A Christmas picture

Just wanted to show our latest Christmas portrait and to say many thanks for all the cards and gifts we received! I was afraid that we would feel a little lonely for our first Christmas away from family, but we had a great Christmas and felt very loved! We wish everyone a Happy New Year!!!

Northern Lights

I wanted to do another quick addition to put up my first picture of the northern lights. Sorry things are so out of focus. It was 3am, -1 degree F, pitch black (moon had set), and I couldn't really tell if things were in focus or not when I took the picture. This was a very minimal display, but I was happy to get the picture.

Christmas is coming to Alaska

We went out to the woods of Ft. Richardson yesterday to find and cut down our Christmas tree and we thought we would share some pictures of what we found. Merry Christmas to everyone!

Trip home

I wanted to share some pictures from my trip home in October. Sam, Colin, Meg, and I all came home for our cousin Marcie Plummer's wedding. I loved being home. We visited Devil's lake and it was just beautiful. We spent Sunday over at grandpa and grandma's and played some boche ball. As you can see it was fairly warm for October.

Then I was happy to see Colin and Meg again in NYC a few weekends back. We all met up with Kate, Nick, and Knowl for some dinner. I was so much fun and I wish we could do it more often.

I am working hard on my internal medicine rotation now and am looking forward to my Christmas vacation!

Happenings of September/October

Hi everybody. Although I am sure everyone knows that Rob and Mary came to visit, I thought I would put up a couple of pictures from their trip in September. One is of Halibut Cove Lagoon, where we spent a few nights in a cabin in Kachemak Bay State Park and the other is of the two of them with the Matanuska Glacier behind them. After they left my foster sister Deborah (matron of honor at my wedding) came to visit and we went on a cruise in Seward where we saw loads of orcas and then flew to Fairbanks. We took the Alaska Railroad back. Right after Deborah left, I flew to Alabama to be matron of honor in my best friend's wedding. Meanwhile Ian is hoping to get a job in Fairbanks working for a 1 star general. He'll be flying up on Tuesday to meet the people. We're both doing well. Hope all is well with everyone else!

Denali National Park

Ian and I just went to Denali National Park this past weekend and we couldn't have timed it better. The fall colors were at their peak. We are going to have to go back next year because one day in the park is just not enough. We took the shuttle bus 86 miles into the park to Wonder Lake. We saw eight grizzly bears, four of which were very close to the bus. We saw a gyrfalcon, a red fox, several snowshoe hares, two golden eagles, five moose, and countless dall sheep. Ian captured some footage of the closest bears so as soon as he gets that edited I'll put it up. It was simply a stunning weekend.

By the way, if anyone wants to see more Denali pictures go to:
www.flickr.com/photos/missmerv

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

I hope you have a great birthday and I wish I was there to celebrate with you!

Goshawk

Ritchey stopped by this afternoon. We were in the driveway talking when we saw a squirrel fall out of the tree. We figured it had fallen and was stunned. However, when we went over to look at it, there was a large neck wound. I spotted a large hawk on a low branch, just waiting for us to back off so he could finish his dinner. Ritchey took some great photos of the hawk while it was still in the tree. I waited until it came down to eat. Mary and I have looked through a number of bird books and we believe this is a goshawk.

Mt. McKinley

Hi everybody. I thought I would give you a pretty picture to ponder. Since Ian is still in Korea and the day was so pretty I decided to pop up to Denali State Park to have a picnic with a view. This is what Mt. McKinley looked like this morning at 10:30 am. Not bad, huh?

Ian returns on Friday and we'll make sure to put up some pictures of his trip. He has gotten to tour the DMZ, which he thought was pretty neat. My grandparents have just been up for a visit. We took a glacier cruise and saw two pods of orcas, three humpbacks feeding, and loads of puffins. The glacier was pretty spectacular, too. On the drive down, we also managed to see about two dozen beluga whales in the Cook Inlet. All in all, I've had a pretty awesome August!
mv

Hi All-

So glad this thing is taking off. I am so happy to see all the great pictures and read about what everyone is up too. My camera currently needs a replacement battery and then I can add some pictures of my own. I am rotating in Obstetrics/Gynecology right now. It has been very exciting of course! I just got off a 12 hour shift from 6pm-6am, during which I got to do lots of fun stuff, including helping with a c-section and putting in stapples to close her incision. I am loving my third year, even if I have to stay up all night! I am headed this weekend to Sam's cabin in NH with him and his family. It almost feels like being in WI and is very very relaxing. What is everyone else doing for labor day?

I would like to re-invite Ritchey & Maria, as well as Gib and LIz, but their e-mails have disappeared. So if they want to join, just let me know!

Keep all the great pics/stories coming!

Miss you all and hope to see some of you very soon!
-Andrea-

Bread recipe

This summer, when Colin was home, Meg came up to visit him and brought a bread recipe with her. She gave it to me and I've used it a number of times. The bread is very good, so I thought I would pass along the recipe. Here it is:

No Knead Bread

3 cups bread flour
2 tsp. fine salt
1 tsp. instant yeast
1 ½ cups water at room temperature
Coarse wheat bran

SPECIAL EQUIPMENT
A heavy casserole
A coarse dish towel

Using your fingers or a sturdy wooden spoon, thoroughly combine the first three ingrediaents ina 2-quart bowl. Pour in water. Again, with fingers or a spoon, work the dry ingredients and water together for about 30 seconds until a rough wet dough has formed and all the flour has been absorbed.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise at warm room temperature for about 18 hours. Then, heavily flour your work surface. With plastic dough scraper or your hands, invert the bowl over the floured surface as you pull out the dough, which will spread into an amoebiform blob. Dust it with flour and stretch it into a rough square, about 10 inches per side. Fold the square in thirds. It will now be a puffy strip about 4 inches wide and 10 inches long. Cover lightly and let rest for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, spread the dish towel on a flat surface. Rub a generous amount of flour into one half of the towel and sprinkle several Ts of bran over the flour. This is to prevent the dough from sticking to the towel.

Fold the dough in thirds again, beginning at one of the short ends of the strip. The resulting package of dough should be nearly the shape of a cube.

Delicately brush off excess flour from the dough, and with your palms, very gently stretch the top layer part way down over the seams visible on two sides of the dough. With both hands, gently lift the dough into the middle of the half dish towel you’ve just prepared. Sprinkle the top to the dough with a little four and bran. Cover with the other half of the towel or with plastic wrap. Let rise for 2 hours.

Halfway thorough, put the casserole and its cover in the oven and turn the temperature to its highest setting, probably 500 F or 550 F.

When another hour has passed, open the oven and remove the casserole cover. Slide your hand under the towel where the loaf is resting, lift up the towel and loaf, bring them over to the casserole, and , steadying the loaf with your other hand, invert it into the casserole. Pull off the towel. Shake the casserole sideways if the loaf needs to be neatened. Cover the casserole, close the oven and bake for 30 minutes.

Uncover the casserole and bake for another 20 to 30 minutes (personally, I have found 10 to 15 minutes to be plenty of time) until the loaf is a handsome dark brown. Remove the loaf and let it cool on a rack until it is barely warm to the touch.

MV in Berlin

So I just got back from my trip to Berlin. I attended my best friend's wedding in Oranienburg Palace. The picture is of me in front of the Reichstag. I had a fantastic time. My friend Janet traveled with me and we did all the sights of Berlin that we could fit in 10 days: Reichstag, Brandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie, Berlin Cathedral, Sans Souci Palace, Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, and a soccer game in the 1936 Olympic Stadium. I have more pictures up on flickr if anyone wants to see them.

I got a call from Ian today. He is doing well, but apparently they don't give him any time to do any exploring off base.
mv

Message from Ian in Korea

This is the e-mail I received from Ian right after he arrived in Korea:

I am writing you from Camp Walker, Korea!  My flight here wasn't too bad- after
a long layover in San Francisco, I slept most of the way.

There is a first sergeant here from Wainwright that I met on the flight to
San Francisco that I have made friends with, and living with me now are two Air
Force captains that are pretty cool.  We are living in open bays with about two
dozen other officers, and it looks like it is going to grow to even more people.
I took this picture at a stop the bus made on the way to Dagau, and you can
see how pretty it is.  It looks a bit like Brazil.  They are very agricultural here-
every flat spot that is not a city is planted with rice, corn, or fruits.  I was a bit
surprised to see kudzu here at first, but I guess it is native here- it grows just
as densely here. I don't yet know what I will be doing, but it sounds like we will
start the exercise in a day or two once everybody else shows up.  I hope to be
busy enough to occupy  my time, but I also hope to have a chance to walk
around a bit. The weather is a bit like Alabama at the end of summer- hot and
humid with lots of rain, but it is only in the 80's or so.
-Ian

I am back from Germany.  More on that later.
mv

Montreal

Most of you have heard about the trip Mary and I took to Canada in the middle of July. One key element of the trip was my participation in the Montreal 24-hour inline skating marathon. I skated with a team of over-55's appropriately named the "Flying Fossils." Although there were no age group divisions, we did very well and it was a delightful event. Since the teams were composed of 10 members, it meant that each of us was skating only 10% of the time and socializing 90% of the time. I have attached a photo of our team. Between laps on the Montreal Formula 1 race track, we rested in the paddock area, where each team was assigned its own space to set up. It was a great group of guys with whom I skated and I certainly would enjoy doing it again. Our team finished 2nd out of over 70 teams. One of our teammates owns a cycling/skating apparel company and he provided all of us with the speed suits that most of us are wearing. Good stuff!

Rob

Home in the Mountains

Hello everyone.

It has been so great to hear from all of you. The pictures are really great and I am sorry I don't have any to share right now. I will work on that.

Things in CO are going well. I have less than two weeks now until we head into the mountains with the freshmen for their orientation trips. I've spent most of my summer getting ready for these outings so I am anxious to see how everything goes.

Other than work I've just been trying to get myself ready for senior year. I don't really know how to do that though. This is my last free weekend so hopefully I can find something exciting to do.

This link (http://www.csindy.com/csindy/2007-08-16/cover4.html) is to an article I wrote for the Colorado Springs Independent newspaper (our version of the Isthmus). Check it out if you get a chance and write a letter to the editor saying how clever and insightful you think Colin Stroud is.

I won't be home to see little Knowl, sadly, but I will make it back to Madison as soon as I can.

Colin

Knowl Seward Stroud

Knowl was born on 5/21 at 1:49 in the afternoon. He was 3 weeks early, weighed 6lbs13oz, and was 20 inches long. The picture on the left in the teal hat is one of our favorites from the first week. Knowl is a lot of fun--he has a wonderful temperament and it has been so great watching him grow over the last 12 weeks. We have done lots of fun things with Knowl--he likes reading books, listening to music, and taking walks to the park. The picture in the button down shirt is on his 2 month birthday. We have also taken many trips : to Colorado recently with the Condouris family and to Cape Cod--the striped hat picture above is on our campsite. We hope that everyone will be able to meet Knowl soon.

We will be coming to Madison on 8/25-8/26 and we would love to see everyone at the greats on Sunday afternoon. Spread the word to those who are not yet regular S/C bloggers.

San Diego Visit

I know I am not a Stroud or Carpenter, but I wanted to say a quick hello to everyone and share this picture of Andrea and me in California last month. Hope to visit Wisconsin and catch up with everyone soon. Rob- Max loved your diving DVD and it has put some good ideas in his head.

I'm so happy.....

.....to hear from so many of you. This is probably becoming my new favorite way to procrastinate.

Just wanted to say:
-Nancy can you send me your 3 children's emails?
-Kate - I can't wait to see pictures of Knowl at the beach!!
-Mom and Dad - can you post some pics from your trip to Canada?

Ok - back to my homework!

Tyler and Laura join with all the other "Stroud" couples (O.K., and Carpenters) at their wedding reception.

Just out and about

Hi everybody. I am going to have to be your source of info on Ian as I am the communicator of our little family. This is the latest picture of us taken last week at Exit Glacier. We've been babysitting some cadets who the Army sent up here to learn about Army life. We've been taking them around and showing them Alaska on the weekends.

This weekend we're planning to drive to Captain Cook State Park on the Kenai to look for agates on the beach... so we're heading for the beach too, but the water's a hell of a lot colder than the Hamptons ;-) On Sunday, though, I have to do some work as I am the new editor of the Church Newsletter and I have a deadline of Monday.

Ian is doing well as the platoon leader of 2nd Platoon Charlie Company 84th Engineers. As of right now his company is slated for deployment next summer to Afghanistan. This could change, however, because the Army loves to change its mind. If things stay as they are, it is hard to tell whether he would be going or not. He will have made captain by that time and the Army may have other ideas of what they want to do with him. We'll just have to wait and see. Right now he's really excited because he is going to Korea next month to play war games. He'll be gone from the 10th to the 30th I think. Meanwhile, I will be in Berlin attending my best friend's wedding. So that's our upcoming plans.

For those who do not know, we post pictures of what we've been doing on Flickr. Feel free to go have a look: www.flickr.com/photos/missmerv
The weather has been gorgeous here lately and I'm looking forward to picking wild blueberries when I get back from Germany! There will be many blueberry cobblers made!

What are you up to?

I am trying to start this blog so that we can all stay in touch and see/read about what people are up to. I only have limited e-mail addresses. So pass the e-mails along to me and I will add people.

Right now I am working on my first clerkship at Bellevue in psychiatry. I love it! The people I work with are great and the patients are amazing. Everyday has been so much better than last year! I am really looking forward to my 3rd year.

I might go to the Hamptons this weekend and have some fun at the beach. Otherwise there is nothing new around here.

So please let me know people's e-mails to add. And also please post something and let me know if you have trouble figuring it out!!