The Rhythm of Spring

It's Friday thank goodness.  Work wise it has been an incredibly long and stressful week, because we lost a full-time staff person and I had a lot of balls to pick up that had been dropped.  

Some overtime every day this week, but even though I have to work for a few hours tomorrow morning, I am on a downslide. 

I've been wound way too tight all week, but can honestly (and with a good deal of satisfaction) say that at the end of the week we are in better shape now than we were at the start of the week.

That is a very good thing.  But I do not want to have another week similar to this one for a while.

The week has been a bit of a blur.  A full-day training in the middle of the week that I could not afford to attend because I needed to be somewhere else, but I went anyway because I was obligated to go. 

I would have to think hard and look back over my blog posts to remind myself of what the weather has been like this week.  It has been that kind of week.........

No running all week.  Damn.  No real walking on trails.  Damn again.  Some quick pictures taken of visiting cruise ships and the channel in and around downtown.

And way too much time putting out fires and sitting in front of a computer screen feeling like I was spinning my wheels.

This entire week I was trying to do two busy jobs, and feeling like I was not doing either one of them very well.  But now.......sitting in my pajamas on the couch typing this I can breathe and wind down.

Tomorrow I will blow into work for a few hours, do my thing with my staff, then blow out and forget about the place for the remainder of the weekend.  And I will. 

Tomorrow is Juneau Appreciation Day in the city.  I only found out about it this morning.  I was rushing through a grocery store to pick up a cup of coffee when I happened to see a brief article in the Juneau Empire describing the event.  It includes free or reduced entrance to a number of businesses in Juneau, as well as dance and art demonstrations downtown, and free samples at restaurants that seemed to have popped up as soon as the weather started to get warm.

 What really caught my attention though was a line about the Mt Roberts Tramway.

http://www.alaska.net/~junotram/Information_Center/information_center.html

Tomorrow, rather than being $27 per person, a ride on the Tramway costs only $10.  I rushed down to the bookstore that was selling the tickets (the same lovely bookstore that sold me my ticket for the whale watching cruise last week) and picked one up. 

I didn't need to rush really because the tramway is running all day long so selling many many tickets - but I had rushed everywhere I went all week, so literally was not able to gear down and slow down until I walked out of my office at the end of today.  So I rushed to the book store as well.........

Regardless - I am going to take the tramway tomorrow, and I am very very excited about doing so.

I am hoping to take many wonderful pictures during the brief trip to the top of Mt Roberts, visit the center at the top, and then perhaps take a short walk on one of the trails up there that I was not able to explore my last trip up on foot in February.

I am not sure what else I may be interested in downtown tomorrow, but will take some time to relax and explore and enjoy.

My oldest son is geting ready to change jobs in Nashville and move into a new home.  My youngest son is on the way to New Brunswick as I write this - heading to see his father.  And my Mountain Boy is in the midst of both packing things that will come to Juneau early next month with him and selling/giving away things that will stay behind.

Someone I know well down in Tennessee said something recently that was a light-bulb moment for me when it comes to what we own.  She said "we don't own our things - our things own us".  She is right.  And finally after many months of indecision and useless hand-wringing over trying to decide what to keep and what to leave, it has suddenly become much easier to "leave".

I just want him.  And my dog.  Anything else that makes it to Alaska are extras.

These pictures were all taken at an overlook on the way home.  My favorite time of year has always been winter.  Winter for many reasons, but one of them is that everything is so quiet in the winter.  The trails are quiet.  The water is quiet.  The air is quiet.

I remember hiking in the back country up in the mountains on Douglas Island a few months ago.  It drove my Mountain Boy crazy with worry because I was out there, in the mountains, in the winter alone.

But I was fine the entire hike - working hard because of lots of climbing and loving every moment of where I was at. 

I was on the Treadwell Ditch Trail a couple of hours from civilization, and after my lengthy walk I stopped and turned around to look out over the panoramic view.  It was beautiful.

But what really struck home for me at that very moment was how incredibly quiet it was.  There was no wind.  No traffic.  No birds or planes.  No noise at all.  It was a magical moment.

I love those moments.

But warm weather in Juneau brings a new rhythm to the area.  There are boats on the water.  Tourist helicoptors in the air flying back and forth to the glacier.  Cars parked at overlooks, and people walking on the streets and trails.

I miss the quiet already.  But will greatly enjoy this new season.