These are some pictures I’ve grabbed since I landed here in Alaska. None are especially notable and the place that gives them life hasn’t meant breathing to me just yet, but they are all filled with a couple months’ worth of warm memories. Alaska is undeniably a tough place to live—the threat of something that wants to kill you is always present and getting anywhere worth going is a bucket of work. But reveling in the sweetness that shakes out of that discomfort is becoming a favorite pastime of mine. I’ve spent a lot of time in the recent months learning the sounds and smells and sights that have been native here for far longer than I will ever know. The hidden rustle in the muskeg is probably a deer, but it could also be a foraging bear. The broad leaves near a stream are more likely thorny devils club than they are milkweed. Instead of blisters from poison ivy, they’re from the evil indian celery that hides in every thicket. Summer taught me a pile of lessons for what I briefly got to see. Winter and a new set of things to learn is quickly approaching. Seeing how the Tongass has rearranged itself for the blanket of winter is nothing short of incredible.