Welcome to Chaos !!

I got back from camping a few hours ago, that's why I was away from the blog. I left Thursday afternoon and spent four nights on a beach at Tustumena Lake. In a tent of course, with Chhaya and three others (humans....lol) as company. But now I'm back, sunburnt and dirty. Chhaya is exhausted, she likes camping but she never fully relaxes because she is outside in new surroundings and she is very alert at night, any strange sound and she is fully awake and growling. So she is sound asleep next to me right now, catching up on her sleep.
Here are my camping trip pics.....this was on the was out today with the Tustumena Lake sign.



Getting there.



Tustumena lake is Alaska's 8th largest lake and to me it looks huge, especially when you are bobbing through the waves far out on it in a canoe. The lake is about 25 miles long and receives some of it's drainage from Tustumena glacier that was in clear view from where I camped. The water has that beautiful greenish turquoise tint to it that is typical for the glacier fed lakes here in Alaska.



The white spot in the middle of the mountain chain is the Tustumena glacier.



My tent with a million dollar view.



Reading and relaxing with Chhaya. She took a liking to my new camping chair.



Some of the dead trees on the beach. Imagine bonding with this one on a mushroom trip.....I'm kind of tempted to try it.





Surveying the land for wildlife. We saw some moose. Actually the first night two moose waded in the water right past the tent, I really regret not taking a picture of that, I so missed out on an amazing photo right there! A little porcupine climbed up a tree in the early morning hours by the tent, Chhaya got very excited. And the usual fowl life - loons, sea gulls and other birds that I can't name (I'm far from a hobby ornithologist).







Ready for a shower. I always bring a tweezer, a comb, a mirror and a refreshing face spray.
I also bring face soap, moisturizer (day & night) and my toothbrush and toothpaste when I go camping. Sometimes I use that stuff daily, others not. This time I managed to wash my face and brush my teeth twice. Not bad. I also have allotted clothing that I bring for camping and/or hiking. Like this hooded vest, it's been with me since 2001. I remember when I got it (Vegas at the Diesel store at the Forum Shops). I never wear anything that I'm afraid to get torn, dirty or greasy when camping.

I'm excited cause I got new rain boots! My Hunter boots were so worn and ruined that they seeped in water through many cracks, so after several years of faithful use they are now retired. My replacement pair are super cute dark blue with roses on them by some brand I never seen before, Joules. And I got a really nice and soft hoodie with great details, also by a brand new to me, Naketano. I'm going to have to take pics in the whole getup to show you.



Chhaya wearing the Hunter boots. I remember how excited I was when I got them and I wore them a lot, you need rain and mud boots here in Alaska.

Today it's Midsommar in Sweden, a holiday that dates back to pre Christian times. A pagan holiday if I'm not mistaken, a celebration of summer solstice. I LOVE Midsommar, the whole country is celebrating and it's just beautiful. I'm not in Sweden this year, although I did celebrate Midsommar in Tyresta By last year with my brother and friends. Maybe I can be in Sweden next year and either do the traditional thing at Skansen or take a boat to some island in the archipelago outside Stockholm. Glad Midsommar! I miss Sweden, LOTS! ❤

How old do pics have to be to be considered "old" enough for Throwback Thursday? I'm not sure.....is 10 years plus valid enough? I also read somewhere that the pics need to be from a different era in your life. Really? I'm not sure about that but here are a few older pics of me. The era when I pulled my underwear up higher on the hips, that was the "fashion" then and had thinner eyebrows. Yikes on both the pulled up undies and the thin eyebrows!
Besides that I think I look pretty much the same, (a bit) younger looking in the pics and double the amount of hair. Ahhhhh.......the memories!









Photographers Pepe, Norm Fisher and Dominic Petruzzi.

I totally forgot about this face mask by Caudalie when I was talking about my new products a few days ago. I got it in Vegas and I have used it a few times. I like it and it smells wonderful, very herby. I might use it again tonight, if I stay home. First I am going to take a bath, then put on this mask and follow with a honey mask. That will be nice for my skin. Cleansing and moisturizing. Now what about Caudalie, a skincare line that I have used for years (I use one of their face sprays, the Beauty Elixir) and animal testing? I always thought that Caudalie did not test on animals, it's a bit more complicated than that since they sell their products in China. This is what I gathered about Caudalie and L'Occitane, another skin care line that I use, "China has laws that state that beauty products must undergo animal testing before human use. So while L'Occitane and Caudalie both released statements to The Daily Mail saying that none of their products are ever tested on animals, the bottom line is that if you sell to China, the Chinese government will require those products to undergo animal testing. So companies who sell to China, even if their products are completely cruelty-free up until that point, then become complicit in supporting the continued use of animal testing. Hence the loss of the Leaping Bunny."

I decided to check back on Caudalie before I get any more of their products to see if they have changed anything about their policies on animals testing and China. There are companies that cancelled plans to enter the Chinese market due to the animal testing policies there, one example is Urban Decay. Kudos to Urban Decay!

Another hot day here in Kenai. But towards the evening it started to get a bit cloudy. This is the pic I took at this evening's walk with Chhaya.

During the day all Chhaya has energy for is to lay around. She got a pillow today.

I had my latte and did some shopping.

Kaladi's message to the world.

I took this pic of Chhaya is a sea of dandelions a few weeks ago.

I just ate almost a pound of cherries. It's past 11 pm and I'm in bed. I'm leaning towards no running today......instead I'm going to see what Netflix has to offer.