The compass points to Terrapin.

However, the back of our house points North, and what a view of the North we get. Last night I was sleeping hard. Real hard. So hard that I had to pee something terrible but was just too tired to get out of bed to do so. So, after drifting back in and out of sleep several times, I procrastinated as long as I possibly could until I couldn't hold it anymore. As I was walking into the bathroom I gazed out the big window, and about near pee'd myself. I caught the most dramatic and amazing display of the Aurora that I have seen here since it started in the Fall. I cannot describe it in words, but have never seen anything like it (in real time at least) and in an instant realized just how 'small' I really was in the last frontier. I immediately woke Maryann with a hoot and a howl, and by the time she got out of bed and to the window, the display was just coming to an end. That is the way it usually is. Sometimes it is present for a while, sometimes for a few seconds. After that I couldn't go back to sleep and went into the dining room and sat a the table overlooking the North and continued to watch as it would appear in slight waves of rolling green, only to fade and come back again minutes later. Maryann would later get up to watch it and said that again, it was slight but still beautiful. There on the hillside going to the lake with the Aurora in the backdrop was a moose grazing on the tender tips of brush and trees poking out of the snow. Very serene.

So the weekend away in Homer last week was divine. We got some much needed rest and 'together' time. It was really the first chance in a long time. Not counting the ferry ride from Washington to Juneau. Now that was very relaxing! Unlike Maryann and Johns journey from Juneau to Whittier. Living upstairs from a bakery for a weekend....well, lets just say I am contemplating a membership to the gym! But seriously, it was a really cool place we stayed at and we really enjoyed it. We will be going back again before the busy tourist season in the summer. I did get a few really good pics of the sunrise the 2nd morning we were there. I was just enthralled in the setting full moon as it fell slowly into the Gulf of Alaska ever so slightly illuminated by the rising sun, just opposite the sky from it. It was really spiritual, as I caught the moment while someone off in the distance was walking the beach against the full moon taking in the moment as well. Then, as I turned around was able to get the morning sky coming to life across Kachemak Bay. Was just a spectacular morning, and turned out to be just a beautiful day all the way around.

The weather has been...well, spring like! Interesting point: In Dorrington where the average temps would range throughout the year between the upper 90's to the lower 20's, "spring" temperatures were usually in the 60's. Here, where the temps range yearly from - 30 below 0, and the low 70's, "spring" temps are like in the low 30's. Kind of different, eah?! The sun has been out, but still cold out. the snow is starting to melt a little where the sun hits it, but more the ice glazes over through the day and becomes the ice rink from hell. I have to say it is slick out there. Even the dogs who are usually unphased by ice due to their gripping clawage, are having a hard time of it. All in a days life.

John and I have been continually active in bringing home felled trees getting a head start on the firewood season. We will be having visitors in June, and look forward to the chance to introduce them to "Daylight Endurance Training", bucking and splitting firewood until 1:00 AM. And, they are seasoned from the good old days of wood whoring in Dorrington!!! Lookin forward to it guys! ;) Always looking forward to what the next day will bring, good or bad, just happy we took the 'chance' that we did, and when we did it. Just seems the more we look back and the more we hear, the timing was just impeccable. Have a happy Sunday, and our love to all.