I was tired last night. Too many consecutive nights without enough sleep, I guess, and I was quite content to go to sleep around 9pm. Before heading to bed, though, I took a peek outside to see if the evening’s forecast of thunderstorms had any merit.

At first glance, it didn’t look like it. The air was warm and while there were ominously dark clouds overhead, the air was still and Oksana and I were able to stay out on the porch in nothing more than a T-shirt and shorts. It was so uncharacteristically pleasant for a Juneau evening that, despite my desire for nothing more than an early bedtime, we stayed outside and watched the weather.

A huge black cloud was directly over us. We watched it churn its way north, over Spaulding Meadows before it began to break up. If I hadn’t looked out over Auke Bay to see another large mass of dark clouds forming, that would have probably been it – we would have been asleep by 9:30pm. But I thought that the conditions might be right for a third (a third!) thunderstorm this summer. And wouldn’t you know it, while we were waiting, we caught a few flashes of pink on the western horizon.
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What’s up with me? The weather outside is stunning and I haven’t been aprovechandolo for my ‘blog writing. I’ve been respectfully busy since getting back from my vacation, but not that busy. I don’t know what it is. I really would rather be outside on days like this, but for some reason it just feels like it would be taxing…

Maybe it’s because of the smoky haze. Mike and I were talking about it the other day and he mentioned that even though it was sunny and warm, he was having a hard time thinking about it as such. Truthfully, at the height of the Yukon fires, it did seem rather overcast all day. Me? I kinda liked it. Funny that it took a firestorm to remind me how clear the air is up here, too. On a normal day in Southeast Alaska you can see all the way to the horizon (if you can find a view without a mountain in the way). Florida? Too humid/hazy. Los Angeles? Nice sunsets, but oh, so brown! During this brief week, the combination of sunny weather and ash-ridden air has shown us all how wonderfully depthful a mountain range can be when its distant peaks are desaturated into grey.

I heard on the news today that we could be in for another thunderstorm!
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