The yards are looking green all over, the trees are almost fully leafed, and our tulips are beginning to flower. Daylight continues to lengthen and is nearly 18 hours a day now. FYI Barrow won't see the sun set again until August second. Within the next week we will see the sun set through the left side of our north-facing window and then rise again from the right side of the window just a couple hours later. Just one month from today, the daylight will begin decreasing daily until December 22. I do love the long daylight hours!

Lots of animal activities surround us. The moose are beginning to calve. Most moose here deliver twins. The caribou should also start dropping their calves, too. The bears are out of hibernation. The birds are all nesting and soon chicks should be seen on the marshes, trees, and other nesting areas. The whales are in the inlet, so that means the fish are coming in now. We’ve already seen seals and otters in the river. A robin is hopping around in search of bug just outside my window. A squirrel feasted on spruce cones there last week. Spruce pollen in the air and on every leaf or surface is almost overwhelming. Life is bursting out all around us. The food necessary for each species' survival is abundant.

Tomorrow, one of my boys and I will be driving to Anchorage. It’ll be nice to drive through the mountain pass without the ice and darkness of winter. Winter driving is tension-filled and usually not so pleasant as we must keep ever vigilant about road conditions. We’ll make the 320+ mile round trip tomorrow. Summer or winter it is rare that we ever stay there very long. Drive up, do whatever, drive home. Go to bed. City busyness is more than we can handle.

Before we leave Anchorage and head back home, we will stop at our favorite restaurant and feast on mostly good for us foods. This restaurant has a good selection from which to choose.

Tonight’s dinner was really good in taste but not so much in beneficial nutrition as we usually have available. We had a slow-cooked pot roast, lots of vegetables, and kamut gravy poured over mashed potatoes. Well, we blew it with the potatoes. Potatoes are one of our favorite "avoid" foods and also one that we still eat about once a month or so. That’s a big decline for our entire family. Now, if only they could make even a neutral potato.