Challenge# 33 Mountain Climbing

This challenge comes from a small writing group.  We have a large series of random questions that we answer and share.  The group goal is to do at least one per week.

Question:

Have you ever thought about climbing a mountain?  What do you hope to gain by this accomplishment?  If you have climbed one, describe the experience in detail.

Me???  Mountain Climbing???

Never in a million years would I have ever considered climbing a mountain at the top of my list of achievements or goals or bucket list items.  Due to this writing challenge, I think it has just been put on my bucket list.

My mountain of choice is Flattop Mountain just outside of Anchorage, Alaska.  This is one of the most climbed mountains in Alaska.  It is easily a one day event and it is 1.5 miles high and 1350 vertical feet high.  There is a shuttle service that goes from downtown Anchorage to the mountain.  The suggested time is 1 1/2 to 2 hours for the trip up and down the mountain.

When I lived in Anchorage several years ago I was in flabby physical shape.  Working a hard physical job toughened me up and I started walking a bunch more than ever.  Since I came back, off and on I kept with it.  This year I really became more serious about staying in shape and easily walk over 3 miles in a day and do that several times a week.

A few of the people I worked with took the trip to the mountain with small children and made that hike.  My grandson when he visited there made the trip to the top.  Next trip to Alaska this is first thing added to my schedule.

Only goal is to say I have done it.  I have hiked to the top of some mountains in the Blue Ridge range and the Appalachian range, but never really more than getting off the road and hiking the short distance to the top.  I don’t think they really count for this.

I love a bucket list add on as much as I love something checked off the list.

Advertisement

Challenge #20 I Love You

These challenges come from a small writing group.  We have a large series of random questions that we answer and share.  The goal is to answer at least one per week.  (Sort of like being in a writing class where you are assigned the topic to write about.)

Question:

Come up with a more exciting way to say “I love you.”

My Love Story

Does it still count if I say it in another language?

Ich liebe dich is German.

Te quiero is Spanish.

Je t’aime is French.

Never having had any of these versions said to me in a romantic situation,  I searched for some others.  One of my favorites is from the movie “The Runaway Bride,”  “I guarantee that some point one or both of us is gonna want to get out of this thing.  But I also guarantee that if I don’t ask you to be mine, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.  Because I know, in my heart, you’re the only one for me.”

You most certainly can have the only piece of dark chocolate candy in the box.

Yours is the only face I want to see on the pillow next to mine, every day from now on.

Yes, we can spend an extra week at the cabin on the lake.

I already paid for your hair appointment today, and I added a pedicure so make sure you get there early.

Do you mind if I cook dinner today?

I would love to find just one more quilt shop today.

Your spaghetti sauce is the best I have ever eaten.

Let’s get an extra session in at the health club this week.

Today is your ladies card game here, let me help you clean house before I go to my brothers.

Of course I think this is the year we go back to Alaska for at least a week.

Since we all have different love languages, it’s fun to take a small look at what it might look like to different people.  It’s easy if you are in a long term relationship to forget that we often hear and say things in many different ways.

 

CHIditarod

Alaska has the Iditarod starting today, Chicago ran the CHIditarod on the same day.  This is a fund raiser for the Greater Chicago Food Depository.  Teams of five costumed participants push a shopping cart around city streets between check-in points.  Each team has five people, four as the sled dogs and one as the musher.

Each team also collects food items and funds for this good cause.  The whole time having lots of fun in both the planing and the doing.  These are a few of the teams I saw arriving at the check point I was at.

The checkpoint I stopped at had a live band playing on the street in front of the building, lots of loud music inside and refreshments of all kinds.  The people participating and just the people in the area certainly were having a good time. There were games to participate in each check point for the “dogs and mushers.”

Many of the costumes were very creative and it was obvious they also spent a lot of time gathering the decorations for the cart.  People participating were all ages and had a glorious spring day for this event.   My favorite were the ones in the safety vests looking like city workers.  I will certainly be participating in this at some capacity next year.

Quilt Show 2019

This is the first good sized quilt show I am attending this year.  It is the Mountain Quiltfest in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and it is the 25th Anniversary.  What I am  sharing today are a few of the modern style quilts in the show.  This is not a modern show, it does have a modern section, but in this grouping of quilts I selected some of my favorite modern quilts.

These are quilts that spoke to me on some level and none of them are mine.  I know a few of the people who made these.  I am not a judge, just enjoy the beauty. These quilts are a variety of sizes and were in a variety of categories and one prettier than the next.

A Photo A Week Challenge: Vibrant

The entire world is the palette for this challenge, which makes it very difficult.  So I looked through photos to see where the most vibrant color jumped out at me.  In my collection it was the photos taken in my favorite quilt store in Anchorage, Alaska.

Here is a small sample of the fabrics in the store and a quilt that is one way to show off those vibrant colors. Many of the fabrics they carry are exclusive to Alaska and can only be purchased at stores in that state.  I hope you enjoy.

A Photo A Week Challenge: Mountains

 

I love mountains.  Big snow-capped majestic ones and soft curving old ones like the Smokey’s. When I lived in Alaska last year I saw them daily and loved every bit of it  This photo is of a pass through the mountains last summer.

This is a lovely quilt pattern called Moon Over the Mountains.

This is for the Nancy Merrill challenge, A Photo A Week.

A Photo A Week Challenge: Boats & Ships

I am trying to do the photo a week challenge by Nancy Merrill, this week it is “Boats & Ships.”

This is a cruise ship that was in the harbor in Seward Alaska.  It is the first cruise ship that was going north through the northern passage.  It was traveling with its own ice breaker ship in the lead. This was going from Seward to New York City and was going to take 3 months.

Two of my son-in-laws were very happy with the purchase of this old boat, so happy they could not wait to put it in water to enjoy it.  Big boys and their toys.

What a pretty quilt with a nice variety of ships on it.

Reunited With My Clothes

No, I have not been running around without any clothes, but its been the same ones for over a year.  If you are new to reading this, a little over a year ago I closed up my  home and went to Anchorage for a summer job.  Because I flew to Alaska, I was limited to 2 large suitcases and one small carry on, I guess I could have done more, but it would have been expensive.

So my clothes and shoes and fabric all went into a storage unit to wait for my return.  I came to one of my daughter’s homes for several days before I flew up to my summer adventure.  Because we drove here, I could just pile things into the car and sort it out here.  Now I am back visiting that daughter and the clothes I left behind.

I think this is how people prepare to live in those adorable tiny houses  You are allowed 4 pairs of jeans, 6 t-shirts and 3 pairs of shoes, or some such thing.  Having lived much of my life as a clothes-hound, that is beyond my comprehension.  I have cut down drastically since retirement and no need to dress for the office every day. But I have found out a new love for my old things……WHAT??

I could not remember what was here and “knew” a certain pair of boots was going to be among the items.  Not so.  My favorite shorts, those lightweight jackets  I love to layer in the summer and my favorite bathrobe were all here waiting to greet me. It was better than being a kid at Christmas.  You know how the “experts” tell you if you have not worn an item in a year get rid of it, I will agree with that thought.  This is different, we were separated, I will still take a hard look at what I need to take back to my new temporary home.

At least now I am much closer to my things and can come back to visit my clothes and my daughter. Now for the tough choices, what will I wear today.   I am having a great day and hope you are also.

A Photo A Week Challenge: Flying

 

One of the highlights  of my summer in Anchorage, Alaska was a float plane trip.  One of my grandsons came to visit and celebrate his birthday with mine, so we took a plane ride together in a Cessna that was 1 year younger than I am!  It was beyond description amazing.

 

Our pilot was well versed in the options to find wildlife on the mountain ranges we flew over and we saw a lot.  He took us over so many different glaciers, I lost count.  One more beautiful than the next. We landed in a lake that was formed by the runoff from 3 glaciers, opened the door of the airplane and handed us a giant ice cube. about 12 inches,  probably over 10,000 years old from a calving glacier.

I had to restrain myself and choose only a few photo’s.  I have been very lucky, flying many places in the world, on big new 777’s and tiny old regional jets. Some aircraft that looked like a crop duster in little one gate no-where’s-ville.  I have landed in huge modern international terminals, small antiquated  international terminals. But this flight circling the mountains  around Anchorage is one I will treasure.  The best time flying ever.

A Photo A Week Challenge: Black & White

Here is my photo for the week, it is frost on a window.  Beautiful but very cold.

My second is a black and white quilt.  I do so many in color I sometimes forget the simple beauty of black and white.