A few days ago I checked the weather forecast for the upcoming week and it called for moderate temperatures and a combination of rain and snow showers every day.
Yesterday I checked the forecast again and was very and happily surprised to read that it was calling for......sunshine.
Clear and cold days, clear and very cold nights.
No snow and no rain at all for the next few days.
Today was one of what is scheduled to be a beautiful, sunny and cold stretch of weather.
Just the thought of it makes me smile.
As much as I don't mind rain and fog and overcast skies, I also have to admit that when the weather does finally break, when the sun finally shines, when the sky finally turns blue and the huge mountains shine with their covering of glistening new snow, it lifts my heart and reminds me again each and every time why I love this place.
Some of these pictures were taken downtown as I walked from the Coast Guard sub-port parking lot the few blocks to an early morning meeting.
The others were taken just a few hours later on the way back to the truck.
The picture above is of Centennial Hall. Juneau's convention center..............
The state office building and the Goldbelt Hotel.........
The new and now mostly completed downtown parking garage, the Sealaska building and part of downtown......
Looking across the channel at part of the huge and mountainous Douglas Island..........
The Sealaska building and City Hall..........
A Coast Guard cutter that I have not seen here in Juneau before..........
After work tonight I met LC for Chinese food in the Valley, and together we both drove out to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitors Center to listen to a presentation on the lone black wolf named Romeo.
The story of Romeo is extraordinary.
This very beautiful animal was extraordinary as was his interaction with locals both human and canine around the glacier over the span of a couple of years.
He was beloved by the locals here in Juneau.
He was shot and killed by poachers here in Juneau and dumped on the side of the road out in Thane over a year ago.
LC and I sat through a slide show on this wonderful animal alongside a couple of hundred other people who attended the session.
We both left after the slide show and before the question and answer session.
We were surrounded by people who could only see the "puppies and rainbows" perspective of what a magical creature this was and what a magical experience we in Juneau enjoyed while having the unique opportunity to experience up close and personally the wonder of this animal.
I hoped to listen to an analytical discussion on how and why this animal gravitated towards humans, how and why he lived alone and did not regroup with another wolf pack, how the humans who joyfully interacted with him constantly on the glacier ice contributed to his destruction.
Instead, what we listened to was a poetic narrative provided by the photographer below, conveyed in a Mr Rogers tone of voice.
A truly beautiful wonderous animal. And I am glad we left the lecture early..........
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