Three of my favorite things - green, water, and Sean Connery

I love this time of year in Alaska. It comes on quickly, a surge of growing, light, activity, and energy, and well, yeah, moquitoes but that's another post. One week we're in snow, then -blammo- the sun hits some threshold, stuff melts & dries fast, leaves BURST from their trees and suddenly we're in this whole other world of green landscape, warm breezes with lush scents in them, perfect blue skies, and light - light all the time.

You can -smell- the green, and I love how green smells. The most vivid impression I've had of green was onboard ship in the Gulf of Alaska when I was working for UAF. Spring cruise -we were dropping a specialized net system to capture zooplankton at different depths (MOCNESS, a totally interesting piece of sampling equipment) and plankton was blooming like mad. The aroma of the by-catch of phytoplankton when we pulled up the nets was just ...heady. Green, lush, thick, sweet, fresh, cool, clean, green. It was amazing. It's not quite so pungent here on land, when the leaves sproing forth (yes, sproing), but it's in the air and it's lovely.

The teeming plant activity and the constant sunlight go hand-in-hand with a shift in our own routines. Suddenly we sleep less and less, our activity level increases, we become restless, industrious, busy like bees. Yardwork, canoeing, hiking, softball, bike riding, running - there are freaking runners everywhere all of a sudden. Our summer here is short, and this period of growth and change and light is even briefer - May/June/July then it starts getting cooler, wetter, darker - so we move faster and get it all in while we can.

The light is wonderful and crazy at the same time - it never gets dark. Being a night-owl under normal conditions, getting to sleep when it's still perfectly light outside is even more difficult. I've been playing with some of the sleep aids that can be downloaded via the App store. There's a relaxation app that got decent reviews but I can't get into it because the guy has a Scottish accent and reminds me of Sean Connery, whom I -adore-. If Sean Connery came to my door today, aged that he is, and said (in that accent, of course) "Come away with me", I'd go. Hell, if anyone came to my door and used that voice on me, I just might go. So... where was I...yes, scottish accent - distracting.

The other apps I tried both used 'relaxing' music accompanied by a 'brainwave syncing' pulse, which was just annoying. To me, it sounded like something was left on that needed to be turned off - not conducive to sleep. Also, is it paranoid of me to wonder what's being slipped into my brain along with the hypnotic voice suggesting I relax, or the 'brainwave' throb? Maybe so.

The one that worked best for me was a simple ocean surf sound, knocked me right out each time. White noise? Maybe - but I prefer to think that it's because it's water and my affinity with water runs deep.