Bagheera

My cat is wonderful!

I have missed not having one around to greet me when I come home, to purr and sit on my lap, to sleep with me. And this one does. Thank you Elizabeth, Andrew and Abby for giving me one of your favorite kittens! (And having him neutered plus sending him up to us!!)



And a big thanks to David for bring him to Alaska. And to Tawni who had to endure having a back pack that the cat sprayed before leaving SLC... They both seem to like MY cat...Sorry David.








He's a playful teenage kitten.

He likes the automatic kitty litter we have. He likes to sit back and watch the rake do its job. He likes to play in the litter crystals too...
















He decided that he liked playing with the ribbon around one of Kent's packages. He actually bit the ribbon and tried carrying it away to play with.




It's nice.



























I like this cat the way he is.













































Fortunately I was able to sidetrack him with good old yarn!



















It's nice to have a cat again. I'm hoping he doesn't wander off. I do wonder how he will be after he gets over his "teen years" and becomes an adult cat.


My cats always seem to have a personality shift then. I wonder why?

They Caammmme!

Tawni Chambers and David arrived safely on Tuesday, 15 December 2009. It was a crisp day. The fog was finally lifting and you could see the beautiful frost laden trees. However wonderful it was to see David and meet Tawni, (who is quite impressively beautiful, and how did David ever luck out meeting her?) I must confess I was more interested in what they brought me...my Christmas present from Elizabeth! Bagheera , the name of the panther from Jungle Book, is now MY cat. Both actually look a lot alike. I like the name but cannot pronounce it correctly as everyone that I tell about my cat corrects my pronunciation. I feel like I'm back in Norway...

Wonder why?

This cat's fur is more like velvet rather than soft cotton ball's like Scratch. He's also shorter hair which will be nice.

We did like Scratch. And we miss him.

Bet you don't wonder about that!

It's Never the Same, OH, but it IS!

I was starting to write this nice blog about David, Tawni and MY cat. Nothing big, life is great, love Tawni, love MY cat (even if I can't say his name correctly), it's cold here, excited for Christmas, etc., etc. When what to my troubling eyes did appear...my printer is no longer reading my SD memory card to download pictures. Why? David is here...

David has figured out why I couldn't download my pictures onto a digital frame. (I had plugged the memory reader into an USB extension rather than the computer...so it didn't have enough juice to receive and download pictures.) But with the good comes the urghhhhs! I tried to download pictures of the kids at Beluga Point and at James Cook's monument but... I usually do it on the printer's card reader but it says it's not connected to the computer... Where is the cord? Why is it NOT connected anymore? David, what did you do? And of course, David is asleep... Wait a minute, he just woke up but he is too tired.Can it wait until morning? Of course it can. Minutes later he is up. Tawni is still awake. He comes down. He finds the cord and makes sure I can download now. Somethings are figured out while other things that were working no longer are, WAIT they are again! YEAH!!!

David, also wanting to receive wireless connections has configured the router into our server. If you only have one computer and it's a desktop, you need to stay in one place and so it doesn't matter that the router is not in use. Now it IS nice that if we ever get a netbook or a lap top we can use it wherever we want to in the house. BUT the computer is not the same. The yahoo site looks different, it's acting slower, pictures are not coming up with the post...



Today is Saturday. Yesterday Tawni and Kent put up the tree. (Did David help? He usually refuses to help put the lights on the tree and decorate it but Tawnie is here and he needs to impress her?) Early this morning I went through several containers of Christmas decorations and put them out while everyone else was asleep.



These long nights are confusing their sleeping clocks. It stays dark until at least 10:00 and then the sun sets around 3:30 so if you're sleeping when the sun is down, you're getting lots of sleep... You think it's 7:00 because of the light only to find out it's 11:00.

Today they finally got going around 1:00 and we went to Beluga Point south of Anchorage after finding an open Wells Fargo and the Post Office. The tide was out and you could see the chunks of ice sitting on the shoreline.

BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE!!!

And baby was it EVER cold today! David and Tawnie have discovered the windchill factor in Alaska means that what is cold (10 degrees F) is REALLY cold and that's at 3:30 p.m. The wind is blowing and it is freezing!

Kent and I look a little more acclimated to the weather, don't we? There's a reason we store fat in the winter... I only wish it came off in the spring!










Getting back into the warm car, we went north to downtown Anchorage to see James Cook's monument.




It might have been an impressive sight if it were lighter and you could see further than two feet from your nose...





David IS a good cook. We have been sharing cooking responsibilities: David and Tawni one day, Kent and I the next. So far David's made curried beef, Kent has done a roast. Yesterday was leftovers from a PCA (Personal Care Attendant) Open House appreciation day my company held which included shrimp, tortilla/turkey/Swiss cheese wraps, ham croissant sandwiches, chips, cookies, cupcakes and drinks. It all tasted really good! I was able to bring some of the leftover wraps and shrimp home so David and Tawni were relieved of cooking duties yesterday. They were all relieved as the went to the Anchorage Museum all afternoon and were hungry when they came to pick me up at 5:30. Today was my turn and we went to the best Mexican restaurant that we can find in Anchorage-Pancho Villa's. Good food at reasonable prices (for Anchorage!). Don't I have this cooking routine figured out?

You know, I really love my job BUT it is tough working when you'd rather be home visiting, playing games, decorating, sightseeing, and so forth. Problems at work always pop up and need to be resolved. New plans come in and need to be presented to clients. I think I'll have the afternoon off only to have a busier day than usual...

So at the close of this post, the wondering thought is how to balance the now with not being home like I used to be. It would be nice to be home to play but... it is nice to have a job too. In this day and age where so many need jobs. I'm so thankful I don't have to wander far from home.

Valdez

One of the things I wanted to do in Alaska was catch a salmon. We were lucky enough to have some friends, Wes and Dorinda Van der Martin [if it's not Dutch, it's not much] that own a Chalet motor home and together we went to Valdez to do some fishing.

We wandered all over East/Central Alaska going from Anchorage to Valdez, a 6+ hour drive. We had gorgeous, sunny, autumn weather. The trees were beginning to change colors-mostly yellows but a few reds. We hiked up to the Worthington Glacier, touched the glacier, got our picture taken under a cave built between the rock and the glacier (an "n-flow"?). You could hear rocks falling, water dripping and never knew if it was going to collapse on you. The path to the cave was definitely not a groomed National Forest path...as there was none.

We saw Bald Eagles, bear cubs, Dall sheep, spawning salmon, jumping salmon, sea lions, and did you catch bear cubs [as in plural]? Valdez has a fenced, viewing area where the salmon spawn and in the evening we saw one cub on Saturday and TWO cubs on Sunday evening. I got pictures but haven't downloaded them yet. They are bigger than dots but...not too clear as I'm not patient when taking night pictures. But, Mother, you can tell they are bears!

As to the fishing... I'm left wondering why the people on our left caught some, the people on our right caught some. We were using the same type of lures. We got a couple of look, see, bites but we didn't catch any. Wes caught two nice sized silvers (which he gave us, aren't we lucky?)and a few carcasses (lots of dead salmon in the water) and even a small halibut that looked like it was too sad to eat and was thrown back in to the water. But nothing for Kent and I (nor Dorinda or Missy their BYU-ID daughter). But the sun was on our back, the high tide took the dead fish smell away and we were in a little bit of heaven. The Van der Martins stayed at a campsite and we had wonderful campfires and food. Kent and I stayed at L & L Bed and Breakfast. The Van der Martins took us back and forth.

Great weekend even if we didn't catch any fish! I'm left wondering if life could get better?

Happiness is Catching a Fish

Kent and some of his office went fishing out of Seward for a team building trip. Doesn't he look happy! He caught a couple of halibuts, some silvers and some sea bass. It's a good thing we got us a used freezer to be able to keep and store his catch. Guess who's having salmon for dinner tonight?

You know, it's very expensive fish by the time you calculate the boat (charter) fare, the processing fee, the non-resident fishing license (you have to live here for a year before being considered a resident), the drive down amd so forth but isn't it worth it?

Just wondering...

Grateful

It is 12:45 am, I am awake and I am hot. So I'm talking hot for Anchorage hot. It's actually about 50 degrees F outside. But it's 74 degrees F in the house. I finally found a window that has a screen on it that I could open up and get some cool, fresh air in the house. I know, in another few minutes the hot flash will have dissipated and I will be chilly. But we did have sunshine this weekend. And for us, it was hot.

I hear pops outside. They must be fireworks but we're not supposed to have any within the municipality. I was hoping I would be able to see them from the downtown site. But no. And that's actually alright. I remember the fireworks we had in Beijing. What joy and fun! The scars, the thrills, the burns, the deaf ears,the sulfur smell, the earth trembling and shaking underfoot, errant fireworks that skidded this way and that, under buses, under cars, under foot, in the grass that accidentally caught on fire, the guards that would come out with their fire extinguishers. It was great. It is not the same here. But I am so grateful to be here.

I am grateful to be back in the States. I am grateful to be a citizen of this great nation. I recognize that we have faults but I want to recognize so much that is right. I am proud to be an American. I appreciate the many rights such citizenship offers me. I see the flag blowing in the breeze and am filled with joy as my eyes still tear up. To be able to see MY flag flying in the breeze fills my heart. I remember all the drills and practices we did in Girl Scouts on flag ceremonies, raising, lowering and folding the flag. I remember stopping on the BYU campus when the flag was raised in the morning and the national anthem played, hand over heart. I remember watching the flag be raised and lowered while on military bases when I was in uniform, hand raised in a salute. I remember training my cub scout dens to appreciate the flag, how to fold it, raise it and lower it properly. This wasn't easy because we had to do it inside the school classroom as we lived in China. One of us would act as a flag pole while standing on a table or chair... I remember going with the Fryers to the US Consulate in Vietnam to have their Webelos raise and lower the American flag in "American territory".

How much we take it for granted here. It is our country, our way of life. We do not always appreciate all the lives that have been lost and sacrificed so that we could enjoy this way of life. In Beijing, people did not respect flags, their country's flag or any country's flag. To them it was just a piece of material. They would put them on the ground and raise them, lower them to the ground and leave them on the dirt as they went to another flag and then gather them into a jumbled mass to fold later. There was no respect, no ceremony for the symbol of their country. We must have respect for ourselves, for our symbols of who we are, of those who gave their lives for us, those who are giving of themselves for our ideals and opportunities. This is a blessed land, a blessed country.

I don't think we realize how rich we really are in this great country. Rich in traditions, land, opportunities, abilities to have and raise families, rich in medical milestones and miracles, rich in good food and religious beliefs. So many of us have more than one car, more than one dish, more than one dress, more than one pair of jeans. We have milk and fruit in our refrigerators and probably some ice cream in the freezer. And Tums, Maalox or Pepto Bismo nearby. We have our own beds, our own tv, and blankets. We have shoes and pets, lawn mowers and weed trimmers, gardens and water we can drink from the faucet. Running water and toilets. Hot showers and water heaters. Temples. Church buildings. Books and libraries. Safety.

We are a richly blessed country and I am thankful to be a citizen of it. These are my wandering thoughts. I'll bet you've been wondering about many of the same things today as we enjoyed having a day off of work, to barbecue, play games, relax and read books, watch movies and enjoy being friends and family. I love you.

She came back

I believe the moose came back yesterday while we were at work. How do I know? No, there were no moose hoof prints or scat around BUT my kohlrabi leaves have been eaten. They look like they were munched on by something BIG and I haven't seen a horse or a cow around. Luckily for us, the kohlrabi is a root vegetable so if she's going to eat something from our garden, it's the thing to eat. Plus, I thought I was buying broccoli not kohlrabi...as they have the same looking leaves. If you are wondering about kohlrabi, look it up. It's the sputnik-look vegetable. As long as she leaves the tomatoes and herbs alone I'm okay with "feeding her." She did leave our lettuce and flowers alone. BUT I really would prefer for her to eat while I'm at the house with my camera pointed at her. You gotta love Alaska! So if you're wandering our way, come on by.

There's a MOOSE in my Backyard

We were talking with Elizabeth and Abby last Sunday evening on Skype when all of a sudden Kent cries out there's a Moose in our backyard. The grasses are about 5 feet tall so you can see how large it really is. I think it's a cow because no antlers... and nothing else "abounds". Look at that hump! It almost looks like a camel. No, it doesn't but did you know moose had such big humps? And yes, those grasses and trees haven't been mowed down yet for a subdivision that is supposed to go up behind our house so we still have a view of the great outdoors. We turned the Skype camera around so Elizabeth and Abby could see. Elizabeth said, "Wow! It looks like Alaska. You really do live in Alaska." You think? Abby saw the moose also but it wasn't so thrilling for her. When you are two, everything is new...


So I'm wondering, where did you think I really lived? And how did the moose get so many scars? Just wondering...

Cakes

I have been decorating cakes since high school? I decorated the kids' birthday cakes for years. When we moved to Beijing there weren't so many decorated cakes, American style (sweet) so I started making and decorating more. In Norway I made decorated cakes for my Young Women's birthdays. This is a bridal shower cake I made in Norway for one of my Visiting Teaching sisters.

I wanted to learn how to work with fondant but to take THAT course you have to start with Course I. So I did. I had free time after we first moved to Alaska and decided to do something worthwhile and perhaps meet new people. I did meet people but most were taking classes with friends. I still learned something from each class. And how to make so many flowers!

These are from my Wilton Course classes. I took them at Michaels' Crafts Store in Anchorage.

Course I, lesson 1 was teaching us how tos: how to bake a cake (using Wilton even strips...that really do help to keep the cake baking more level, rather than have a bump in the center), how to level a cake, how to frost and stack it, how to make "Wilton Buttercream frosting". Lots of how tos.

Then in lesson 2 we worked on using decorator bags and various tips, how to transfer patterns to a cake and doing the drop star filling-in techniques. Obviously I had done that before and wasn't interested in rainbows or filling a cake with lots of stars...


In Course I, lesson 3 we learned the first steps to making the "Wilton Rose" and clowns. I already knew how to make roses. I thought the cakes were just to practice on, not to decorate as "masterpieces" so I just put things on my cake, practicing... Didn't know there would be pictures and I should have balanced and positioned my clowns and rose better...

I missed Course I, lesson 4 with my original class due to going to AZ and ID to receive our Norsk shipment. I took lesson 4 when I got back to Alaska and joined another class. This class was on decorating a cake using roses.


In Course II we learned how to use Color flow Icing, Royal Icing and make various flowers. We also learned how to do other borders and basket weaving. I just didn't like the birds so I didn't put my Red Cardinals on my cake...plus the red would have clashed. You can see that I like more muted colors than the rest of the class. I really did enjoy learning how to make so many different flowers. I also appreciated even more all the Royal Icing daisies my sister Eileen made for my wedding cake all those years ago! Oh how her back must have ached! Thank you Eileen.

The Fondant and Gum Paste Course actually comes in between Course II and Course III. This was the class I originally wanted to take. I enjoyed stepping out of the box and doing something completely different and yet used all the skills we learned in the class. It was fun. I did learn that it is better to use Royal Icing when writing/decorating on fondant. Buttercream just falls off. It lasted on the eggs just long enough for pictures.

I also learned that homemade marshmallow fondant is cheaper to make (although it is hard on your mixer) and tastes tons better than ready prepared fondant. Because you can heat it up in the microwave for a very short time, it becomes softer and more pliable to use. I found that it needed to be rolled out on cornstarch whereas the Wilton fondant does well on a greased rolling sheet. And you must use enough cornstarch or shortening so that it doesn't stick to the rolling sheet because that will really make a wreck of your frosting job!!! (Yes, I do have experience in this...)

I started taking my own pictures of my cakes. You can see where some of the buttercream frosting decorating the eggs has fallen off. Yes, those are individually crafted fondant leaves, daisies and eggs. (Fondant daisies aren't easier than Royal Icing daisies but do go a bit faster.)

Even with all the fancy cake learning, I still had to do the traditional Easter bunny cake for Easter dinner.














After the Fondant and Gum Paste class comes Course III where we learn how to use fondant... again. But it really was better to have the introduction to it before because in this course you're expected to know how to work with it already. Here we learned how to top a square/rectangle cake with fondant. It is NOT as easy as the instructor made it look. We all had wrinkles. We also learned how to ripple the fondant bows for a more realistic look. I had figured out the curly ribbons for my Easter Egg cake and did not like them on this cake.















Grand Finale Cake

The last cake you make is a wedding cake. It can be stacked or pillared. This is mine. Each of those flowers are hand done (by ME) fondant/gum paste roses and leaves. They are completely edible other than the fact that they are held together and arranged with wires... I was going to do a different border instead of the green ribbon but ran out of time and found the ribbon while looking for floral tape. The color matched and helped to hide the fondant wrinkles in the top layer (don't roll the fondant so thinly, but then I was using up all the white that I had made and had to make sure it would go around... Learn as you go.) I must say I am proud of how it turns out when I don't think of me as having a real artistic touch arranging flowers. It was a sad day when I dumped all those flowers in the trash. All that work and out it goes... We ate the bottom layer at work. The middle and top are in our freezer.


I was hired to replace a lady who went on maternity leave. Angela became a friend and I wish she were still at work. She was very kind. We had an office shower for her and I made the cake. It looked good but...
*the blue didn't turn into baby blue like I wanted it too
*the frosting that I used under the fondant (yes you still have to frost the cake with frosting and then you put the fondant over it) never hardened up and the fondant sagged.
*The blocks are not heavy and are not what makes cake look like it's sagging from their weight...
But Angela was pleased. And that is what matters. You get what you pay for...

And after this cake, the fondant is gone and I am done... It takes a lot of hours to make fondant decorations: blocks, flowers, buttons, etc. and then put the cakes together. It is fun. It does stretch my artistic abilities. And now my girls are married and don't need me to make them a cake...and all the kids are grown up and I'm not around them to make them or the grandkids birthday cakes...and I finally have the skills!

So, I'm wondering, why did I take the classes?

It's already JUNE

You know, I've worked for 6 weeks now and I'm still loving it. I like the computer work, the meeting the people work, the challenges and laughs. We have a fun-loving office. I have a back office that is usually a quieter area and people forget I'm there until I surface for a break.

Our ward started dinner groups this spring. It was our turn to host it. The menu consisted of Herbed Chicken Francois, Oat bran rolls, brown rice (that I put in 3x the right amount of salt, so rinsed it off, put it back in the pan and it was okay), green salad w/ mandarin oranges, corn, broccoli and peas w/ carrots. Dessert was a yummy éclair style cake with chocolate curls on top. Everything went together well. The salad was just perfect with the chicken.

Kent had the day off and it was fun having him drop ME off to work and leave him a Honey-Do list. Which he DID NOT do but DID clean the house which was even better! The Honey-Do list can wait another week as it's waited for 6 months already... One of the best surprises was a vase full of flowers on the dining room table when I got home. He picked me up from work and on the way to the grocery store we stopped at a roadside van for some fresh frozen (caught 3 days ago, frozen, bagged and sealed on the boat--how do they do all that and catch their catch???) Since the shrimp and scallops were frozen and needed to go into the freezer, Dad dropped me off at home and then went on to the grocery store. I suggested it would be nice to get some cheap flowers if he saw some. With a sheepish grin he replied that he already had gotten some while at Wal-mart and they were on the table...but they needed some help. What a wonderful surprise! (And all the help they needed was just to be cut down as they were to tall for dining and then they filled in the vase nicely.)

My "garden" is doing nicely. The pots are high enough off the ground (on a porch deck) that the rabbit is leaving them alone. You see, I've got lettuce so I know he'd find it if it were on his level. The only plant that seems to be eaten is the catnip... And Scratch isn't acting mellow so I'm not sure who (or what) is stealing my catnip. But some animal is getting mellow.

Kent went to Idaho a couple of weeks back to work on the farm's fence with Vern, Brian and David. He came back tired out and leaving a list of things that needed to be done around the house.
Katie and Brian went to work and man did they work! They sanded and sealed the trailer, scraped pillars, cleaned and cleaned, weeded, mowed, trimmed, weed wacked, sorted storage and Noway boxes, found the trampoline and set it up (and it seems to be in good working, usable shape, YES!), and cleaned the garage. I think Dan helped with the garage cleaning too as he's in the picture. (He just missed getting to Idaho in time to work on the fences...)

Brian built some wonderful shelves in the garage and stocked them with all our "stuff". Most of the 'free' wall space now has built in shelving. He
sent some pictures and it looks great! (I thought I figured out how to do it... but do you see them? Okay, found them and cut and pasted them about where I wanted them but how do I get them to line up in a row? Hey, somehow they just did...)

There are a couple of more corners that he could still put some shelves up on but he "didn't want to encourage me to save more" what was the word he used? Knickknacks? Memories?
Keepsakes? Antiques? Stuff? Junk? (Getting closer to the word...) Garbage... Garbage? Yah, I think garbage might have been the word he used... Does this look like garbage to you?

Remember in The Field of Dreams "if you build it, they will come" line? Well, the corollary for me and Brian is "If I build more shelves for Mom, she will fill them...and then I will have to move them umpteen times just to have to sort through the garbage and take to the dump...so let's not build them and say we did!" Someday, someone will appreciate my "garbage". At least one or two or my grandkids are enjoying a few of my books... And one day you guys will enjoy some of my other 'good' stuff (furniture, jewelery, china, silver)...when I'm dead!

On the drama side of life this week:

• the basement window was not put in properly and the rains came...and the library room flooded... And Brian and Katie (and David and Tyler???) had to move boxes again, dry things out, and mop up water.
• David has a cyst that needs to be checked out. He had an ultrasound done but no word yet on whether it is something to really worry about. (It is fine.)
  
• And our Aaron (Dan and Christina's 2 year old son) was diagnosed as autistic. It wasn't a surprise but is still overwhelming. He did seem to be in his own little world but is pleasant and seems happy. I worry about the detour in life this is going to give his family.

It seems that 'bad' things usually come in THREES so hopefully these three will be it for the rest of the year!

Well, enough for this month of wandering thoughts. Love you guys!
Mom

We are the Smiths

We are the Smiths. Kent and Beverly. We are now living in Anchorage, AK, have four children, four grandchildren and lots of extended family. What else would you expect from someone with the last name of Smith? I am new to this, obviously, so bear with me as I try to unravel this brave new world of computer literacy...