Sunday Salon, May 17th

View of Seward, Alaska from Resurrection Bay

Weather: Overcast and cool but pleasant outside.

Alaska: A week ago Friday Don and I flew to Alaska to visit friends for a few days before Don had conference to attend near Anchorage. Our friends have lived in Alaska for thirty years and this was first time we visited them. Shame on us. Anchorage is surrounded by snow-capped mountains that are just breath-taking. And, even though we knew about this on an intellectual level, we were shocked by the twilight. Our flight got in around 9 PM and by the time we got our rental car and drove to our friends house it must have been after 10 PM and it was still light outside. Amazing.

Seward and beyond: The very next morning we hopped onto a train heading across the Kenai Peninsula to Seward, Alaska which is on Resurrection Bay. While on the train we saw all kinds of sights including several glaciers, waterfalls, bald eagles, moose, dall sheep, and lots more snow-capped mountains. Once in Seward we boarded a boat for a cruise out into the Gulf of Alaska and up into another bay and the Kenai Fjords where we got to experience our very first tidewater glaciers and witnessed ice breaking off and falling into the sea.

A Tidewater glacier and me clinging to the boat in awe.

Rough Seas: While the waters in the bays were relatively calm the water of the Gulf of Alaska was very rough with swells of over eight to ten feet (maybe more). Most people were very uncomfortable or even sick. But not me. I enjoyed the bumpy ride back from the fjords. It reminded me of a huge and thrilling whitewater rafting trip and I reveled in the fun.  (But I had to keep my fun thoughts to myself since everyone else was so green in the gills.) I never knew this about myself. Apparently I don't get seasick! While out on the boat we saw more wildlife: sea otters, humpback whales, lots of groups of dall's porpoises, sea lions, kittiwakes (gulls), and even a few mountain goats.

Alyeska Resort (aka: The Site of the Attack of the Moose): Don's conference was held at the Alyeska ski resort. Unfortunately the tram to the top of the mountain was closed for repairs while we were there but I still had a spectacular views of the surrounding mountains as I investigated the area while Don attended his sessions. I even happened upon a female moose and in trying to get close enough for a good photo of her she became irritated and charged me.   The scene must have looked quite humorous---an old lady running away from a much bigger and faster moose. I am able to laugh because she gave up the chase and went back to grazing. People who know moose say I was lucky not to be trampled. Whew!

The shot I got of the charging moose before running away

Using the telephoto lense I caught of shot of the moose once she decided I wasn't a threat, but I am further away than it appears and my heart was pounding.

Flowers: We bought our annuals/flowers for our baskets yesterday and worked until 7:30 PM and still didn't get them all in. Today Don and I will go back out, if the weather holds, and finish up planting the impatiens, zinnias, and marigolds. Love the summer colors these happy flowers provide the yard.

Book read the past two weeks:

• The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick---my fourth book by this author, this book deals gently with the issue of mental illness and with accepting oneself.
• The Silver Linings Playbook also by Matthew Quick--- an audiobook selection. This is Quick's most famous book since it was made into a movie a few years ago. The book is different than the movie in parts.
• Imagined London: a Tour of the World's Greatest Fictional City by Anna Quindlen---Quindlen visits places in London that coincides with references in literature. The book was published in 2004. I purchased my used copy in 2010 and have been carrying it around since then, so it is nice to have it read at last.
• A Woman in White by Wilkie Collins---My Classics Club spin book. I completed this mystery and enjoyed almost every minute of it. It goes onto books I recommend everyone reads.
• The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B Teresa Toten---a new YA book about a boy with OCD and his therapy group of misfits who are all taking on a new persona, that of a super hero. Audiobook.
• The Ghosts of Heaven by Marcus Sedgwick--- I predict this will be another award winner by this talented YA author. This one contains four interconnected stories and maybe a few ghosts.

Currently reading (listening):

• Black Dove and White Raven by Elizabeth Wein---set in pre-WWII Ethiopia, a part of the world I know little about. Audiobook.  I finished The Good Luck of Right Now in bed last night and haven't started another book yet, though I have downloaded two YA novels onto my new iPad.

New Piano Guys YouTube: Evynne and Peter Hollens are friends of my sister Kathy. Enjoy