-Thanks, Bubble!  Emma is all over Christy whenever they come over and Christy loves it!

That's what you call "beautiful people"... relaxed, smiling & ready for anything! Thanks, Bubble for posting and thank you for sharing, Jane.

Jane, one happy and relaxed family photo..

Bubble, there's a story in that series of photos of Aviv, a momentous one?

Jane, the blonde is strong in your family! What a wonderful family photo to cherish!

Shirley, "By the way, Patricia, we didn't have gym whistles.  " What I meant about the whistles was in response to your post # 10271, May 27th, mentioning spam, robo or auto calls.

haha, I know, Patricia, but we didn't have any whistles in gym so why I do what I do. Had not thought about it but do carry a small "screecher" that makes the ears fall off. Will have a finger around the chain on it, one end of my purse inside. Back when purses were getting snached from little ole ladies at the grocery store, I figured nobody would carry one making that much noise & noise maker would drop to the bottom of the purse & shut off pin still in my hand. Be painful trying to find the noisy thing in the bottom of my big purse! I go prepared for anything!

The gym teachers and coaches all had those big whistles in classes. None of the students had them.

Bubble, Aviv is growing up right before our eyes!What a handsome  young man.

Jane, beautiful family!

Thank you both for sharing.

I don't know how I missed the photos of Aviv & your comment about "the world wide" life of you & your family, Bubble. Will Aviv "become a man" as my mother always talked about... about 12? I don't ever hear that expression anymore. My oldest gr-son is older that Aviv & nothing mentioned about "putting away the things of a child". Such a different world we live in. Your family came from all over & from gr-parents down, mine were all from central MO, arriving in this country thru the north, south & east coast.

Today I heard something that kinda shocked me & told the person "I'm not critizing, trying to learn about the legal side".  Didn't know you could get an online paper that allowed you to perform marriages. I guess no training or anything & perfectly legal if either went to court later. My only comment was, "why do they insist on calling it a marriage?" Must be another word, maybe...merger?

Anyway, this discussion is about photos & I sure missed Aviv's haircut, Bubble! Are all of his friends doing it or just his idea? He's a cutie either way. I have a mole right over my eyebrow like he does, but opposide brow.

Shirley, this is not a mole, it is a freckle.
He has just a few, one on his cheek, another on his neck, a few elsewhere.
I always had so many freckles that they covered about 50% of my skin!
I thought it was a result of exposure to the sun, but Aviv is more in the sun than I ever was.

Good Morning everyone. It Is 82º and mostley cloudy here this morning. @ 7:30 AM. Nancy has a apoitment at the denist to get one of her front broken off teath reamoved today. I am going to go take her, I am shure she will not feal like driveing, after haveing it removed. I  do not take good care of my teeth. I am lucker than she is. I do not take care of my teeth. onley two fillings I have is the two the armey docter,s put in when they were practksing, i do not think I need them,but got them anyway. brushing my teeath gages me. have agood rest of the day.

Lloyd

Aw.....I always thought freckles were so cute. My sister had the light, almost blue white skin of the German & English ancestors, she stayed out of the sun, but I got the darker, more Mediterranean color, no freckles. My moles were few but always the raised kind. We were nothing alike in all ways. She is still perky as can be, 4 years & one month older than I am. Hope it has cooled down for you, we are looking at about 90 today so after I got out to water the lettuce & endive in my  trug, I will hole up inside. Next time you get a chance, give Aviv a hug and tell him it's from his "wannabe old aunt in Kansas", Shirley

For Amy
these are the hens that the coloured eggs come from..

I've been a life long chicken lover but some of those colors I have never seen before! If I had another lifetime I really would have a few and know they would be pets till they died of old age. Thanks, Amy, for taking time to take the photos and thanks to you, Bubble, for posting.

Those are very similar to what Claire and some others have around here. For being at the opposite ends of the continent, Amy, your area and mine have a lot of physical similarities. I'm curious as to what type of soil you have. Locally, we have black soil from past glaciers. President FDR sent many of the dust bowl farmers here in the nineteen thirties and they made a success of it.

Amy, I would like to have your fresh eggs but I'll pass on the chickens.
 My mother had a bunch of chickens during the Depression.  I was about 4 or 5 years old and she would send me out to the backyard to bring in the eggs.  Those chickens pecked me when I tried to take their eggs and the rooster would chase me all around the pen and peck me.  I hated those chickens and was glad when she decided it was too much work. And, as my brothers grew up and didn't eat the eggs she decided to use the chickens for Sunday dinner.  I was appalled as a young child to see her chop their heads off.  I have not been fond of chicken ever since.....but, I'll eat the eggs.   

Patricia, for the most part here it is loam to sandy,not as many rocks in this area. At the farm there was rocks and lots of em. Comment was if you can grow rocks you can grow anything 

Phyllis, I do understand your reasoning. One day I was to head back to the neithbours for a vist  and was heading to the barn to get the tractor to go back on. Usually around the farm I wore work boots but that day I had running shoes on. That dag gum rooster came out around the corner of the barn and put the run on me! He had spurs on his legs 3 inches long and I didn't want to feel them. I did have the last laugh though... into the soup pot he went!

We had a few chickens when I was in my early teen years.  We had this Bantam rooster, who thought he was the original "cock of the walk", he had spurs, for his size, of about 2 1/2 inches, never failed to chase me out of the chicken yard anytime I went in there for the eggs. The hens might peck when you searched under them for an egg.  One day I walked out, and he attacked me(I had on shorts and sneakers) got to flogging me, and did put a fair sized puncture on my leg.  I ran in and told mother, and within the next day, she was cranking his head off.  That rooster kept flogging his way from back yard to front driveway before he finally gave up the ghost.  His destiny was the large cookpot.  Epilogue:  He was so tough you could not eat it.  The dog enjoyed the fruits of our labor. 

When I was at either of my grandparents, in Missouri or Colorado, during our infrequent trips in the lower 48, I would be sent to gather eggs. The first time, at seven, I was pecked badly by the sitting hens.

Another time, a rooster chased me, and I dropped my basket of eggs, breaking several. I was scolded by my grandmother and mother, so after that, I refused to go near the chickens again, even with punishment. Several years later, as an adult, I wore heavy gloves to find the roving Kentucky chickens' nests to gather eggs.

Chickens are nasty creatures.

These photos are taken from a listing for a house for sale. They are on the foothills looking over at the rivers, land, and the other range, the Alaska Range.

If it weren't for the need for expensive neighborhood road associations, more people would want to live in the ridges and foothills above the city; more folks would want to move there.

Oh, how beautiful Patricia!  It's a shame they (govt.) won't keep the roads up.  Thanks for posting these pics.

As much as that was always my dream life, I know now how difficult it would be to live it. Like your friends, I would hate to give it up. Thanks for the photos, I really could not picture what the houses would look like and how far you could see. We can't expect "the government" to take care of and protect what each of us wish for, like those that build along a coast that routinely have damage. We have our tornadoes in Kansas and often wind & hail damage, but insurance pays for mine and I pay for the insurance. It is a tough world and thank goodness, we still have choices. 40-50 years ago I would still have headed to Alaska had it been only me to make the choice. So, Patricia, you still thrill me with the photos and news of your beautiful world.

Tome, I had a friend that lived on top of a mountain in Colorado so they and a neighbor bought a roadgrader and maintained their own gravel road. Not sure if other neighbors were in on it or just benefitted by their hard work. I think maybe I've gotten lazy in my old age, in fact, I know I have!

The issue is that the city only maintains roads within the city limits, and the state only maintains state roads that are paved; it's  liability and other issues. The majority of these roads in the ridges and foothills are gravel or, in some places, dirt.

The people living in those areas paid the utility companies so much per pole to have them bring electricity and phone lines and make their own roads. So, people in a neighborhood get together for prohibitive costs, draw up a contract and pay various companies for road maintenance.

To give you a different viewpoint, on the opposite side, the view is of the city sprawling far below and the White Mountains. There are three mountain ranges and four sets of foothills.

Its only between 30 to 50 miles from the city limits but a large difference in elevation.

PATRICIA, I LOVE the pictures!!  You do such a great job of showing us Alaska that I'm beginning to feel that I've visited there.  As I said before, it's the only state in the Union that I haven't been able to visit!  Thank you again for my "visits"!

I have a new pot hanging on my balcony -portucalas- and I enjoy the bright blooms daily while sitting at the computer desk.
My geranium and begonia too are in all their glory.

So bright and cheerful!

Beautiful, Bubble!  Thank you.

Bubble, you have a green thumb!! Beautiful flowers..

I've never heard of or seen such a glorious pot of flowers, Bubble! My mother would be full of questions about what you feed them, etc. The foliage is also so bright, I did give mine coffee grounds when we lived in the KC area and I had a planter right outside the front door. So satisfying you can still keep up with such plants at your window! I am impressed.

I only water a glass of water every two days.
 The bees are very happy with it!