The End of Another Week

Greetings!

Another workweek has come and gone, and we're five days closer to winter. It has rained for a good part of the day today, and it appears that nearly half of the yellow leaves have fallen. No, actually it's just from one kind of tree, and I'll try to find out what kind it is. The birch leaves still seem firmly attached.

The spruces are laughing at all the wimpy leaves, though. "Ha ha, ha ha. I'm a mighty evergreen, and my needles NEVER fall!"

(Pssst - don't tell them about spruce bark beetles; it would ruin their weekend.)

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George Sullivan has passed away. He was mayor of Anchorage from the late '60s until the early '80s, overseeing the transition from frontier town to modern city during the boom years of the oil pipeline. His wife passed away a couple of years ago, as well.

I had the honor of meeting and/or speaking with him several times. He was a good friend of a guy I used to work for, and they spoke frequently. I often relayed messages for the boss. He seemed like a nice guy, and in the genuine "old school" style, I only saw him without a tie on one occasion.

His son Dan is our current mayor, keeping it in the family, as it were.

There's a great op-ed piece about him in today's paper here.

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Our tourist season officially ended on the 15th, and Anchorage now goes back into its more traditional, sleepy role of "northern city" (read snow) until next May. Due to the economy, there weren't as many tourists this year, and the numbers of buses and RVs seemed greatly decreased; at least until August, when we started seeing larger numbers.

In June, the month when we have all that sunlight, we're typically inundated with those wanting to experience it, and buses are everywhere. Not so, this year.

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There's not much of interest going on, so I'll let you get back to your weekend. Thanks for stopping by.