Monday, July 31, 2006

JULY 31, 2006 MY LAST CHANCE!

Since this is the last day of July, I figure this is my last chance to redeem myself if I want to consider myself a blogger. I wish I could say that I have developed this as a new habit (you know--21 days straight) but it has been 27 days since my last entry.

Bruce and I went on a great cruise to Alaska from the 14th to 22nd of the month on the "Vision of the Seas" Royal Caribbean ship. It was so much fun and you get such royal treatment by the crew. I loved the food in the dining room, and the entertainment in the beautiful theatre. We saw 3 different comedians (all very clean) and 2 musical productions, which I loved, and one headliner, Lenny Welch, a throwback from the 60's, but right up our alley. Bruce loved him, and he had so much energy. It was hard to tell that he was 65 years old. He was all over the place.

The scenery was beautiful and green, green green. We went through the inside passage so we had land on both sides once we got to Alaska from Seattle. The weather was about 58-60, and Bruce loved it. I saw porpoises swim along side the ship and a few whales.

We got off the ship in Juneau, which is the capital city, and saw the Mendenhall glacier. Dad and a friend flew on a float plane to a prime fly flying location to catch and release. My friend Louise and I went to all the shops in the tourist traps. The best thing we did there was eat fresh crab at a little crab shack. They crab legs were huge and delicious. The town is filled with jewelry stores selling diamonds and other (unknown to me) precious stones. Crazy! In the Gold Rush days those shops would have been saloons. As the capital, Juneau is only 30 thousand people, and most of the jobs are government ones. There are no roads going in or out of the city, so people have to fly in or come in on a ferry.

I do have pictures I will get on soon, and even a movie of the waiters on the ship singing to us. I did use my scooter and that was great fun, too.

More later.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Buchanan Family Reunion



This is a picture of our family taken in Deer Valley, Utah on Memorial Day weekend.

It was a great time with all 26 of us. The picture is already outdated as of July 2, 2006 when Ryan and Rachel Buchanan added beautiful Elle Brooke to their family. And Adam and Lisa are excpecting a daughter in September.


My Best 4th of July Ever!

This feels like a good day to start a blog. That and the fact that my son Spencer says if I don't, he'll write it for me. So here I am in my nightgown at 11:00 A.M. reminiscing about my favorite 4th of July of all time.
It was July 4th, 1950, and I was 4 years years old. I was in our bathroom sitting on the pot and the phone rang. I could hear my sister answer it and squeal, "It's a Boy! I hurried real fast, and ran out to the front porch to wait for my Mom and Dad to bring my new brother home. I waited and waited. Then my Dad came with no baby. Now, remember, the details of this day may be different for my parents and sisters, but this is from a small blue-eyed toehead who had until that point been the baby of the family for 0ver 4 years. My sisters were 9 and 14, with many more years behind them than I had.
After having 3 daughters, he was the happiness man in town with the birth of a son. We all knew it and we were happy too. Or I think I was. I then remember Dad taking me by the hand and we walked up to see my Mom at the small one level hospital just a block away past the city park. The park was full of everyone in town it seemed and Dad was telling them all about his new boy! The people were all cheering and patting Dad on the back, and I thought that my brother was so lucky to have so many celebrating his birthday, not knowing that they were celebrating our country's birthday.
When we got to the hospital, I remember looking into the window to see my Mother in bed. I guess I couldn't go inside. In those days, the Moms stayed for about 10 days before they came home. I don't think I even saw my brother that day.
That afternoon Dad took me with him to a little place on Main Street that had a soda fountain and I remember having my first 7-up. It was a good day!
My brother Lawrence Arthur Rasmussen is the best brother on this planet. He has always been good to me and my sisters, even when we tied him up in his highchair and yelled fire. Our parents weren't too happy about that because we had just had a fire in our house a few days before.
Have an awesome birthday Art, and a great 4th of July!