As it turns out, there is no spring whatsoever in Alaska. Two weeks ago it was snowing. Every day this week it's been hot (low 70s), sunny, no clouds, 19 hours of daylight, and suddenly everything in bloom. A pretty stunning transition.
In other stunning news, my l'il ol' blog has been accosted by spammers in the last 2 days. does anyone else have this problem? hundreds of random spammy computer generated comments in archived postings? wtf? the best part is that movable type doesn't have a "delete all" button for comments on a particular message. so it's been a lot of fun going through and deleting them individually. no. not really a lot of fun. as an added bonus i get an email everytime i have a new comment, so i've also been getting hundreds of random spammy emails. delightful.
anyway, so now it's summer in alaska. i've been trying to figure out gardening enough to plant some hanging baskets for our beautiful back deck. i'll post photos soon, while everyone's still looking robust and happy.
i will also post pictures of this weekend's upcoming adventure. i'm going "clamming" with friends down on the kenai peninsula. Apparently it's a rite of passage here, and now that I own a home here, have an Alaska driver's license (took longer that you'd think), and am -- as of yesterday afternoon -- a member of the Alaska Bar, I've been informed that it's time to go clamming. However, since clamming itself apparently involves a lot of digging-type activities, I expect I'll be doing more photography than clamming, per se. Stay tuned.
Greetings from the last frontier, where summer briefly appeared last weekend but has since departed. I hope that wasn't the whole thing...
Anyway, lots of bigs news in these parts. First of all, I passed the Alaska Bar. This means that I don't have to quit my job and start waiting tables. The downside of this news is that I have to keep on lawyering. But passing the bar means I'll be able to appear in court, sign my own documents, and generally feel more like a grown up.
Much champagne was consumed by all.
In other news, everyone I know has either just had a baby or just announced that they are pregnant. Okay, not everyone I know. But there's something in the water, I swear. So ... congratulations to all and welcome to the world.
With all of these babies popping out, as it were, I guess it's time to go back to knitting little hats. Well, not too little, b/c who wants a hat in summer time on the east coast? Maybe mid-sized hats. Which ought to work out well, since I've never figured out how to make a hat small enough for a new baby.
I went to a baby shower last weekend for my friend Jara, and was very embarassed not to have brought a knitted gift. I did, however, bring one of these. I think every home should have one.
so i've been out of touch lately and away from knitting and all things crafty. the case that's been consuming my life has been, well, consuming my life. so too much work and not much of anything else has made me a dull girl.
let's see, some life updates:
we're continuing to settle into our house. i think the tv-less experiment may be about to come to an end. when you come home from a 14 hour workday sometimes you really just want to lie on the couch and watch bad tv. presently all i can do is antagonize terry by pointing my imaginary remote control at the wall and complain "it's broken. it's broken." while this is pretty entertaining, i need more.
the summer travel/visitor schedule is heating up.
first, terry and i just planned a trip to glacier bay national park for our anniversary in june. we're going to rent a double kayak and terry is going to paddle us around the bay for a few days. then we're going to spend 2 nights at the glacier bay lodge, which is supposed to be really nice. T was down in glacier bay 2 summers ago and said it's the most beautiful place he's ever been. and he's been to a lot of beautiful places. so it should be a great post-trial reward.
in more fun travel news, at the beginning of july i'm going on a work trip to fort yukon, alaska, pop. 580. it should be very interesting. ft yukon is 150 air miles northeast of fairbanks, just above the arctic circle. the town is located at the intersection of the porcupine and yukon rivers. it's not on the road system, so you have to fly there in a tiny plane from fairbanks. i think that terry is going to come with me, so he can explore the rivers while i defend depositions. someone is getting the better end of this deal. anyway, it's far enough north that the sun doesn't set at all during the summer. ever seen that creepy movie, insomnia?
things are also booking up at the little B&B on lahonda drive (a.k.a. our house). my best friends from college are coming up with their husbands in mid-july. then my parents are coming at the end of july. fortunately, i've been working a billion hours a month the last few months, so i'm hoping to take off some time while everyone's visiting.
anyway, that's about the size of things here. still no word on the bar exam results -- how long does it take to grade 60 tests? more than two months, apparently....
for whatever reason i'm still on their mailing list. hopefully someone a little closer to esparto, ca can make use of this:
West Valley Alpacas Open House!
Sunday, May 7, 12 Noon - 4 PM
19190 Road 87B, Esparto, CA
Meet our herd & learn all about alpacas! See shearing, spinning & other demonstrations. The store will be open & we'll have raffles, prizes & refreshments. No charge. Rain or shine!
For more information, contact Pat Meade or Jon Robbins:
530-662-8630 •
mail [at] westvalleyalpacas.com •
www.westvalleyalpacas.com