Sunny Day Picnic in Juneau, Alaska

The rains have come to the Juneau-Douglas area now. I am so grateful that I took advantage of our few sunny days to have fun with my 90 year old father and 82 year old mother.

My visit has been hard and I am deeply exhausted. I only have a few more days on my beloved Douglas Island before I take an Alaska Airlines flight out on Tuesday and head back to my 'other' home in Salem, Oregon.

I have spent three challenging but worthwhile weeks here. I have celebrated my mother's birthday, visited with my four younger brothers and their wives, and all of my wonderful nieces and nephews and even helped with a sweet grandog.

I have cleaned and organized and safely re-arranged until there were no hours left in my day that went unused. I worked on two Alzheimer's Quilt Initiative quiltlets in honor of my mom and I re-read "The Thorn Birds" for the third time (one of my mother's absolute favorites, and mine, as well.)

We drove to the end of Thane Rd. on the Juneau side and to the end of the North Douglas Road (pictured above) on the Douglas side. I drove my father's car on all of these jaunts...that's a big deal, trust me ;)

On this beautiful day, pictured above, we drove to Outer Point on Douglas Island. Pictured here is a view point right before the end of the road...before Outer Point. We watched the kayaking class in progress. It was like watching Tai Chi or Chi Kung. It was a thing of beauty to the eyes and a melody to the ears as the commands chanted out for the use of the paddles. The kayaks glistened on the sunny beach all in a row.... just waiting for the instructions to merge with their use.

We opened my dad's sunroof and the sun poured in as we ate the lunch I had packed us. Tuna and egg salad sandwiches, chips,cheetos,grapes, cookies and pop. Even without a cookie, my diabetic, but very happy mama exclaimed again..."Another good day!"

And then, again..."now, what can we do to give you more good memories tomorrow?"

Ah, mom, each and every day is a good memory...sunshine, car ride, picnic or not.....

shown:

Kayaking class, Douglas Island

Mendenhall Glacier as seen from across the Gastineau Channel

the front of a house on N. Douglas Rd (made totally of old skis)

Mendenhall Glacier, Gastineau Channel