Well. I would imagine that it would be a very long night indeed if you were clinging to a tree while flood waters raged beneath you and lightning flashed all around you and you heard the crash of things breaking up both near and far and you had to wait until morning to see whether others had survived... But that example is a bit extreme, isn't it.

These days time to me is a quick silver slippery thing. Sometimes the aptest image in my mind is of a large icecube sputtering on a hot stove.

I've been in Alaska not quite 18 years. I will be 70 this year. I am taken aback when I realize that quite possibly I don't have another 18 years left!