A long time between posts!

Okay, it's been a while . . . a LONG while!  Since our last post, we went to Tucson on spring break from the university to spend time with our landlords, Lance & Mary, but at their new house in Tucson.  That was a lot of fun, and we did a lot of hiking.  Brian and I tried to get ourselves in a little better shape after his "bout" with the pulmonary embolism.  The hiking was quite different than hiking in Alaska, but so interesting in the types of vegetation and the cacti beginning to flower.  It must be stunning when they are in full bloom - like the flowering cherry trees in D.C. or the many flowering trees in NY when they're in full bloom.

We had a great time, and Brian and Lance also played golf twice, not something that Brian ordinarily would do.  It was glorious to be in the sun and be warm, but when we got back to Anchorage, Brian immediately got a really bad cold and was sick for the next 2 weeks!  Just as he was getting over that, he pulled his back when he was getting the boat ready (Kakwick) for the season of shrimp pot pulling, and then he was "out" again for another two weeks -- and then it was time to start moving or just about -- so not too much exercise has taken place in our neck of the woods since the day after Christmas when Brian was hospitalized!  

Another Beautiful Weekend - Our Beautiful Life in Alaska!

Last weekend gave us an opportunity to ski again on the Coastal Trail on Saturday (in lousy conditions which had me suggest a hike for Sunday).  It was the first Iditarod start that we missed in the 4 years that we've been here -- which we won't do again - sometimes whatever you think you're busy with, it's just not that important!  Brian and I both went to yoga, which was a great start to the day, but then we went our separate ways to work, and somehow, I thought we were going to catch the end of the Iditarod start, and we didn't!  Here is a picture from a past year, and yes, it does look pretty much the same each time, but it's new every time in the direct experience of it!

And, the scarce snow this year certainly has made it a very different race for the mushers if you've followed the news at all!

Saturday night we went to a "house concert" which is a wonderful idea and one that Tom Begich provides for a group of about 45 people at his house periodically to bring wonderful talent to Anchorage or make use of the talented musicians who are going to be here.  Throw in a suggested donation, Tom supplies the wine, and have a wonderful evening of music and great company!

The skiing was almost dreadful on Saturday, and I've gotten so picky about lousy skiing given the wonderful conditions we ordinarily have!  Sunday we went to the South Fork Trail in Eagle River again, which we did in the fall before snow.  We took our backcountry skis in case the conditions were good enough, but they were very hardened and icy and much better for hiking than skiing and with our katoolahs, which are the "spikys" if you don't know what they are that clamp onto your boots to bite into the ice.  We hiked about 2 1/2 hours which seemed like enough and it was a gorgeous sunny day in the 20s.

Busy, busy week, and then thank God, another weekend!  Friday was a First Friday but we had Tom and Sarah here for dinner along with TK, who is a post-doc visiting from Boston (I met him at an Imagining America conference last Oct. in Syracuse, and he decided to travel to Alaska for some community engagement events we were having).  Saturday morning we tried texting TK that there was a moose right outside of our dining room window, walking down the sidewalk, chewing on the bushes and the ends of branches!

Saturday was a work day for both of us, but we ended up about 4:00 taking a walk for a couple of hours with TK, and then collapsed on the couch with dinner, a movie (Blue Jasmine, On Demand), and popcorn.  Springing ahead, we got up late but after breakfast, headed north while we picked out our hike for Sunday - what a day! We ended up heading to Eagle River again off Upper Skyline Drive, and soon into the hike, two moose! We never get tired of seeing them!

 Beautiful sunny weather up in the mountains, hike to Baldy Mt. though we stopped short of getting quite to the top -- we'll go back as I'm sure you can see - the views are really great and a fun hike.  We're just getting our fitness levels back after Brian's pulmonary emboli.

  

It's hard to describe what a special place this is - we so enjoy being outdoors here and exploring the many places there are to go!  We'll come back to this trail in all different seasons - it's a good one!  

Still Winter - Sort of!

Finally skiing again which seems good . . . a back country ski on a pretty warm day at the end of February on the trails off of Basher Road.  Pretty, pretty day, and a nice ski.  Mostly we're both just grateful to be skiing again and grateful that Brian is feeling better.

And it's Fur Rondy time!  We took pictures of the carnival but not of the fireworks - they were fabulous though!  And we went to see the snow sculptures tonight - it's getting warm and they may not last long!  Here is the carnival which is going on even during the week!

We also have a "Winter Design Project" going on at the Lucy Cuddy Quad on the campus at UAA.  I haven't kept pictures myself, but you can check it out, including a very neat time lapse camera at www.uaa.alaska.edu/engage.  In the meantime, Iditarod this weekend - right down the main street downtown, just blocks from our house!  Anchorage is a great place to live!

Mid-Winter in Anchorage

It's been a rocky, icy January and February with no new snow and hard, icy surfaces on sidewalks and roads.  Unpleasant walking and not much to ski on, which was okay, because Brian was still getting well and giving himself shots twice a day to get his blood thin enough to not worry about new blood clots.  We got good news that the clots in his lungs were gone about the end of January, but he still had extensive clotting in his legs.  He saw a hematologist at the beginning of February and a cardiologist on 2/11, and it seems the only issue is keeping on the Coumadin for a matter of months - and taking a few more blood tests once he's been off the shots for two weeks to make sure there is no genetic reason that he got the pulmonary emboli to begin with.  He was finally cleared to stop the shots on Wednesday this week, and that was a welcome relief - now the black and blue marks on his stomach, where he's been having his shots for two months, can heal up and fade away!

We went to a wine tasting with Diane and Carl at Crush - a short walk from our house, which is always useful for wine tasting.  It's one of my favorite places, and it was a nice afternoon.

And . . . a trip to San Diego for Brian!  That was welcome too, a little sun and warmth and getting away from the routine here of NOT skiing and not feeling that great.  Brian's niece Suzanne had a birthday, and his two sisters went out so Brian flew down to meet them.  They do look like they had a good time! A whale watch, wine tasting, and pizza birthday party!  Brian had his extra tough thigh-high compression socks for the flight, but I think he bared his legs for the southern California days!

Coming back, we've continued to have good news about Brian's health. And he had another trip on Valentine's Day - to the boat in Whittier this time - it had to come out of the water for the surveyor for insurance purposes.  A winter day in Whittier can be pretty, but it wouldn't be for everyone!

And this weekend, two months after we trucked to the emergency room and this all started, we skied this weekend!  Oh, so nice to be outside again and moving!  It was really great today, 19 degrees and beautiful sunshine.  We still don't have much new snow, but Brian found some good trails on the other side of town that must have gotten a bit more snow than we got closer to our house.  The trails were actually in great shape.  And we're due to have temperatures in the high teens and low twenties and light snow at different times this week - that should be good news.  And . . . we were able to see a few of the dog teams practicing for Fur Rondy races - Fur Rondy starts next week - the big celebration here in Anchorage leading up to the Iditarod!  More about that in a week or two!

First Friday and the End of Vacation

The wind down of Jessica's visit and my vacation 2 weeks from work - and an update on Brian -- resting most of day and going out for short walks is what we've been tending to do -- we watched all 3 seasons of Downton Abbey so we could be ready for Sunday's premier of Season 4.  Then we watched almost all of the 1st season of Breaking Bad, which we never started watching either.  And we went to see American Hustle, which I highly recommend - all 3 of us really enjoyed it!

First Friday Carl and Diane came down, and we tried Orso's first, but it was so crowded that we ended up at Sullivan's.  All 5 of us crowded around a table, and we split 2 appetizers at a time so that we could fit them on the table!  Hmmm . . . oysters on the 1/2 shell, blue cheese potato chips, calamari, and seared ahi tuna -- enough to call it a meal, along with some good wine and music!

 
Afterwards we walked over to the Town Square to try the teacups again, Jessica likes to be twirled in them (and so do the rest of the kids!  Including Diane!)

I have a video of her actually spinning but can't seem to get the videos to load.  The ice sculptures were due to be completed by 4:00 on Sunday, so we had a preview on Friday while they were worked on, and then we walked up to see them on Sunday just before the deadline, which was also the time we had to leave to take Jessica to the airport to fly back to L.A.  Saturday we took a quick trip to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, but it was wet and icy and windy/wild, so we mostly drove through and saw the elk and musk oxen and wood bison huddled up against the weather - also a lynx, owl, and red fox and Sitka black-tailed deer. 

The dragon in the middle was completed by a 2 person Chinese team - each has a 2 person team, and the dragon won 1st place - I liked the one on the bottom!  All in all a neat display and fun for families to traipse around the Town Square on a Sunday afternoon.  There was also an ice train that kids could play in and unfortunately some bigger kids probably under the cover of darkness played rough with that!  And then there was Monday morning . . . back to work.  

Brian is getting blood checks twice a week and will until he gets the all clear for some stable numbers on the blood thinning.  Then he can stop giving himself shots too, which won't hurt his feelings one bit!  

A New Year and Jessica's Visit

Jessica arrived for a 9 day visit two days after Christmas and a day after Brian went into the hospital - it was great to see her, and the day after Brian got out, we drove to Girdwood, an hour away, took a hike on the Winner Creek Trail and then rode the gondola to the 7 Glaciers Restaurant for a late lunch.  Jessica has the lunch pictures and the hiking pictures, but we did get this one gondola picture riding down through the clouds!

and one of Jessica and I at the top waiting for the return trip!  We had a wonderful lunch with an excellent presentation of all of the food - totally worth the drive and the ride to the top - it's a free ride if you have reservations at the restaurant!

The next day was New Year's Eve, and we generally go to our friends, Carl and Diane, for fireworks and a superb feast of appetizers and champagne that Diane spends an awfully lot of time preparing!  We were all looking forward to it, but Brian was really not up to it and needed to rest, so we stayed home.  Jessica and I walked up to the Town Square for the fireworks at 8, which were really great - see them with the Statue of Liberty ice sculpture here and Jessica modeling the holding of the torch. 

And lastly, a moose is loose on 12th Avenue!  We spied one out of our dining room window, chomping on the trees right from the sidewalk, so Jessica ran down and got the video of him right across the street, from our front porch!  And, I can't get the video to load, so you'll have to take my word for it! No wonder Jessica likes it here.  We had a wonderful week, in spite of and including Brian and I and Jessica all worrying about him and how he's doing- it certainly has us present to how much we love him and love each other.  More on First Friday and more ice sculptures in the next blog!  

and the aftermath of Christmas . . .

Well, a different post-Christmas than we had anticipated!  We had such a cozy Christmas Day, didn't ski since it continued to be zero or below, and went out the next day, much warmer, beautifully groomed trails . . . and 20 minutes out on the trail, Brian called to me and said he had to go back, didn't feel well enough to go on.  Well, that was it.  If Brian wants to go back after only 20 minutes of skiing, there is definitely something seriously wrong - he'd been feeling "off" for a couple of weeks, heaviness in his legs, no zip, now short of breath, the day before we left for Talkeetna he'd had pain in his chest but didn't want to tell me since it went away.  We went straight to the hospital via the doctor's office which I had called on the way - his blood pressure was 180/84, and she sent us on to the hospital, where we were headed anyway.

After a few hours in the hospital, an EKG, chest X-ray and CT scan, Brian was admitted with 2 pulmonary embolisms.  He had a little bit of a scare over night and a temporary trip to Intensive Care when they were taking blood at 4 am, poked around painfully, and Brian's heart slowed to 20s, then stopped for 16 seconds.  They had him back in his regular room within 4 hours, and he spent 3-4 days altogether.

Back home on Sunday!  Now we're taking it more slowly and waiting for those darn things to break up and disappear.  It's pretty hard to watch the perfect snow conditions and groomed trails and take a short walk!  And, we're grateful that Brian is home and recovering and that we have skiing together in our future!