Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

The picture above was taken this past week one day. Notice the horizontal cloud in the very middle of the shot. Clouds sometimes hang low over the rivers and creeks - this happens to be the Nenana River.

As the sun gets a bit higher in the sky each day, I'm constantly in awe of the light. People think Alaska is dark all winter. But it's not, and the light makes for a great show. During the depths of winter, sunlight is at a much lower angle - as the sun barely scrapes the horizon for a few days - turning the surrounding mountains various shades of pinks, salmons and purples. Add a few clouds into the mix and you've got a sky that stops you in your tracks. Or it stops me in my tracks.

I went out for a walk yesterday. It was -25F at about 1:30 p.m. when I left. It was cold. But I kept moving - I needed the exercise and fresh air.

At one point, I couldn't help but stop. I was heading down the trail towards a footbridge over a creek. The trail was lined with alders taller than me. The snowflakes that had settled (grown?) on the alder branches caught the light so that the whole shrub sparkled like a pile of diamonds.

After about a minute, I caught myself. No, I had not fallen, but I had lost track of time - even for a split second. I looked around. There wasn't anyone around me. I heard a raven somewhere in the distance. The wind blew a few snowflakes around in circles on the trail ahead of me. I looked back to the branch of diamonds that had drawn me away from my walk.

I guess diamonds really are a girl's best friend. ;)