late august

After gratefully sleeping in a little past 8:30, I woke up to something bright, yellow, and round in the sky that was filling my room with warmth. I had missed the sun more than I realized!

I got Buckwheat all riled up for a 'walk' and we set out to the end of the street where the forest starts. On the way, I luckily had my camera, because there were so many pretty things out, signifying the change in seasons:

I can feel the seasons change, even with the warm sun on my skin. It is brisker out, there are branches on trees that are rebelliously turning bright yellow already. I say they should stay green for just a little longer. 

Iraq

I just talked to Mark on the phone and found out he will be going over to Iraq in the next little while. I'm not mentioning dates because.. well.. this is not a private blog. I'm excited that he'll be getting to go to so many cool places; Germany, Diego Garcia, etc. And I knew this day was coming, and I pride myself in always being strong and not worrisome about things. 

But all of the sudden I feel a heavy weight on me. Knowing that he'll be somewhere so dangerous, but I remind myself that he is a lucky one. They only let pilots in there for a few hours at a time with their planes. And C-17s have only been hit once; and they were still able to take off. phew! right? anyway. It will only be for a couple of days. But I will be glad when he comes home.

I'm blaming it on watching this movie. One that really opens up the tear ducts. It was beautiful; it told the truth as far as I know it, probably with a couple of hollywood twists to it, but it was a quiet, honest movie about the relationship between Captain Smith and the girl Pocahontas, or Rebecca and then her husband (Christian Bale). It is a movie that makes you appreciate the silence of nature where you can sit and listen; where you can really hear and understand things on a deeper level.  

Alaska State Fair

This week the Alaska State Fair is in full swing! Above, the picture of the ferris wheel is in full color. I have a wider shot with other things in the picture along with the wheel, and it's still a grey silhouette. It was a dreary day, but the following pictures helped brighten everything up: 
The deep, muted colors of these cabbages (correct me, please, if I'm wrong here on the whole cabbage thing - these are almost too beautiful to be cabbages!) really drew me in. The teal and the violet. oo la la!

The rain droplets were resting so gently on these pedals, I'm glad the camera picked them up:  
And the star of my little show, the ripe, little raspberry: 
too bad the sign said, "no nibbling, please" 

Japan

This is Mark's hotel while he stayed in Japan. Not too shabby right? And no spanking street walkers either! Just zen-goodness all around. He'll be touching down here again in the next little while for a short day trip. Hopefully I'll get more photos out of him. 

Thailand

Take a look at all the vespas lining the far side of the road: 

I asked Mark to take a couple of shots of Thailand while he was away. Above is his view from the hotel room, and below is a street view in the city of Pattaya. I'm sad to report, he was pretty grossed out by the country, but it still hasn't stopped my fascination with any culture that has this much color. The buildings, the cars, the boats, the plants.. 
Another reason he was so grossed out was he got smacked on the bootie TWICE by ... we'll call them "street walkers." Oh my!! I guess they knew it was his birthday. Ever hear of the Birthday Spanking Machine? They were carrying on the Reeder Family Tradition. How considerate!!

good night, Sun

A few nights ago there was a break in the clouds when the sun was setting around 11:00. We had wanted to drive around and look for bears, so this was our Sunday night activity. With the good morning, moon post, this was a must-have. 

The sun is setting earlier these nights so I've actually been able to see it before I go to bed. Now it's off to bed with me. Till the morning, sun. 

good morning, Moon

I saw the moon this morning for the first time in about 5 months. I never thought I'd love, so much, the sight of this misty veiled sleepyhead. For one reason or another, either because of cloudy nights or the bright and sunny nights, I haven't seen the moon for far too long. 

Welcome back, Moon!

a happy birthday

While Mark is here today (Thailand), I still wanted to wish my guy a happy, HAPPY birthday! 

He is 27 today and he has accomplished so much! I am very proud of him, and wish I could be with him on his exciting trip carrying who-knows-what to who-knows-where, exactly. 
I love you, Mark! Instead of celebrating with cake and ice cream, I'm celebrating with naps, chicken noodle soup and vitamin C. I woke up this morning with a horrible head cold. Lucky me!!

Reeder's Digest

Last Thursday at midnight we picked up Mike and Molly from the airport. They flew in for one very spontaneous trip! We all decided that day that they should fly in that night! The above picture is how light it is still. Below was Friday night at the ward's Fish Fry! It was perfect weather, so we all ate picnic style. 
Saturday, along with the zoo, we went to the Anchorage Museum and saw all sorts of things involved with the history of the 49th State. Even the really weird, awkward art displays, we were bent over laughing. I've found that anything can be fun with these guys: 
Saturday night we did some Frisbee Golfing. In the beginning, we were teaching Molly how to throw a frisbee and by the end she was creaming all of us. Notice Michael's expression? ha ha
After more fun of canceled flights Sunday night because of a huge ash cloud from a Volcano in the Aleutians, they caught a flight home Tuesday at noon. We will miss them! Thanks for bringing the sunshine Mike and Molly!!

zoo trip

Like all good zoo trips, some animals, like this polar bear, were asleep with their bums to the camera. Mark and I still thought it was pretty impressive with those huge paws. On with the bears, we saw black bears (one of which loved to dance for us), and these two grizzlies: 
There were three tigers, Molly and Michael mastered some animal calls and actually got some responses from the above grizzly bears (a look of utter annoyance), and some curious perk-ups from los tigres. 
Some action shots of the wolves during which I was holding my umbrella and camera so tight I had white knuckles and near-piercings from the little knobs and buttons. I know, I'm a wimp.
Three injured bald eagles who have been in the zoo for about 30+ years, each. They are beautiful. 
Having guests really lets you see and do things out of the norm! 

Other animals we saw: 

camel (2 humped camel!)

alpacas (with noogie-hair)

mountain goats (one was pregnant)

a snow leopard (like the polar bear, had it's bum to the camera)

lots of owls and other birds

a lone coyote

moose (2 babies, 1 female, and 1 huge male)

big cow-things

reindeer (much smaller than I thought)

.... and I'm probably missing a few more. It was a great little zoo!

the book of love has music in it

A few days ago, Mark and I were in the car and were tired of our usual playlists, so I grabbed my small collection of favorite CDs that for some reason aren't all on my ipod. I went straight for the Shall We Dance? soundtrack. I was in the mood for something fast paced and spicy. We enjoyed the whole disc, then it came to track 10. This particular song, was one I played through the night when I was younger; so simple, so peaceful, so heartening, and so disarming. 

It's one of those songs that makes you well up with tears of overwhelming happiness. I know you each have your own songs that you love so much, but this silly little song does wonders for me. I hope you enjoy this small addition to my neglected blog. 

As for the movie, I love Jennifer Lopez movies (don't roll your eyes!) and Richard Gere is just so suave, how can you NOT like him?! This movie has intense dancing, an engaging story line, and is simply sweet. I don't know if you've seen it, or are even interested, but this song tells the whole feel of the movie. I love it. 

paint

This is the top of our entry way. Our house is a 'split-level' (one of the few you laugh at in the game of life! ha) and has a really open front room with the entry way walking up into the family room which is shared with the dining room and kitchen. I've posted pictures before, so I don't think this is any surprise. To define the rooms, we decided to run the 'half-walls' banister topping' (molding?) up the wall. I have never seen this done before, so I'm hoping it turns out when we're done. But my thinking is it would help define the entry way's high walls as just the entry way. When we finished painting it this dark navy blue called "Silver Hill", we loved it!! In the picture, it looks more slate than it really is. In the fluorescent light it looks almost green like our Del Rio house, but in the natural sun light it looks like it's true color. Either way, it really defines the entry way. 

After painting one coat of a green on two walls (we're leaving the lighter blue in the kitchen/dining wall), I decided I didn't like it. At all! It's too much of a moody color, especially when paired with the dark blue. Hopefully we'll have made up our minds by tomorrow evening and get started on finishing. More pictures to come when we finish painting!