How to tell people I blog

I've been blogging for a while now, and enjoy it!
I started with the idea of keeping far-away friends and family posted on what's going on in my life (and in my head), but blogging has become something I'm doing because I enjoy writing, for myself, for the sake of writing: getting words on cyber-paper JUST BECAUSE. I write 2 blogs actually, and it's more likely the recipe/food blog that I might mention. But when I tell a friend or co-worker "the recipe is on my blog", I often get a funny look or stunned silence -- why that reaction to blogging?

I read a recent post on this subject by Ian (a Canadian living in Hamburg, Germany) who's blog is called Letters Home to You. I enjoy reading it, and he recently posted "How to tell people you're a blogger".

I know it’s not as if I’ve grown a second head or have one of those dumb-looking disks dangling from my earlobes, but still I hesitated before telling them. ...None of it needs any justification, rationalisation or explanation. It is what it is. So yeah, I’ve been blogging, but I’m still OK.

I do so agree with him. Blogging needs no justification. It's a personal choice, a hobby.
Some people scrapbook, others write letters to the editor of the local newspaper. Some people like to forward emails to everybody whenever they come across a funny picture or a worthwhile cause. Others post frequently on twitter or facebook, or post snapshots on picasa or blipfoto. Some people blog...

What I enjoy is having found an outlet for writing, for ideas, for discussing what matters to me, such as the environment, or good food! A lot is about my family, and perhaps that interests nobody but my family -- fair enough! Nobody has to read my blog -- hey, it's o.k. by me.
I blog because I enjoy it. PURE AND SIMPLE.

photocredit: http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poem_illustrations/405.jpg
accompanying the poem'The Two-headed Monster" by Darren Sardelli

PCT update: Snowy Sierra

The team is now 3 twenty-something girls, and they call themselves "Djibouti Booty". Trailnames and hiking groups are changing frequently, but they've seemed to have settled into a nice little female core group, and currently they are known as Thump-thump, Microbust and Sweet 16.


Now the stretches of the PCT hike between points of civilization are getting longer & snowier: I just heard from my daughter while resupplying in Independence/ Lone Pine, CA. They had just climbed Mount Whitney, 14,500 ft. WOW!


From what I gather, they are getting incredibly strong, sun-burned, and are constantly thinking about food -- it's difficult to carry enough calories for the 7-10 days stretches of that kind of exertion...

It's my "Take the cubs to Work" SUMMER

You've heard of "Take your Child to Work Day", haven't you?

This summer I'm incredibly lucky -- Wolfman and Liesl have been coming to work with me once or twice every week, ever since school let out.

Sometimes they go on a hike first, but afterwards they help at the front desk: taking parking fees and making change, helping the other staff & me with whatever is needed, and of course, answering the 2 most ubiquitous nature-related questions:

Where are the bathrooms?
Are there any bears?
(Last year a resident volunteer wrote a whole song about this!)

The only scary part of this is (no, it's not them hiking the trails alone in bear country), but the fact that the 16-year old is doing the DRIVING!

Photocredit:
http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/wildlife/images/hunt/bear/cubs.jpg;//www.alaskaseaplanetours.com

PCT Update: High Sierras - watch out, here she comes!

My daughter and her friends (the 3 musketeers), a.k.a. " Djibouti or Bust" have crossed the last section of the Mojave Desert after their rest in Agua Dulce. They've resupplied in Tehachapi, and are currently ascending Walker Pass... soon to arrive at Kennedy Meadows (Mile 703).

This is where they start getting into more serious High Sierra hiking! There's concern over how much snow they'll encounter. Plus, my daughter is always on the lookout for handsome and rugged men with beards -- like this one!

What an adventure, and less than 2000 miles to go...

Photo credit: http://www.ventureforth.co.za

What constitutes a HOT day in Alaska?

First of all, let me assure those of you from outside Alaska that we don't live in Igloos -- in fact, we live in the proverbial Banana Belt of our fair state. It does actually get hot here -- well, sort of!
How hot?

1.) We do occasionally wear shorts (some do as soon as the snow starts melting).
2.) Our kids do occasionally run through the sprinkler -- a rarity, admitted, but it did happen today!
3.) When it gets really hot, we even drag out a fan to cool down the bedroom at night -- as you may guess, nobody has air conditioning here.

Today was HOT -- I started gardening as soon as I got up (to avoid the hot part of the day, but mostly, because I did have to go to work later). As I was working in my sadly neglected flower bed, I kept finding the remains of some old candles that had fallen down from the deck at Christmas and had been covered in snow until early May. I piled them up on the stairs, and this afternoon when I got home, there was a wax puddle. Now that's HOT for Alaska!

Our high today was a whopping 77 degrees, which might be as hot as it gets for the whole summer. And that's just fine by me!

Photocredit: http://blog.kidsurplus.com