Home; Wilderness

These pictures sure brought back some memories as these are pictures of the first house that
Dick and I bought in the Washington DC metro area.  We got married while living there and it was from this house that we moved to Alaska.  We remodeled our first kitchen in this house and went on to remodel 2 more kitchens in other houses that we have owned.    Dick is quite the handyman and there's nothing he can't do, well, except cook. 

Journal:  February 1992


Dick and I spent a lot of time searching for our first home. He wanted a nice garage, I wanted a nice kitchen. “They” wanted a lot of money! We were making our home in the Washington DC area where real estate was just so expensive. After much searching, we found this home that met our needs and our budget.

Dick signed all the necessary paperwork at closing for me as I gave him a power of attorney. I was in Florida packing and finalizing everything with my office. I was changing jobs but not employer.

We were moving from Florida, me from Pompano Beach and Dick from Palm Bay. After a very long drive, I got to our new home first and discovered a really sweet note from Dick welcoming me home. Next to the note were two new champagne glasses. I looked in the refrigerator and there was champagne for us to celebrate our love, our new house, and our new life.

I ordered a pizza for delivery and Dick arrived around the same time as the pizza. By this time it was probably 9 pm and there was no way we were going to start unpacking. So we sat on the floor in the dining room, ate our pizza and toasted our new beginning.

We still have the champagne glasses and they are very special to us. In fact, I got them out last year when we celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary.

I used bits and pieces of left over Swirlydoos kits for this layout and a few things from my stash.

Cardstock: Cricut Greens and Black
Patterned paper: Webster’s pages - Life’s Potrait and Hollywood (vellum over pp), Prima matting, 7 Gypsies burgundy piece, MME small brown patterned strips
Letter stickers: Pink Paislee Expressions Licorice
Chipboard: Dusty Attic corner scrolls #2 DA0464, vintage key DA0392, vine DA0459
Flowers: Prima large flowers, small unknown
Ink: Distress black soot, Glimmer Glam Tinsel Town, Bronze UTEE, Glimmer Mist Tattered Rose, Distress stain vintage photo

Chipboard scrolls were first covered with bronze UTEE but I left areas uncovered. Then stained with Distress vintage photo and then coated with Glimmer Glam Tinsel Town. Key is coated with bronze UTEE
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Here's a layout that I did for the Words and Perspectives at the Just Perspective blog.  This is a picture I took on our honeymoon in Alaska in Denali National Park.  It was already fall there and in fact it snowed a couple days after we left and they had to bring people camped in the park out in a convoy led by snow plows.  It was a freak storm that dumped 2' of snow at the park and caught everyone by surprise.

Journal:    I love the wilderness of Alaska, it feeds my imagination and its vistas are a feast for my eyes. I love to drive the few roads that pass through this scenic wonder, for who knows what I may see? In the spring, I keep a watchful eye for a moose with her newborn calf or perhaps a goose or duck shepherding her flock across the road. If she is frightened, she will shoo her flock into the brush and she will feint injury by dragging her wing, hoping to divert my attention from her babies. In the fall, I keep watch for the majestic Bull Moose with the velvet rubbed from his antlers; he is searching for a mate.


I have seen the beautiful trumpeter swan with her mate and cygnets gently floating in a pristine lake with water as clear as glass. Once I sat for hours and watched two beavers hard at work engineering a dam so that they would have a pond where they could build a lodge and store their winter food supply. I have seen bear cubs playing with each other as only children do. Their mother was watching from a nearby post and when she called them with a quiet woof, they responded immediately. Ah, but then, there was the time I saw Mama bear smack her cub “upside the head” because he was being a bit too rambunctious! I guess kids will be kids, no matter the species.

There are places I go in the wilderness that were once covered by glaciers, and even today, receding glaciers are visible in the distance. I wonder what it was like in the glacial age, how did any living creature survive the constant cold? I wonder what lies under the glacier and as the glacier continues to recede, what secrets will unfold for scientists to study.
More than anything, the wilderness is God’s country. It is there that I see and feel the wonder of our earth and experience the simple pleasures of observing so many creatures quietly going about the business of living in the wild. My eyes feast upon the wide-open vistas and the dark forests, the glacial valleys, the snow covered peaks, all this natural beauty that surrounds me and my heart just sings.
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You can probably tell that I really love Alaska, if there is anywhere else like it on the earth, I haven't been there yet but I'd like to go!
Supplies:

BasicGrey Curio Collection

• Linen – base pp
• Textile – solid yellow
• Ophelia – yellow print
• Victoria – Orange square
• Chiffonier – small print circle
• Diecut stickers & letters

Core’dinations green cardstock
Tattered Angels
• Glimer Chips Tattered Traveler – compass
• Bingo Card Travel

Prima metal flower mix #4
Prima e. black pearls and crystals
Distress ink – wild honey and black soot

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