It has been a busy few weeks. I had my birthday last week. Phil had to work, so we didn't really get to celebrate, but we are going to Anchorage (the "Big City") this weekend which will be fun.
We seem to be in the midst of breakup here. No, I don't mean Phil and I--that's not going to happen. Rather, for those of you not in the know, "breakup" is the term for the spring melt. It is called breakup because this is the time of year when the ice on the rivers and lakes start to breakup. Here in South Central, AK and further north, a lot of people take advantage of the frozen waterways as roads. In Fairbanks I used to have a short cut home that saved me about 15 minutes driving by crossing the river on the winter ice bridge. The "ice road" was usually closed once the first car or truck fell in (I stop driving on the ice long before that). Breakup does seem a bit earlier this year. We might end up going through this twice, as we have snow predicted for the rest of the week.
I am now on Spring Break, which is nice--I was ready for a break. Mom and dad came over this weekend. They live about 3 hours from here. We had a lovely time, most of which was spent putting together and finishing furniture for Phil. I really enjoyed all four of us being together, having a great meal (I cooked a turkey and Phil pan fried salmon for dad) and just hanging out.
Dad brought over his snow shoes, but it was really too mushy to go out. Mom and dad ski and snow shoe as much as they can in the winter, and then they bike in the summer. Dad prefers skiing, but when it is this warm the snow sticks to the skis and it is hard going. Last year dad mostly skied alone, but this year mom goes with him at least twice a week now that they have found an area with more established trails.
The other day mom said they came home and dad discovered he had dropped one of his gloves. He saw it out in the driveway and planned to get it in a bit. Meanwhile, this dog came along and dad opened the window to shoo it away. And do you know what the dog did? It picked up dad's glove in his mouth and trotted back up the driveway. Mom said that at the top of the drive way the dog stopped and looked back, as if to say, "ha!" and then it took off. I thought that was hilarious.
Mom and dad get more wildlife in their yard then we do. Other than the occasional dog, they often have moose and in the summer they might have a bear of two. The view from their house is phenomenal, as you can see.
When my parents came over they said they thought I had been exagerating a bit about living here in our snow cave of a house, but now they believe me after they saw how the downstairs windows are covered in snow. At their house they get tons of sunlight, so while we have lights on all day, they enjoy the streams of free sunlight which come in their two story windows at the front of their house. I envy them that light and that view.
This is a view from their loft--below these windows are a pair of glass doors to the porch, so they get a lot of sun.
Today I went to the library and checked out a stack of books. I am having a relaxing time reading and just puttering around the house. Once I go back to school next week, we only have two months left. Eight weeks until freedom! This year is going very fast--isn't that a side effect of getting older? It is funny, most people think of a year as January to December, but to me it is August to May--June and July are my bonus months. Of course, after this summer I will have Lilly and then everything will change, which I think will be a good thing (although life right now, here with Phil and the cats is very good indeed).
