July 31, 2007
what a party?!
This photo certainly deserves some explanation, but it will have to wait for now!
Holgate Glacier 2
We were super close to this glacier. I must admit I was a bit nervous, at one point I wondered whether our captain had ever seen Titanic? We were moving through a lot of ice! But no worries he was a good captain and we saw a lot of amazing wildlife.
my Alaskan Hosts!
Morgan and Ben are notorious for making goofy faces in photographs, it's a wonder that they actually have wedding photos where they look "normal". ;)
They were wonderful hosts for my little trip to Alaska. It was great to see them in action working for AWA (Alaska Wildland Adventures) at Kenai Backcountry Lodge. Ben works as a KBL Guide taking folks up the Cottonwood trail & doing water tours of Skilak Lake. And well he does a lot of other jobs too like lugging luggage, helping guests with their heaters and a well it's probably different every day. Morgan is the breakfast cook and dinner prep helper. She's wonderful in the kitchen. She had two morning shifts while we were out at KBL. I decided that because I traveled all that way to visit Morgan and Ben that I would rather get up super early, 6am on Thursday & 5am on Friday, so that I could spend extra one on one time with Morgan. It was fun to hang out with her in the morning quiet. She even put me to work occasionally. Cracking eggs, grinding coffee, washing dishes, but mainly I just got to drink coffee and chat while she did all the hard work! Those two mornings might have been my favorite times in Alaska. Well, seeing a glacier and pods of Orca's was pretty cool too!
It's offical!
Today my daddy, Major Frederick S. McFarland officially pinned on Lieutenant Colonel (Lt. Col). So no more Major dad in our family, I think he suggested Col Pop! We'll see what the grand babies come up with. For those of you who don't know my father has served almost 30 years in the airport, I think 27 to be exact. He was a reservist for many years and went active duty in '89. He's served in Gulf War 1 & 2 and he most recently returned from service in Afghanistan. His service to our country as a chaplain is a gift and a blessing. He's great at what he does and this promotion has been a long time coming. God is good and we are grateful for dad's new promotion.
And to my mom who's served alongside him all these years (37 to be exact). Being a military wife is just as challenging as being a military member. She too has earned this promotion! They are a great team and I'm blessed to have such amazing and generous parents. It's fun to say and really mean it, that my mom and dad are two of my greatest friends and advocates and encourager's!
I'm Back...
...from seven glorious days in Alaska! What a delight it was to spend my vacation this year in the beautiful state of Alaska with my best friend Morgan and her newly acquired husband Ben. They were great hosts! We had lots of good laughs, lots of good conversations, lots of good food and it was a joyful gathering of old friends!
I've posted my pictures from the trip, many need to be rotated and I need to label them but at least there now in a Flickr Set and not just on my memory card!
Tomorrow is the big day! My first official day as a Librarian at Emmanuel College. I'm to arrive at 8am and the day will commence from there. I still have lots to do in my house but I'm doing my best to just take it easy and instead of moving furniture a million times (in the fashion of my mother) I'll live with the space for a few weeks and see how things should be placed.
July 20, 2007
friday night fun...
Pro Wrestling in Royston every Friday. I'll have to go sometime, except maybe I should get someone to go with me. Maybe my brother in laws would enjoy such an outing?! Consider this an official invitation.
noise
Currently there is a cricket outside my front door that is being super LOUD. It just might drive me crazy. It's going to take me a bit to get used to country noises.
settling in
This week has been full. At times boring. At time lonely and at times full of interesting adventure. But mostly it's been good.
Monday: Moved into my new little brick house on top of a red dirt hill. Very steep driveway. Uncle Tom can atest to that. So much so that we had to drive through the neighbors yard to get the truck up my hill. Lots of help moving in, my new supervisor and her husband, the VP of Academic Affairs, the chair of the Math Department, my uncle and my grandmother. Good crew, we loaded the VERY FULL Truck in about an hour. Grandma wanted to make sure my bed was made before we left for Athens. After we did that we did the $0.50 tour of Franklin Springs/Royston and Emmanuel College campus. Then we drove back into town to return the truck, have lunch and return Uncle Tom & Grandma to Doug & Sam's. I came home and did some unpacking, watched a movie and went to bed.
Tuesday: Went to the Power Board to get my electric turned over to my name and sort of got my SSN problem fixed, not fully to my liking but I look into after I return on July 31st. Did more unpacking.
Wednesday: My friend Joanna drove in from Athens. She and her husband Tim just moved to GA from Pittsburgh. Joanna is 5 months prego with twins, but still very helpful. She helped me by putting books on the shelves and handing me empty boxes to store in the attic. I was most grateful though to have a visitor. I love being with good college friends, because even though I haven't seen Joanna in several years we still have lots to talk about and such great conversation! At lunch we went to Nana's Kitchen a little place that's an old gas station and is now a restaurant of sorts. I had a BLT. Joanna graciously invited me to dinner at her home in Athens. She left in the late afternoon and I drove in to town around 5:15. We had a lovely dinner followed by coffee at a little place not too far from their house. The attraction there is that they serve Greyfriar's coffee. A Covenant Grad Favorite!
Thursday: This day was an adventure. I had the goal of getting my car titled, registered and getting myself a Georgia license. In my old home of Ohio you do all three of those things in the same building. Foolishly I thought that was how it worked in Georgia. So I set out with all the appropriate documents to Carnesville . The county seat of Franklin County. It's about 10 miles away, not too far you say. Well 10 miles winding around country roads seems like forever. I got out there and found out they couldn't do anything for me until I was licensed to drive in GA and the only places I could do that were either in Athens, about 40 miles away or Toccoa Falls, about 25 miles away. I opted for Athens because I could get there faster, and because I knew exactly where it was. I got to Athens waited in line for an hour and got my Georgia Peach License. By the time I got home I had drive over 75 miles just to get a drivers License. Lesson learned. I went to dinner at the library directors house. It was very nice and good to be around other folks. And we discovered there that I have access to the campus wireless because I live so close to campus.
Friday: Drove back to Carnesville again. Very easily got my car titled and registered. The clerk at the title office even remembered me. She wanted to know why I moved all the way from Ohio to Franklin Springs. Did I have family here? Sort of I replied. And then I told her, "I guess I'm the over adventurous one in my family." I then drove out to the closest Wal-Mart, about 15 miles from FS did a little shopping. Came home finished watching the Motorcycle Diaries, ate a super yummy georgia peach and tomato sandwich and now I need to get motivated to do three tasks that need to be done before Sunday at 8am. One of which is pack for Alaska. Yup you read it. I'm off to Alaska at 1pm on Sunday. I'm off for 8 days, 2 traveling days and 6 days with my very good friend Morgan and Ben. Watch for pictures! I'll have lots to share I'm sure.
July 17, 2007
July 3, 2007
July 1, 2007
a new friend
I've had a great time in Chattanooga visiting with my dear friend Alison. This was also the first time I got to meet her two boys William and Elliot. They are surely an adventure, but a fun one. We spent part of the afternoon at the market downtown. I took a gamble and let William take some photos with my camera and he did a fantastic job. He took some really neat photos. I think he just might be a budding artist.
a good time was had by all!
I spent the better part of yesterday hanging out with my very good friend Alison, her two boys William & Elliott and my little cool nephew Fuller. We had a grand day, a few hours at the Creative Discovery museum, playing in the "river" at the aquarium, followed by ice cream at Ben and Jerry's. It was a super fun day. After naps we joined forces again to hang out where Alison is staying. All and all it was a good day.
Fuller just left to go to the Lake with his folks, so I'll spend today with just Alison and the boys. See you in 12 days Fuller. It just occured to me that I move to GA in 14 short days.