BRANDON
We are so proud of Brandon, and I want to publicly tell him how much we love him and how fabulous it is that he went back to school to further his education! Last month, he received his Associates Degree in Business, after much hard work and dedication. The official degree arrived at his home last week:
With his Associates under his belt, he’s now started down the path towards his Bachelors in Psychology. He’s thought about going even further and getting his Masters, as he’s expressed an interest in being a high school counselor, but currently his focus is more on public service. Brandon is very concerned about the homeless problem in America - particularly homeless veterans - and has plans to volunteer in a shelter or soup kitchen, as soon as he can get himself some reliable transportation. He’s also suggested that he’d like to run a shelter someday.
His aspirations don’t surprise me at all. Even as a young child, Brandon would empty his pockets of the few coins he had, and deposit them in the Salvation Army kettle at Christmas, or give them to a homeless person sitting outside a department store in Philadelphia. He has always shown compassion and empathy to those who are sad, or suffering, or hurting. I can think of nothing better for Brandon to aspire to, and Steve and I support his dreams and commend his hard work as he makes his way toward realizing them. Good job, Brandon!
~ Some people think only intellect counts: knowing how to solve problems, knowing how to get by, knowing how to identify an advantage and seize it. But the functions of intellect are insufficient without courage, love, friendship, compassion and empathy. ~ Dean Koontz
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I’m going to play ‘catch up’, and include photos I’ve taken over the past two weeks. This is a long entry with a lot of photos.
AURORA BOREALIS
On the early morning of the 11th - the day before I left Fairbanks for Madison - the aurora made an appearance. It was a surprise to see them, as the forecast wasn’t calling for much activity at all. It was one of those “stay up all night” episodes, and while getting ready for bed, I glanced out the window and saw green bands in the sky.
It was very cold, and I scrambled to pull on layers of clothing over my pajamas. I decided to set up my camera on the back deck and shoot the sky over the yard. I’m glad I made that decision, as I had to run inside and warm up my hands periodically. I think the temperature was at the -38F mark.
The bedroom light was on, and I like the way you can see the bedroom window aglow in this photo, with the lights overhead:
The third photo below, was taken through the sliding glass doors. I was so cold, I came inside and thought I’d try shooting through the back door. (You can see the imprint of bird feathers on the left top side of the glass from a recent crash. Don’t worry, the bird is OK)
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It is so good to be home! My flights went well, and despite the fact that my flight out of Minneapolis was late, we still got into Anchorage on time and I was able to catch my scheduled flight home to Fairbanks. It was so wonderful to see Steve waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs. I missed him so much!
I spent the day working on photos from my trip to WI, and I still have to work on photos from the Hafla I attended a few days before I left town, as well as post some photos of the northern lights which were out the night before I left for the kids’ house. I hope to get through all of this and update here (with photos and more commentary) tomorrow or Sunday.
I miss my kids already, and I find myself smiling (and laughing) at some of the memories we made during my visit. It was really great seeing them, and I’m glad I was able to stay for a little longer this time. I’m still on WI time, and went to bed last night at 8pm and was up at 4:45am. I hope I’m back on AK time by the time we go to bed tonight.
I’ll have more to write and plenty of photos to share in the next day or so.
It’s so good to be home to Steve and the furkids. They all missed me very much.
Until next time…
