Nice enough for a hike

It was still sunny and warmish when I got home from work so we decided to hike up Bunker Hill after supper.  It felt so good to be out in the fresh air after all of our nasty weather.  I could tell I haven't had much exercise lately. This is NOT a tough hike but I could feel my muscles protesting working hard.  :)

 Looking down on the new boat harbor

We spotted two ptarmigans...or maybe it was the same one twice.  A little hard to see in the grass.  Nice camouflage!

 Still lots of snow on the mountains

Sitting at the top and taking in the view.  It was a lovely day but I still needed a hat to keep my ears warm.

Monday

A couple of nights ago, we took a hike up the front side of Bunker Hill just to get out of the house and into the fresh air for a little while. It had been a somewhat dreary day but the sun came out in the evening so we thought we'd take advantage of the opportunity. The flowers were fading and there were no berries to speak of. It seems like there's a little bit of a chill all of a sudden. Could it be that our short summer is already coming to an end? Saturday we stopped in at the Second Blessings sale at the Methodist Church and I found four sweaters--I am already thinking about winter, as much as I want to avoid that thought. It was foggy, rainy and cold today; I commented to Rich that the family did not get to have the true Unalaska experience during their visit!

On Saturday I had my first piano lesson. It was a little bit intimidating, but mostly I felt happy to be sitting there at the piano, trying to make my brain and my fingers work together. I learned some fundamentals and squeaked out a beginner's version of "Mary Had a Little Lamb," slowly and awkwardly, but quite pleased with myself. I'll be taking lessons on Thursday nights and Saturdays, although my teacher will be gone for two weeks in September so I will have some practice time on my own while she is gone. Given my terrible history of being excited about something and then losing interest or motivation, I am hoping I will keep with it. :)

Our kitchen table is overrun with fruit from the organic produce box, which arrived today--early--and we still had stuff left from last week. We are eating lots and lots of fruit (okay, I admit that some of it has been in a sugary syrup with angel's food cake and whipped cream...see why we need to go hiking?) and still have more than we can finish off. I am thinking we need to make some jam or at least put some of it up in the freezer for winter. And Rich has been doing a fabulous job of creating dinner from the variety of veggies out of the box. Nice!

Looking at my list of books on the sidebar of the blog, I am realizing that I will probably not be successful in reading 100 this year. It's August and I have only finished 26! I knew it was a lofty goal but I thought I would do better than that. Tonight I finished Whatever it Takes--Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America, which returns to the question about why we don't value all of our children and families equally. Can a quality education help lift people out of poverty? What does it take to change a community and a society? And how many of us really care what happens?

A late 'happy anniversary' to Susan and Corey, a late 'happy birthday' to Miles, happy retirement to Kathi, and happy first day of school to Aidan. Off to bed for me.

What a great time we are having!

Eli and Alana on Mt. Ballyhoo

There was a sailboat out in the bay this week.

We enjoyed the Heart of the Aleutians Festival and introduced lots of our friends.

Waiting for an early morning boat ride

The wreck of the Northwestern

We saw lots of beautiful sights out on the boat, including a close-up look at this waterfall, several whales in the distance, a sea otter, puffins, eagles and ducks.

Thanks, Dan, for taking us out!

The Filipino-American Association held a traditional flower parade called Santa Cruzan. All of the girls and guys looked so nice in their finery!

Kristine, Sarah, Jeff and I had the very difficult task of judging several categories in the parade. We thought everyone deserved a prize and could hardly choose!

Aren't they gorgeous?

We have taken several drives around town. Here we are looking down on the valley.

We happened upon two cute little foxes.

Look at this one peeking out at us!

Lunch at the Margaret Bay Cafe at the hotel where the vegetarians enjoyed veggie croissant sandwiches.

This is all that was left of Eli's lunch. :)

Today we hiked up Bunker Hill. The weather has largely cooperated all week. It's a little chillier than the San Antonians are accustomed to, but we Unalaskans have been very happy.

Eli snapping a photo of his sister Alana

Checking out the bunker

What a place!

We drove back out to Summer Bay again today, tried to find the horses but had no luck. We then drove all the way up over the pass.
We've visited the Museum of the Aleutians and shopped at Alaska Ship Supply. We've stopped by my office a couple of times but I haven't managed to do much work. :) Eli hung out at the Community Center for a little while this evening and then walked back to the our house on the other side. Rich has been cooking fabulous vegetarian dishes and finished off tonight with bananas foster--yum, yum! Kathi, Alana and Eli leave tomorrow evening at 8, though we have been teasing them that the weather is due for a change and perhaps they will get stranded! We have really enjoyed their visit and are so glad they were able to come!

Saturday on Bunker Hill

It was a beautiful day yesterday and we took full advantage by hiking up Bunker Hill.

Aidan wanted to take some photos, too.

Eagles on watch.

Aidan with the big bunker in the background.

We had a little picnic and a little rest.

Looking across the bridge.

Aidan had no trouble at all with the hike. He was faster than I was!