more inside/outside

Someone told me recently that when she moved to Anchorage she was washing her windows on a sunny day and her neighbor came out to chastise her. "We don't do that in Alaska. When it's sunny we don't do any inside work." Instead you go outside to enjoy the good weather while it is here. I learned this for myself shortly after moving here myself. After a wonderful time kayaking on Westchester lagoon with a new friend she asked me to go again a week later. "It's a beautiful day, Helen, we need to be out there." But I was too busy with many things to honor that beautiful day or my own participation in it. The day passed. And the invitation didn't come again as the weather became cooler. Last Friday (my husband's day off) I reminded him that this might be the last sunny day for a while and we needed to drive to Sweard. He protested that there were so many things to do (things I had specifically asked him to do) inside the house. "But," I said, "we don't do that here in Alaska. It's sunny and we need to see the fall before it's gone into winter." We went to Sweard that day--despite the chores. The ride and the walk was glorious as was the ice cream (Huckleberry Heaven) consumed on the ride home. There will always be time for inside tasks, but this spossibly last sunny outside time with the birches still golden and before Tunagin Road is slick with snow and ice was not meant to be wasted.