How is it already mid-August?

We ended up eating that crab for three amazing dinners. The next night, we rolled up the giant insect meat inside rice paper with carrot, cucumber, lettuce, mint, and vermicelli. The night after that we just polished it off with whatever we were eating for dinner. From this same dive trip, Scott also brought home several packages of sea cucumber – thin silky pieces of ocean flesh naturally segmented into strips.

Aside from the dive trip bounties and one great halibut fishing trip with Phil and Aimee, this summer has been weak on harvesting. No other fish to speak of, so definitely no upcoming brining and smoking sessions, no Tupperwares full of berries, and Scott doesn’t plan on hunting any deer this season.

Our subsistence way of living in Southeast has given way to a year of readjusting – getting back into the flow of America, familiarizing ourselves with Juneau and its many miles of road and trails, becoming functional in old jobs in new settings, transitioning into two different houses and, the best readjustment of all, welcoming Lota into our lives.

As the weather changes, Lota’s been discovering ever more about the world. He loves chasing dry leaves moving in the wind, and there’s more and more of them on the ground every day. Although, they won’t be staying dry for very long. Within a day, Juneau went from dry conditions to near flooding. In the backyard, he gets fixated on the way the grass moves in the falling rain and he’ll move ever so intently. He also pounces on big bugs and gobbles them up. This morning, he cocked his head to the sound of rain falling hard on the roof.

Yesterday, we walked to the cabin near Eagle Glacier.

Eagle Glacier is behind us. Lota is sticking his tongue out to the camera.