voting NZ style

well i voted this week, no not in the USA in new Zealand, its kinda cool.
i went to the website downloaded the forms , pdf file and filed them out- simple ,
I had to have a friend witness my signature, it s not even necessary to have a notary do it.
and faxed it off to NZ
i am not even sure how they check when last went to NZ , maybe they check passport control maybe they don't. I am not sure what they record when you leave the country, but it was less than 3 years ago. So will they stop playing the stuff on TV, hell no . i live in the states and we have a week to go.
I did get some junk mail form the green party last week. I wont tell you what i did with that.
anyway I voted. done.

Ice and Water.

Today was the first clear day in a while , so I got to take the camera down the river to catch some more freeze up. It amazing how fast the river is freezing, but i must admit that this is the first year i have tried to watch it in detail. let alone catch it on camera.
The water looks like it is warmer than the air. The gentle fog rising.

There are lots of bits of ice drifting down , at quite a good speed. I was also surprised to see the interesting pattern in the ice along the edges. I am not the person to ask about what causes them, water currents maybe. then it clouded over this afternoon. the thermostat says it was 20 today , but to felt colder.. We haven't had a day above 32 in 10 days at least, so freeze up has occur ed. we are just waiting for the river to freeze. i think i did see a duck today but it didn't want to be in camera range. maybe another day.

Photo session 2 the Preveiw

So I got to play model again last night, it is a whole bunch of fun, thse are just preveiws as the photographer was busy for the weekend and these are so small in size , i don't want to show you the good ones till i get a better size to them, hard copies by disk.

This is my " Im not a muslim' shot

I was much more relaxed this time, and had a way better ratio of good shots, - one can learn to smile on demand

Dance Class

It s time for some stuff about dance class. my other hobby in winter - well exercise is hanging out with the ballroom dance club. I get to take lessons mostly on Wednesday, currently bachatta and samba,( think Latin lots of hips and almost sex on the dance floor - if you want - or not) Megan is the instructor , from the university, she had a wicked sense of humor and her sound effects of how to keep the beat have you laughing.


Samba is really fast paced, but is good for when you get that head banging music that you think you cant dance to. it s usually a samba beat. and looks way good if you get it right.

here is my friend Don dancing with Judy last Saturday with Holly and Woody in the background.

At the university pub Megan does a class on Tuesday nights. more Bachatta this week, it was fun, but like usual we are lacking men, so if there are any men who have nothing to do and like to dance,...





So since we were short on men I got to do a marenge with Megan. My hip swinging is a lot better, it just takes forever to get the habit after one s grow up thinking ones hips are large. ( they are but you have to swing them when you are dancing Latin stuff. )


http://www.ballroomfairbanks.org/index.htm


dance class is just total fun.

Charlottte

Charlotte came over today, i got to babysit while her parents went out. shes now 16 month and walking well / (running) last time she was only crawling. Now she has the skills to investigate all my house. the bathroom trash, the cupboards. by the time she was ready to leave i needed a nap. just full on the go. She is still the cutest thing in my life.

Chena river

today after dance class i stoped by the chena river , it was a lovely day about 20 f , and the river slowly freezes

Yikes.

It was -3 this morning. and I am not talking Celsius, I mean Fahrenheit.( -20 C ) it was too dam early for this. I need some heet in the car, plastic in front of the radiator, hell and someone to keep me warm. I put on a warmer coat this morning.
The good side was it warmed up to 19. I sat in the sun for lunch, ....inside that is...

The Chena River

On Sunday the 12 October , we woke up to more snow a good 3 inches in my front yard. the winter seems to stretch in from of us like long rail road tracks. I went for a drive down the river again.


just to photograph the ice forming. I did something i have never done before , something i have said to my self that I would never do. drum roll please......

Photograph ducks, Mallards to be exact. But they were just making themselves at home. having a good time. and of course came toward me as fast as they could expecting something.

The ice is forming rather well down the river. whats covered in snow is a sand bar, a very shallow river is the Chena. The temp the last few days has not been warm it s been down to 10, F ( that's -12 c ) it was 123 today, at least the sun was out.

Freeze Up aproaches

the river veiw from work. oct 9 , snow on the ground again, sunny day and the river still open , small amunt s of ice can be seen , just not with my camera. should have gone outside and got better photos. some of the last stuff nearly melted. we had a couple of nice days , everybody is running arround putting winter tires on the cars.

Snow, a crappy 4 letter word

September 30 and there out the window lies that crappy stuff, it s early enough it s only september, it wont stay....... well

The Ocean

I changed my screan saver today , i just felt like change. I choose a photo that refects what i miss , living in Alaska, the ocean. you know flat horisen , with just a little curve of the earths circle. I need to be able to view this .. hell every day would work.

i miss the Ocean.

the Rest of the photos, and car stuff

http://picasaweb.google.com/kiwijanet/Janet#

Practicing some skills for when I am away overseas and have limited computer access. see what you think
Today I am the proud new owner of some blizaks tires, 4 of them and $460 poorer, i know i should stop complaining. but complaining is fun. these are supposed to be supper tyres for driving in the snow / ice. my Friend and those that say they are good tyres but we shall see, its a long winter.
I also got to change my head lite bulb , i lost the low beam last week. you know on the side where you have to take the battery out to get to the head lite. My battery is kinda old, and it took some loosening, the spray stuff for loosening nuts is really good, got the battery out , got the lite bub back in and in the right place without touching the bulb, and everything back together all in 40 minutes flat. I'm rather proud of my self. I even had the right size ratchet in my little tool kit this helped.
yes there is still snow 0n the ground, it hasn't melted.

Janet

More photos

Photo day

Tony wanted to take some photos and i need to more decent recent ones. so for a couple of hours this morning i got to play. , the first photo session i ever ever had. if you don't count the baby ones.

it was a whole bunch of fun , the better part of 300 photos later we pulled about 50 for my preview. and you get some of them