall Institute: http://www.janegoodall.fr"

Standard YouTube License

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Well worth your time.  

Meaningful Life

In the words of Martin E. P. Seligman, one of the leading psychological scientists alive today, in the meaningful life "you use your highest strengths and talents to belong to and serve something you believe is larger than the self."

National Chemistry Week Day 3

I hope you have enjoyed my tribute to National Chemistry Week, now get to it and enjoy the rest of the week learning a bit more about chemistry and be inspired!

National Chemistry Week Day 2

National Chemistry Week

In honor of National Chemistry Week I want to share with you some of my favorite student evaluations. Each student is to fill out a handwritten comment sheet, that the instructor is given access to after all grades have been posted for the semester, but first these forms have to cross my desk for sorting.

As you know chemistry can be a tough, not so fun subject for some, while there are a few that thrive on the subject matter, and also have a very grand sense of humor.

National Chemistry Week October 18 – 24, 2015.
Theme: "Chemistry Colors Our World!"
Exploring the chemistry of dyes, pigments, and light.

Enjoy!

Gratitude Grows

Specifically try to notice what the other person is doing
and thank them for that!

By sharing the love the gratitude grows!

Share the love my friends ~ share the love!

Where are You Local

When each new day dawns I strive to be a better version of myself than I was yesterday, with this goal in mind it seems that every day I read, hear or watch something that creates a spark within me that adds to the person that I am seeking to become. Watching the TED talk from Taiye Selasi – Don’t ask where I’m from, ask where I’m a local – was today's spark that I want to share with you.

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"History and cultures are real, countries are invented."

"Where you are from can be defined by the three R’s - rituals, relationships and restrictions. Rituals in your daily lives and what they are and what they represent to you. Rituals are what is familiar that makes you feel at home. Relationships – the people who shape your weekly emotional experience. Restrictions – where are you able to live – what passport do you hold.”

And finally the home run of sparks: “The question 'where are you from' is code for why are you here.” Her answer, “My experience is where I am from” – Taiye Selasi

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A few other people that I know from Fairbanks who are also now living in Anchorage say that Anchorage will eventually become home but it never truly feels right. I feel as if I am an immigrant in my own home state. I am separated from where I am local by my three R’s.

It is also worth noting that when we travel and are asked where are we from, we say Alaska. The other person sometimes answers, oh the United States. We then again say no, we are from Alaska. There really is a difference.

So my friends, where are you local?

Pro Choice

In our enlightened and educated society it only makes sense to be pro choice with the belief and faith that all will choose life, when physical and emotional health circumstances allow pro life to be the best option.

We should aim to end all unnecessary abortions.

Key word - unnecessary.

Education on abstinence, and the availability of birth control should be a focus.

What if the pendulum swings to the side where abortion is illegal and a jailable offence? Then might someone who had a spontaneous abortion, a miscarriage, also run the risk of being sentenced with jail time? The burden of proof would weigh heavy on a person who might be judged unfairly due to the perceived circumstances of their financial and physical situation. I make reference to the South American countries whose laws have only set in motion another set of quandaries.

I look forward to living in a kinder and more enlightened world where all children are cherished, educated, loved and never abused. They are our future, our hope. Perhaps then there will be no need for unnecessary abortions.

High Five Friday for My People

High five Friday for my people!
May our good Lord bless you each day with love and happiness!

And laughter!

International Best Fella Day

To my dearest best fella, I want to thank you for being the best self-portrait photographer on the entire planet, even before it was in vogue you snapped these photos with perfection. You never miss a shot and each one captures the essences  of us, our smiling faces and the surroundings.

Thank you for being my best friend, partner in parenting, my traveling companion, and house remodel accomplice. 

Together we do good work. 

Happy birthday Captain! 

All my love!

Supper at Chena's Alaskan Grill

Supper at Chena's Alaskan Grill in Fairbanks with my favorite people in the entire world! On my top ten list of things I truly enjoy ~ supper with our boys and their girls!

Enjoy a meal with those you love every chance you get!

High Five Friday for Sharing Stories

High five Friday for sharing stories and being able to make others smile and laugh!

Stern-wheeler Tanana Chief

Cruise the Chena River with the Stern-wheeler Tanana Chief, enjoy dinner and a history lesson about the rivers that brought goods and supplies to the interior of Alaska.

On the Job with the Youngest Son

Hi there Son! Thanks for stopping what you were doing to wave to your Momma from the window. You are rock solid and we are so very proud!  Keep up the good work!

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Supermoon ~ Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse

In the US, Canada, and Central and South America, this Total Lunar Eclipse will begin on the evening of September 27, 2015. In Europe, South/East Asia, Africa, the Arctic, and in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans it starts on September 28, 2015. This Supermoon Blood Moon will be totally eclipsed for about 1 hr and 12 minutes. The last one was in 1982 and the next one is in 2033.

Fairbanks Snow Day

Woof to all my Fairbanks people... drive safe and enjoy the first real snow of the new winter!

Peace on Earth Starts within Yourself

Peace on Earth and good will to man, and animals, and plants, and well...peace to all living creatures. There are many aspects of life that each person gravitates to as a focus, as a cause, and if we put them all together and support one another humanity would be well on its way to the next step in a better life for the future generations.

"Peace is the most misunderstood word in the dictionary. Mr. Gandhi noted that most people believe that "peace" means "the absence of war," when in fact, it means "living in harmony with each other." He believes that peace will never be achieved until we all -- each of us -- undergo a personal transformation. He emphasized that nonviolence as a form of conflict resolution is only part of the philosophy -- it is primarily about personal transformation."

From the same post on the chookooloonks blog and something that hits home with me:

"He believes we're not here by accident -- we are here to fulfill a purpose. He talked about "trusteeship," as espoused by his grandfather: we all have talents -- each and every one of us -- but we feel like we own the talent or gift. The Mahatma believed that we don't own them, but rather we are trustees of the talent, and we are called upon to use these talents for the benefit of others."

Peace be with you my friends. Today! Tomorrow! Always!

Peace on Earth for all Creatures

Peace on Earth and good will to man, and animals, and plants, and well...peace to all living creatures. There are many aspects of life that each person gravitates to as a focus, as a cause, and if we put them all together and support one another humanity would be well on its way to the next step in a better life for the future generations.

Peace on earth to all creatures even the farm animals that are our food raised for consumption. I enjoyed a post from Living Cruelty-Free about Cedar Run Farm and the message it sends about how we each can support local, small farms and the families that run them.

If you have the option to purchase local raised foods from your area farmers or farmers market it will be money well spent.

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Living Cruelty-Free web site is - as Terry says herself - not for the faint of heart.  Terry writes to the point on tough topics that I admit are hard for me to read. But the message is something we should hear and think about if we are truly to have peace on earth.

Peace on Earth

Peace on Earth and good will to man, and animals, and plants, and well... peace to all living creatures. There are many aspects of life that each person gravitates to as a focus, as a cause, and if we put them all together and support one another humanity would be well on its way to the next step in a better life for the future generations.

In my adult life I have been about the less is more; in fact I have been saying it so long that I am fairly certain I coined the phrase that we are now hearing so often on the radio or television. The only hitch with the advertisements that you hear touting the less is more is that they actually want you to purchase something or spend your money on their product. But true SIMPLICITY means that you spend less money on STUFF, and that each day you consume even less than you think you needed the day before.

So how does the phrase “less is more” lead to peace on earth? Our Earth has a finite amount of resources and now that our world is a much smaller place than it was 100 years ago we might want to think about what we consume in our daily lives that adds up to our lifetime CONSUMPTION.