Seasons change and so do I

Alaska lore preaches that when the fireweed blossoms reach the top of the stalk there's only six more weeks until winter.

My friend Tom Walker who lives farther north noticed some flowers pretty high on the stalk near his house yesterday. So today I looked around the yard and found this one.

Higher on the stalk earlier than either of us has seen it before this year. This could put the start of winter in mid August.

Maybe it isn't just a random coincidence that today, two days after the solstice marking the start of summer, I got the urge to clean up around the wood pile in anticipation of new firewood.

Of course that solstice also marks when days start getting shorter, another reminder of the long decline into winter. I wonder if the unusually hot spring didn't fool the fireweed into thinking summer is farther along than it is supposed to be.