The stars, the snow, the fire

Here's a book to read this winter; John Haines' "The Stars, the Snow, the Fire: Twenty Five Years in the Alaska Wilderness" I've read it close to a dozen times now since I first picked it up a decade ago. This book, for me, has been one of those shaping influences in a life that defines who a person is. It is without question, one of the major driving forces that has brought me here.

I'll leave you with my favorite graph from the memoir:

"What does a person do in a place like this, so far away and alone? For one thing, he watches the weather -- the stars, the snow and the fire. These are the books he reads most of all. And everything that he does, from bringing in firewood and buckets of snow, to carrying the wastewater back outdoors, requires that he stand in the open, away from his walls, out of his man-written books and his dreaming head for a while. As I stand here, refreshed by the stillness and closeness of the night, I think it is a good way to live."

It's getting late, I'll have more on Monday.

Happy Halloween