Just Enough

It's the perfect time of year to live in Alaska. The sun stays up long enough for you to work a full 8-hour day and still have a few hours of daylight in which you can do something amusing outdoors.

The winter has too little daylight and the summer has too much for proper sleep schedules and productivity. But the transitional seasons of Spring and Fall each contain a period of "just enough" daylight. And this is it.

Those seasons are known more prevalently in Alaska as Breakup and Freeze Up. The snow and ice are melting rapidly from the yard and the surrounding hillsides. Soon there'll just be little chunks of leftover snow hiding in shady spots behind trees or beneath shrubs.

One morning we'll wake up and the trees on the hillsides will have taken on the light green glow of springtime. Right now, all is brown in the world. Trees are bare, and the snow that still remains on the ground is mixed with dirt and road grime. But soon things will be green and bright.

For the time being, I'll be making the most of the "just enough" daylight.