Love from Skyline

I received the Open Arms Award this weekend which is one of four special, annual awards given by the chorus. It was such a lovely moment and then members kept giving me hugs and congratulations throughout the weekend.  I'm feeling so loved!

And it reminded me to note this other instance of Skyline love from a couple years ago when I felt so touched.

I received this note from my chorus director regarding the Joy award:

The Joy award is given from me to the singer in Skyline who exhibits Joy, and shares Joy.  

This year's recipient manifests joy all the time.  She leads from the risers, and always has a joyful smile and greeting.  She sings with joy and seeks harmony while always looking for the good in others.  Her positive and gentle spirit wraps the chorus in love.  She is keenly observant of the many often unseen contributions that make our Skyline village successful, and is quick to express sincere gratitude for these efforts.  This years award goes to Rachel Miner.

Vickie M

International Speaker, Coach, & Author

Master Director 700, Skyline Chorus

Sweet Adelines International Board of Directors

Judge Specialist, Expression Category

Certified Expression Judge

Certified International Faculty

Now these warm fuzzies hang out next to each other ready to bring me a smile each morning 💖

Typical Update... it's been awhile since I've put one on the blog :)

 7/26/25

Hello everyone,

Good things:

Humming bird visit

Chinchillas still cute

Looks like Cameron will be able to get back into his old single (bath-capable, which he loves) and take a single class to improve his auditing skills (while continuing to do the CPA test review courses and search for a job)

I had a good tele-health visit with my functional medicine doc… sounds like the current answer is that we’ve done all the due diligence and not much else to do for digging at root migraine causes at the moment

Andrew has had an intense weekend with four photo-shoots! Very satisfying and fun… one of them was even from horseback!

I had a little party here for my work friends and we had lots of fun for two hours putting together a puzzle and visiting with all the animals

Andrew got me a surprise and I couldn’t figure out the hints but had fun trying!

Andrew Miner:
I have a present for you

Mrs. Rachel Miner:
Hints!!!!

Andrew Miner:
You can't touch it, but it can touch you

Mrs. Rachel Miner:
Is it words of some sort?

Andrew Miner:
No speaking involved

Mrs. Rachel Miner:
Writing? Size?

Andrew Miner:
There's no writing it's about a meter and a half tall

Mrs. Rachel Miner:
Does it go on a wall? Colors?

Andrew Miner:
It does not go to wall
Colors are variable

Mrs. Rachel Miner:
Is there rainbow light projection involved?

Andrew Miner:
No projections at all
It hangs from the ceiling

Mrs. Rachel Miner:
Ooo, prism? But 1.5metets?!?

Andrew Miner:
Not a prism

Mrs. Rachel Miner:
Do I get it when you get home?

Andrew Miner:
Yes, and I'll be home in about two minutes.

And the answer was….

He traded photography for a massage for me. (The massage therapist is 1.5 meters tall and it’s one of those where she has bars on the ceiling that she holds on to which I’ve never experienced.) 

I’m thrilled!

Massagearvadamassageandstretch.com

Here’s to fun surprises,

Rachel

25th Wedding Anniversary

My favorite part of the trip was the waterfalls. Sometimes it was just vibrant green and then you'd see a shock of bright white and gradually more and more of a stunning waterfall would appear!  This is just some quick captions and lots of lots of photos of this celebratory vacation.

Beauty from the boat:

Boat (small as far as cruise ships go but we found out it's also a ferry which meant lots of ports of call including throughout the night... neither of us returned as rested/relaxed as we'd expected although the beauty was ever-present):

Anniversary day:

Excursions:

Video clips:

Andrew won the ship's photo contest 

Elke and Gerd (German couple we had fun meeting... using Google translate as our primary means of communication)

Waiter and friend, Chris from Sweden

Leaving Norway

Tracker having fun with Husky Nora while we were away (chinchillas and snakes stayed at the exotic pet store, the staff have become friends)