To my Sweet Kris, whom some may say lost the battle. I say she won the ultimate reward. Love you.

She lived large, she loved to her fullest, she served her Risen Savior in all that she did. I miss her so much today the 6 month anniversary of her graduation, but I know I will see her again.
The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness and faith. Galatians 5:22.
This is the best description of her.

Just a little retail therapy

On Thursday, I was having a terrible day. Alone and too much time to think. She is never far from me, but when I am alone she is right here and the hole in my heart breaks open again. I had to leave the house because if I am out in public I manage to hold it together better.  So I went to Value Village.  I love glass ware and little kitchen decor things.  I already had this teapot. I had purchased it years ago when a local store held a clearance sale.  Everything you could fit into a shopping bag was $5.00. You can be sure I fit this into the bag, along with lots of other things. The creamer and sugar do not match exactly, but they are by Mary Engelbreit as is the Teapot and have all of the same colors.  I paid less than $10.00 for the set.  Too bad I don't drink tea!

I also picked up this beautiful dish. I was amazed to find it is cut glass and not pressed.  A rare thrift store find and a true score.

I turned it upside down and photographed it this way also.  I was hoping the facets would show a little better. I have not found an use for it yet but I will.
Best thing is I paid . I paid about $4.00 for this!

I did not buy this chicken, but have had my eyes peeled for one just like this one for years and years.  During our neighborhood spring garage sale, I stopped at a neighbors house to chat.  She had a few things out, including this chicken.  Just being a bit helpful, I thought, I said to her that this is an antique and probably worth more than Garage Sale prices.  She said I was probably right as it had belonged to her Great Grandmother.  It is a very thick glass, not the thin glass you find today.  I asked how much she would price it at and she told me to just take it home.  I was delighted.  I told her it could sit quite happily on this Great Grandma's counter for a while.  I do enjoy chickens and have a few more, but have coveted one like this one for years.
Happy Gramma 

I have had this cute little wire basket for years.  A sweet niece gave it to me.
I found these little milk jugs and was pretty sure they would fit in the basket.  Originally, I bought just four but went back and got two more.  All six fit, rather snugly, but they do fit and I love them sitting on my island.  The little birdies are left over from the Tea Party I decorated for this spring.  Just had to bring them out to add to the vignette.

Shopping did take my mind off of things for a while, until I ran into a young friend at Value Village. When she asked how I was doing, the flood gates opened again.  My theory of getting out into the public did not work at all.  As we talked, I noticed a woman standing nearby and I could tell she was listening,  soon she too was crying. As she entered the conversation, she told me that her 15 year old daughter was killed in an auto accident several years ago. This "club" I belong to certainly has many unwilling members. You run into them every day.  All I can say is if you happen to run into some lady out in public bawling her eyes out, have a little empathy, she is not really crazy, she is probably me or another mother just like me trying to work through the hardest days of her life.

Juneau Day 2

Ferry in the Gastineau Channel as we flew into Juneau from Sitka on Friday evening.

Juneau from the air.  I really wanted to get up to visit the capital but since we were afoot and there were many hills, I did not. Knees do not like to climb hills any longer.

Another view of Juneau from the air.

We got to downtown Juneau on Sunday morning before all of the tourists were out and about.  I managed to get this picture of one of the streets without interference of tourists.

Juneau is built at sea level, but the mountains begin immediately and it is not at all unusual to see these stairways going uphill to homes.

I love Turrets.

Another downtown picture.

Stairway between two buildings up to homes on the hill.

We took a bus out to the Mendenhal Glacier in the afternoon.  The walk out to the glacier itself was a rather pleasant one. About one mile along a very well maintained trail. Of course, with my bum knees, it took us much longer than normal but I made it.  Along the way, I spotted this huge boulder with the white rock embedded in it. I have no idea what it was, but you can see veins of it running through the rock.  One thing about walking slowly, you see so many more things that you miss when you make a beeline to the destination.

A blooming cottonwood. May have missed this too if I were not strolling (limpimg) along the path.

As close as we could get.  Apparently a few years ago, the glacier covered the rocks to the right of the picture completely.  By looking at the picture, you could imagine that it also went up to the green line to the left side of the glacier also. Because it was a rather overcast day, the glacier presented as a beautiful blue.

Nugget Falls, right beside the glacier.  In the foreground is the reflection of the falls in a small pond.

I wanted to stick around long enough for Cassandra to arrive and see how she answered but we had a bus to catch and I do not walk a 10 minute mile any longer.
Hope she said yes.

Fireweed along the trail.

I have no idea what they are, but I found them rather pretty.

Again, I know we missed much of what there is to see because we were afoot. A car would be nice so we could explore the 40+ miles of roads. I really felt like we missed a lot, but after walking all over Sitka and the walking we did do in Juneau, we were beat and made an early retreat to our hotel.

Happiness is

RUNNING THROUGH THE SPRINKLER WITH YOUR COUSIN

That's all.

A weekend in Southeastern Alaska Day one.

On Friday morning, Stan and I got up early and caught a flight from Seattle to Juneau Alaska.  From there we immediately flew to Sitka. I apologize for some of these pictures.  Some were taken from about 30,000 feet in the air. Others were taken from the ground, but through dirty airplane windows and a few were taken through the mist.

As we approached Juneau, Stan spotted this volcano in the far distance. You can see the steam rising from it.

I had heard many stories about the Juneau airport being one of the most dangerous in the country.  It has a short landing /take off strip. When you take off, it looks like you are flying directly into this mountain.  You do make a right turn and follow a channel up and out of the valley.

This is one of the first sights that greets you when you land in Juneau.
The Mendenhal Glacier.

I really do like taking pictures from the air.  This is one of the sights between Juneau and Sitka.  You get a far different view of the world from the top :)

The harbor in Sitka with Mt. Edgecumbe in the background.

Fishing boats in Sitka Sound, with lighthouse in the background.

Russian Orthodox Church, built literally in the center of town. The street splits and goes around it.

A few steps short of 100 take you up to the site known as Castle Hill. It was at this spot that  Russia transferred ownership of Alaska to the US.

Sitka is the home of the amazing Sheldon Jackson Museum. Mr. Jackson was a Presbyterian missionary and the first General Agent of Education for Alaska.  In his travels, he collected an amazing collection of artifacts. The curator of the museum allowed and even encouraged taking pictures.
The above picture is of bags made from gut.

The museum artifacts cover all of the native cultures.  The Inupiats and the Yup'ik of the North west The interior Athabascans,  The Aleut and Alutiiq of the Aleutian Islands, the Peninsula, Kodiak Island and parts of the Peninsula. The Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian of the Northwest Coast. Sitka is included in the later group.
The bags shown here were used as common household items, holding food and tools, much as we use our Tupperware today.

An amazing beaded bag.  I would carry this today if I were so lucky to own one.

This basket was made of sea grass.

Waterproof hunting clothes.  The stitching in this was so amazing.  Even stitches and so close together. If one did not know better, one would think it was sewn on a Bernina.
Sorry for the glare.  Everything was, understandably, under glass. I felt lucky to be allowed to take pictures.

A birch bark canoe.

I just found this smoke stack interesting.  Do not have any history on it.  It was one one of the buildings in the Sheldon Jackson  school compound

The people on this boat must have just returned to the harbor. They were sorting fish.

Another view of the harbor with the lighthouse in the background.

The old High School.

I did not get the history of this building, but loved the architecture.

We did not have a car on this trip.  I would love to go back and rent a car so I could go further out. There is so much that we did not see. I would also like to get out of the downtown tourist area. There are not many roads here at all, but I think we could get a few miles out and take in even more of the breathtaking beauty.

I did not get a picture of the airport, but you landed on an island across a channel from Sitka and then drove across a bridge to reach the city.  We were lucky enough to catch a ride with a man whose son picked him up at the airport. They dropped us off on the main street with direction to the "best" breakfast spot in town.

We flew back to Juneau in the evening and spent the night there and walked Juneau on Saturday.  Those pictures next.