Life is funny, no? Here I am in Nebraska City for my month-long writing residency at Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts. I never thought I’d find myself in Nebraska. I hadn’t even thought much about Nebraska, actually. Yet I’m loving it. The weather has been awesome, sunny almost every day. Kimmel Harding Nelson Arts Center. […]

Today an amazing thing happened: The sun actually peaked through the clouds. Yeah, we had about 10 minutes of sporadic sunshine. The first in over a week. It’s been raining so much, and so hard, that they’ve declared an emergency out in Mat-Su, where David and Jonnie, my doggie sitters live (hope their house didn’t […]

I haven’t run yet today. I may still head to the gym and attack the treadmill (we’re having 100 mph winds here). And then again, maybe I’ll blow it off (no pun intended). Because …. My novel galley proofs arrived today. Yep, a good a looking UPS man delivered them safely to my door, all the way […]

The other night MM and I took the Beebs out to Propect Heights trailhead. It was an awesome evening, cloudy and still, the air smelling of fallen leaves and that distinct, sharp, clear smell of autumn. We ran up Southfork Trail, around a few others and then up Powerline Pass to the Flattop trailhead. It was up, and up. […]

I had two awesome runs in a row this weekend. They were both perfect. Because really, can anything beat autumn trail runs in the sunshine, when the sky is clear, the air crisp? Saturday I hit the Campbell Creek and Hilltop trails for 12.5 miles of trails and some killer hills. It was one of those runs where my […]

I was all geared up for a killer running week. Instead, I caught a nasty cold. I coughed so hard and for so long that the only thing that consoled me was that maybe, just maybe, I was getting a good ab work out in the process. When Sunday arrived and my head cleared and I was coughing […]

In Alaska, autumn comes fast and hard. Suddenly, it’s dark at 10:30 p.m. and the air is crisp and the leaves are beginning to turn, and something inside your chest clenches because you realize that it’s almost over, summer is almost over. So you scurry out the door, intent on breathing in as much as is left […]

Whew! A busy, fun-filled and active week. My sister just left. She was up here for 10 glorious and wonderful days C lives in Philly, and I miss her terribly when we’re apart. (Please move up to Alaska, C, okay?) But what is it about sisters that is so special, so warm and comforting? Maybe it’s because, having […]

Oh, we’ve had sunshine lately, days and days of sunshine! Okay, the sun hasn’t been out all the time, but it has been peeking in and out with much frequency. To anyone in Alaska, this equals summertime at its finest. (Sun + long days = pure bliss) The sunsets have been incredible. The running, however, hasn’t been as […]

We’ve been having “hot” weather up here in Alaska! Yesterday it almost reached 70. This is a HUGE deal up here, especially since we had one of the coldest Julys on record. This probably won’t garner much sympathy from Lower 48ers wilting in the heat. But cold and rainy weather, day after day after day, with no hint […]