HAINES -- I spent May traveling, so June has been a catch-up month for cycling, walking the dog, gardening, family -- and lots of meetings. (I'm on the planning commission and the library, hospice and radio boards.)
At the moment, there are four toddling little girls 20 months to 5 years old, running in the back door with cups, filling them with water in the bathroom, and running out the front the door and pouring them in the yard. My kind houseguests, who arrived from Juneau a few hours ago and already have filled the holes in the end of the driveway, just asked what else they could do to help.
"Do you have a lawn mower?"
I started to say I have been a little busy, but does it count when I choose my chaos? Instead I heard myself saying, "You could weed the strawberries."
"Busy" is relative.
My husband, on the other hand, is truly busy, running a lumberyard that makes most of our income from now until the snow flies.
There are a few cabins and homes going up too, but mostly there are many small projects -- decks, roofing, siding, windows, paint -- 'tis the now-or-next-year season. Just look at Main Street. The Haines Brewery is building a new building on what was a vacant lot, right next door is a brand-new hotel that just opened (the green fuzz of a lawn along the sidewalk is still taped off) and next to that there's a grand opening tour of a fitness center in what was the derelict old Elks Lodge.
Across my garden from the swing set my grandchildren have descended on, a long empty and neglected summer cottage has a new life as my daughter's home, and her husband is hanging nets in their driveway for the salmon gillnetter they just bought and he will be fishing with his brother this summer. It's a big step for the young couple. There's nothing as hopeful as that preseason green webbing waiting to roll onto the drum of gillnetter, is there?
Bustling Wednesdays
I was in the Olerud's Market the other day, waiting in line to buy some fruit -- the produce usually comes in off the barge from Seattle on Tuesday evening, which means Wednesdays are bustling -- and said to the checkout kids, it's hard to argue Haines isn't on the upswing when you park in front of a new hotel and the crew framing up the brewery.
"Well, we will see if we can sustain it," a doubting old-timer said, focusing her gaze and thoughts on one of the long-vacant buildings across the corner. I thought of those nets waiting for salmon, the hotel beds all made up for visitors, and growlers of fresh spruce tip beer chilling for a potluck.
If I had a dollar for every time I have heard "Days like this are why we live here" this spring, I'd have a hundred bucks. That's what I like best about a sunny June: It makes it easy to be an optimist.
The only thing that has been more than a tad discouraging has been the government. Maybe the legislative toxins are seeping into our groundwater. At a recent Borough Assembly committee meeting, one assembly member swore in response to a citizen's concerns about the public process. Another said he was wasting their time. The radio didn't broadcast the profanity, but in what I think is a first, the paper printed it on the front page. It was like traveling back in time to darkest midwinter. That's when we usually have these kinds of ugly community issues.
But something had to change. So even though it was 80 and sunny at 6 in the evening with hours more daylight to enjoy, I attended Joe Parnell's rogue town hall-style meeting in assembly chambers on our harbor expansion project. Now Joe is a frustrated former harbor employee who was dismissed, so there's that. He is also an artist, writer, tour guide and basketball referee, and he cares so much about our town that his voice shakes when he thanks us for coming.
Too busy to fight
Most residents agree a larger harbor is needed for both commercial and recreational users. I think the biggest concern is the cost, and the change in the state funding climate. Then there's the decision by the borough to build a 750-foot-long steel wave barrier across the cove in front of town. The powers that be have been reluctant to open any of this up for more public discussion.
I was not surprised that the hall was full. But I was surprised how nice everyone was. No one swore or even shouted. People spoke and listened on all sides of the harbor issues.
Maybe it's thanks to the June mood boost, but since then there has been a steady stream of harbor project information coming from the borough.
That's good news because we are all too busy to fight. There are too many other concerns.
Why isn't the lawn mower cutting anything?
I know I have bird netting for the strawberries somewhere, but where?
And girls, no more water in the house. Please play outside.
Haines author Heather Lende's third book, "Find the Good," was released earlier this year and excerpted on these pages. Check her blog or Facebook page.