40 blocks high

Jacob is proud of his stack of blocks and was most happy to pose for a picture. It looks like he's about 40 blocks high and growing fast.

And...if you haven't been following the MS Hanseatic...well..she made it all the way through the Northwest Passage and is not in Greenland.

Marine Traffic

Phew...he's leaving Queen Charlotte and headed into hopefully calmer waters this morning. Two brothers are home, but the straggler decided to stay for one more opening in Alaska. Thanks to Marinetraffic.com we mothers can spot our kids when they're within range of whatever is needed to show us where they are. If all goes well...he should be home, I would think, tomorrow evening.  Having three kids in the commercial fishing business is probably why I am totally grey.

August in Alaska

This is what it looked like in Alaska yesterday. Now if I were young and needed a job in this crazy, fast paced world...........

Jacob at the rodeo

Jacob and his mama drove to Colorado this summer to visit her sister who runs a ...hmmm...would it be called a dude ranch. I have no idea what ya call a place where tourists come to ride horses up into the mountains. It's near Aspen so there are lots of customers.  In the picture, Jacob was lucky enough to get to ride with the boyfriend of the sister at the rodeo. The look on his face is a cross between,...mom...get me off of here...and wow..this is just too cool.  What a lucky little boy.

Northwest Passage

You know me and my passion for cruise ships.....well......in case you're interested, the MS Hanseatic is now cruising the Northwest Passage. Here is the route she'll take and here is her view cam so you can keep an eye on her as she moves along. There is also a link to the ship's position.
As I was checking some of the points of interest along the way, Smoking Hills caught my eye. According to Wikipedia..
The Smoking Hills are located on the east coast of Cape Bathurst^[1] in Canada's Northwest Territories, next to the Arctic Ocean and a small group of lakes. The cliffs were named by explorer John Franklin,^[2] who discovered them on his 1826 expeditions. They contain strata of hydrocarbons (oil shales), which have been burning continuously for centuries.
The fires result from autoignition of sulfur-rich lignite deposits. The clouds of smoke have given the region its name. Over time the sulfur dioxide from the smoke has acidified the shallow ponds (< 1 hectare / 2.5 acres area and < 1 1 metre / 3.3 feet depth) in the tundra dotting the area, down to a pH lower than 2.^[3] Elevated concentrations of metals (aluminium, iron, zinc, nickel, manganese and cadmium) occur in these acidic ponds. Soils and sediments have also been chemically altered. The acidic biota in the ponds are characteristic of acidic environments worldwide, in contrast to the typically Arctic biota in adjacent alkaline ponds.^[4] Although the soil of the region contains much limestone, the buffer effect has completely disappeared.^[5]
The nearest community, Paulatuk, which is about 105 km (65 mi) east, is named in recognition of the coal found in the area, traditionally spelt "Paulatuuq" or "place of coal".<sup>[6]

There...now ya learned something new today :o)</sup>

Vic

We rehearsed outside this week because the Lakewood Elks,where we meet each thursday morning, was occupied. It was an an incredible day and everyone enjoyed making music for the whole world to hear. Our tympani player this summer is usually our conductor the rest of the year, but we have another gal directing us right now and Vic is having a grand time playing percussion. He is a retired music teacher and taught band at Lincoln Highs School in Tacoma.

August in Gearheart

My granddaughters have been spending the middle of August in Gearheart, Oregon for the past few years.  Why?....Because their mama loves it there. I mean, what's not to love. And.... you can see from the picture, the girls love it too.

Dock

The dock next to the Tides tavern is finally underway. When finished, boaters will be able to drive onto it to load and  unload their boats. It's been a long time on our wish list, but it seems our guys will finally have a safe  and easily accessible place to do their work. 

Tacoma Concert Band

If ever there's a group worth burning a few gallons of gas and spending bridge toll on, it's the Tacoma Concert Band and the best location to watch any group is the Tobey Jones Home which is right by Point Defiance Park, so that's where I headed last night for an evening of pure enjoyment. The band and singer were great, but the conversation with the older gentleman leaning against a tree next to me was even more enjoyable. His wife is a resident at the home  and is slowly dying. He lives in Ruston and comes each day to spend time with her...he holds her hand, feeds her and though she doesn't say anything, he thinks she knows him. I am still lamenting the loss of my friend, but I am so glad he was able to go so quickly and not linger on and on.  As we talked, and granted he talked too much and even admitted that he knows he talks too much, we found we had both married a croatian...his wife grew up in Tacoma and he in Connecticut,  they met  while he was stationed at Fort Lewis, but he and my husband had both been stationed in Anchorage during the Korean war....thank goodness.
He had been great friends with my husbands cousin in Tacoma, because they both worked in law inforcement. It's a small world and we both knew a lot of the same folks.
His son plays in the South Carolina Symphony in Charleston and it was fun hearing about that. As I walked back to my car, I said a prayer that his wife can take that next step on her great journey and he can begin the next phase of his life, one of which would be to visit his son's family in South Carolina, but only when his sweetheart is at last free.

Huckleberries

My daughter in law's mom just informed me that the huckleberries are ripe in Petersburg, Alaska. And....she said she will bring some home for  a Christmas pie. I am to bring the icecream. She brings all kinds of good things home from the north country. One year she and her hubby brought their boat down, just the two of them, and on the way they dropped in their shrimp pot and we all feasted on the biggest, juiciest fresh shrimp. Besides fishing commercially for salmon,  he fishes for crab in southeast and occasionally we get in on that too. I say, in this life, it's who you know that counts :o)

Chum

How bout this 33 pound chum salmon caught by one of my son's in southeast Alaska. The record is 35.7 pounds and I'm thinkin you could feed quite a few from a fish this size. What I wouldn't do for a nice fresh BBQ'd salmon about now :o)

Concerts and ice cream

These two little girls were also at the concert and as you can tell from their dress and the ice cream the were eating, it was one of those incredible summer evenings that we love in the beautiful northwest.