Searching for Mr. Tumnus – Endecott Arm, Alaska – [05/10/2018]

We’re sailing through Endecott Arm fjord today, and I am once again finding myself in awe of just how massively astounding the place is. There is nothing like mountains to make you realize just how small you really are.

When I worked in the library I had to sneak away from the desk if I wanted time to recharge outside. But with my current position, the bow is my office for most of the afternoon during scenic cruising days; so not only do have I have a reason to be out there, I’m required to be. Unfortunately, by the time my hours started we had left the glacier long behind us, but the upside was that the bow was almost empty – leaving it quiet enough that I could hear the roar of the ever-present waterfalls as we coasted by. If you listen very closely, you can even hear the ice crackling as the bow brushes it out of its path.

Even know, I still find myself scanning the banks for signs of Mr. Tumnus, or Lucy, or the lamppost. I am certain that if there ever was a place in the real world for such creatures to exist, it would be here – along side the wise wolves and the curious owls and the vast majesty of the grizzly bears.

I could spend days just staring at that coastline, trying to be quiet enough to see something…more….

It honestly baffled me that, so few people were outside. Contrary to its reputation this area of Alaska is not particularly cold this time of year – wet perhaps but not cold. In fact, it’s probably colder inside the ship than out, but there I was, one of only a handful.

I honestly feel sorry for those people who cannot see beauty in places like this, who don’t seem to understand how precious they are, how much they can teach us.

I had a gentleman (I perhaps use the term loosely, and perhaps more on that later), in my workshop this morning who – when I stated that we don’t run formal classes on scenic cruising day because honestly people have better things to look at – responded with:

What is tehre to see? It’s just water and ice.”

I blinked for a moment, responded with something subtly witty, and inwardly shook my head in astonishment. How grey, I thought, must such an outlook be.

“Just”, what a ‘horrible candle snuffing word’ indeed.

I hope that I never become one of those people. I hope that when I am well beyond the place in life where I am now, whatever lies waiting for me at the foot of the next glacier, that you will still be able to find me in some way – sitting here, looking for Mr. Tumnus.