Reflecting on light and (field) life!

I've just experienced another summer of relentless 24h daylight, and as I marvel at the arrival of the disarmingly peaceful 'evening light' (it's midnight, and dusk outside) I am reminded of how this will soon be replaced by the solid presence of winter dark time (as per. this photo, taken on 1 January this year).

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I have just returned to mainland Norway from a summer field season in the Arctic. Again, I feel very fortunate to have had such a rich and fulfilling summer. Life is never dull as a field biologist, and such work has really shaped my life for almost as long as I remember.  As I feel intensely at the time, and spend much time reflecting upon after, I feel very fortunate to have worked for the researchers I have had the privilege to work for/with.  I have met some very good people, and all are very motivated to get 110% out of their field season time whilst... enjoying the experience.  I guess that's what keeps me going back!

Today I sweated my way to the top of Gråhøgtun, a mountain framing my current location, its English name being 'Greyback' (or 'Hornyback' depending on whether you pronounce it with Norwegian or English accent...).  So there I was, on the grey/horny back, and I felt some real attachment to the summer I just had, and the place where I am living right now.  I wanted to share this quote, written by Eric Shipton, British mountaineer ca. 1940.

'He is lucky who, in the full tide of life, has experienced a measure of the active environment he most desires. In these days of upheaval and violent change, when the basic values of today are the vain and shattered dreams of tomorrow, there is much to be said for a philosophy which aims at living a full life while the opportunity offers.

There are few treasures of more lasting worth than the experience of a way of life that is in itself wholly satisfying. Such, after all, are the only possessions of which no fate, no cosmic catastrophe can deprive us; nothing can alter the fact if for one moment in eternity we have really lived.'