We don't have a whole lot of family left but the ones we do have are scattered far and wide. I got an e-mail from my brother-in-law, John Matthews, over the weekend. John lives way far away in Alaska. He e-mailed to let his family and friends know that he is participating in the Serum Run '25. Never heard of it? Well, I hadn't either but I followed the link he sent: http://serumrun.org/ I learned the following, which I cut and pasted from their mission statement:

The Serum 25 Run is a long distance dog mushing expedition that commemorates the courageous effort and success of the original Serum Runners, who were responsible for bringing the life saving diphtheria serum to Nome in 1925.The late Col Norman Vaughan, Serum 25 was the Run leader, along with dog mushers and supporting snow machiners. The Serum Run travels the same route taken by the original Serum Runners from Nenana to Nome. In addition, Colonel Vaughan, dog mushers and snow machiners used to speak to each village school along the way to remember the original feat accomplished by mostly Alaskan Native Mushers, and to inspire school age children to "Dream Big and Dare to Fail". Villagers are reminded about the importance of getting inoculations as part of continuing present day health care. This mission is now up to Serum Run members and participants.

If you want to learn more about the hardy souls involved in this run and follow their progress, log on to their website and check out their biographies. John tells his own story far better than I could ever hope to.

I'll be following his progress everyday and wishing him well and enjoying the fact that it is finally warming up here. Snow is not my enemy but we aren't great friends either. I'll take a hot, humid day and a view of green grass and magnolias over a snowy scene any day.

Okay, the pictures are not of Alaska. I've never been there. But, in the spirit of John's journey I include some winter scenes from Lake Tahoe.