Summer fades, but promise remains

The Alaska Baseball League season is finished, and the Miners are closing up shop for the summer after giving local fans another exciting season of top-notch baseball action.

The Valley's favorite fishing spots are still teeming with anglers, but silver salmon are replacing the kings and reds of early and midsummer.

Rumor even has it that the wee hours of overnight are actually beginning to get dark again.

All of this can only mean one thing: It's August.

As silence descends on Hermon Brothers Field, the Valley's high school football fields are coming to life. Prep student-athletes can be seen working out in preparation for the fall season.

Soon, the Alaska State Fair will open its gates for another summer-ending fling. The Valley's natural bounty of farm-fresh produce will be replaced by the agricultural titans - giant veggies.

Schools bells, too, will be ringing again before long. The new year begins, earlier than usual, later this month. With it will come all the hopes and joys and endless possibilities of living, learning and growing.

A colorful crop of wildflowers is fading. Berries are ripening on the bush. It would be easy, as we watch the signs of seasonal transition reveal themselves around the Valley, to sadly ponder what became of the summer.

Lamenting the change is, perhaps, as much a part of the Alaska condition as wringing all the outdoor fun as possible out of the too brief, but always breathtaking, season.

As Alaskans, we should be accustomed to these kinds of transitions. But even with fish still to be caught and so much to look forward to in the seasons ahead, seeing the summer wind down is not easy.

There will be plenty of time, though, for considering just how fleeting another summer has been later. Maybe in September, when thoughts begin to turn more toward indoor activity. Or perhaps while sitting around a warming campfire to ward off the evening chill while moose hunting.

For now, there's still plenty of good warm long days ahead, so no need to put away the fishing and camping gear just yet. But in the rush to finish off the summer checklist of activities, let's not forget to do so with a measure of common sense and awareness of safety, both for ourselves and our families, as well as for our neighbors and friends.

Count your blessings. As Alaskans, we live in a great and unique state. As Valley residents, we are, perhaps, doubly blessed. Slow down long enough to take in all the wonder around us, and enjoy the final weeks of summer.