Bears, fall colors, and more

Just got back from Hong Kong a day or so ago and, while there wasn't much to report about HKG this time, I thought our crew had some redeeming linguistic qualities. One of the guys was born in South America, so he was fluent in Spanish from an early age. But then his family moved to Italy where he became fluent in Italian. He told us he spoke another language or two passably. Thankfully one of those was English. At least when he spoke at about half his normal rate.

And speaking of English, another guy was Canadian and was married to a French Canadian so he spoke Canadian English, American English, and French. Pretty neat, eh?

And me? Well, once upon a time I could speak passable English. That skill seems to be fading. Ah well. C'est la vie. ;-)

Since that wasn't a very exciting trip, I thought I'd post some pix and videos from Alaska.

Enjoy.

Amazing Grace

This is a powerful, moving, uplifting story.

Enjoy.



http://www.amazinggracemovie.com/

The F-word

Potter Marsh sunrise

As I type this post, summer is waning and it's raining. ;-) Try saying that italicized phrase three times really fast without smiling. No pauses allowed.

Summertime in Alaska is usually glorious. After the long, dark, cold, overcast winter, summer comes along and brings almost unbridled joy. Cranky people start to smile again. You see neighbors you've never seen before. You even see it in the animals. When it's cold and dark, our pooch is pretty lethargic. When the sun breaks through, she comes alive. It's funny.

So when summer gives way to fall, it's really kind of a sad time. It reminds me of a summertime teenage romance. It almost breaks your heart when it ends, but somehow the memory of the glorious joy you felt in the summer helps you get through until the next year. And those memories of the previous summer create great promise for the next.

So what's this business about the "F-word"? Well, the other day someone said something about fall approaching and my wife forbade the use of the "F-word", meaning "f-f-f-fall" in our home. For now, we're not speaking that word out loud, but between you and me, we do know it's coming.

And with the coming of that season, we can completely forget about baseball and start thinking about football. With that in mind, let me share a football video. A friend of mine sent the movie I'll post below. If you're not a big fan of American football, you might have to watch the movie a couple of times to realize how some young players pulled off an incredible trick play.

Enjoy.