Summer Updates
This is simply a place to document my summer! I hope you enjoy!
Now that the last of my teaching obligations are over, real summer has begun! Over the last week, I've gotten in a couple of hikes, gone gold-prospecting with my brother, and gone fishing with River and some friends in Seward. The fishing was slow, but we managed to get 14 fish. More importantly, I feel like I'm finally in "summer mode."
As I think I shared in class, I believe we often miscategorize the term "freedom." I think that many Americans today believe that freedom means buying whatever gun you want, eating whatever highly-processed food you want, using (and abusing) the land you "own," or being able to afford luxuries like vacations and second homes and expensive toys. In my mind, those things are not real freedom. Real freedom, in my opinion, is the ability to wake up on a summer day with no obligations, no "shoulds" or "musts", no personal or societal ideas norms, and no plans. Just a day stretching out in front of you without plans. A blank canvas. Freedom exists in those days that are full of potential. Freedom exists when your mind is at peace, your actions are intentional, and your time is unencumbered. That is freedom. That is summer.
With that tiny philosophical rant, here are a few pictures:
My first week of summer has been pretty mellow. I got the garden put in, and River and I have been busy selling thousands of dollars worth of plants. (Pics attached.) River has been climbing, paddle boarding, skiing, sledding, attending bonfires, and hunting bears and mushrooms. Elias is working on a trail crew in Chugach State Park, and he'll be camping out 4 days a week in the backcountry with his crew every week this summer. They'll be working on the South Fork trail most of the summer.
We ended up canceling our yearly Memorial Day halibut fishing trip due to bad weather, but honestly, I desperately needed a few days to catch up on life, and I'm glad we stuck around this weekend.
I'm currently writing this draft letter on lunch break for my AP Lang training. While I'm not thrilled about being in a classroom at the moment, I'm trying to look at this as a way to be a better "gift" and to show more love to next year's students and you guys in a couple of years. After this training is over, real summer begins.
Salmon fishing, hiking, and gold prospecting are the first items on my list, and we'll see where the summer goes from there!
*My father-in-law and I built our house entirely ourselves when I was in my early twenties, and my in-laws live right across the street. Over the years, we've had chickens, ducks, and milk goats. We live up on a really steep lot on Bear Mountain. The state park is right outside our front door, and wildlife like bears, moose, and lynx often visit.
