The sun showed up this afternoon and pushed some clouds apart. Patches of blue sky became backdrop for great flocks of geese flying south, loudly honking their goodbyes. Rays of sun have even managed to make it to my face still warm as I sit out in the backyard, drinking tea with an ever present yellow dog at my feet. It’s been a couple weeks since we’ve had a 50 degree day and today we get it with sunshine too! I’ve come out to let the chickens free range and me to soak in the golden light. It’s the first week of October. Colder than most Octobers that I can remember here. We’ve already even had a bit of snow. Enough to warrant an Anchorage schools Snow Day a couple weeks ago. The cold start has been a bummer for our chickens who pay mightily for the fact that midnight sun has an equal and opposite reality. I often imagine their thoughts as they stand out in the cold with their feathers all fluffed out. I know they are muttering to each other about how it happened that they got stuck in the box that was shipped to Alaska. I suppose they cannot really know how well they are loved and cared for here. But oh! how we do.