Friday, May 04, 2007

Summertime thoughts

So, I've personalized my google so that it shows a little Japanese fox in the background doing different things depending on the time of day. Today I got to see his nighttime activities, since I've been working at night. He fed the ducks, sailed some little boats with candles in them, looked at the stars through his telescope, and now is sleeping on his little front porch. He's so cute! I love looking at his little activities, even though they're the same every day.

Anyway, his nighttime activities made me think about the one thing I miss about Lower 48 summers: the warm nights. Not just warmth, but warmth at night. Here it is warm in the evenings, even up until 11 p.m. We were so hot at the wedding last year because the sun was just beating down upon us. It was great! But the point is, it is also light during this timeframe. I miss sitting out on a patio under some lanterns, enjoying the night. I miss lying in fields and looking up at the stars. I miss listening to the crickets chirp as we would walk home late at night from the bars.

However, I do not miss burning myself on various things in my car after it's been sitting outside all day, sweating in the car on the way to work, feeling tired from a walk around the block because it's 95 degrees and 85% humidity, or freezing my ass off indoors because you have to wear shorts outside or die, but building managers all turn their thermostats down to nuclear winter. Our beautiful, cool, green summers are the best thing about Alaska, and I would not trade them even if I do miss seeing the stars in summer.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We were only there for a few weeks in late spring, it was wonderful. Can you believe it's been 2 years since we were in Alaska! Time flies...

L said...

2 years! It seems so short and so long at the same time....

I really need to get out to WI one of these days. Maybe when I quit my job and become a traveling bum.