I AM FROM.....

Amber has a yearly exercise with her students where she has them write a poem of the following format:

I AM FROM…..”

*in/around your house>
*in/around your yard
*in/around your neighborhood
*family/ancestors
*sayings
*food
*”where you keep your memories”

Last October she asked us to write our own to see what we could come up with. I began but never finished! today I came across my unfinished work and decided to give it another shot. Any others like to give it a shot?

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I am from a garage with two cars, three mountain bikes with a bike repair center, a tiny trashcan and a large recycling bin

I am from a small patio with a grill, an outdoor gas heater, an invasion of snails that require salt permiters and PJ's love/hate cat friends

I am from quiet neighbors with a son and a zen garden, Trader Joe's, a carniceria and an evening champagne stroll

I am from the most fun wife in the world and we are proudly from North America, South America and Europe

I am from "Jus", "Luck favors the prepared" and "Taste this"

I am from julienned roots, tacos al pastor II, TGI Sushi and a pasta dish that makes me feel at home when I have been away for a long time

I am from a green volkswagon bug with young parents ....

A farm in Iowa where I met a lady named Gladice, feared dead cats and rode on horse back.....

Trips to mexican beaches, baby brother with spit on his chin and cock-roaches in the shower...

Dreaded middle school years where I learned (with amazing parental support) in a year of failure, what it takes to succeed.....

Searching many countries for my best friend and finding her only miles from where I grew up .....

Knowing that in the future I will look back to this this time as a fond memory.......

ONYX PLATES IN PV

Hola Familia, Saludos Desde PV!

Joe had an idea to frame onyx plates in Parota wood to adorn the walls of our condo. We chose orange / cream / white color onyx plates with beautiful, natural streaks cascading through the stone.

The frames were made from Parota wood which is safe to use down here as termites hate its taste. A lot of the furniture, doors, frames and other wooden structures built in PV are made from Parota.

Joe needed "Muscle" to help him hang the frames and Josh happily agreed to make the trip to help his Dad with this project. We LOVE the final product!

Con Carino, MoonRaka

From my cell phone!

Hey Guys,

You can send messages directly from your cell phone to the blog. I took this picture on my cell and sent it directly in. If you are in a strange situation and have a rare photo opportunity on your phone please send it in!!

Blogspot.com has instructions on how - or ask me and I can help.

Aguluwak Lodge, Alaska

For the past two and a half years I've been working with a customer, GCI based in Anchorage Alaska. GCI is the company that provides cable, phone and Internet service in Alaska. GCI also owns a world class fishing/outdoor lodge in the Alaskan bush...

A couple weeks back I had the very rare and lucky opportunity to go to the Lodge. It was truly an amazing experience. The land and wildlife are amazing, the lodge is extremely comfortable and relaxing, the folks running the lodge truly know how to help you relax.

We flew into the lodge first thing saturday morning meeting at a small airport in Anchorage. Aguluwak is not accesible by car so you have to fly a propeller plane and land on a lake by the lodge. The plane is called "The Otter". It's a classic, solid propeller plane made in the 50s.

The trip was filled with a ton of activities including fishing, sight seeing of nature including bears, rifle shooting etc. I caught my first Red Salmon which is supposedly quite rare becuase they aren't biting. The rule is that if you catch them in the mouth (as opposed to dragging the hook on the body) you get to keep the fish. Since they aren't biting it is very rare to do this. I guess I had beginner's luck becuase I caught one in my first half hour! They folks running the lodge said it was so rare that even one of the lead fisherman on the lodge had only caught them in the mouth a few times! They helped me pack the fish up and I got to bring it home ;) Needless to say it was the only one I caught that weekend!

It was such a release to be in a place with no cars, no TV and lots of outdoor activity. I didn't miss the hustle and bustle one bit!

This trip really gave me a lot of vacation ideas. Due to lack of knowledge, I never really thought I'd choose an Alaska vacation over other things like Beach, Europe etc. This trip definitely changed me in this regard. I could definitely see myself planning another trip to an Alaskan lodge some day. It really is true that you can't rule something out until you understand what it's about!

Here are some photos:

Target Practice.

Bears! Unfortunately this was not my SLR camera! Great photo or not, I'll never forget this! The Salmon are trying to swim upstream to mate and they get to this small waterfall. The weak ones try to leap out of the water to the upper part of the stream. While they are jumping out the Bears actually sit there and catch them in mid air. I have video of this that I'll post on the video album when I get a chance.

Stay tuned for the video!

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