Sam, Tako, Danny, and Marguerite

Proudly presenting, left to right, my Alaskan family.  Sam, (me), Tako, and Danny.

Sam is my nephew who lives in Fairbanks, Alaska. He is a geologist. "A Certified Professional Geologist with over twenty years experience prospecting for precious-metal and base-metal deposits in Interior Alaska. Sam will design and operate your project in an efficient, safe, and environmentally responsible manner, generating certifiable results with excellent data quality. He has operated exploration programs throughout Interior Alaska in remote bush camps and on the fringe of populated, politically sensitive areas with annual exploration budgets in excess of $2.0 million." http://www.alaskaexploration.com/aboutus.htm

Here's Sam individual photo below:  I took this photo in my Motel 6 room where I stayed the eve of my very early departure from Phoenix back to Iowa. After Sam and his family took me out to eat at a great restaurant called The Landmark the night they arrived in Phoenix, they came to my room, and I told family stories, some of which are posted in this very blog. And, of course, some you haven't yet heard.

Naturally, I knew Sam when he was a baby. He and his brother Marc were the dearest things in the world to me. (My nephew Marc, as you might guess from my computer history -- HA HA -- is a computer specialist who travels around the country doing great computer things for businesses!)

I knew Sammy when he went around giddyapping, saying, "I a horsie."

Sam and his family were in Phoenix for a few days to climb Mount Superstition.

When Sam was in high school, he came to one of my English classes and gave us a presentation on mountain-climbing. It was a wonderful time. I remember a very thick rope Sam had extending from every child's hand around the room, forming a kind of Oneness.

Below is a photo of Tako, my niece. Tako, I'm sorry this photo doesn't do you justice.

Sam and Tako met at Putney School in Vermont. Putney is an extraordinarily creative boarding high school.  Now Tako is a research botanist -- and is almost done with her doctorate at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. She's involved in: "Circumpolar Arctic Vegetation Mapping project and Land-Atmosphere Interaction project. Responsibilities include GIS mapping and data analysis, report and poster preparation, field data collection, identification and processing of specimens for herbarium."

Tako is one of the most easy-going comfortable-to-be-with-people I have ever met. Tako takes everything in her stride. She naturally makes their home in Fairbanks a great place to live.

Below is an individual photo of Danny:

Danny is a junior in high school. He takes advanced placement classes, from English to math, and he is strongly leaning towards a college degree in math and physics.  Danny reminds me a lot of Sam when he was in high school.

Danny does not fit the bill of what a typical American teen-ager is supposed to be like. None of that. He is a person in own right. He really is a grand nephew.

Missing from our time together in Phoenix is Danny's older sister Marguerite who was flying into Phoenix the afternoon of the day I left Phoenix early in the morning. Margie goes to Dartmouth College -- where her mom went -- and is studying Environmental Studies and Geography, Ecology, and African Studies.

Marguerite, like her mother and father before her, went to Putney School. I found on the internet that she "danced beautifully, skied competitively, played soccer ruthlessly, was an excellent ceramicist, and could speak up a storm in Spanish." http://www.putneyschool.org/admissions/profiles/margi.html

Marguerite is quite a writer. She always was.

Another time I'll get some photos of Marguerite up, and maybe I can persuade her to do a guest entry here.