LUNAR ECLIPSE...AWESOME!

OK, so some of the more courageous sallied forth in -30 degree weather and coldness...to watch and photograph this amazing event! Has not been another one since the 1600...imagine that!


Here are some of Sarah's photos taken with her trusty cams...

 OK THESE LAST 2 are mine...not bad for a point and shoot...

Next are some taken with more sophisticated equipment by sky watchers all over...

err OK...obviously potent equipment here...but not NASA...just afficionados ...

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/12/attention-total-lunar-eclipse-tonight/68285

http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/12/attention-total-lunar-eclipse-tonight/68285

SEASONS GREETINGS FROM THE BUONGIORNES, DRY CREEK, ALASKA, 2010

CHRISTMAS MUSIC WITH IPODS, IPHONES AND ITOUCH...AWESOME

http://vimeo.com/17570180

ROB'S NEW GUINEA PIG...REEPACHEEP

Well...Rob finally got a young guinea pig or Cavy as they are called in South America. 


Fascinating little creatures. Not related to the pig, however they make a sound like a pig when they chirp or "bleat". 


Considered a delicacy during the Aztec and Mayan empires, and almost eaten into oblivion...in more modern times they have become popular pets. I also found out that they need a pen in which to run, and get excercise. 


Reep, enjoys his times "out", and practically jumps and leaps into the air with glee....

I have always liked them. This is the third one for our family and together with Annie's 3 rabbits, the upstairs of our cabin is turning into a menagerie...much to big Pat's chagrin...oh well...

Rob likes to pick Reepacheep up, sometimes he carries him to the Tab...not a good idea since it is below zero weather...hope it does not happen again....after some explanation of why it is not good for it to be outside in this weather.

RED MARBLES...

RED  MARBLES...  I  was at the corner grocery store buying some early  potatoes.  I noticed a small boy, delicate of bone  and feature, ragged but clean, hungrily appraising a  basket of freshly picked green peas.  I  paid for my potatoes but was also drawn to the display  of fresh green peas. I am a pushover for creamed peas  and new potatoes.  Pondering  the peas, I couldn't help overhearing the conversation  between Mr. Miller (the store owner) and the ragged boy  next to me.  'Hello  Barry, how are you today?'  'H'lo,  Mr. Miller. Fine, thank ya. Jus' admirin' them peas.  They sure look good.'  'They  are good, Barry. How's your Ma?'  'Fine.  Gittin' stronger alla' time.'  'Good.  Anything I can help you with?'  'No,  Sir. Jus' admirin' them peas.'  'Would  you like to take some home?' asked Mr. Miller.  'No,  Sir. Got nuthin' to pay for 'em with.'  'Well,  what have you to trade me for some of those peas?'  'All  I got's my prize marble here.'  'Is  that right? Let me see it' said Miller..  'Here  'tis. She's a dandy.'  'I  can see that.. Hmmmmm, only thing is this one is blue  and I sort of go for red. Do you have a red one like  this at home?' the store owner asked.  'Not  zackley but almost..'  'Tell  you what. Take this sack of peas home with you and next  trip this way let me look at that red marble'.. Mr.  Miller told the boy.  'Sure  will. Thanks Mr. Miller.'  Mrs.  Miller, who had been standing nearby, came over to help  me.. With a smile she said, 'There are two other boys  like him in our community, all three are in very poor  circumstances. Jim just loves to bargain with them for  peas, apples, tomatoes, or whatever. When they come back  with their red marbles, and they always do, he decides  he doesn't like red after all and he sends them home  with a bag of produce for a green marble or an orange  one, when they come on their next trip to the  store.'  I  left the store smiling to myself, impressed with this  man. A short time later I moved to Colorado , but I  never forgot the story of this man, the boys, and their  bartering for marbles.  Several  years went by, each more rapid than the previous one.  Just recently I had occasion to visit some old friends  in that Idaho community and while I was there learned  that Mr. Miller had died.  They  were having his visitation that evening and knowing my  friends wanted to go, I agreed to accompany them. Upon  arrival at the mortuary we fell into line to meet the  relatives of the deceased and to offer whatever words of  comfort we could.  Ahead  of us in line were three young men. One was in an army  uniform and the other two wore nice haircuts, dark suits  and white shirts.....all very professional looking. They  approached Mrs. Miller, standing composed and smiling by  her husband's casket. Each of the young men hugged her,  kissed her on the cheek, spoke briefly with her, and  moved on to the casket..  Her  misty light blue eyes followed them as, one by one; each  young man stopped briefly and placed his own warm hand  over the cold pale hand in the casket. Each left the  mortuary awkwardly, wiping his eyes.  Our turn came to meet Mrs.  Miller. I told her who I was and reminded her of the  story from those many years ago and what she had told me  about her husband's bartering for marbles. With her eyes  glistening, she took my hand and led me to the  casket.  'Those  three young men who just left were the boys I told you  about. They just told me how they appreciated the things  Jim 'traded' them. Now, at last, when Jim could not  change his mind about color or size.....they came to pay  their debt.'  'We've  never had a great deal of the wealth of this world,' she  confided, 'but right now, Jim would consider himself the  richest man in Idaho.'  With  loving gentleness she lifted the lifeless fingers of her  deceased husband. Resting underneath were three  exquisitely shined red marbles.  The  Moral: We will not be remembered by our words, but by  our kind deeds. Life is not measured by the breaths we  take, but by the moments that take our breath......  Today  I wish you a day of ordinary miracles ~ A fresh pot of  coffee you didn't make yourself...An unexpected phone  call from an old friend...Green stoplights on your way  to work....The fastest line at the grocery store...A  good sing-along song on the radio...Your keys found  right where you left them.  Send  this to the people you'll never forget.. I just  Did....  If  you don't send it to anyone, it means you are in way too  much of a hurry to even notice the ordinary miracles  when they occur..  IT'S NOT  WHAT YOU GATHER, BUT WHAT YOU SCATTER THAT TELLS WHAT  KIND OF LIFE YOU HAVE LIVED.

SUNDAY...SO FAR...

Our zero degree weather of yesterday morning began to turn colder yesterday afternoon.  By bedtime last night, we were back to -22° where it still is this morning. 

The boys have rebuilt the sides of the hockey rink, and in the milder zero-ish temps, they have begun to flood it.  Yesterday, I heard that they were also flooding the nearby road and field. 

Thomas N has gone to Anchorage/Wasilla to pick up a new tractor trailer for their logging truck.

Kathy Casey came home from helping her mother after her mom’s hip surgery.  But, then, Kathy turned right around to go into Fairbanks to do some long promised babysitting for Jewel, her daughter. Sooo, yours truly is taking her place on Sun. cook crew, and I have been asked to make my legendary curry. A recipe I got from my sister Karenza when we both lived in Spain.

Oh, and and about the sick cow… it improved, then it got worse.  Then it got better again.  It is still fine at this point.  I don’t know what he did for it.  I think he got medicine for her, and he had to help it eat by stuffing hay down her throat.  One morning, while jamming hay down her throat (that is what they have to do to make them eat to make their stomach start doing the four stomach thing), the cow chomped down on Rich’s (cowman) hand.  He had an actual through-the-skin bite mark from this cow.

Garth and Kim’s first and new email address is gkmilliron@gmail.com.  Go ahead and surprise them with some mail.  J

Lonnie Miller has recently returned from Skagway where she was visiting her daughter Brooke.  At the end of October, Brooke had her first baby – Eli.  Lonnie says the new little family is doing really good.  Kylie, who is pregnant with twins, has been put on bed rest for awhile and maybe for the rest of the pregnancy.  I see from fb that even though bed rest isn’t the most fun thing to do that Kylie is managing to handle this season of her life.

Allyson and I with some young girls – Annie, Kathryn, and Kerri are on supper tonight.  They have asked us to dress miss matched for supper tonight.  I think prizes will be given out for the best miss match.  My students do this often on Fridays.  I am always amazed at what they come up with.  

Trotzkes have gone to the states and then on to Guatemala for a couple of months.  All their kids were down to Paul’s house for Thanksgiving, but I never did see any of them.  Maybe next time. 

So Big Pat is off to the frozen Arctic, to the town of Barrow (look it up on the map, close to the Artic Circle)...so we kids are left to fend and tend the fires back home.

Oh yeah! I am making my curry dish for about 100 folks...Wish me luck...! more another day...did I say that already?

Anyhoo, Have a great Sunday! 

RECENT EVENTS AT DRY CREEK, ALASKA

Wow! And Wow again!  

The last couple of weeks have been ridiculously busy but fun.  

I actually had promised myself to write to you all last night, but then my house turned into a zoo and I gave up.  

Last night the girls (teenage girls) decided that they were tired of the boys and they were going to have a girls’ night.  Last time that they partied co-ed the boys whined about the food and about the entertainment the entire night.  So, the girls found a place to go (Jennifer and Jarred’s basement) and cooked up 2 pans of fudge and got a girly movie and took off.  They really thought the boys were going to suffer, but they did not.  They came over to my house where Rebekah (Chris’s girlfriend) made them popcorn.  After dressing up in their new scarves and sweater vests (and other clothes), they proceeded to record some songs that they plan to upload to utube where they will then be linked to their Facebook page.  They had lots of fun, they did not suffer, and they were very loud!

So, last week, the temperatures plummeted suddenly.  We went from a balmy zero to a shocking -20° and then on down to between -35° and 40°.  I really was unprepared.  I didn’t realize it was so cold, and I continued to run around without gloves or hat.  I finally took some time to find these items; it seemed necessary.  These temps stayed like this all week till yesterday when a cold wind blew in blowing the snow off the trees and warming the temperature.  The wind disappeared in the night leaving us at 0° again. 

Big Pat has been wistfully waiting for his ski trail to get more snow. Since I use the same trail for snowshoeing, I am waiting in vain too. There is just not enough snow...tussocks still stick up too far and make it hard to navigate.

In the days before Thanksgiving, we had parent teachers’ conferences (always so fun!  errr. NOT).  I get to tell parents things about their kids, and since I still have Annie in school, I get to go hear how wonderful she is.  Also around this time, Mary and Lee Persinger came for an overnight visit.  They were going to stay an extra day here but ended up not doing that due to a death of a family friend in Whitehorse. 

Then we had Thanksgiving.  The kids with Bro Andy and Rachel Trotter did their traditional pie making on Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving.  Some guests were arriving on Wednesday night while the rest showed up on Thursday.  There were a lot of guest cancellations that week due to some abnormally warm weather with rain resulting in extremely slippery roads.  Kelsey and Erica came home for the weekend.  Toby and Flori came out as well.  Jake, Phanta, Zayden, and friend Darryl came out for a day.  Toby and Marie Williams came for the actual Thanksgiving meal, as was the Paul Basalyga family with Woan Chuei.  Of course, Chris’s girl, Rebekah was here.  I think that was all our guests. 

This one was X tra special for me, 'cause May and Pat were here. May missed it last year cause she was in Blessington Ireland, and Pat was gone in Anchorage...Sarah Jep, was kept busy with photos, poor gal, everybody and their brother wanted some pics, since we don't get to be dressed up very often. Pity I did not get more of my fam. but did get some real nice ones and they are on my FB profile. Thanks Sari! Ur a GEM...

And, last weekend some of the kids from here had the bright idea of having some kids out from Whitestone.  Of course, nothing can be done in ones or twos or in small groups.  Four of the Whitestone kids came out to visit and play – Allison Wenger, Juliana Brown, Jon Selveggio, and Luke Wheeler.  All of our young people HAD to be together with them for most of that visit – supper, games, sledding, etc. 

Ok, so I have more things to say but I should work on cleaning my house while all my boys are out working on the wood project.  I made a list, and I promise to write again yet today!

And, I have so many pictures of everything, but I can’t seem to make myself get anything done so don’t hold your breath for pictures.  

Pat and self finally went out on HIS old ski trail. I trudged behind him, but I'd much rather be on my snowshoe trail, it will have to wait until the snow comes more copiously. Perhaps it never will...got a good workout nevertheless...

Took Rob to get his yearly blood tests. All looks good. Annie was told she has something called "connective tissue disorder"...just cause she  is rather double jointed...oh well...guess she'll be OK.

Hope e'body had a GREAT thanksgiving. We did!

Blessings

Have a great Saturday.  I’ll check in later

MY LITTLE BROTHER

THIS IS A CREATIVE WRITING ASSIGNMENT WRITTEN BY MY DAUGHTER ANNIE FOR HER SENIOR CLASS. I THINK IT IS A PARTICULARLY SENSITIVE AND CANDID DESCRIPTION OF HER YOUNGER BROTHER ROBIN...OUR SPECIAL DOWNY...

THANKYOU ANNIE FOR BEING SUCH A SWEET BIG SIS TO HIM!

************

ROBIN:

Everything about my younger brother is absolutely unique.  That among many other things is what I love the most about him.  Being abnormally small for his age, Robin looks as though he is still nine or ten years of age, his tiny hands have somehow managed to stay an adorable size and are so flexible they are like playing with little rubber toys.  The almond shaped eyes which sit innocently beneath his slight unibrow are absolutely enchanting.  They are so FULL of just so much; everything about them is playful and happy to the point of having never known anything but carefree youth.

The times that I really love to watch my little brother is when he is playing with his many assorted toy cars.  There is a large step in my living room which separates my parent’s area from the rest of the house, and usually in early morning or evening I find Robin there zooming his cars back and forth across the step.  He makes the most hilarious sound effects, sometimes he crashes the cars and makes a loud “BOOM!” with his lips, or sometimes they zoom off the step and he whispers, “Ahh!” as they fall to the carpet. 

But what really is the most hilarious action that he does is chatter to himself insistently.  If he could be anything he wanted to be, it would probably be a story teller or narrator.  The words, phrases, and stories he comes up with are so original and thrilling.  Sometimes he’s sitting by the step and he will nod his head vigorously and say in his ‘John Wayne Voice,’ “Hey man, how’s it goin,” or, “Don’t you talk to me like that.”  Sometimes if I’m really lucky I’ll even catch him say, “You want a piece o me?”  That is probably one of my favorite phrases that he says.  At that point, however, May usually comes and takes him to the bathroom for a shower.  He does put up much protest; sometimes I can sit back and enjoy as he tears through the house with a jubilant grin upon his face and May desperately claws to catch him.  Though, these daring escapes generally end up with his running into the bathroom anyway and locking the door. 

Despite all of these amazing perks of having Robin as my little brother, I would have to say that my favorite attribute is definitely the look his face gets when he is happy.  When he’s not pretending or using his fluent language of Makes Believe, the real Robin is pretty beautiful to look at.  Those eyes of his are so hard to describe for me…it’s as if I have the words to tell about them I simply don’t know how to present them.  They’re not a special color, not amazingly huge, they’re just Robin, they glitter with life like bright stars and constantly seem to be smiling at you not matter what is happening.  It’s almost as if those eyes know all the wonderful secrets of the world and are trying to tell me something that I could never begin to understand.  

True, Robin’s not the smartest child in the universe, but with him it’s not about the knowledge…its about the understanding.  I don’t know what I did to deserve such a precious gift as Robin, but whatever it was I’m thankful.  Because even if he never becomes a Nuclear Physicist or something like that, he will always have a special perception of the wonder that nobody else can see.

***************

Ani Buongiorne

LWA

Creative Writing

Nov. 2010

EMBRACE YOUR CALLING...

Wonderful insight from my friend Miriam Kauk, on what it means to parent a child with special needs.

http://einstein-syndrome.com/2010/03/03/embrace-your-calling/