CHRISTmas 2002 from Barbara, Don and Grace in Alaska dlogan@alaska.net


Angel Picture

SONG: Joy To The World

Angel Picture

�Joy to the world! the Lord is come; Let earth receive her King;
Let ev�ry heart prepare Him room, and heav�n and nature sing.�

THE LOGAN - FARSTAD NEWS IN BRIEF - 2002

Dear loved ones,
We hope this finds you all well and enjoying this wonderful CHRISTmas season. We are all doing well and until this week, had been enjoying an unusually warm winter. No, not due to global warming; just a high pressure system that was hanging out over the Bering Sea. At least that�s what our weatherman said� (SMILE) Now it�s really starting to feel like winter - minus 13 degrees last night! Tomorrow is Solstice - our shortest day of the year - and we are already looking forward to more daylight!

We stay busy as usual, and boy did this year seem to just fly by! Did you feel it rush in and out this year like we did? I guess it�s true what they say, that when you are busier, the time goes faster. (SMILE)

Don is still working for our county office, the Fairbanks North Star Borough. He still gets his exercise walking to and from work each day. This year, ALL year, he has also been attending evening computer classes. First it was a CISCO Systems course from January to July. That prepared him for the test for CISCO Systems Certified Network Associate, which he took and passed in July. Then he started Microsoft classes, to prepare for the Microsoft tech certification tests. Theses classes will end in May 2003. Needless to say it makes a very long week for him, with two 4 hour classes a week. He seems to be handling it okay, though. He relaxes, when he can, with some wood carving. He really enjoys making things. (SMILE)

Don working on a carving

Barbara is still working part-time at the City of Fairbanks Federal Credit Union. It has to be the perfect job! She also just started a business called BARBARA�S PHOTOS. Since she takes pictures of so many things, she thought she would see if anyone would be interested in buying her photos. Actually she toyed with the idea for months after a sign maker in Ontario, Canada wanted to use one of her photos on an interpretive sign in a wildlife reserve in Canada. It is in place now, so if you ever get up to the Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre in Ontario, Canada, you can see one of her photos, an Alaskan beaver, on an interpretive sign! (SMILE) Also a lady at the credit union wanted to buy a couple of photos, so Barbara got her business license. So far, she�s made a few sales of cards and refrigerator magnets at local Christmas bazaars, and even had a couple of special orders. It is fun, and she enjoys sharing her photos with everyone! If you care to, you can view her BARBARA�S PHOTOS web page online at:

http://www.alaska.net/~dlogan/photos/

Barbara at work at the credit union

Grace just finished up another semester at the University of Alaska here in Fairbanks. She has declared her Major in Linguistics, a rather interesting field of study that she is really enjoying. She also had an eventful summer, spending a month in an exchange program at the University of Hokkaido in Sapporo, Japan. Hokkaido is the northernmost island in Japan. Sapporo is the capital of Hokkaido and the fifth largest city in Japan with 1.8 million people. Sapporo is a relatively young city and doesn't have all the traditional temples and architecture like most of Japan. Grace wanted to see those! Another fact about the University of Hokkaido, the first artificial snowflake was created there in the 1930�s. The island produces most of the agricultural food products for Japan. It was settled by the Japanese in 1869 - late, sort of like our westward expansion in the U.S.

It is much like Portland, Oregon weather-wise, but Grace found it was just too warm and humid for her. She also got blisters from too much walking, but otherwise she had an interesting time. She stayed with three different families, all very different from each other. She ate strange new foods like sea urchin roe, squid, sushi and miso, and now LOVES Japanese cuisine! During the weekdays she attended classes at the University of Hokkaido and went on some field trips to museums, visited the Toyo Volcano and also saw a Shinto Shrine and Buddhist Temple. She also walked around Sapporo and took the subway to a couple of their popular parks. She has pictures of her classmates and the sights in Sapporo on a web page you can view at:

http://www.geocities.com/gfarstad/

You can read more about Grace's Japan trip in her 2002 Christmas letter HERE

Grace in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

Last but not least, we had an earthquake about 75 miles south of us in the Alaska Mountain Range on November 3. It was 7.9 on the Richter scale and the largest quake recorded in the world in 2002! The first thing that happened was our birds got freaked out - they always feel quakes first! Then it was a lot of bumpety- bumping, and then rolling waves of the ground - the house swayed a lot . We are still having a lot of aftershocks. We were all also awakened on October 23rd by another quake, about 30 miles west of this one - a pre-shock to the big one - ONLY 6.7, but it lasted a good long time as well. Earthquakes are a daily part of life in Alaska - although most we feel are much smaller. Fortunately there are not many people living in that part of Alaska, like the 1964 quake in Anchorage and Valdez.

You can read about the earthquakes HERE

Have a Merry Christmas and may GOD be with you and bless you in the coming New Year!
We love you! Barbara, Don and Grace

Hope to hear from you all soon. Check us out online, I love getting email!
E MAIL: dlogan@alaska.net WEB PAGE: http://www.alaska.net/~dlogan/

LOOK! My most recent Moose picture! (SMILE)

Moose in the neighborhood, December 15, 2002
A Moose in the neighborhood, December 15, 2002. You can see we have
little snow on the ground. The fence behind the moose is six feet tall.... (SMILE)


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This page was created 21 December 2002 � Barbara Logan
URL is http://freepages.family.rootsweb.com/~soakbear/christmas2002.htm