2017 is off to the races!

I'm going to start with Feb. 11 here at home, ready to go out and run to the store before dinner guests arrive, and here's what we see!  I guess we're not going out THAT door!

So we took pictures for a few minutes then snuck out through the garage in the car - texted our friends to watch for the moose as they arrived.  Ten or fifteen minutes later, we arrived back home, and the moose was now attached to chomping on a tree right next to our driveway.  We couldn't decide whether to try to drive into the garage and hope she didn't follow us in, try to scare her off, or ???  We hit the garage door opener, and she took off down the street.  They are MASSIVE -- and known to hurt, even the "urban moose" who are fairly used to people.  You still want to stay away - when our guests came, she was back across the street.

We made homemade pasta last night for the first time since we've lived here - 6 1/2 years now - the pasta machine still worked, and I tried plain and spinach pasta with 3 different sauces - so we had "little plates" in order to try everything.  I think they weren't "little" enough judging by how full we were - arugula pesto, roasted red pepper sauce with buttermilk, and red clam sauce.  It was fun to do, and I hope we don't wait another 6 years to make it again!

Okay, back to January - we went to upstate NY for my mother's 90th birthday, and all 6 of her children were able to be there.  We had a quick stop in Waterloo first and got to babysit one of our granddaughters, 5 months old - we took her for a long walk in this picture, and she is super easy to babysit for -- and VERY cute!  We also got to have dinner with Brian's two sons and their wives, and Brian was able to be at the inspection for Al and Sarah's house they just bought.

And then the birthday!  Judy's mother is in incredible shape for 90 years old.  Still living in her own house but thinking of selling for something smaller - she has a big big lot and flowers, trees, bushes, lawn, etc. to care for.

And then back to more skiing and fat tire biking.  Judy came back from New York with a bad cold that lingered for nearly 3 weeks, so Brian got more of that in, but we're both back out now! This weekend was cold but beautiful, and it's warming up - probably more than we want! Come on February - give us some more winter!

Mid-Winter in Alaska - Looking Back and Ahead!

Wow!  We just noticed that we haven't entered anything here since October.  Very bad.  We've had a busy winter for sure -- Judy was in California for a conference in November, then we were both in Mexico in December for a Year-end course with the Wisdom Course Area of Landmark - Los Cabos. After that kick start to ending one year and beginning a new one, we spent Christmas with our friends (and former landlords for the first 4 years that we lived in Anchorage) who now live in Juneau.

So first things first - Mexico - great temperatures, wonderful course and a gorgeous room with a swim-up just off our patio - it was great to slide in the water right from our room, and temperatures perfect for me - sunny but not too hot, high 70s to low 80s.

We weren't back long before we were headed to Juneau for Christmas -- and we loved spending it with our friends!  The weather was change-able, but we skied a couple of times, hiked, ate wonderful food and played pinochle every night!

And then home - for some great skiing and fat tire biking over New Year's before we headed for New York for Judy's mother's 90th birthday!