Friends,

Things continue to go well in Alaska.  The weather has not been as much different from Iowa the last couple days since your cool front went through.  At 9:00 pm there this evening (Tuesday evening) it was 66 there and 68 here (of course at the time it was 6:00 here.

Last Wednesday we went to Murphy's Dome.  It is a mountain claimed by the military for a radar installation.  We were there to see if it would be a good place to watch the Northern Lights.  It would be very good.  High with few trees and little light pollution.  The trouble is that it is a 50 mile round trip.  But while we were there we discovered that that is a good place for blueberries.  We picked about a cup and a half.  Don't laugh.  That is a fair amount of work.  These wild blueberries are small and very low to the ground.  Few of the bushes are more than 6 inches high.  Most of the berries are lower than that.  If we had been at one of the blueberry farms in Indiana we could have picked several gallons in the same time.  The berries were THICK!  We probably stepped on more than we picked.  It was not usual but one time I picked 9 berries all in the same grab.

This is the result of about 30 minutes picking

This is a wider view of where we picked berries.

The berries were not this thick everywhere but neither was this uncommon.

There were patches of these vibrant red leafed weeds

This is what I tried to show you a couple weeks ago.  This is my foot resting on the spongy ground.

This is putting my weight on same spot.  

My foot disappeared, sinking in about 6-8 inches.

Walking was very difficult.

Compared to the sinking ground all around, I call this picture "On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand."

Saturday we went to Pioneer Village.  For those of you from NW Ohio it is about like Sauder Village.  It has many shops fashioned like like those of 100 to 150 years ago.  Many of the buildings are actual log cabins from that era.  It also has a children's playground, merry-go-round, and a train. It is about a 2 1/4 mile walk from our apartment.

Monday we tried to find a closer spot to see Northern Lights.  We think we found one about 10 miles north of town.  It is near Gold Mind Dredge #8.  That is on some maps of this area.  It is not high up but should be dark.

Along the way we saw these trees turning.

Pictures of Fairbanks from the White Mountains, my guess is that these are about 5 miles from town.

Today I started volunteering at Adult Learning Center of Fairbanks.  Basically its purpose is to help people pass their GED test.  I will be teaching a 1 1/2 hour class twice a week for four weeks.  That much will cover all the topics on the math part of the test.  The test has four units and each week I will cover one of those units.  If it goes well I will repeat the process each month.  The workers at ALC say that nearly all people who don't pass the test have trouble with the math.  You can pray that Elva will find some good volunteering to do.

God's blessing to all

Larry and Elva