Winter walking

Do you see what I see?  That't right... that glowing orb in the upper left hand corner.  Its our little friend the sun, and he's back in a major way right now.  Welcome to the arctic, one of the few places in the world where you can get frost bite and sunburn at the same time.  Yesterday was gorgeous, so I bundled up my little, loaded up two very squirmy dogs and we all went for a trek out by the Nome River.  Everything was still and frozen, but the sun was warm and bright.  I can almost feel all the life just waiting impatiently for the sun to finally release it from winter's prison.  March is amazing here with its brightness and lengthening days; I never even knew how many shades of white there could be until I spent my first Winter Part III here.
Even so, I will be damn happy to see the first tiny tendrils of green peeking up from the tundra.  Heck, I will even be happy to see the brown, ugly patches of ground when the snow melts. My nose can almost smell that earthy, new-old smell of the bare earth in spring time....sigh.  For now I will just be thankful for the glorious, brilliant sunshine, because there are still about 2 months of winter left to wait out.