All is well in Anchorage as winter approaches. It's just plain cold here, but in Fairbanks, it's 20 below, so I can't complain. It does keep you moving.

There is so much going on in Anchorage, I can't begin to cover the events here. This is the season for bazaars, and they overlap, multiply, and just turn me away in general, because I'm trying to downsize. The latest thing I've done is give my Christmas tree to the Salvation Army. I'm leaving the state for an extended trip, so decided not to burden myself with decorations and the like.

I did 'do' Hallowe'en, as I was a potato, but I gave that costume away, too . . . gee, it's nice to see empty shelves in my bookcases and other.

The Concert Chorus gave a wonderful performance as a tribute to the Military for Veteran's Day, and it was the highlight of the week. They also had some other stage shows, and one was the Metta Quintet, which was well-received jazz group from NYC. It was a combination of acid jazz and cool jazz, the latter which I like.

The sports scene is alive and well, and there are many sports bars and fans abound watching the NFL and other. On the college board are some good football, too, as I watched my school, Syracuse University, beat Louisville really completely. Just because we don't have any national teams here, doesn't mean we have enthusiastic supports of most of the major leagues.

The windstorm a few weeks ago did a lot of damage to local homes, trees, etc. The tradition Sitka Spruce which is a symbol of Anchorage on the Park Strip, was blown over, but until it can be replaced, some took a crane and hoisted an American flag to a like height, where it will remain until another permanent post can be found. On that note, I thought of the small post outside our American Legion, Post 1 . . . there are letters vertically on it, spelling out, "Support your Post" . . . so I do!

Most of my responses are 'spam' so I haven't contacted any of you personally, but you're welcome to view my web page to find who I really am.

Stop the World, I Wanna Get Off

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How can it be mid-October already? Well, I'm pedalling as fast as I can. My project is to finish those "One of these days, I'm gonna . . ." projects, which includes cleaning out, scanning and throwing out, sorting out,etc. as the first snow falls in Anchorage, and indoor projects come first.

Anchorage is full of events - bazaars, concerts, parties, football, etc. -- and it's hard to do it all, but my personal schedule has been reduced to minimum volunteer work, and maximum relocation consulting. This I've been doing for incoming oil company executives, and it's been a pleasure to meet men (is it politically to exclude women?)employees from other countries. So far they all speak English, which is nice because I'm 'language impaired' and only speak English, but I am a grammar freak, and enjoy proofreading.

Since I have both a Nook and a Kindle, I read a lot and it's not a good idea to correct spelling, or typos, or grammar, on already published works, but I get a personal pleasure from finding these. Is that sick, or what?

I suppose I should get back to informing you of the thrill of visiting Anchorage. This week the Federation of Natives is having their convention at our still new Dena'ina Center . . . Here I am back to that liquist stuff. . . phonetically, wouldn't you pronounce that "dee-na-eee-na"? Well, that's what I would think, but it's really "dee-nya-na", which is a Native word.

The image here is a giant bubble blown up over Cheney Lake, which is a lovely lake on the east side of Anchorage . . . what amusing things our guys think of while we wait for the first big snowfall. It's just around the corner