New Years Wishes, Reflections, and Pictures

Wishing everyone a very good New Year!
Just cooked up a proverbial storm of New Year's food (recipes at Borealkitchen.blogspot.com).

As is typical for this time of year, it's cold here, with temperatures below zero Fahrenheit. Here are some pictures from yesterday when we drove to the Mat-Su valley. The first part of the drive was in the sunshine (view of Talkeetna Mountains from Chugiak):By the time we got down to the Knik River, we were very much in the fog -- looks cold and grim, doesn't it? It actually is amazingly beautiful, I think -- reminiscent of the Dr. Zhivago, which we just watched -- a tradition for us during the break between Christmas and New Year.
By the time we got to Wasilla, we could see the sun again.

We've entered a new decade -- I hope that it's a better one politically compared to the last. The post 9-11 decade (a.k.a. George W. Bush era) sure seemed full of fear. Fear of terrorists, fear of economic collapse, fear of reform -such as fear of "socialized" healthcare. I say "Bring it on!" I'd like to see healthcare reform continue to be "tweaked" and improved over the next decade or two, and hope that we adopt more and more green energy policies, that we reform agriculture to be more sustainable, and that US foreign policy become less about fighting wars and more about peace-making!
On a more personal level, our family has entered our second decade of living in this beautiful valley, and feel very blessed. While we still sometimes miss Fairbanks and Colorado where we lived during the last millenenium, we have grown very fond of this valley. The children are growing into lovely young ladies and gentlemen, and bring us parents much joy and pride. We feel very satisfied in our jobs as well -- we're truly blessed!