Another Year Older!
Forty is a hard number to come to grips with. This year’s birthday I feel like a two-by-four has hit me upside the head and I am staggering around wondering where the time has gone and thinking about what have I accomplished so far. For the most part I feel like I am right where I am supposed to be, but I still have some what ifs; what if I had gone to med school, what if Alan and I traveled before settling down. Thankfully the older I get (and hopefully wiser), the fewer what ifs I have.
So moving on after that indulgence of self pity, I got a lot done this weekend! I hung out with family and a friend Saturday, we had planned to go blueberry picking up Arch-Angel Valley in Hatcher’s pass and maybe watch a movie. What really happened was we did go pick berries in Arch-Angel Valley, but it was raining pretty hard so after getting a scant cup of berries, Karen and I took the kids back to the cars, fed them and waited for what seemed like an hour. Finally Alan, Daphne and Joe decided they had had enough and we drove back to Mom and Dad’s (also Joe and Karen’s) for an impromptu BBQ. Yum.
Not being done with the day, Alan asked Joe to take us shooting so Niall could discern the difference between a real gun and his video games. We all packed into 2 cars and “drove” up the Jonesville mine road in Sutton. Due to the rain the road was filled with craters and had this thick layer of silty mud. Woo Ha! The kids learned a few new words. We finally got to the top of this cliff overlooking the whole Matanuska Valley and had fun blowing up propane bottles. Who knew? Thank you Joe…explosives and guns are a fun mix.
Niall found a fossil while we were up there and the view was spectacular. It would have been fun watching the sunset, but thought it prudent that we head down before it got too dark to see the cavernous potholes…like we could miss them. Alaeric was quite chatty on the way back telling us all about cock fights (he saw a flock of chickens as we drove by a farm) and white trash. The white trash had to do with capturing ostriches (I don’t pretend to understand his logic). Anyhoo he had Daphne and I laughing hysterically. It doesn’t take much to amuse me anyway. Was a fun night all-in-all.
Sunday I processed the blueberries that Alan picked and we got 8 jars of jam. I added that to the 11 jars of rhubarb jelly and felt a smidge of accomplishment. Today we are smoking salmon for the first time.
There is a link in today’s paper to an article which describes what Alan does and will be doing at work for the next three years. Thank you Begich for job security.
Note to self: check to see if rambling is a symptom of old age.
So moving on after that indulgence of self pity, I got a lot done this weekend! I hung out with family and a friend Saturday, we had planned to go blueberry picking up Arch-Angel Valley in Hatcher’s pass and maybe watch a movie. What really happened was we did go pick berries in Arch-Angel Valley, but it was raining pretty hard so after getting a scant cup of berries, Karen and I took the kids back to the cars, fed them and waited for what seemed like an hour. Finally Alan, Daphne and Joe decided they had had enough and we drove back to Mom and Dad’s (also Joe and Karen’s) for an impromptu BBQ. Yum.
Not being done with the day, Alan asked Joe to take us shooting so Niall could discern the difference between a real gun and his video games. We all packed into 2 cars and “drove” up the Jonesville mine road in Sutton. Due to the rain the road was filled with craters and had this thick layer of silty mud. Woo Ha! The kids learned a few new words. We finally got to the top of this cliff overlooking the whole Matanuska Valley and had fun blowing up propane bottles. Who knew? Thank you Joe…explosives and guns are a fun mix.
Niall found a fossil while we were up there and the view was spectacular. It would have been fun watching the sunset, but thought it prudent that we head down before it got too dark to see the cavernous potholes…like we could miss them. Alaeric was quite chatty on the way back telling us all about cock fights (he saw a flock of chickens as we drove by a farm) and white trash. The white trash had to do with capturing ostriches (I don’t pretend to understand his logic). Anyhoo he had Daphne and I laughing hysterically. It doesn’t take much to amuse me anyway. Was a fun night all-in-all.
Sunday I processed the blueberries that Alan picked and we got 8 jars of jam. I added that to the 11 jars of rhubarb jelly and felt a smidge of accomplishment. Today we are smoking salmon for the first time.
There is a link in today’s paper to an article which describes what Alan does and will be doing at work for the next three years. Thank you Begich for job security.
Note to self: check to see if rambling is a symptom of old age.
1 comment:
I'm confused; did you say Alaric saw white trash cock fighting? Or is he saying we're white trash for having chickens, two of which are cocks. Don't worry, I'm not offended after all you guys are the ones that live in a raised trailer.
Boy it's late I'm going to bed before I put my foot in my moth or maybe that would be key board, perhaps it's to late for that also.
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