minutes feel like hours, years pass in the blink of an eye...

We've filled our time here with visits and travel and, true to the cliches, summer seems to have flown by in an instant. By the time we leave, we will have been here for virtually all of Southcentral Alaska's extremely short growing season. I described how quickly things grow in an earlier post, and the changing foliage has continued to provide us with a very concrete ruler with which to measure time's passage.

When we studied to lead our first hikes, we were primarily pointing out the early bloomers - chiming bells (pictured at right), wild geranium and prickly rose. They're each softly colored - pale blue, purple and pink, respectively - so the thickets were a pastel Monet. As those three began to fade, the showy neon pink fireweed began to dominate roadsides and pathsides and... everywhere else. Where fireweed isn't, cow parsnip is, but its clusters of white flowers have already begun to disappear have been gradually replaced by deep purple monkshood and larkspur, and by a range of intensely red berries. A few paler flowers - tall jacob's ladder and (my favorite) harebells - have also bloomed in the past month, but they're far less common than the deeper-hued late bloomers. Dark reds and purples, I've learned, are Alaska's version of the yellow and orange I grew up with: the first signs of Autumn.

The salmon haven't made it to our stream yet (they're late this year), but they're running in most of the near-by bodies of water. Which means that fishing season has begun. We've been told to watch for the lunch-hour fishers in downtown Anchorage, and I'm certain that most people here would rather talk about fishing than about Sarah Palin (thank goodness). Two staff members have brought just-caught-and-smoked fish to work to share, and our trail crew coordinator gave me 3 one-pound fillets that he caught on a trip this pask weekend. I've been thrilled to witness such on-going reliance on, and respect for, the land.

Steve's parents and my parents each came to visit for a week, and both trips were just brilliant -
thanks, Moms and Dads!