Typical Alaska photos

The volcano was steaming pretty good on this clear day.Some newborn twins walked through the yard.
Emery is pretty excited about dandelions. Way more excited than me.

Regina Spektor

A friend from church handed me an issue of the Smithsonian magazine entitled "37 of America's Young Innovators in the Arts and Sciences". She gave it to me because one of the 37 was Sufjan Stevens who I mentioned earlier. Well lo and behold but another of the entries was for another of my favorite new voices - Regina Spektor.

Sufjan wove biblical images and aspects of his faith pilgrimage into his songs. Regina doesn't do anything like that. I just like her melodic voice and the playful way she unfolds the lyric. You can sample her songs in the Imeem box or click the following link for one of my favorite songs. (Ignore the video - shut your eyes and just listen) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGTDRztaCCw

By the way before this I had left Ingrid Michaelson's music there for a few weeks. The main reason I did it was because Amy had included some of Ingrid's songs in her wedding video.

Jonathan Graduates

Jonathan is done and it was a great ending. His track team won the conference championship for the fourth year in a row. Their Ultimate Frizbee team finished third in state. Now he needs to find a job for the summer so he can help pay for his education at Gustavus this fall.

Other than that not much new here. Peter is still looking for a job. A few surveying possibilities emerged but they may not pan out.

Hey Mark, what are the job prospects in Alaska? Either boy, but especially Peter might be willing to take anything that paid a decent wage - given the current economic conditions.

Grandaughter visiting

Emery, Heidi and John came up to Alaska for a visit.
Lois Ann, Christoffer, and Emery
Emery dreams about going to the beach.
Grandpa giving crawling lessons.
Reading time.

Happy Birthday, Dean & Jean!

The Monopod

The Mount Redoubt cataclysm seems to be kind of a fizzle. Like the swine flu pandemic. I'm glad about the flu but since the volcano didn't affect me I was hoping for something more spectacular.

I once lived and worked closer to Redoubt than brother Mark, on an oil platform in Cook Inlet, The Monopod.

I was a "bullcook" which means my boss was the cook and my job was to be a janitor/dishwasher.

I spent a lot of time keeping the hallways clean. Especially the ones coming directly from outside where the roughnecks would plod in with their oil soaked boots.

One day the mail delivered new hi-tech mats from 3M to be placed in front of the entryways and to soak up all the oil. It did such a good job that I found I had many hours less work to do and began to worry if my job might be terminated.


And then a depressing thought came to me. Here I was a promising young man with a bachelors degree in philosophy and I was anxious because my job might be lost to a door mat!

Party Time!

Jonathan is graduating. There's going to be an open house party to celebrate on Saturday, June 27th from noon to about 4 p.m. Come one come all.

It was a long time coming but we finally know what's happening next. He's going to Gustavus down in St. Peters Minnesota.

We are very proud of him.

George: 1998-2009

A lot of tears are being shed around here today. George has gone to meet his maker.

Graduation!

We had a great time in Otterburne, Manitoba last weekend. Tyler graduated from Providence. He was honored by the faculty and fellow students with the title of Valedictorian!

Perhaps we can post the video of his speech on this blog sometime...

When your roommate is the best photographer in Canada you end up in a lot of college promotional materials:

Is everyone busy?

Dear family,

I'm missing your input on our blog sight. Spring has sprung in MN. and we're loving it. We're starting on some outside work. Ralph and I started filling in the cracks on our court. The children want to play and ride bikes but in later years the weeds have taken over. It will take time but eventually we will coat it and hopefully put on a few games like four-square and hop-scotch. We want to keep the kids busy in a healthy way.

We have had a fantastic winter health wise. Just today, Ralph and I have come down with some kind of a viral infection..it seems to have hit all over the body. We had not been sick all winter. Praise be to God!

We continue to try to make some order around here with shelving units, bins, etc. Those of you that are close by, do you remember Mom and Dads green buffet? It was in the dining room on Halsey St. under the picture window. Mom and Dad cut the legs shorter to fit it under the window. Anyway, we need to move it out and it is an antique. Does anyone remember where it came from? We had a built in buffet on 1711 and another built in at 4613. For awhile the Magnuson's used it in their home but when Ralph and I moved, they gave it to us. We don't have room for it in our dining room. Steve and Dan, did you have it in your home on Mineral St?

Let us know if anyone is interested in it. Hopefully you haven't forgotten about this blog site.

Mt Redoubt erupts!

Last night Redoubt blasted off as we were sleeping 5 times! There is a link in the title to the official AVO website. Here is a link to the Anchorage Daily News article. Also here is a link to the weather service so we know which way the ash is being carried by the winds.

Here is a photo taken on the 15th from the end of our driveway; you can see a small steam/gas plume.



Here is another photo taken from beach at Captain Cook Park. Holly and i were walking around there on the 19th. You can see a plume coming off the right side of the mountain. We did not feel anything when it erupted last night. I remember thunder and lightning from the 89/90 eruptions.

Spring break visit

Emery and me. Holly, Heidi, and Emery came up for Lois' spring break.
Life is full of choices. This photo is sort of an optical illusion; Emery looks like she is standing.
Getting ready for a photo shoot of new hats.
Emery found her feet.
I like all the mirrors in the hotel room.

Holly, Heidi, and Emery

Look who earned her wings and flew up to Alaska to visit Grandma on spring break and Grandpa!!
Some matching hats.
Some special bibs for the girls. Emery is just learning to talk, sounds like she is saying "blah, blah, blah, blah" - typical girl talk...

The Perfect Bowl of Cereal

I figure that we can get some feedback on what makes a perfect bowl of cereal. Just remember that you saw it here first, even before being submitted to COOK'S Illustrated magazine. This is how to make the best bowl of cereal:

1. Add the following berries (frozen in winter or fresh in summer) blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, peaches... Pour in some milk and cream.
2. Smash up the blueberries and raspberries and slice up the strawberries. Next add some bananas and some pecans and cashews.
3. Crush up some frosted shredded wheat and on top of that add Quakers natural granola with raisins. Get it all wet with milk and eat all of it with a large spoon. You may have to add cereal to use up the milk; then you might have to add some milk to use up the cereal; and so on.

1986 or Later? (Part 3: Heidi S)

You know the routine. Mystery Heidi sure looks a lot older than Heidi 86. And the hair cut and style are very different. For some reason I don't have any other photos of Heidi from the early 90's, but I'll bet they'll look more like Mystery Heidi.

Cartoons

Are you all aware Steve's cartoons are back on the Duluth News Tribune web-site? This one from a few weeks ago is wonderful:

1986 or later? (Part 3: Christopher)

Look at Christopher in the mystery year then compare him to Chrisotpher 86.

Christopher 86 is way too young. Besides. . .he hasn't yet perfected the classic "Christopher smirk". Compare, for example, the next sample I have, Christopher 92. Now there's the smirk we all know and love.


The mystery year has to be later than 1986. If there's any doubt look at the picture below from Christmas 1986. Look at the height of Christopher compared to his dad. He's only half his height. Now look again at the Myster Year. He's nearly full grown!

1986 OR LATER? (Part 2: Holly)

Starting with Mark's family. . .it would helpful if Mark could remember when they came down from the late 80's to the early 90's. I have photo proof they were here the summer of '85, Christmas of '86 and summer of '88. If they weren't here the summer of '86 then the mystery year could not be '86. I have a vague recollection that only Mark was able to attend the funeral and that is why the whole family showed up that Christmas.


But on to the kids. Holly is first up. Holly 86 has a different hair style, she's wearing glasses, and I think the shape of her head is more child like, more oval in shape. Did she get contacts at a certain age? If so when?


To my mind Holly 88 looks more like Mystery Holly - no glasses, a more mature head shape. But in '88 her hair style was decidedly "spikey". When was the next time Mark and family came down after '88? I'd like to see a photo of Holly from that trip!

Regarding that spikey- do, would it have looked that way all the time or would it depend upon the day and how much time she spent on it? Maybe she could have flattened it out when she went to Duluth so as not to shock Grandma Ruth.

Not 1986: The Evidence (part 1)

If Mom's note on the back is right then the photos were taken in 1986 when Steve turned 40. Both Jo and Jean are ok with that, but I'm still very skeptical. The kids look too old.

I don't want to sound obsessive about this getting the date right, but I've been looking for evidence to corraborate the 1986 theory and the more I look the more I think they were taken later. . .as many as four or five years later in 1990 or 1991. I have nothing conclusive but I'll present the evidence over a number of posts. (We could use more posts!) But first the facts:

1. These are photos found in Mom's stuff. They are not mine.

2. There are 10 photos that appear to be taken near the same time showing two gatherings in the back yard. On the back of one Mom wrote "Steve is 40!"

3. In June of 1986 John died and in August Steve turned 40.

4. Six photos are of a summer party with Carlson's and Steve (see previous post) and it is a party. Notice the water balloons. Also Mom wrote on the back that it was a party when Steve turned 40. Also notice the Carlson's canoe is parked by the house. I'm guessing they're on their way up to or back from The Boundary Waters.

5. Four photos are of a picnic in the backyard with Mark, Lois Ann and kids. Mom's friend Agnes was there too. It looks to me like Mom is serving salmon Mark and Lois Ann probably brought down with them.











5. Why do I say these ten are a batch? First: They were on facing pages of the album book. Second the photo paper is all the same with the same "AGFA" print on the back. Third: Seven of the ten have the identical serial number on the back "1111 N N N+ 1L-1" including photos of Steve's party and Mark and Lois Ann's picnic.

6. What about the other three photos that had a different number on the back? Two were of Heidi Carlson obviously at the same party for Steve. (wearing the same clothes, tossing the same balloons, with the same canoe in the background standing next to the same dad wearing the same T shirt etc.) One was of Heidi Stynsberg obviously at the same salmon feast. (sitting at the same outdoor table with the same table cloth and the same lemon slices on a plate and the same salmon on a tray etc.)

Another Guess-The-Date

I'm getting close to the end of my scanning of old photos, and I've saved the worst for last - the photos where I'm not at all sure what year they were photographed. Here's a batch I'm hoping someone can help me with.


Judging by the ages of the kids I was guessing these photos were taken the summer of 1989 to 1990


But on the back of one of the photos mom wrote "Steve is 40!" That would mean August of 1986.



Here are photos that I am pretty sure are of Heidi and Ryan in 1986. So I'm thinking the photos can't be from 1986 right?