Last Monday in January

Yeah, yeah, yeah...I know I haven't been too attentive with my blog but it's been cold and dark here! Since I last wrote the federal elections have come and gone. We have a new Prime Minister - we'll see what that means soon enough, - although the Yukon stayed steady and revoted Larry Bagnell into office (Liberal) once again.

The temperatures have dipped in the last week and a half. It may warm up to minus 25 C if we are lucky. It was in fact about that temperature when 90% of the Yukon had a power outage. The power station at Aishihik went down yesterday, and with that power drain, so did the power in Whitehorse, which left most of us without power - me for about 4 hours - some people for up to 9 hours. Right now we're running on full power, but Yukon Electric is advising us not to use anything that isn't necessary as they still don't know what caused this outage. (This blog is necessary, isn't it....I promise to get off the net as soon as I'm finished).

I've been doing inside stuff - re-caulked all my windows and painted the sills, been sewing making disasterous creations which I now have to re-think, and even started knitting again even with carpal tunnel (which I hope to have operated on by the end of February, depending how busy our surgeon is).

SR is doing well enough - still in school of course. He and Tara will be tripping down to Puerto Vallarta for reading week to meet up with his dad on the ship. He's already tanning to get ready for the sun (although we have had heated discussions about the dangers/benefits of tanning). That trip will be in the 3rd week of February.

And Debbie and I are starting to make some plans for our trip to Greece / Italy, which comes up in mid April. One month in Greece, 2 weeks in Italy. Can't wait...Then you'll see a good blog if I ever find an internet cafe!

Just watched a good soccer game last week - Man U v Liverpool. Both vying for 2nd place. It was good because my team won 1-0 in the last minutes of play. In case you're wondering, Chelsea is on top once again this year and Arsenal is in 6th place, much to Arsen Bengers's dismay.

So that's about it from the north. Until next time....

And here's what I do when it's too cold outside to play. I refinished this '60's table. I think it looks groovey. 

Just a few more steps and I'm at the mailbox. Pretty view. 

The path from my house to the mail box which I walk daily. Cold today - minus 25 degrees C. We're not used to that any more! 

So, to end my tour, here is a picture of where I live - 3 minutes up the road in this direction.

Also wanted to give y'all a heads up on a great CBC television series that I previewed this weekend. Reliable sources state that it may be available to run on CBC in October. (I'll try to keep you posted). It is called Northern Town, and here is an exerpt on this series:

"The story for Northern Town was written by Yukon's Daniel Janke, with Don McKellar as story editor. Bob Martin, artistic director of Second City Toronto, is co-writing the scripts as well as providing his editing talents to the series. Janke is also a producer of the series which is a Yukon/Ontario co-production."

The story revolves around our big meteorite happening from a couple of years ago (interested? you can find out more at http://www.ufobc.ca/yukon/ykfireballjan2000.html or at http://www.cbc.ca/north/story/meteor-whitehorse-08122005.html). I found this series to be funny, witty, and very very Yukon. Keep you eyes opened for it.

P.S.: (whew! will she ever stop talking???) You know you can double click on any picture on my blog if you want to enlarge it.

My friend, Deanna Slonski also has her paintings displayed here. And I forgot to mention the aquatic centre which has a leisure pool, waterslide, swirlpool, lazy river, tots pool, sauna, steamroom and lap pool. 

The art work is fabulous also. Here are the copper swans. 

This is a partial view from the facility. Here you are looking at the intersection of the Alaska Highway and 2 Mile Hill (which takes you down into city centre) The large green structure is Takhini arena which is also a hockey arena. There are also 2 ice rinks, a "flexi-hall" used for volleyball, basketball, etc., the soccer arena (did I mention that??), a weight/training room and a running track and a children's play area. 

Of course, first on my list is to show you the first ever (in our town) indoor soccer arena. This is where SR spent his days while here for Christmas. 

Here is the entrance. 

I told you that one day I would tour the new multi-plex facility with my camera. Well, today was the day. It was sunny! I drove back from Lake Laberge and was kicking myself for not having my camera with me, so when I arrived I scooped my camera and went down to the new centre (also called Canada Games Centre). There are pro's and con's regarding this facility - one being lack of seating for the games, another, the 20+% increase in property taxes to pay for it!!! But, disregarding the con's it is a pretty nice place to get active.