COME AUTUMN

I miss Alaska ALL the time, but especially at the end of summer when I know that for a little while the Chugach Mountains are dressed in the glorious reds, oranges and yellows of the ground cover . . . bush willows, grasses and moss punctuated by the bright mellow golds of the aspen and birch leaves. The white bark of the birch tree trunks are interspersed and shimmer through the vibrant shades.
As happy as we had been to have lived in the bright long days of summer, we were kind of relieved when the nights began to be darker and longer. Autumn is short-lived. While preparing ourselves for the long dark cold, icy winter, we hope for our first glimpse of the aurora borealis.

We drank in the intensity of the colors on mountainsides and in fields, the sunlight sparkling on flowing water soon to be frozen and covered with snow. Soon only shades of white, grey, brown and black will be expressed in nature. 

Oh. 

And when the sun shines after the snow covers everything, the sky becomes the incredible deep solid blue like the bright dense color of some houses in New England. Muted, but brighter somehow. 

And then also, you might see bears. 

(Moose. Caribou. Ptarmigan. Dall Sheep.)

And lots of other lovely wild animals and birds.

Please enjoy your life and the beauty around you in nature wherever you are.

It hurts so much to know there are hundreds of thousands of people in the world living through conditions of violence, poverty and strife who can only think of surviving.  There are so many ways we can help.