Enough

Happy as a clam snorkeling off Norman Island in the British Virgin Islands.

This is a lovely post I grabbed off of Facebook. It didn't have a specific author that I could see, so I'm just re-posting this as I found it.

It was inspired by an elderly woman saying goodbye to her daughter in the airport. She wished her daughter "I wish you enough." And the daughter responded in kind.

Upon asking the woman about their tearful departure and the words they exchanged, the woman explained that she knew that was the final goodbye with her daughter...

And the part about wishing someone enough? This is what that meant:

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright. 
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more. 
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive. 
I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger. 
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. 
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess. 
I wish enough "Hellos" to get you through the final "Good-bye.."

I so get that. Until you are there for the final moments of someone's life - be it a friend, family-member or even your beloved dog or cat, you just cannot understand the value of having "enough."

Being wealthy is fine and dandy, but being lonely? There's no amount of money that can fill that void.

Money is grand, but when you have all the money in the world, but cannot make your Mom or Dad any younger or you cannot cure the cancer that is killing your best friend? Money suddenly is dumb.

There have been a lot of losses in my realm in the last few years. Grandparents, young friends, old friends, dogs, cats that were my friends...It just sucks. I was just crying because two of my Auntie's cats passed away in the last few months. I adored both of them.

So, for today, not a lot to say except that all I want is enough for you, for me, for anyone who is going through a tough time (which seems to be rampant right now).

I just want to live a good life and be happy. I don't need fancy or complicated. I surely don't need or want drama.

I just want a good life. Good food. Health. The ability to travel on occasion. The ability and wherewithal to work, heal my hurts and make a little money.

Hope this post finds you well.

Ciao for now.

xoxo

Happy as a clam again playing in my garden last summer in Alaska!

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.

Spring is Upon Us!

Bleeding hearts. 

Crocus!

Spring fleurs.

Tete-a-tete narcissus and violas.

Grape hyacinth, parsley and clovers!

Here I am in Alaska with clients already asking me to come by to check out their gardens and to start spring cleanups!

This started in MARCH! In a thousand years, I'd never dream that I'd move to Alaska (in the first place) and then I'd be gardening in March? That's just whack.

But, here I am and here is spring and I'm looking at bright blue sky and it just rained for a while. There is no snow - some of the ground is still frozen where it's shady, but otherwise I've got green plants shooting up here and there out in the yard. My bulbs have gone mental - the foliage is incredible, no flowers yet, but it's just so satisfying to see life out there!

The willow trees have bloomed, so I have fresh pussy willows in on of my pots outside. I have to bring them in at night because it's still getting down below freezing, but by mid-day it's been in the 50s. And the bright, hot sun of Alaska is here in full force.

We have SO much sunlight already. The sun is rising at about 7am, setting at 9pm! That's a lot of sunlight and I THRIVE when it's sunny. My mood is elevated and my energy level is off the chart.

By mid-June, at the solstice, we'll have a full 22 hours of sunlight. Truly amazing. And weird!

Yesterday I cooked and gardened all day. Had 7 friends come by and we ate together and laughed and cooked and generally had a wonderful time.

The last person left about 7:30 last night after we took turns playing the piano. It was great - so many talented people around the world.

Languages heard yesterday in my house included Japanese (an 11 year old son of my friend is fluent), Russian, German, French and Spanish. These are world traveler types and so very interesting. Real estate people, a teacher, baker, 4 students, musicians, a non-profit director, and a massage therapist.

And moi. A little bit of everything and nothing in particular. I say I'm a gardener and designer, but in reality I've been thinking a lot about getting back to my research roots. I'm fascinated by the climate issues of the day and how it's affecting the ocean critters. Big shifts are already happening in habitat and migration patterns. Bird species are showing up from Asia and the water in Cook Inlet was not even that cold on Sunday when we were there. I was, of course, stomping around in the water with my boots picking up interesting rocks.

So, I'm sort of at this odd point in my life and career. Knocking on 50 and again asking myself what do I want to be when I grow up?

I've got ideas of getting my law degree to become an advocate. Another idea is to become a conductor for an orchestra. Or get back into piano more. And then I do love cooking, so I think about working in a restaurant as a sous chef. Or then I think I might like to have a small business where I do a five course meal for 6 people at my table on Saturdays and charge a fixed price. And then I think about leading trips again to teach about conservation, marine mammals, fish and birds.

Too many interests, too little time!

And then I remember how much I love gardening and putting plants together to attract birds, butterflies and bees. And making a garden safe for dogs and cats.

Well, I guess you'll have to stay tuned. I know I'm always curious about what the heck will happen on any given day. You never can tell!

Cheers to spring and the sun!

Ciao for now.

The incredible sunset overlooking White Bay
in Jost Van Dyke, British Virgin Islands.

A gorgeous blue tang in the waters off of White Bay.

Jost Van Dyke! God Bless You!

I checked out my sitemeter this morning and saw that someone had been referred to my blog via a website called Cruise News! What a surprise! Here I was innocently blogging about our upcoming vacation and *bing* some website picked up my blabbing about Tortola!

Today I'm going to talk about some of my fondest (or scariest) memories from our stay on Jost Van Dyke, because it's heavy on my mind today, and it's one of my most favorite place on Earth so far! Cannot wait for warmth -it's totally frigid outside today, a balmy 27 degrees...With the wind chill, it's even colder. Really quite nasty!

Of course, in the Caribbean are wonderous and interesting creatures. Snorkeling with schools of tarpon feeding on small silver fish was most memorable. We were in an area of Jost Van Dyke called White Bay (one of the top ten beaches in the world according to the Travel Channel!). One day my husband and I were there snorkeling over the tarpon, watching the feeding frenzy when, all of a sudden, **WHHOOOOSH**, something dove from above, VERY forcibly, literally only about one foot from my head. I SCREAMED!!!

It was a pelican! It was apparently diving in to get some of those little silvery fish for itself! Obviously not at ALL afraid of the human swimming just mere inches from its prey!

Here is a video of a couple pelicans diving - now imagine your head just a foot away, looking downward like you do when snorkeling, and suddenly this huge animal comes barreling down into the water with NO warning! It's mighty scary, I tell ya!

Needless to say, we high-tailed it out of the water to the safety of the shore IMMEDIATELY!

On shore are many other wonderous things! Like this gorgeous white sand beach. A mile long of this beautiful stuff!


The view from the hillside. Sunsets were unbelieveable.


The Soggy Dollar Bar - called this because most patrons have to swim in from their boats moored just past the beach! Therefore, their dollars are soggy! They have a clothesline to hang the soggy dollars so they can dry! This bar is world famous for their Pain Killers. A drink to rival all others. Deeee-lish!


My favorite - Ivan's Stress-Free Bar. You go on, write down what you make yourself for the time you're there, and then you settle up at the end of your stay. No bartender, no waiting, no STRESS, mon!! It's the coolest bar on the planet, if you ask me!


Ahhh, memories! Now I must return to reality. Off to bundle up and go out to get the dogs' food, treats, and their arthritis meds. Also going to the store to stock up on goodies for the house...Amazing how much food one goes through when one has breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks from home every single day!