Trick Or Treat!

It was a snowy Halloween! (I know, you can't see it that well in the picture, but I assure you that whatever looks like cloudiness is actually snow.) I was the only one in town from our house, so I had doorbell duty. Although it was a quiet night - with the blinding snow and all - I still had fun. I ended up with 11 trick or treaters. They were a mixture of scream masks, zombies, disco girls, transformers, and the grim reaper. I bought enough candy for about 10 times that many kids, so I guess I'll have plenty of desserts and snacks for the next month. I did try to be generous even - handing out handfuls of candy, instead of a piece or two.

I learned that it isn't really possible to put a candle in your jack-o-lantern if you leave your carved pumpkin out in the frozen weather for a week. The pumpkin top freezes right on the pumpkin.

Just the same, our house's pumpkin brigade was pretty darn good looking.





Happy Halloween!

Honk Honk!

I have noticed that I seem to get honked at when I'm running a lot more here. It's possible that I am imagining it - maybe drivers just always happen to be honking at other drivers or situations as I run by. It definitely feels like I am being honked at though. The really strange part is that I am generally nowhere near in anybody's way as I am running; usually I am on a dedicated pedestrian path of some sort - well off the road and far from any sort of intersections. I don't get it.

It reminds me of driving around DC with the senator's wife. She always talked about how people in DC were much more apt to honk for no apparent reason than California drivers. We were driving in a parking garage and she did a quick demonstration.

"Oh there's a person...honk...oh there's a blue car...honk...oh there is pavement...honk!"

Apparently in Alaska, they say, "Oh, there's a runner...HONK!"

I'll pretend they are cheering me on!

Not To Be Avoided

While at work today I dropped a black pen. It was uncovered (or engaged with the point out, since it was a retractable pen,) so as it was falling, I figured it would leave a big black mark all down my leg. I could actually feel it writing on me in slow motion as it fell. Luckily, I quickly realized that I was wearing black pants, so it really didn't matter at all.

I announced this wondrous discovery to my officemate immediately.

M: "Ha! I dropped my black pen and it wrote on me, but I'm wearing black pants, so it really doesn't matter!"

Less than ten minutes later, I dropped an entire wedge of soft, white Laughing Cow cheese right in my lap. It went all over both pant legs.

And the universe says,

"Ha, Maryse! Nice try, nice try, but I win again!"

Happy Discovery

I was so excited to discover that lilacs grow in Alaska this summer. I had been taking a little lunch time stroll, when I noticed some rather short bushes with purple blooms on them. The lilacs I am used to (in Wisconsin) tend to be rather tall and wide, while these were more short and hedge-like. They looked suspicious though, so I walked on over. And soon enough I could smell the amazing lilac scent on the breeze, and I realized that I was in luck!

They seem to bloom a little bit later in the year here; it was nearly the end of June when I discovered them. I've always been a huge lilac fan, so it's nice to know that I'll get to look forward to them once a year here.

Horror Film Reminiscent

Also on the Winner Creek Trail, we found that we were following a little girl in a pink outfit. She was small, probably only 6 or 7, I'd say. She was probably 60 yards ahead of us; we'd see her every now and again when we came around a corner, and then she'd disappear again. It was quite strange, because it appeared as though she was all alone, just a kindergartener on a hike by herself. It seemed so out of the ordinary that I kept imagining horror film scenes. For whatever reason, her presence there alone just seemed ominous; I guess that it was the juxtaposition of a cute little girl in pink looking like she was walking in the school yard when actually she was all alone with the vastness of the forest or something - unsettling! Anyway, I kept picturing her turning around and being that wicked creature that comes out of the TV in The Ring. (I hate that girl! Sometimes I still think she might come out of my TV when I go to turn it off and it's still glowing a little bit.) Or maybe even the vampire girl from Let Me In. And then, of course, I couldn't get through it without imagining those girls from The Shining.

Eventually (and not really unexpectedly) the little girl did take off ahead, and we came up to see that she did have an entire family with her after all. So that was good, because I really was not planning on being in a horror film that day.

Missed Flight #3

I missed the third flight of my flying career this summer. I was trying to head out of town on a Friday night to FW&BF's wedding. I was really excited; I'm a huge wedding fan, and I was particularly excited to see FW&BF and go to her wedding - I knew it'd be great.

I got to the airport over an hour ahead of time; I was already checked in, and I had no bags to check at all. My flight was a red eye - leaving at 12:45AM. It seemed like the hour would be plenty of time, given that it generally takes less than 30 minutes to check in, check your bags, pass through security, and get to your gate in Anchorage. Or so I thought...

When I walked into the airport, I saw that the security line was extremely long. It was all the way out past the zig-zagging Disneyland ropes and snaking around the airport ticketing area. I got in line, and I tried to just ignore the passing time. It appeared that airlines were pulling people out for immediately departing flights, so I figured it would all be okay. As it got nearer to my departure time, I began to notice that they weren't pulling out any flights for Alaska Airlines. They were mainly for Continental, with a couple of the other big carriers thrown in there. I still tried to maintain my composure. I couldn't believe that I'd get to the airport an hour early, and I'd end up missing my flight.

By the time that I actually made it up to the scanners and TSA agents, there were only about 15 minutes left to make my flight. I was feeling a bit worried at that point. The TSA agent noticed me rushing, and he asked what time my flight was. When I told him, he said that I'd make it.

I got through security with a few minutes to spare, and I took off running down the terminal.

As I got to my gate, I saw that the door was closed to the jetway. I went up to the counter anyway. By my watch I still had 10 minutes to spare. I stood in front of the gate agent, and he did his best to ignore me. He seriously said nothing and didn't even look up from the keyboard that he was madly typing away on. Eventually I asked him if I could still get on my flight and what had happened to my seat. He said that they gave away my seat, and he offered no other help. After a bit he realized that he hadn't gotten rid of me and directed me to the customer service center just down the hall.

I dejectedly made my way down there, only to find that it was closed. So I walked to another gate and found a helpful gate agent.
She tried to get me on another flight, but then realized that the only flight she could get me on would get me into Seattle, but that I wouldn't make the connection for it anyway. She also explained that on that particular weekend in June, (the first weekend in June), they had added 9 red-eyes for the summer. While they added all those flights, they didn't actually add any additional TSA people. So that explains it. Noted: make sure to add an hour of time to your airport arrival time in the summer when you are departing from Anchorage.

Don't Take Beef Jerky From Strangers

Earlier this summer we were out hiking the Winner Creek Trail. We went across the hand tram, and then stopped for a little break after Rob and DJ Valentine had exhausted themselves pulling several cars of people across the gorge.

DJ Valentine was enjoying a beef jerky snack, when a young man took an interest in it. He was standing on the platform right near DJ Valentine on the stairs, watching him eat.

YM: "Beef jerky sure is good, isn't it?"

DJ: (Looks at YM a little quizzically.) "Yep. Do you want some?"

YM: (Looks back at his family, and then back at DJ.) "Yeah, thanks."

YM then proceeded to very carefully eat his beef jerky while keeping it hidden from his sister and parents behind him. He obviously really wanted the jerky, yet also realized that generally one does not take random food from people you meet on the hiking trail.

Thievery

I was walking around the park during lunch one day. Up near the duck pond, there was a little boy riding his bike with training wheels on the path. He stopped his bike in the middle of the path, and then began to walk down through the bushes to the duck pond. He looked really young - maybe only 3 or 4. I tried to keep an eye on him, as there didn't seem to be any other adults around. I couldn't figure out who he came to the park with. As I got closer to him, he noticed me heading his way.

He appeared to be eyeing me warily. I saw him trying to gauge the distance between me and his bike, and then between himself and his bike. He really wanted to be down by the duck pond, but at the same time, he didn't want some strange woman getting near his bike. When I was nearly at his bike, he raced up next to it, and acted as though he was going to get on and ride away. He waited there as I walked by. I smiled at him, and he just gave my a sideways glance; it was as near to a scowl as I think a three year-old can get.

As soon as I was a safe distance away, he walked back down to the duck pond. He had been convinced that I was in need of a tiny bicycle with training wheels and was not above stealing one from him. Poor little guy; I never did figure out who was there with him.

I'm So Hungry, I Could Eat Cardboard

Rob Valentine and I were working on a 1,000 piece puzzle. It took a little more time commitment than either of us could really handle. We ended up moving it to a piece of cardboard and putting it downstairs for a little break. As it turns out, Miss America discovered it.

She promptly tore the puzzle apart (it was over half done) and ate an edge piece. So much for that little project! Miss America either hates puzzles or was really hungry. Actually, I think I'm voting for a combination of the two.

Don't Mess With Dessert

Rob Valentine and I were splitting a peanut butter bar for dessert last night. There was just a slight miscommunication involved in the whole thing.

It all went down like this.

Scenario#1

RV: "Do you want the rest of this?"

M: "No."

RV then proceeds to stab the remaining bite of peanut butter bar. I notice and get worried that he's going to eat the rest of the peanut butter bar.

M: "That's not one bite. That's not one bite. That's not one bite."

(I was repeating myself because it seemed like the more I said it, the more determined Rob Valentine was to eat the whole thing in one bite. And I rapidly saw my last bite of peanut butter bar disappearing.)

Scenario #2

RV: "Do you want any more of this?"

M: "No."

RV then begins to take the last bite of peanut butter bar, having discussed it thoroughly with me and getting the go ahead.

M: "That's not one bite. That's not one bite. That's not one bite."

(RV then wonders what is wrong with me. Why am I counseling him on how large a bite of peanut butter bar should be? And why would I have a problem with him taking the last bite of peanut butter bar that I have already told him I didn't want?)

I'm sure that the conversation must have happened exactly as Rob Valentine heard and said it; it seems more likely that I would mis-hear than that he just wouldn't know what he said. It is pretty amazing how two different conversations can happen at once though. At least the peanut butter bar wasn't the absolute best dessert ever, or I would have been sad at missing out on my last bite. As it was my milk/dessert ratio was a little off.

Agua Del Fuego

It's been an awesome week for me. Actually, Tuesday was one of those days. It was very Monday-esque, I guess, probably due to being the first day of the week. The fun started with random household injuries, and ended with me starting a cup of water on fire. I know it doesn't seem possible; I'd most likely be in high demand if I were living in feudal France or something (I mean, forgetting about the fact that it took a microwave for me to achieve the feat;) they were always wanting to make fire out of something, right?

So I forgot to bring a coffee cup to work with me to make my daily tea. I decided that one of the medium-sized dixie cups that are found in the break room would suffice. So I filled it up with water, and pressed the two-minute quick start button. I then walked away to work on something in the two-minute break. I returned when the microwave started beeping - to a rather awful smoke smell and a small flame burning on one of the bottom crease edges of the cup. I opened the microwave door, and a flood of water poured out the crease, putting out the flame.

See - awesome!

In True Form

We went bowling the other night.

On my first roll, I walked up, went in for the slide, felt my shoe stick, and promptly went head over toes down the bowling alley.

Because that's how I roll.

Maybe Step Off The Trail

I was running the other day on a trail behind our house. As I was running, I saw a man and a woman ahead on the trail. They were bicyclists; the woman was still on her bike, and the man was standing on the edge of the trail. As I got closer, I noticed the man walking over to his bike as he zipped up his pants. It seemed odd that he would just stand on the trail and pee. Sure, plenty of guys pull off to the side like that, but why not find some cover? By the time I got to them, they both realized that I had seen what was going on, and they were obviously a little embarrassed. The woman gave me a sort of half-smile with downcast eyes, and the guy also half-smiled. He made eye contact and chuckled a bit though. It was a strange and kind of awkward encounter.

Subway or Laundromat?

One morning at Subway (the restaurant, not the mass transit train), we were sitting at a table when some undies randomly showed up on the floor in the doorway. We tried to figure out who might have left them there. They appeared to be ladies' undies. There were only three possibilities in the establishment that fit the gender requirement.
As we were sitting there, one woman went to walk out the door. She noticed the undies, looked startled, and stopped. She looked down at the undies, seemed to consider her options and then walked away. She looked amused and kind of embarrassed. Rob Valentine was pretty sure that she was the undie dropping culprit.
Another woman walked out and barely seemed to notice the undies. She did step over them though.
The last woman was waiting in line the whole time we were there. I imagined her to be the undie dropper; I'm not sure why. She just looked like she might go around leaving her undies in strange places, I guess.

With Grace, As Always

We played some racquetball today. I managed to hit myself in the ear and miss the ball. I am awesome.

Keep Your Eye On The Green Fuzzy Ball

As it turns out, playing tennis without your glasses or contacts doesn't work that well. The ball tends to blend in with the green, leafy trees surrounding the tennis courts. And you tend to lose pretty badly. You may think you know where the ball is going, but all of a sudden, it is upon you, nowhere near where you thought it was going to be, and you are tap dancing and flailing your racket around like a crazy person, and still missing the ball. Yeah, probably I should have realized this before going to play tennis.

If You've Lost Your Bear, Please Claim It At The Courtesy Counter

I was at the grocery store during lunch one day earlier this spring. As I was walking the aisles, an announcement came over the PA system.

"Please be cautious as you exit the grocery store and drive about town again today. There has been a black bear reported at the intersection of Old Seward and Tudor. So, again, please use caution as you drive, and watch out for that black bear."

Incidentally, I did drive through the Old Seward and Tudor intersection shortly after that. I, however, did not see the disruptive black bear. I can't say I've ever heard a grocery store announcement quite like that before; it must be one of those awesome things about Alaska!

Health Insurance...Not So Much

I wanted to find a hand surgeon to cut off my finger bump. I'm still certain that if I could just get rid of the finger bump, all my problems would be solved. I was certain of this the last time they cut it off as well - but it came back!! So I looked at my health insurance company's website online to see if any of the hand surgeons that my doctor recommended were in network. Everything in-network is covered at 100% with no co-pay. None of the doctors that I searched came back in network (there were four of them.) So I just searched for hand surgeons in-network. And still...nothing.
So I broke down and called my insurance company. And quite unfortunately, I was informed that there were no hand surgeons in-network on my insurance plan at all. But, not to worry, I can go out-of-network, and then my costs will be covered at 80%. Because I can definitely spare 20% of $20,000 to have my finger bump removed. I mean, if it is going to solve ALL my problems.

I Say So

Rob Valentine and I were working in the garage, and I decided to let Miss America out to enjoy a little sunshine. I thought she might want to roll around in the dirt and sunbathe. She started making her way out of the garage, and a group of kids across the street spotted her. I heard the ominous cries of "kitty" carry across the road. Miss America was oblivious to what might soon befall her.
Rob Valentine advised me to catch kitty cat and take her back in the house. I, however, did not act quickly enough.
The next thing I knew, the kids were upon us, and I was awkwardly holding Miss America.

Little Girl: "Can we pet the kitty?"

(I stand there like a deer in headlights; I want to let them pet Miss America, but Miss America is not exactly familiar with kids. She also isn't exactly comfortable around new people. What do I DO!!!???)

Rob Valentine: "No, we're sorry. The kitty isn't used to little kids. She has to go back inside."

Little Girl: "Well, I know cats. And I say I can."

(I'm still frozen in fear. I look at the little girl. I look at Rob Valentine.)

Rob Valentine: "No, this kitty is a scaredy cat, so she would be too scared."

The kids then all started laughing and muttering about the scaredy cat. Phew!!
Disaster avoided!

Nearly Unforgivable

One night Rob Valentine and I were making some chocolate chip cookies. I asked Corky McAbelas if he was interested, and he said that he'd have two. We left them sitting on the cookie sheet on the stove for him.
The following morning, I went upstairs to make my breakfast and lunch. I happened to throw something away, and in the trash I saw....THE COOKIES!!! It took all my willpower not to just reach in and dig them out. Why would Corky McAbelas do such a thing? He asked for cookies and just threw them away afterwards? I couldn't understand.
When Corky came in that evening, I told him that he nearly broke my heart by throwing away the cookies. He said that he fell asleep the night before, and that they were too hard in the morning. I explained that if he didn't want to eat the cookies he had requested in the future, I would certainly eat them, whether they were old or not. I made extra cookies that night, and sure enough they were still perfect for lunch the next day. Hopefully Corky does not trash any more cookies in the future - I don't think I'd ever make him cookies again!

Pet Killer

One morning I was finishing up with brushing my teeth, when I realized that I hadn't seen the resident mosquito eater that morning. So when my teeth were sparkly and clean, I began to call for him and look more carefully. I was peering into the laundry area repeating, "Mosquito Eater? Mosquito Eater?" when The Librarian walked by.
She asked what a mosquito eater was. I described it, and she said that she thought it was a blind mosquito. I don't really know about that, but as I was describing it, DJ Valentine walked up. DJ Valentine looked at me curiously and said, "Was it a flying insect with long legs?" I responded that it was, and DJ Valentine said, "Oh yeah, I know where that is. It's, ah, in a piece of kleenex in the trash can." I looked at him in horror - my poor, friendly mosquito eater!! DJ Valentine apologized, saying that he had smooshed my pet mosquito eater that very morning, not realizing that I wanted to keep bugs flying around my house.
That's what I get for not introducing all my household pets. I don't kill spiders either, should you ever end up at my house. If they bother you, I can run a catch and release operation.

Sneak Attack

I was downstairs doing some laundry and cleaning up before the workweek starts tomorrow, when I thought I heard someone call me upstairs. I went upstairs and found Rob Valentine out on the patio. He was watering the patio plants with a sprayer hooked up to a garden hose. I went to the screen door and was going to ask him if he had said anything when he promptly turned the water sprayer at me and sprayed me in the face. I scrunched up my face and exclaimed, "f***-ing" (to be followed by he**, before I caught myself), and Rob Valentine started laughing and said, "You said f***." And I burst out laughing. He apologized and said that the opportunity was just too good to resist. It was quite unexpected. Who would have thought that he'd turn the sprayer to spray into the house???

Triple A

I know...I said I was going to try to post every day, and I haven't. At all. This is because I've been on vacation - on an Awesome Alaskan Adventure, to be precise, this week. I'll get back to regularly posting nowish.

Snakes on a Floor!

Okay, so it doesn't have the same ring as snakes on a plane. At all.

I was walking by the bathroom last night, when I heard Rob Valentine exclaim, "What's THAT?"

I peek in the door, and I see something on the floor. It is long and paper thin, sort of brownish, greyish, yellowish, bluish, and blackish in color. It looks like it might be plant material - like maybe a plant leaf. I get closer to it, and I see that it looks scaly.

I say, "It's snake skin! A snake molted in our bathroom."

Rob protests because he says that a snake needs to rub up against something to do that, and it doesn't look all white and flakey like snake skin. He goes to pick it up using my straightening iron. I, of course, vehemently protest this plan. After briefly teasing me, he abandons the straightening iron for his leatherman.

He picks up the snake skin and holds it close to his face for evaluation. I say that it definitely looks like it has scales, and maybe it's a fish. Rob holds it even closer and seems to sniff it. Then he holds it out for me to have a sniff.

And I say, "Smoked salmon!!! Where did that come from?"

We puzzled over it for a bit, but as far as we knew no one else had even been home in the time that the skin appeared. Our best theory was that I left the hall closet door open and Miss America went to peruse its contents. As it is a bit of a hunting apparel closet, we were thinking that maybe she procured herself some old smoked salmon skin there, toted it to the bathroom across the hall, and then abandoned it.

Finger Baby

You may know that I have an awesome bump on my right ring finger. It is the product of an injury involving a fence around a tennis court in college. The injury was then misdiagnosed by a not-so-awesome nurse practitioner who decided to aggressively treat it at as a wart. The injury responded by growing huge amounts of scar tissue - quite similar to a keloid. Anyway, now it is a big ugly bump that has nearly completely destroyed my nail. I haven't found the solution yet. It has been removed with surgery, and I've even tried acupuncture. And there the finger bump stays.

So last night, I walked upstairs, and Smurfette Hermeson was on the living room floor. She was apparently involved in some sort of "fight" with Corky McAbelas. She was yelling something about "baby" and "no" and "get that away from me." She then instructed me to look at Corky's toe - "Look, he has a baby growing out of his toe!!" So I looked, and it did have a lovely bump growing out of it. Corky said that he thought it might be a wart.

So I showed the finger bump off to Smurfette. She gave a high shriek and ran from the room as fast as she could. I couldn't help but start to laugh as she stood down the hallway looking at me; it reminded me of that distasteful look that my old Moni the cat would give me after I had the audacity to brush her. A look of, "What is wrong with you? Why would you subject me to such horror?"

It seemed like a slight overreaction to me, but then again, I am forced to look at the finger bump every day. And, even I can't really say that I'm used to it. I'd very much like it to be gone. Corky attributed the growth "babies" to getting older, as Smurfette is the youngest one in the house, who possibly has not experienced the fun parts of aging. I'm not sure though; my finger baby has been going for a good 10 years now. Either way, the finger bump leads to my embarrassment once again.

Disappearing Act

One unfortunate Friday I lost my pen at work. Generally when I lose my pen, it turns up somewhere on my desk. This only happens after I have harbored very mean thoughts about someone who I am inevitably convinced stole my pen. This Friday though, I was certain that I must have done something with it. I looked all over my desk, under all my papers, under my keyboard, and I found nothing. I went back out to the copier and by the offices I had recently visited. I whined a little bit to my officemate over it. I suppose the loss of a pen at work doesn't sound like too big of a deal. And the thing is that it isn't. It's only that I bring my pens (Uniball Vision Elites!!) to work with me because I don't like the pens that are provided there. So I sort of wanted to find my pen.

By the end of the day, my pen still hadn't turned up. I cleaned off my desk for the evening, and it was still nowhere to be seen. I went home and forgot about it.

Later that evening, Rob Valentine and I decided to go to a movie. We were standing outside the theater, when we heard something hit the floor. I thought I dropped something - maybe my candy or a chapstick from my purse. I looked down...and there it was! The errant pen, right there on the floor in the movie theater. I can't figure out how it ended up there.

So you think maybe I placed the pen in my purse absent-mindedly while at work...nope. I wasn't even carrying the same purse at the movie theater that I had brought to work that day.

Your next theory? Maybe it was somehow on my clothes or in my pocket? Could be. The strange thing is that when I got home from work. I washed my car. So you would think if the pen were going to fall out of my pocket or come unclipped from wherever it was holding on, it would have done so while I was bending and reaching and standing and crawling around with my car washing. Or at least if it were in my pocket, I would have noticed. I mean, usually you can feel it if you crouch down with a chapstick in your pocket, and a pen is considerably longer.

So thank you pen people. Or whoever it was who returned my pen from the place that I somehow left it. I am quite pleased to have it back.

Fail

I was sort of going for blogging every day more or less. I actually got on late last night to make sure I got June 23rd. Well, as it turns out, my profile is set to another time zone. So I wrote my post and clicked "Publish Post." Then I went to view it, and what should I find, but that it posted at 12:22AM on June 24th!! And, it was actually 11:22PM on June 23rd my time. So I went through and tried to fix it. I deleted the post. I made sure that my blog profile was set to Anchorage. I changed my google profile to Alaska time. I re-posted. And it said 12:33PM on June 24th!! So, June 23rd gets skipped due to technical difficulties.

The Big Metal Box

When my friend and I came back from working out at lunch one day, we saw a big metal door sitting in the parking garage. It was near the door, black, fairly narrow, and quite tall. It seemed to have a lock on it too. There was a note taped to it.
"If you took the big metal box, this is the door."
Awesome.

108 Sun Salutations Later

I did it. I finished my 108 sun salutations. It went pretty well, I think. I'd say it took me less than an hour. I only did Surya Namaskar A, but I did mix it up between jumping and stepping back to plank. I also switched off between cobra and upward facing dog. And then I did have to drop my knees to do bow instead of a full chatturanga from time to time.

After 20 sun salutations...I was still feeling pretty good. Full chatturangas and jumps all the way. I was warm enough to lose my sweatshirt.

By 30 sun salutations...I was starting to feel like it wasn't going to be quite so easy to finish them all. I had to switch to stepping back to plank and forward to stand up again.

By 50 sun salutations...I was over the stepping. It seemed like I kept accidentally dragging one foot or the other along the mat. Annoying! I felt more energetic and went back to just jumping. It didn't seem like that was taking much more effort. I did however give up on doing full chatturangas. I did lots of bows with a few chatturangas mixed in.
I also did a lot more cobra than upward facing dog.

By 75 sun salutations...I started feeling pretty good again. It felt really smooth. Bow to cobra felt like exactly what I needed to do, like the most natural movement I could be doing right then.

And from 90 to 108...it just felt good. I was shakey. I was tired. But I was happy. I finished strong with full, fluid chatturangas to upward facing dogs. I could see the sun out the window; 108 sun salutations were the perfect way to greet the sun on the longest day of the year.

And today...I can sure feel it. My arms, my hamstrings...woohoo, they remember the solstice celebration!

Solstice!

Okay - so I've been on hiatus for quite awhile. Over six months actually. Things were a little rough there for awhile. But, I decided that the summer solstice was a great day to get back to some Carport Furby action. For today...108 Sun Salutations. AND - the sun is actually out if you can believe it! We've had quite a bit of cloudiness lately, so the sun's appearance is wonderful tonight. That's it for now, but I'll be back. Back with sore arms.