Summer on the Emerald Isle

Yowser! What a summer! Sorry I haven't kept up with this, but the last few weeks have been insane, jam packed with all sorts of good, bad, and a little bit of normal. I took a trip to Anchorage with my boyfriend for a doctor's appt, and managed to get stuck an extra day because of our typical Kodiak weather. Of all the times for the fog to settle in, it happened to be the day we were returning. Oh well, I got out of an extra day of work, so it wasn't all bad. It's not a whole lot of fun to sit in the airport and on a plane for over 15 hours when normally it would take all of less than 2 hours. I've been working graves, with one or two day shifts each week. I hadn't realized how completely that messes with your sleep schedule till I went on it! Just graves would have been a step up, but filling in on other shifts, well, that's painful. So my social life has been nonexistent, and I'm sleeping all the time, pretty much. The last few weeks I haven't even had a chance to do much with my photography. :( Oh well.
Summer is coming to an end, as the fireweed is evidence of. For those of you who are unaware, Alaskans can tell a lot by the fireweed. When it starts to turn green, spring is here, then come the blossoms, working their way up the plant as summer progresses. All too soon it starts going to seed, the blossoms have reached the tip top of the stem, and the end of summer is here when the leaves turn red. The salmonberries are on the last leg as well, though I managed to find another couple quarts a couple days ago.
I've been the true Alaskan this summer. We've been out fishing, catching cod, rock fish, and salmon, and then smoking and canning them. We picked a whole bunch of salmonberries and russian berries to freeze and eat fresh. Also a lot of fireweed and clover for fireweed honey and jelly. In a couple days I'm going to make a batch of salmonberry jelly as well. They've all turned out delicious! I really am living the dream up here! The weather has been gorgeous, and I love it here!
More later, as I need to go take a nap before heading in to work. Blessings on you all.