Winter and Holidays

This incredible, moss covered forest is on the Northwest Vipassana Center grounds.  I spent 7 days there volunteering this November, cooking three meals a day for meditation students.  Nothing like cooking lunch and dinner on Thanksgiving for 100 people and having everything turn out well!

A view from White's Pass in Washington State on Highway 12 near Mount Rainier National Park.  It's on the drive from McCall to Onalaska, where I volunteered. 

 Spring was in full effect when I arrived in late November.  These are tall lupines at a home in PA.

 Every street was adorned with flowering bushes like these lilacs, as well as tulips.

 An old pier near the Hotel Dreams.  The cormorants love to gather by the hundreds on this pier.

 

These flowers were at a restaurant with an incredibly scenic view of Punta Arenas and local Patagonian fare.  My friends and I went for ceviche and dessert.

A calm and gorgeous day in the Neumayer Strait just hours from Palmer Station.

This science cruise had a variety of missions, several which were tacked on during the cruise.  We conducted the Drake Passage Survey for the Scripps Institute of Oceanography (air samples, drifter buoys and depth/temperature/salinity measurements).  We also took the hazardous waste to be transported out of Palmer Station.  We delivered food and personnel.  Deployed a CO2 sensing mooring and took water samples near Adelaide Island.  (Below is the picture of the CTD machine with the water sampling bottles in grey and the depth/salinity/temperature measuring and reporting computer on the bottom of the rosette that I'm stabilizing during a launch.)

We did the Cape Shireff run I mention below to remove a scientist and some accumulated trash, as well as deliver some holiday cheer! And on our way home, we recovered two malfunctioning ARGO floats for the British Ocean Conservancy.

 My first chin strap penguin sighting, and there were thousands of them!

We took Penguin scientists, an Entomologist and two Mapmakers to the Rosenthal Islands, which are very seldom visited because the weather and seas make them treacherous to get to.  It was a stunning adventure: once behind some protective islands that kept the seas at our landing spots calm.

A gentoo penguin with two eggs.  It was incredible to see how the gentoos, chin straps and adelies nested right next to each other.  Also how they hadn't developed a fear response to humans, since they get such seldom visits.

We were scheduled to take a NOAA scientist out from Cape Shireff, along with 4 boat loads of their garbage that they've accrued over the past few months.  Since Christmas was coming up, we thought we'd send the 7 people there some holiday treats.  So we boxed up several oranges, apples and cookies, along with some mail that had come for them and bagged it up to look like a waterproof version of Santa's bag.  A sheer pleasure of mine to deliver the goods!

Dave spent Christmas at home with his family in Indiana, and they had a great time visiting family and playing cards, a trip to Coney Island and an Indiana University basketball game in Indianapolis!  It was incredible to get pictures of his time there everyday on the boat, and I was so thrilled that they got the chance to spend the holidays together!

I spent the actual Christmas eve with the Ship's Captain and Crew in Punta Arenas.  It was a cozy get together, and the guys made fresh ceviche and bread pudding.  So good!  But I asked Mom & Dad to keep the tree up so I could see it, and we took a family picture by the tree just recently.

I had a wonderful visit with my family in Reno.  I got to see my Grandma's new home, which has beautiful views of the mountains and is a very cheerful place. 

We also went to the gym regularly with Mom and on the long loop walk with Dad.  We went bowling twice, out to eat and shopping too.  We took a fun road trip to California, and spent a lot of time at the several beaches of Bodega Bay. 

We also visited the Redwood Grove, and went out to dinner with my aunt and uncle, Piroska & Sandor.  It certainly was an adventure, with monsoon rains and flooding the whole drive there, and us having to reroute due to a flooded road.  And the way back was a blizzard where we only saw 6 other cars in 5 hours.  But a journey to California to see her beauty is always worth it!

Back home in McCall, it is a winter wonderland with plenty of snow and gorgeous landscapes.

The lake is frozen solid and has quite a bit of snow on top too.  I've seen a lot of ice fishermen as well as people with fat tire bikes on the lake. 

 This is Mill Park under snow.

I've loved seeing the mountain ash trees with snow on their berries.  Lovely white flowers in the springtime too.  This tree and many others are on a walking path to the Smoke-jumper base.

Davis Beach, where Dave and I got married, blanketed beautifully. And speaking of Dave, I finally get to see him tomorrow as he's coming home!  Love you and thanks for looking!  Happy 2017!

Fall

Thanksgiving is coming up, and I'm incredibly thankful for my thoughtful, caring and always inspiring husband.  He's the definition of beautiful, inside and out, and a great person to share this life with.  I'm very thankful for my wonderful family and the times I get to spend with them.  And I'm ecstatic and grateful that my beautiful Grandma has the opportunity to celebrate her 90th Birthday with my wonderful parents tomorrow.

Here are some recent pictures:

In the Neumayer Strait on LMG1609, taking the summer crew to Palmer Station.

We had idyllic weather in the Straits on the south and northbound journeys.

Palmer Station and the LMG from our little Zodiac that we took out to test the engine.

 

A surreal moment from the bow of the Gould, as thousands of cormorants flew overhead.

 

A snowy peak in the Neumayer.

 A magnificent sunset at Palmer Station.  We had a few very golden ones.

 I caught the peak of the Tamaracks; golden color, and wish Dave could have also.

 My first walk back home from Antarctica near the lake.  I saw deer and several foxes.

 This aspen photo was from one of the hikes in Ponderosa State Park.

 A beautiful fall day and colors in our Veterans' Memorial Park.

 Getting to see these wonderful kids was such a highlight.  We had a great trip to North Dakota!

 We didn't get a group photo unfortunately, but here are a couple from our visit.  We went to Isaac & Abby's Halloween parties (Isaac won the costume competition as Iron Man!) and trick or treating.  Played a lot of cards, ate some delicious meals and had a fun gift exchange.  Looking forward to catching up again soon, love you guys and thank you very much!

 Returning to Idaho, Dave and I went to both hot springs and enjoyed some beautiful walks and mountain bike rides in between working on our home.

 I'm pretty thrilled about how much our spice collection has grown.  Which means our recipe repertoire has grown too.  We made homemade hummus this time, homemade calzones with homemade sauce, pesto, squash soup and an 11 layer Mexican dip in the crock pot.  Looking forward to next time's Senegalese peanut stew, french onion soup from scratch, Tom Ka Gai, and Indian butter chicken. 

 Our place looks great, thanks to Dave.  I re-stained the bookshelf top that he built and we ordered the storage Ottoman that has a lot of our books inside of it. The privacy blinds are also new and it's nice how much privacy and light they provide. And great news, we talked the Homeowners' Association into moving the mailboxes from in front of our window, so even more privacy and good views coming soon.

 

Dave stained the bike rack wood pieces that he built to fit in with the rest of the room.

 Here are the shutters that Dave built to hide the tv.  And I stained the wood on top to match. Looks sleek and works like magic.

 

This picture is from the summer, from our neighbor Lilla's birthday (she was born on the 4th of July). We had her and her family as well as our other full time neighbor Judy and her family over for a dinner because Lilla's moving to Washington.  We also had our friends Annie and Damon over the next week for dinner.  I'm thinking we should have guests every Sunday for dinner.

 

This was a big exciting event for McCall.  This year, the Christmas tree headed to Washington DC was cut from our Payette forest just miles from town.  We had a day of festivities to celebrate, including a parade and chili cook-off.  Decorations were made and donated by locals, and our local brewery made a "tree" ale from some of the branches that it is sending along with the tree.

 I liked the atmosphere in town that day, so fun.

 Here is our lake from our last day in town together on a long walk we took. And below is one of my favorite graffiti drawings in Boise in Freak Alley, which has a ton of artwork on sides of buildings.  This one is mother earth holding the new moon. 

Time with Dave is always exquisite and too short.  I'm happy we went to Boise a bit early to enjoy some more fall scenery as Dave missed a lot of that here in town.  All the streets were covered in golden and red leaves, so shuffling around in them for hours was great.  We also got to catch an Independent movie, eat some delicious Basque tapas, see the oldest house built in Boise, have sushi at a place with sushi boats floating around the chef's counter, soak in a hot tub at the Y and shop at the farmers' market.

Dave is back up at work in Alaska, and I'm driving to Onalaska Washington tomorrow to volunteer for 7 days preparing three meals a day for students at a Vipassana meditation center.  I return to Boise on the 26th to spend the day with Julie before redeploying to Punta Arenas and the LMG on the 27th.  Happy Holidays everyone!  Love you!  Happy Birthday Grandma!!!

Into Falltime

 McCall was full of flowers this summer, including these beauties at Sharlie's Gardens.  It was incredible to get to visit the gardens several times this year.

 I drove up to Whitefish to meet Polly & Artie's cute son, Bodhi, and had a great visit!  Great to talk into the wee hours of the morning, and see Polly's parents too!  Bodhi gave me lots of smiles.

We spent a day in Glacier National Park, and this waterfall was in a cedar filled forest on a hike.  Also drove up the Going to the Sun Road to the very top.

 After a week of training in Denver, I flew to Reno to meet up with my family.  Dave met me there after his work hitch in Alaska.  We spent our first full day on the beach at Lake Tahoe.

 Girls night out!  Dora, Mom and I went to an Engelbert Humperdinck concert downtown.

 Still an awesome entertainer.

 Our hike up Mt. Tallac in the Emerald Bay area of Lake Tahoe afforded lots of scenic photo stops.  It had a 3,500ft elevation gain, 8.5 miles roundtrip in the Desolation Wilderness.

View from the top. Nice to see a different forest understory along the way, with lots of manzanita bushes and huge variety of pines.

 We took family photos at the marsh near my parents house.  Tibor, Dora, Tia and Hanna are visiting on their journey from Norway to New Zealand it it was great to have the chance to meet up.

 Another group photo.  Can't believe Tiora is already 10!  It was a short visit, but we feel so lucky to have gotten together.  Great to see you guys!  And we got to visit Grandma a couple times too!

 We had a delicious lunch at PF Chang's.

Another fun family event was bowling together.  We did this the last time the whole family was together and it's always so enjoyable.  We should do this again this winter!  

Back in Idaho, it was time to celebrate our Anniversary.  We rented this cabin at Burgdorf Hot Springs for two nights, koszonjuk Szulok!!!  

 It was an awesome, beautiful and romantic celebration.  So great to go for long hikes and bike rides everyday, and soak in the hot springs in the morning and night.  And to have such a beautiful view.

This was the view on Warren Wagon road.  Fall is so lovely in our area.

 A new to us hike that we found was up trailhead 140 close to the Hot Springs.  And as you can see it's covered in bear grass, so it would be incredible to see around the Fourth of July when they bloom.

 The hike took us to a good view of this crystal peak in the shape of Half Dome.

 Our incredible view from the cabin.  Great to sip coffee to and to wake up to.

 Cooking at the cabin was on the wood stove as well as the camp stove we brought along.

 Dave biking the Loon Lake Trail.

 Hiking out to the airplane wreck site by Loon Lake.

This is the remains of a 1943 military plane crash where all the people survived and got out in 16 days from the wilderness.  So cool to see parts of a plane that old in such preserved condition.

 Cooking dinner, enjoying the view and sipping our favorite champagne.  What a great way to follow a 12 mile hike.

 The third day of our Anniversary, after soaking and a yum egg breakfast, we drove to the town of Warren to see the fall colors and the town, as we didn't remember much about our previous visit over 12 years ago.  The huckleberry bushes turn beet red.

 A fox we saw on the drive to Warren.

 Downtown Warren.  This is the Post Office.  In the winter it's only snowmobile access.

 A mountain ash tree in McCall.  I love these trees, and they have the prettiest white flowers in the spring.

 Dave and I went on my favorite walk out to the Smokejumper Base and the river.

My last day in town was magic!  We went to the Farmers' Market, then toured the Snowdon Wildlife Sanctuary that is only open to the public one day a year, visited Davis Beach where we got married, and the aspens in Ponderosa State Park.  And then had an incredible dinner at the Sushi Bar outside with a view of the Lake.

Dave is here for a bit longer, and hopefully has sunny weather to be able to ride his mountain bike everyday.  I'm leaving tomorrow for a cruise that swaps the winter-overs with the summer crew and a personnel/cargo/waste run to one of the field camps.  Can't wait to see Dave again, next time in Bismarck, North Dakota.