First Frost, “Goodbye summer” and “Hello winter”

We had our first frost the other night.  Today it was blowing about 40 mph and raining hard. 

I'm not fond of winter.  I don't like to be wet and I don't like to be cold.  It's enough to make me wonder why I live in Alaska - especially Southeast Alaska where it is wet and cold.  It's also quite dark.  During the summer we enjoy endless days and it hardly gets dark at all.  In winter of course, it's quite the opposite.  It is dark when you leave home, and it's dark when you come home.

The seasons affect different people in different ways.  Over the last several winters I have struggled with the winter blues.  Call it cabin fever or seasonal affected disorder (SAD), or just plain tired of moving snow and having wet, cold feet; it just isn't any fun.

This year I've decided to try and come up with projects that help.

We are going to entertain more.  Sure, we won't have the entire football team over for dinner since my son is now in college, but during winter break we are sure to host a few Halo parties.  We also host a holiday party for the neighborhood, a party for the charter fishing captains (my husband runs a charterboat with his father), and hopefully will have a few other reasons to have some friends over.

I'm also hoping to work on my photos.  I probably have 10,000 photographs in boxes.  I haven't put the kids' photos in albums since kindergarten and they are 17 and 18.  I cannot even begin to imagine how many digital photographs I need to do something with!

Of course, I will bake.  I always bake cookies and make peanut brittle for my friends and clients around the holidays.  This year I'd also like to make a gingerbread house.  Not as elaborate as this one from a Seattle hotel, but it's my inspiration.

I think it was the Hilton, near Sea-Tac.  This thing was huge and there is no way a photo could do it justice.

Maybe I'll even get around to hanging some artwork in this house.  We've been here over two years so I guess it's time to get that artwork that's stacked along the walls and in the closets up where we can enjoy them.

I also hope to revamp my website.  I need to find a way to make it more effective.  It does well in the search engines, but it needs improvement.  I'm open to suggestions from my friends, clients and my peers here on Active Rain so feel free to give construction criticism and ideas!

Oh... and I'll probably blog more!  Thank you Active Rain!