“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” ― John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America

Today is absolutely beautiful here in Alaska.  Blue skies, snow on the mountains, snow on the ground quickly melting!  Sam and I drove to Willow so I could check out the bike path from Houston to Willow.  The Alaska Clean Air Challenge is in 34 days and I sure hope the snow is melted by then.  The bike path still has quite a bit of snow on it.  It is not too late for you to join us in the ride or, if you would rather not ride, to donate and help me meet my fundraising goal.  This year's ride seems to be affecting me much more deeply than last year, probably because Sam's cancer is progressing but yet he is still here with me.  I am so very grateful for that.  Here is the link if you would like to donate or ride with the Glass Half Full team - Dara Glass - Alaska Clean Air Challenge 2013 - just click on the "Donate to My Cause" button on the upper left hand side and you should be good to go. To all of you who have donated so far, thank you from the bottom of my heart!  And to Joann, Cindi and Ellie, we are going to have a fantastic time!

Freezer's almost empty, cans are almost gone -
good thing fishing season is almost here!

Sam is doing ok.  He is in radiation for his upper left femur.  Three more days this week and then he is done for now.  He says he does not notice a difference yet in the pain level which is different from previous radiation treatments when he noticed a difference right away.  It will be interesting to hear what the doctor says about it.  This week we both have been somewhat challenged in wrapping our minds around the situation.  Possibly for the first time since the initial diagnosis we are both at the same place at the same time with understanding where things are at.  We still go back to the "hope for the best and expect the worst" in order not to get our hopes up and to continue living each day to the fullest.  The hard part is that in living each day to the fullest, Sam cannot come anywhere close to what he was able to do last summer, let alone 3 summers ago.  He does his best, though, and I cannot ask for anymore.  Several nights this past week I cried myself to sleep because of where we are at.  Knowing he is not going to be able to do many of the things he loves to do this summer breaks my heart.  Apparently he experienced several sleepless nights this week because of the same thoughts.  He is bound and determined to do what he can, though...like sitting on the Ninilchik beach enjoying the view and watching the setnetters.

As we keep telling ourselves and everyone else, it is not as if we can just flip a switch and turn it all off.  Darn it all anyway.

Q'ua