runway activity

the pilot announced on everyone's vhf (like a cb radio in most every villager's home) that groceries were coming in...

we had just finished our time in the alaskan bush and were waiting at the gravel runway for our journey home to begin



i grew up accepting deliveries in my parents' grocery store

but bananas and diapers didn't come by plane



paul and patrick...long-time friends of ours...now work at the grocery store

they drove out, loaded, and were heading back when i ran over to give them a big hug goodbye

we've watched these boys grow up alongside our boys!



paul has always made me laugh...today is no exception



back to the village store they go...gave me a little lump in my throat

boy oh boy, do i hate goodbyes {always have}

the GOODBYES are the hardest part of our trip...

but they make each HELLO! next year that much sweeter

{close up}

teaming up this week...my coffee and patty's water on leaf

funny how we both shot liquid!

morning is my favorite time of day

{never so until i had children}

expectant and refreshing at the same time

i wonder if patty took her shot in the morning

when everything is watered for the day

readied to meet a new one...

just like me and my coffee

got class?

who needs a calendar to know it's the first day of school in these parts?

with each acorn that falls, we hear

"it's autumn!"



a senior...



a freshman...



a 6th grader...

i think i'll stop blinking now

because, yes, it's going by

in

a

wondrous, fun...

BLINK!

gifts

God begins tendering my heart about a month before we leave for alaska

it's an odd thing...this tendering

i tie-up loose ends with friends...thank you notes, phone calls, quick stops to say goodbye...



it's not that i think i'll go down in one of those bush planes, or fall off a glacier...

{although i do have those thoughts sometimes}

it's just that my heart seems to be set on hyper-sensitive mode regarding all the wonderful people and things in my life...my cup overflows with gratefulness for my life

perhaps God is just peeling off the deadened layers around my heart...in preparation to LOVE full throttle



so with my heart in its tenderized state, and two days to go before departure...

i checked the mailbox and found a care package from Patty over at Finding Serendipity

patty and i have gotten to be wonderful friends through blogging...we "get" each other and share so many things in common we've stopped counting

we call, text and email but never so much that either of us feels smothered...

we both like to laugh...we both want to live lives that make God smile...patty helps me to be a better photographer...a better mother...a better person

patty sent me girly bug spray and wonderfully scented bug bite salve (which we needed!) and other totally perfect gifts for someone (a Hyatt girl like me) heading to the last frontier...

and then i opened the card...and just burst into tears



how could someone i've never met send me such amazing gifts and a card with such perfect words?

but that's patty for you...i'm so grateful she's in my life

serendipity means an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident

my friendship with patty seems serendipitous, but i know our friendship is no accident

it's a beautiful and unique gift

{thank you, God}

{organization}

this week's team up theme is {organization}

i guess organization resonates with patty and me 'cuz we're back in the school-year saddle 

i'm still saddling my horse, patty's already left the barn

{her neatly folded clothes on the left, my pretty jar of brown sugar on the right}

for me, an organized home is a basic essential for me being 

clear-headed and joyful

as long as i can remember, i've been an organizer

and i couldn't be happier that the whole world has hopped on the organizing bandwagon

Target combined organizing AND numbers...my favorites!

even the garage got organized the other day...with old fruit crates i snapped up from my neighbor's trash

pretties always pack a punch when they're organized

my sister asked once if we lived in our van because it was so messy...

but generally?

organizing and keeping house

simply

make

my

heart

sing!

finally!

the last night we were in our first village there was excitement around 10:30...

"it's coming!" children hollered, as they ran up and down the river bank

little by little, word spread and adults began congregating along the river too



through the brush at water's edge, we peeked

it should have come last month, but because for some reason it didn't, villagers had been rationing fuel oil, staying home instead of going out berry picking or fishing...

but tonight?

the fuel barge was

at last

HERE!



what a wonderful sight for these villagers who depend on this barge once a year for their fuel

after all, the rivers will begin freezing in a month or so

it's quite an event for the whole town when the fuel barge finally arrives

one could feel the collective sigh of relief



we watched the flat bottomed boat maneuver its way to a place where it could offload the oil

and we visited with friends

until the mosquitoes chased us indoors

{have i told you that people need to bring their dogs inside at night or they will die from the mosquitoes?  ugh!}

what a treat to be able to witness the barge arrival

and celebrate with our new friends

hip, hip, hooray!

{negative space}

that patty knows how to help me grow!

{like her gorgeous flower up there}

lucky for me, mr. google helped me learn about negative space

{because when patty suggested "negative space" as our theme this week, i thought to myself how am i going to get a picture of a jail cell?}

when i went googling, i discovered that negative space is everything that surrounds the main focal point in a photo...

the negative space often makes a photo better...

{look how proud & full of love my in-laws are in that photo!}

packs a punch...

tells a richer story

see...here's a photo of my father-in-law cooking a turkey

had i cropped all the basement appliances and supplies out of this photo

you would have started snoring...

"whoop-de-doo" you'd sigh...a man cooking a turkey

but having included all that negative space the photo tells a great story...or at least makes you pause and ask 

"why is that man cooking a turkey on a dryer?"

for me, i love the photo because it illustrates how resourceful and industrious my brilliant (truly) father-in-law is...how down-to-earth and helpful he is...how growing up on a farm in nebraska taught him that it doesn't really matter how something looks (most of the time)

it's about getting a job done well

who would have thought negative space could be so wonderful?

hanging with patty shore do make me smarter!

{and i'm so relieved i didn't have to visit a prison for this week's team-up}