26 March, 2013

Family on TV: Grandpa Steele

Remember how I said that above 60 degrees latitude, spring starts in May? Well Anchorage had a blizzard warning just yesterday.
Snowed In Cabin
click photo for source via Flickr
My grandparents are the owners of a snow plowing company in Alaska. They are responsible for clearing the roads in their area with their tractor graders whenever the weather dumps snow - which is often - in the winter. Yesterday, Anchorage got a big fat snowfall and a local news reporter chatted a bit with my grandpa on camera! He's so cute. I just love hearing his gentle voice in the video.

Check it out on KTUU.com, or click here.


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22 March, 2013

A Magical Teacup Ride

Tea Cup Ride on High Street, Solihull
click photo for source on Flickr
I had a memory float to the surface today from a time I rode the teacup ride with my mom. Nowadays, I look at the teacup ride and feel a little queasy - as I am sooo easily motion sick. I have always had trouble with motion sickness, even as a kid. For some reason though, my kid-body was immune to sickness from carnival rides! Which was delightful for me, of course. I was unstoppable.

My parents are older, so when I was about 7, my mom was 50. It was a pretty rare thing for my parents to ride carnival rides with me at the state fair, and when we went to Disney World, so I got pretty used to riding them alone. I was ok with it! As long as they were there for me before and after and I could wave to them from the top of swinging dragon ship, it was all good. Occasionally though, my parents would go on a ride with me and it became the most magical. thing. EVER.

One day my mom and I were out running errands together and we happened upon a pop-up carnival in the parking lot of a big store. I begged her to go in, and since it was a pretty small carnival, she acquiesced. I spent probably an hour riding ponies, throwing rings at bottles, playing skee-ball, and riding the spinny-swingy-death-rides and finally it was time to go. I grabbed my little toy winnings and discovered I had two tickets left.

"Can we plleeeeeeease just use up my last two tickets first? And then we can go?"

How could she resist? I was adorable, dammit. She agreed that if we found something on the path that led to the exit, I could use them before we left.

I looked around all over for anything that cost two tickets, desperately seeking that one last ride when I saw it. The teacup ride. It cost one ticket and nobody was on it. I looked at my tickets, then at my mom. She grabbed my hand and we ran over to give my ticket to the attendant.
My eyes absolutely lit up when the fellow asked, "both?" and she said. "yes."
I couldn't believe it! Mom was going to ride with me! How did I get so lucky?!

Together we picked out a white teacup with pink polka dots and sat down. The music started. The teacups began to move.
I discovered a plate in the middle of our teacup, that if you held it and turned, would spin the cup. I tried it. Then mom grabbed it and before I knew it we were spinning so fast that the world around us was a blur of colors and flashing lights. I thought it was hilarious!! I kept spinning and laughing and laughing and spinning. My mother started to laugh which made everything all the more merry. My own emotional cup was so full at that moment in time, that deep belly laughs were erupting from my body like too much tea from a kettle. I laughed so hard and so long that my face hurt and my voice became deep and throaty, which made me laugh even more. I laughed the entire time we were on that ride and my mom kept spinning and laughing with me. It was pretty much the happiest moment ever.

Too soon, the cups began to slow down. We let ourselves slowly spin to a stop and when we gathered our bags and stumbled from the ride, I took her hand and said, "whew! That was fun."


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20 March, 2013

Outside

I love the ways animals find to communicate with us. After a failed attempt to teach Bilbo to use the toilet rather than the litter box, he basically said, "Screw this!" and forevermore decided he preferred to do his business outdoors anyway. Works for me! I stopped having to scoop his litter every day, and everyone was happy.
He developed a way to let me know when he's ready to go outside, and if I somehow miss his signals, he has his litter box to fall back on. 

He was sitting at the door today, giving me me his cute little tiny meows (and they are different from the mews he gives for other reasons) letting me know he needs someone to let him out - and I just couldn't resist his cuteness. I had to give him a quick cuddle before letting him out. Bilbo is adorable. I love him more than I probably should... haha


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19 March, 2013

Follow SpiritedShannon on Bloglovin!

I read that Google Reader is shutting down on July 1st. If you're using Google Reader to follow my little blog, please consider switching services to Bloglovin' and follow me there. I only switched from Google Reader recently and I must say that I really really like Bloglovin' now that I'm used to it.
Join me there, won't you?

some hydrangeas from a recent trip to the flower shop. Totally unrelated but I thought they were pretty and maybe you might like them too :-)


Happy Spring!

While I've been seeing gorgeous pictures all over the internet and blogosphere like this:

Spring Trees, Clare College
(via bearseye on flickr - click image for source)
and this:


and this:


...the snow here has been gradually melting and we've been seeing more and more brown earth poking through. The sun has been shining, the skies have been blue, it's been making us very hopeful for spring!
Having lived in the northern hemisphere before though, I know not to get my hopes up too high - as Easter usually comes and goes with there still being snow on the ground. When you're above or around latitude 60, spring hits around May. But the sunny days and the smell of the Earth was just too much not to get excited about, even if it is only March! I love winter, don't get me wrong. I just so look forward to the change of all the seasons. It's a beautiful time.

St. Patrick's day whizzed by and I thought of taking a photo for all my Irish friends to giggle at - with all the snow in the background - but got busy and didn't manage to get it done. This morning, however, I woke up to big, beautiful flakes falling all around us, making Sweden look very wintry again.






The good news is that it covered up all the dirty snow near the roads again, so that's nice. Also since the daylight lasts a bit longer now it's given me more opportunity to wear my sunglasses, which I love. I don't even know why I love my $2 sunglasses as much as I do...

Speaking of which, there's a great giveaway over on PuttingMeTogether.com. Head over there and snag yourself a pair of free Gucci sunglasses from smartbuyglasses.com. (Little shout out on my blog for an extra entry in the giveaway never hurt anyone!)

Anyone else getting snow where they live, instead of flowers? 

05 March, 2013

Terrifying Adventures Across a Frozen Inlet

It's been pretty grey around here lately, but over the weekend, the clouds parted and suddenly it was a gorgeous day. Blue skies and blindingly white snow, plus a free afternoon meant V and I could go on a little adventure. Originally, we intended to head over to the castle, but on the way there we walked by the marina - and decided to cross the inlet. But no worries! It's mostly frozen. 

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