Time for a New Hello....

Life has decided to rev up a bit for us, and we're on a new trail. To continue following our journey, visit our new blog: www.MontanaMountainview.blogspot.com.

Cheers!

Dan and Sondra

It's Time to Say Good-bye....

Aahhhhh... Life. Just when you think you've got it all figured out, there's a giggle echoed in the wind and things change.

So, Things Change, and we move on. On to a new page, a new leaf, a new place, a new reality.

It's time to move on.

So good-bye to the postings and musings, and best wishes to you and yours.

May your days be peaceful and your life a calm one.....

Ten Things that Make Me Happy...

My daughter Rachel bumped me on her blog to write this post.... it was fun coming up with the list!

1. A "project." Some get finished; many don't (say good-bye to the never-finished punch-embroidery thingy I've been holding on to for 3 years). Right now it's a book I'm writing (started it a year and a half ago, and let it 'rest' for a bit). It gives me something to lock my brain onto.

2. My handsome hunk-a burnin' love. It's been such a treasure to travel my life with him. You are my knight in shining armor....

3. The smiles of my daughters... both glow with an inner light.

4. A Dan Gibson song... I love nature mixed with music!

5. Ooey gooey warm chocolate brownie melty stuff...

6. America's Funniest Home Videos- always a good pick-me-up.

7. The burst of creativity/art that is waiting to be found by the voyeur.

8. Listening to waves lap on the shore- so fulfilling!

9. The first cup of coffee in the morning- no cheating on this one. Fresh-ground goumet beans, sugar, cream (no fake stuff or milk).... pure heaven.

10. My goofy yorkie-poo Tucker; lovey-dovey, full of self-righteous confidence, part clown. He makes me laugh.

February....

Need I Say more? :)

Some Good Internet Entertainment for all of you....

Thanks to my daughter Rachel's blog, who first shared this little gem, there is a charming website that shares all those 'precious' family photos we'd rather forget. You'll have to scroll a bit to find this beauty.... who says a home is not a castle?

http://www.awkardfamilyphotos.com/

Blessings to You and Yours...

Let It Snow....man

Winter has come! And in celebration, here's an homage to the ever infamous snowman that we all know and love......

Mackinac is Mackinaw.....

Many have heard of Mackinac Island and the Grand Hotel. Most of those not from Up North will pronounce this word with an 'ack' on the end, but alas.... it actually is pronounced with an 'aw'. It just is.


Some have said it's because the Indians pronounced it that way in their language. I'm not so sure... I think the English (or French?) just spelled it wrong, and didn't want to admit to their mistake afterwards.


To make it even more interesting, there is a Mackinac Island with a town on it, and across the water on the mainland is a city called Mackinaw City. Mackinaw City is newer. One might think we Americans named the newer town 'Mackinaw' to right the previous wrong, but the story I got while visiting was the spelling was different to simplify mail delivery.


We had a fun visit to both places while Erika was here in October. Here's several photos of the Island and the city on the island.... (by the way, the only transportation on the island is by foot, bicycle or horse.... quite fun!).

Fall and Family- Good Times

We just finished a lovely 2 week visit with our daughter Erika, who flew over the pond from her home in Edinburgh, Scotland. My parents came up to see her, since it had been 2 years since they were together.

We all became a bunch of 'leaf peepers', and the leaves were beautiful!

Cheers to you and best wishes for a lovely Autumn season....

More About Sakena Yacoobi

I got to meet Dr. Yacoobi, or 'Ustad' as she is called from her employees with the Afghan Institute of Learning. (I think 'ustad' means 'teacher'.)
She has won a number of national and international awards for leadership and human rights. Her travel schedule is punishing- she is traveling almost non-stop to conferences, forums, and back and forth between Afghanistan and the United States.

She is a quiet, unassuming woman with iron-hard determination. Her passion and dream is a future Afghanistan where women and children are literate, have good health care, and can learn skills to maintain a family lifestyle. She is Muslim, and believes in the equality of men and women that is referred to in the Quran.

Here is a great video that shows a bit of what Sakena is accomplishing:

More About My Job....

I work for Creating Hope International. It's a nonprofit that is the USA partner for an Afghanistan nonprofit called Afghan Institute of Learning. Their purpose is to give educational and health improvement options for Afghan women and children. CHI also does work for a group of Tibetan Bon refugees in India.

Toc Dunlap is my boss and the executive director of CHI. She worked in the Peace Corps years ago and served in Afghanistan. While there, she met the Afghan family of Sakena Yacoobi. Sakena wanted to go to a university in the USA, and Toc worked with her to overcome the challenges to get there. After that, Toc went back to law school and then spent several years working as a lawyer. Toc then spent a number of years working in Pakistan with the International Rescue Committee.

In the ensuing years, Sakena got her degrees at 2 universities and was a health consultant and teacher in the US. She then spent three years in Pakistan working with Afghan refugees for a couple of organizations.

In 1995, Sakena founded the Afghan Institute of Learning. In addition to education, AIL was the first organization to offer human rights and leadership training for Afghan women. AIL supported 80 underground home schools for 3000 girls in Afghanistan after the Taliban closed girls’ schools in the 1990s. AIL was the first organization that opened Women’s Learning Centers for Afghan women—a concept now copied by many organizations throughout Afghanistan.

Using their grassroots strategies and holistic approach, AIL now serves 350,000 women and children each year through its training programs, Educational Learning Centers, schools and clinics in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Since 1996, over 6,700,000 Afghans have benefited from AIL’s education and health programs.

In 1996, Toc and Sakena worked together to form Creating Hope International. CHI works on behalf of AIL to prepare grant proposals and reports for existing grants from companies that support the work of Sakena and AIL. The Afghan Institute of Learning funds all its programs from private and corporate donors. Organizations like Nike, the Oprah Network, and Abbot have allowed AIL to continue their important work for the Afghan women and children.

Two interesting and dedicated women, two nonprofits that do great work. I learn more everyday, and I only become more impressed....

Autumn is a' coming......

On September 2nd, I noticed a funny thing.

Our firebush by the deck was starting to have a reddish tinge in its leaves.

Over the next couple of days, flickers of color started to pop up in singular trees among the forests of green.

Fall is here in the 'up north' country.

Today, the Sunday before Labor day, I saw the oranges, red, and golds beginning to creep along in earnest among the tree population.

Wow! I'd heard from a number of people that Northeners love their summers, even if they are short. And this summer the grumble has been "what summer?" since it's been rainier and cooler than normal. But I'm only now starting to realize how fleeting and brief summer really is......

A Perfect Afternoon

Today was finally sunshine... after days and days of drizzling rain.

(Is this normal? No. Since we moved up here last January, I've consistently heard "I've never seen weather quite like this!" The winter was unusual, the spring was unusual, and the summer is unusual. I'm trying not to take this personally; it seems since our arrival the weather has been 'different'. No one has looked at us suspiciously...yet; I'm sure it's all coincidental.)

The weather was glorious- golden sunshine, a breeze blowing through the trees, at high of 65 degrees. The perfect day to...... take a nap.

"What?!?" you say, "but the weather..... the fresh air, the wonderful opportunities to enjoy the outside!"

Aaah, yes..... but it was also the day for a Perfect Nap. That rare combination of cool breezes and refreshing slumber, with clear refreshing dreams. When you wake up and feel like a new person. At peace with the world and ready to take the world on. Yahoo!

Then.... we watched a classic movie: The Devil and Miss Jones. Lots of fun and worth every minute of being a bum.

On to a grilled steak dinner on the deck with the sunlight dappling on the table, and a bit of wine, and Tucker dashing after the latest toy.

A Perfect Afternoon.....

Mama Deer and Her Two Fawns

We like to feed the critters outside the deck by our family room doors and watch the wildlife come by. The squirrels and chipmunks are regulars here, and we occasionally get turkey, raccoons, crows, and deer. While Paul was here visiting, he managed to make this video of a mama deer and her two fawns:

And just for Paul Skinner in merry Scotland (Dan says hi), here is a photo of turkeys just outside our door:

Tucker is Getting Bigger...

Several of you have asked for updated photos of our yorkie-poo Tucker. He's 3 1/2 months old now, and his ears have gone from floppy to upright. Here he is....

Shortly after getting Tucker, I got a job as a contracts administrator for a non-profit with an office in Bellaire called Creating Hope International. They do the administrative work needed in the USA for an Afghani-based non-profit called the Afghan Institute of Learning, whose focus is to support and develop schools, learning centers, and health clinics for Afghan women and children. It's pretty neat stuff, and it's rewarding to be a part of a group that's making a real difference in the world.

Since Tucker is so little, I had to find doggy day care for him. Between that and house breaking, I have to chuckle to myself as I've been carried back to the 'baby' stage in life in many ways....

Cherries in Cherry World....

Traverse City is the cherry capital 'of the world'- that's right, the world.

And if TC is the cherry capital, then we are living in the Cherry Kingdom.

There are acres and acres of cherry orchards, cherry fruit stands, cherry juice, cherry pie, cherry pills, cherry salad dressing.... this list goes on and on. AND right now it's prime cherry pickin' season.

Rachel and Paul spent a good day plucking the little beauties......cheers!

More 4th July Parade Photos....

Welcome to a new family member...

Say hello to Tucker, our new puppy! He's a wee little thing, and so far, absolutely adorable....

Good Ole Fashioned July 4th

The Central Lake parade on the 4th was the heart of Americana- lots of fun floats, a single marching band, and anxious kids waiting for candy that was thrown to the crowd.


Armor Express had their own float honoring all the divisions of the military....