Friends of Alaska,

Some days feel like summer (temps in the 70's) and some are cooler.  The warmest so far is about 75 degrees.  Other days are cooler.  The hours of daylight are strange, at least for the two of us who have lived in Iowa the previous 40 plus years.  The sun came up today at 4:34 and will set at 11:02.

We participated in the Chena River Run/Walk along with some 800 other people.  It was 5K or 3 miles.  In my age group I came in third, of course there were three of us total.  Elva was sixth of eight in her age group.  This is the first time we have done such a thing.  The first picture is before the race and the second is after the race.

Not really  --  they were both taken after the race.  My time was 44 minutes and some seconds and Elva's was 50 minutes and 6 seconds.  We were sort of proud of those until we heard that our granddaughter, Claire, age 10, that same day in Iowa City ran a 5K in 29 minutes and some seconds.  We were proud of her but less proud of ourselves.

There was a flute concert with 20 flutists.  I thought a flute was a flute.  Little did I know!  Some were longer and some shorter.  Some had a u-turn in them so its player did not have to reach so far.  There were alto flutes and bass flutes.  We looked them up on the internet.  There are also contralto and contrabass flutes, but not in the local concert.  The various kinds have different lengths and diameters.

This time of year most people are doing out-of-doors things like boating, walking, fishing, sitting in the sun, etc.  So there are fewer things for us to report.  We continue to walk.  We have walked every day except while we had company from Iowa.  All have been outside except one which was around and around in our little apartment.  If I remember correctly one hour walk in our apartment was 220 times around.  The weather here this winter was much nicer than normal.

Thanks for keeping track of us while we are in Alaska.

May God bless each of you.

Larry and Elva