peace

 

Pray your weekend nesting place is relaxing and peaceful . . .

 

“peace is always beautiful” 

walt whitman

 

glenda

sunny day

 

Camera in hand, I strolled around one of my favorite parks . . .plants were blooming in yellows, whites, and blues;  mallards were pairing up to make baby ducks; crows screamed at each other in the tree tops; and the sun made patterns of reflection across the water.  

 

“look for the joy!” (lora conville)

“joy is the best makeup” (anne lamott)

          “joy is a decision, a really brave one about how you are going to respond to life” (wes stafford)

 

glenda

super moon

 

                       

    “in hopes of reaching the moon,

    men fail to see the flowers by their feet”

 

glenda

until next summer . . .

 

School has officially begun and the days of summer are a pleasant memory.  Although the temps are still off the charts on the high end, the rain has fallen hard today . . . and the thunder is now rolling off in the distance as the storm moves away.

During the last week of July, I was able to spend a few days at the beach with a re-connected dear friend.  We spent our days doing nothing but lounging on the beach, appreciating the waves, picking up seashells, slurping all the shrimp and snow crab legs we desired, and laughing at  dolphin antics.  More than that, we caught up on kids, and grandkids, and life . . . friendship is such a treasure.

 

 

                 heron on the pier (gulf shores)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                

 

 

 

                                       fishing gear

 

 

 

                 gulls in mobile bay

 

on the lookout

 

“summer breeze makes me feel fine” . . . 

glenda

 

alaska–favorites

 

Our visit to Alaska passed quickly, and before we knew it we were on the plane back to the summer inferno we call The South.  I hope you enjoyed sharing a little bit of our journey.  Since I took way too many pictures, I will leave you with just a few more of my favorites taken during the week. 

 

                                                   

                                     

                              

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

thanks for stopping by . . .

glenda

alaska–day 7

 

Our visit was winding down; and we only had one more day in Alaska.  Brother’s ankle was still quite tender and swollen so we decided to take a bike ride on the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail.  The path is paved and winds through the woods above and along the coast of Cook Inlet.  We were about one and a half miles into the ride when I moved over to allow another biker to pass.  Somehow I went off the trail and found myself airborne, followed by a hard thud to the ground.  Immediately I knew something had cracked in my chest-underarm area (rib or ribs, later confirmed by x-rays).  After catching my breath and dusting off, we kept cycling down the trail; but after a few more miles, I asked that we cut the ride short and head back to the car.  On the way, we encountered another momma moose and her baby at the trail’s edge (she was really close, but we didn’t get any good shots because we wanted to make sure we stayed out of her way). 

[Four weeks have passed since this little adventure and my body is recovering nicely although at a slower pace than I would like.  Still have tenderness and a little pain in the area, but all is well.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                      the only picture I took on this adventure, before the ride

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                  looking out over cook inlet        (photo by Russ Almond)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                      driftwood in the marshy area  (photo by Russ Almond)

 

        pink clover     (photo by Russ Almond)

 

a few favorites on the way . . .

glenda

alaska–day 6

 

Day 6 found Sonja and my brother itching for a more strenuous challenging hike, so their destination was Rabbit Lake.  While they went to explore the area, Stacy and I, along with the kiddos, went to downtown Anchorage.  During the summer months, vendors and artists man booths every weekend offering colorful T-shirts, various artistic creations, and all kinds of tasty treats. After browsing around for a while (and digging into a greasy-sugary funnel cake), we headed back to the house.  When bro and Sonja returned, we found that Russ had found a little trouble on the trail.  Seems like Leo (wonder dog) wasn’t ready to come home yet, so Russ had to go after him, getting a nasty ankle sprain in the process.   He put in the ibuprofen, put on the ice, and was out of commission for the rest of the evening.  What an adventure . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

         funnin’ around downtown

 

 

 

     roar!

 

 

 

trail to rabbit lake

(photo by Russ Almond)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                      rabbit lake (frozen)  (photo by Russ Almond)

 

 

 

 

rollin’ leo

(photo by Russ Almond)

 

 

 

 

  self-portrait

                                                                                                                        (photo by Russ Almond)

 

                                              rabbit lake      (photo by Russ Almond)

 

more excitement on the way . . .

glenda