mushrooms

I wanted to post this before it gets too wintery up here. Did I get your attention with this cute little guy above? In Alaska we have the strangest mushrooms that grow everywhere. Some grow in circles, others grow in little town-formations, and some just grow wherever they want to. Our friends, the Cochrans snapped the little troll pictures a while back, and I loved them!  
This, above picture, was a huge mushroom somewhere behind our house. I took about 4 different angled shots of it, but this one was my favorite. I feel about the size of the little troll doll when I look at it. 
Another one courtesy of J & J C. I think they said that the troll was picked up by a family member of theirs in Europe. I could be wrong, but I'm thinking Norway. 
The above picture I took back in early August, right at the end of our yard; you can even see the clipped grass on the bottom left from the lawn mower. Notice the bright sunshine and clovers? mm.. it was so nice and warm then.
The parting shot. The mushrooms look just as real as the troll does. Thinking about mushrooms really makes me feel like a little kid again, and all the cartoons that used to be on; I'm sure you all remember the ones I'm talking about!

setting up for fall

Nearly all the leaves are on the forest floor outside, and inside, I'm setting out all my fall furnishings. It is such a cozy time of year! I love the scent in the air when the leaves are wet and on the ground, priming for the snow to come. This morning there was frost on everything outside; the sun didn't melt it until after noon. 

Back to the inside of our house. I have candles that smell like pumpkin, ginger, and cinnamon when burning, porcelain jack-o-lanterns that you place tea candles in so they glow. There are little gourds with leafy, spiraled vines. I have a fake pumpkin, and a few real. This time of year just makes me want to get toasty with a blanket and a mug full of soup. 

*the camera was on a landscape setting when I snapped this shot, so that is why it has the weird curve in it; in case you wondered. Please ignore the tags still on the stems. ha! 

vintage

I'm not a huge car fan, but I do love old, swanky cars that have vintage running through their tubes. ha! So when it comes to this or this, I am a huge car fan. 

This: 

belongs to this: 

a 1972 MG. When I was growing up, our old neighbors had a canary yellow MG parked out front for years. I remember because my mom and dad didn't think too highly of it, but I loved the look of it, even with the little rust spots. Plus, it provided a great hiding place for Ghost in the Graveyard during night games. The only thing I know about these cars is this: when I asked my mom why our neighbor wasn't driving it, she would say, "Because these cars catch on fire really easily." 

Bummer. It would be a lot of fun!

autumn updates

Autumn is here! The trees are breathtaking colors, and I'm already setting out my autumn decorations around the house. Speaking of the house, I finally took a picture of our textured paint using Theresa's EOS (see below post) and am putting it on our house blog. Take a looksey if you're interested. 

Also, I finally sat myself down and posted some photos I've been busy snapping this week. Yes!

*This picture was taken (using the EOS) of the mountain side across the valley on Thursday night.

canon EOS

Thursday night, a woman at work, Theresa, let me take home her Canon EOS that is a few years old. She knows about my curiosity for the 'bigger cameras,' and is trying to persuade me to the Canons. I use a canon point and shoot right now, and love the vivid colors. 

I got home a little late after work, but had to beat the sun before I started my homework for the night. I ran and drove around our neighborhood trying to get some shots of various colors, textures, and distances. Here are some shots from my photo-shoot with the very big and heavy Canon EOS; my arms weren't used to it! Maybe I need to start pumping iron. I was able to use her regular lens and her favorite, the telofoto lens. The focus was incredible how it would adjust and settle, with little or no work from me. Is that cheating? naaah..

In our backyard. I love the shadows at the edges, and how the flash had brought out the closest branches without drowning out the sun through the trees. 

Where the street ends, I climbed through our GX's sunroof to get the height advantage for this shot. The colors were beautiful on the hill, even with the encroaching snow.
Close up on a snow capped mountain in the same spot (from the sunroof!):
The Eagle River:
More Eagle River:
Thank you, Theresa! I loved using it! I only wish I knew more about the camera itself. Now I just have to find someone with a Nikon digital... anyone? 

around the world in 5 days

Mark's trip around the world certainly blew the hot air balloon out of the water. He was only flying for 5 days! 

Mt. Fuji over Japan: 

Flying over the Indian Ocean, not far from Thailand: 
Mark in all his desert-glory. Shortly after this picture there was a wall of dust coming in their direction. They all made it inside the plane just in time: 
Diego Garcia, the British owned, US military operated island in the Indian Ocean. It is only 7 miles long, and is shaped like a horseshoe, but the bay is deep enough for Navy ships to anchor: 
Then in Germany, before making the long flight back to the sates. Here he saw a friend of ours, Austin Hansen. Talk about it being a small world, after all. 
Thanks for all the pictures, my traveling man! 

a night in and out

After a nice night in yesterday, I knew Mark would want to get out and explore a bit. We had Stake Conference's Adult Session, so afterwards we went to midtown to Manhattan Pizza. Across the street is this lit up windmill... serving a purpose only known to the person who built it. But it was so vivid against our now-dark-night-sky! We're losing our night-light. 

My favorite quote came from Mark's Priesthood session: "It takes a pretty good meeting to be better than no meeting at all." - ? 

weekend relaxation

"What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity devoid of troubling or depressing subject matter - a soothing, calming influence on the mind, rather like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue." -Henri Matisse 

Maybe this bench isn't as relaxing as what Henri describes, but it did provide some relief two weekends ago at the State Fair. This weekend is stake conference, so I will be soaking up my relaxation whenever I can. Here's to a nice Friday night watching television, playing for the first time Clair de Lune while Mark starts the fire to roast the mallows,  taking cat naps and reading the end of my book! Tell me a few things you do to relax? 

eee! wolves

I am sitting here on the couch in the living room with the sliding door and windows open to let the cool breeze in. It is so refreshing! In the quiet of my typing and Buckwheat's window-gazing, I begin to hear quiet howls. In the distance (probably across the valley), I can hear the wolves. They must be coming back from the mountains with the cooler weather. I haven't heard them since June.

Oh gosh! You all know of my fear of wolves. I'm glad I'm reading Twilight and understand the facts. They're not all bad. right? HA! right..

*I took this picture when I was on a walk with Buckwheat earlier this week. This is at the end of our street where the road ends and you can see both sides of the valley and the glacier in the back. You can see the red and fall tints on the back mountains where the trees are beginning to turn.

farmer's market

Saturday, my sunny day, was spent outside! I took Buckwheat with me to the farmer's market downtown and enjoyed the shops and excited cooing that little kids would do in the general direction of "the toto dog." 

I found 3 of these beautiful Russian Matryoshka dolls. Two small ones from the vender where I took this picture, and one big one from another vendor. The second vendor was a tall, beautiful woman wearing a fur hat, the stereotyped signature of her country, speaking Russian to her much shorter, balder, but very funny boyfriend. As I finished my purchase, I waved and said, "Do Svidaniha!" We truly are in Eastern Russia up here!!

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!