Happy Birthday to Jane Gooddall! And stuff.

A bit of a trip around some places I've been and loved:

Buckingham Palace in London.

Ivan's Stress-Free restaurant and resort on Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands.

Snorkeled with cuttlefish in many locations now. They are the COOLEST critters.
There was a whole family of them and they kept following me around
as I was snorkeling in Roatan, Honduras.

My most favorite whale in the entire world, Spoon.

Conch in my yard in Salem. That conch is now here in Alaska!

This was taken by a professional photographer when I was coming home from walking the dogs.
He was enamoured by my house and my puppies!
That wreath is now on my front door here in Anchorage.
(And I've lost about 40 pounds since this was taken!)

This is where I would take the dogs most mornings so Koty could swim.
(He is all wet in the above picture.)
This is Salem Harbor looking out toward Marblehead.
Morning fog was just burning off. 

Kenai Lake last summer. Incredible. Those are the Chugach Mountains
over yonder and the Kenais are behind me.

Well, I got up earlier than I had wanted because of the coughing fits that plague me now. There is a "bowl" formed by the mountains that surround Anchorage, and during the spring it is a big dust bowl. Terrible particulate dust that permeates everything. And it's just so dry dry dry that the dust just flows down from the mountains and shoots down the streets in the city.

I've got a humidifier going in the house - more than a gallon disappears each day!

We luckily live in a log cabin, so the wood retains the water and makes it more livable, but, as anyone who knows me will tell you? I like to be outside! I go stir crazy if I'm in the house too long.

So I go out, do some gardening or whatever and then I have to come back inside to get my humidity on. Yeesh. Weird stuff in Alaska to contend with.

I was unsure what I was going to blog about today and then I flipped on Facebook for a few minutes and there was the video I've seen a bunch of times of Jane Gooddall and her team releasing a chimpanzee back to the wild.

The chimp doesn't leave right away. Instead he hugs the main handler and then he goes up to the top of his cage and gives Jane Gooddall a giant, giant hug.

Now, mind you, this looks all sweet and cuddly, but - anyone who knows about these animals knows that that chimpanzee could kill all of those five people that were there to release her. They are powerful and athletic and have HUGE teeth.

That's why, for so long, I've partially worked and given money to organizations that help prevent the smuggling or breeding wild critters into domestic situations. People who have Lynx or Lions for pets. Or monkeys that are not service animals. It's not right for the people involved OR the critter. Even tropical fish - if they're not properly cared for and maintained in just the right way? They suffer and then die.

Likewise people who do not know how to handle dogs properly? Should not have dogs. Even little chihuahuas can be very dangerous. They are fiercely protective and can cause a lot of damage to a hand or face - especially children.

My dog Koty, who was 12 and very very docile, was attacked by an American Bulldog. My dog was on the leash walking with my husband, my other dog Sadie and me. The owner luckily was home, but it took us all about 15 minutes to get that Bulldog to unlatch its jaws from my Koty's throat.

200 stitches and a lot of tears and strife and two overnight surgeries put him back together, but he was never the same. He died of a liver infection a year later. We were all never the same. Sadie died shortly thereafter.

Those people, by the way, that had that dangerous animal? They had two tiny children - little girls. That dog is gonna haul off and bite the wrong person or those kids and then guess what? Bye bye to the dog and trauma left behind. I am STILL traumatized by that dog's viciousness. I've also been cornered by two giant Rottweilers and charged just the other day by another Rottweiler that was running loose.

Luckily I am now armed with the knowledge of what to do with dangerous dogs - especially when they're coming after my little doggie Phoebe who is only 40 pounds and she LOVES everyone.

But the owners of these damn dangerous animals? Don't get it. If your dog is aggressive, PUT IT ON A LEASH.

SO, moral of the story is that people are dumb. Animals do what they do and live where they do because that's where they BELONG. Only humans screw things up for the rest of the critters. Pumping chemicals into the air and into our oceans.

It's pathetic and nasty.

Climate changes are happening at rates that far exceed any natural cycles that have occurred since people started making records of such things.

For Pete's SAKE! I'm growing apple trees in Alaska and it's April. That ain't natural.

I've got plants growing in the front of my house right now that are almost a foot tall. Chinese poppies that are gorgeous and green. Bizarro.

Meantime, they're getting MORE snow on the East Coast. Luckily by the end of the month they're going to be consistently in the 60s, so they will get spring very quickly.

Non sequiter alert! Bing Bing Bing!

In any case, I'm trying to be more mindful of stuff. Thinking about what I say to people and how I behave and just trying to be nicer than I have been in the past. Not to excuse other people's bad behavior, because that's not proper either. But I will strive to surround myself with other like-minded people, while also making room for others' opinions.

It would be a boring world if we were all the same - that's a truism.

However, it would also be a NICER world if we were all dedicated to being nice to others.

Things I wanna do with the rest of my 2015:

1 - Be nicer
2 - Have fun whenever it's possible
3 - Sing and dance
4 - Work hard but not too much
5 - Get back into yoga
6 - See if I can do something about my arthritis in my hands
7 - Celebrate my 50th birthday with GUSTO!
8 - Continue to eat well and cook good food
9 - Enjoy Alaska's beautiful mountains, sea and animals

10 - Have visitors here from the East Coast and show them this incredible state
11 - Celebrate my friends
12 - Love my little dog
13 - Adopt a friend for her so she's not bored when I'm typing on this dumb computer!
14 - Sleep, rest well, and enjoy my alone time
15 - Take time as often as possible to enjoy the view over the ocean
16 - Enjoy my garden and yard
17 - Relish silence when it's upon me

Jacaronda trees in Seville. Gorgeous.

This is another area of Seville called Triana. This is the Triana River.
Stunningly gorgeous weather, architecture, people and food.
Everyone should go there and just eat! Yumm.
Gazpacho and fresh fish and the bread and the COFFEE!!

For today, the one thing I want to do is wish Jane Gooddall a Happy Birthday! And I also want to thank her for being a mentor from afar. I have read everything I could about her and followed her career from the days she was just dumped in the jungle to her current incredible work. I wanted to be exactly like her and I honestly cannot think of too many other people I looked up to like I did Jane Gooddall. E.O. Wilson was another, Dian Fossey was another and the Cousteau Society and all they showed me as a child in Michigan. Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom? Never missed it. All the Planet Earth shows, Discovery Channel, BBC specials? Never missed them.

I've had a really interesting life so far and I don't intend to get boring any time soon. Can't wait for the next 50 years to reveal themselves.

My car while driving through the Cassiar.

Kayaking with icebergs in Portage Lake last summer.

Resurrection Bay. One of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.

And then there's this:

Ohmygoodness.

Ciao for now! Have a great Wednesday.