Nature's Sources Never Fail

There are two areas close to my new Alaska-cabin-in-the-woods where you can pull off the highway and stop and take pictures.  I did just that on the way home from work today.

The weather never really made it to "sunny", but after a couple of days of very heavy rain in our area, the skies made a valiant attempt at a nice day.

Some more pictures at two separate overlooks just a few miles from the house:

There is a row of mailboxes at a turnaround on my road, and when I stopped and checked the mailbox tonight I picked up my vehicle insurance card.  But more interestingly, there was a lot of mail for the previous tenants in the mailbox.  I retrieved a pen from my car, wrote "Moved" on one of the envelopes and then stacked them all neatly together so that the mail carrier would realize that all of that mail had to go back.  What caught my attention though were the names of the tenants.  They are the same names as my son and his wife in TN.  The guys' name is spelled differently from my sons, but it is not a common name, and neither is hers.  What a strange coincidence...........

A picture taken by the mailboxes and looking down a short dead-end road that leads to the water:

And my car in the driveway.  So far so good with it.  It drives very well, and I will keep my fingers crossed that it continues to do so.

I feel like I have been really lucky finding this house and this car.  But when I think about it some more I also realize that I had to work very hard to find both of them. 

I started looking at both rental and for-sale properties in Juneau as soon as I applied for the job (before phone interviews, written exercises, in-person interviews - and certainly before I was offered the job).  I looked after I was offered the job and looked some more when I arrived in Juneau.  When I think back on it, it took me 4 1/2 months of non-stop looking to find this house.

And it took me quite a few cars before I figured out that "Juneau body" meant rusty, dented piece of junk with a cracked windshield.  No.........I wasn't lucky.  I worked hard.  Juneau seems to be a place where you have to do that.  It has been a lot of work so far, and there have been a lot of doubts and loneliness.  Not all by any means - much has been good - but certainly a lot. 

 

I have colleagues from work who are helping me move some more furniture into the house this Saturday morning, which will mean no more sitting on a cushion on the floor (my back will sincerely thank them for that).   It will also mean a TV and dvd player which will help with the sometimes overwhelming sense of quiet and isolation I have been feeling out here in the evenings.

The phone company is coming to install something in the house on Friday so that I can have a land-line.  I had not planned on getting a land-line, but with such spotty cell phone reception, and with a son in Tennessee and a son in Iraq, I need to stay accessible.

With a good part of my Saturday tied up with moving more stuff out to the house, I am sincerely hoping to be able to go for a long bike ride on Sunday.  My workout schedule has been thrown off and it is making me feel greatly out of sorts.  My hope and plan is to bike further Out The Road to explore and picture take, and learn still more about what this magical, rugged, tough, sweet, harsh place has to offer.

Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature's darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but nature's sources never fail..........John Muir