Been Thinking About...

Well Natalie and Adam's porch is finished and it's only Wednesday; they started it on Monday. Greta and I got up early this morning and played. After breakfast we all went to Target, Old Navy, and to a place called Five Guys for lunch where we met Adam. It was a hamburger joint using fresh beef, homemade rolls, fixings, and Idaho potatoes fried in peanut oil. Excellent food. This feast was followed by a short nap and a long 1 hr. walk through areas which I am not so familiar with. I am equipped with my I-Pod and cell phone for the noise and also if I get lost I can call home. The weather is still pretty and sunny although a bit windy...maybe a high of 50 compared to 15 degrees at home. I believe the cold and snow come earlier every year to Alaska and every year I cringe and bundle up. Bernie made it home yesterday with the Smart car and never did have to chain up. I think he returned the chains to Walmart which he bought in Ketchican. He said the coldest it got was minus 17. The roads were clear and he is blessed to be home.

The room which I have been sleeping in has tons of great books of Adam's he's collected. I love it. In this book, Purpose in Prayer by E.M. Bounds, William Wilberforce says "I suspect I have been allotting habitually too little time to religious exercise as private devotion, religious meditation, Scripture reading,etc. Hence I am lean and cold and hard. God would perhaps prosper me more in spiritual things if I were to be more diligent in using the means of grace. I had better allot more time say two hours or an hour and a half to religious exercises daily and try whether by so doing I cannot preserve a frame of spirit more habitually devotional, a more lively sense of unseen things, a warmer love to God, and a greater degree of hunger and thirst after righteousness, a heart less prone to be soiled with worldly cares, designs, passions, and apprehension and a real undissembled longing for heaven, it's pleasures and it's purity." William WIlberforce was an evanngelical Christian who was a courageous leader in anti-slave trade in England in the 1700's who helped end the slave trade.

Awesome Autumn in North Carolina

Today Will is one week old. He is a very good baby and, Greta is beginning to acknowledge him with kisses and attention. He stays pretty much to the schedule of every three hrs except for today, he has not been able to hold out.

We left for Charlotte (2.5 hrs south) on Tuesday morning. Greta does fairly well in the car for a little tyke. When she gets tired we all get tired. She wants OUT!! We had a wonderful time with Scott and Susan who put us up or put up with us. We went to the Pumpkin Patch to take pictures, took a tour at Ward Tank, visited and ate. And ate again. Wow, no wonder they talk about southern hospitality...!! Bernie leaves in the AM for Portland to pickup the Smart car. Pray for him as he travels home on the ferry and on the roads. We hear there has been quite a snowfall since we left. He calls the Smart car his new baby named "Maxwell".

Adventure Anyone?????

I was thinking of our Blogspot entitled "The Kale Family...Our Adventurous Life in Alaska." Really Bernie is the true adventurer. When we came home from our awesome mototrcycle trip through WA, CA, OR, and Idaho, we met with a group of guys who were travelling on the Alaska Ferry System. Most, if not all of these guys, had adventure bikes. It was their dream to come to go and experience Alaska on a bike. Most had BMW's, a few had Suzuki's, and one even had a Motoguzzi which is not even sold in the US (Italian). Needless to say, Bernie definitely got the fever. When we came home, he purchased a Suzuki and wants to go riding all the time. He got some cool accessories, different riding gear, and he's ready to go. Me, on the other hand, although I love to ride, this bike is not set up for two. It's just uncomfy. I've been spoiled on my throne on the back of the Goldwing. Maybe we'll get one for me to ride in the future so we can go together but for now, he's off on his own.

These pictures are from the second week in September when he decided to go up to Hatcher's Pass over to the Willow side. He only made it so far before the roads became so slick he had to turn around. If he had the proper tires, maybe...but for now a great photoshoot.

Crisp Autumn Day Hike at Thunderbird Falls

These are my friends Kathleen Donley and Silvia Barlow whom I work with at Eagle River High School. Silvia is from La Paz, Mexico and is married to Eric, an Army Guard Captain. Kathleen is married to Michael, retired Air Force, who is a pilot for Alaska Airlines. We had a great outing and visited with Kathleen who lives in Thunderbird Heights afterward. That beautiful dog is Rusty who belongs to Kathleen.