Happy 2014 !!!!!

The view driving back home along Hamilton Boulevard this afternoon.  It is beginning to cloud over again and more snow is predicted.  The east coast has its ice storms, the prairies have -40 to -50 degree temperatures (did Whitehorse make the news that year we had 3 weeks of -50 degrees???  I don't think so!) and we have snow, snow and more snow.  

This is what my street looks like - I'm on the left in case you wish to visit.  Below is my corner.  At least the temperature is not too bad.   Around -20 ... very bearable.

We start of the New Year with a New Moon and a SuperMoon.There will be 5 SuperMoons this year. This one and another on January 3oth,  both New Moons, and the other three will be Full Moons. Here is the scoop on SuperMoons:

The term supermoon didn’t come from astronomy. We used to call them perigee… ‘near Earth.’ An astrologer, Richard Nolle, is credited with coining the term supermoon. He defines them as a new or full moon which occurs with the moon at or near (within 90% of) its closest approach to Earth.

It is rare to start the year with a New Moon.  The last time this happened was 19 years ago.  A New Moon is all about new beginnings and fresh starts.  An excellent way to start the year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MY FAMILY, FRIENDS AND READERS.  MAY YOUR YEAR BE FILLED WITH HEALTH AND HAPPINESS!

Boxing Day

Joan moved into her new Condo Apartment, hadn't quite settled and invited the "Girls" over for a Boxing Day turkey-and-all-the-fixin's meal.  And it was wonderful, both the meal and the company.  Thanks so much Joan.

A Christmas up-date.  What I left out of my previous posting.  After opening all the gifts, I went home to change and gather stuff, B stayed home to make the turkey and the rest went to play hockey. Unfortunately B's mom will have a Christmas to remember as she fell onto her wrist - and broke it.  A trip to the emergency ward, she returned in a cast and had to change her plans of staying an extra day, had to fly out the next morning to see if she required surgery to have a pin put in her wrist.   We all felt so sorry for her.

Christmas Morning 2013

Christmas at the Rudolph house.  As you can see, the stockings were laid on the floor with care, and it looks like St. Nicolas, in the night, did appear.  Even the animals had their stockings.  That took a while to open (while sipping mimosas).

We were fortunate to have B's parents and sister and their dog and cat join in on the festivities although the cat was quite the novelty for little Timber - the small dog who thinks he is big.

After stockings came breakfast then more gift unwrapping into the early afternoon.  Wow were there a lot of gifts.  

I then went back home to change and grab the cake, B stayed home to ready the turkey for the oven and the rest donned their winter coats and hit the rink.  More to come on that subject later!

December 22

Last night I had a dream that included SR's old soccer coaches - people I have not thought about for a few years now.  They coached him from about age 10 until he went away to university.  This morning, he phones me and asks me if I want to attend a soccer game he - that is SR - is coaching.  And it is taking place in a high school gym - JUST like the old days.  And, as if that is not coincidence enough, who comes into the game and sits beside me but one of his old coaches.  Very interesting.

Above is the coach (in white) rallying his team.  Below, the coach kicking the ball around.

                           

And below, the game is on.  These are mostly university kids that have come home for Xmas and formed teams.  The Red team was playing in the semi finals.  They win and they get into the finals.  The score was 2-2 at half time.  Unfortunately, although they played a hard game, they didn't win.
But I must say it was fun to watch an indoor soccer game once again.

Still Dec. 21st

Another shot of Main Street looking at the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway Station (my old workplace).  Don't know if I mentioned the tree, put there for Christmas, has one light bulb for each resident of Whitehorse.  Wonder which one is mine?

Driving home this afternoon, the sun was brilliant just below the clouds.  There were a few sun dogs but I was unable to photograph them (and drive at the same time).  For those who know, this is Hamilton Blvd heading home from the Canada Games Centre.

Dec 21st

Happy Winter Solstice everyone!!!  It is the shortest day of the year and tomorrow our days get longer - something we northerners look forward to.  I took this photo out my bedroom window at 10:00 AM.
It reminds me of the time I was working at Staff Development on the third floor of the Hougen Centre.  Our view from the south facing window we unimpeded by buildings and gave an expansive view of the sky.  From it we saw the most spectacular sunrises.  We would all gather (and I know you are saying you g*!  d%#* government workers, but it would have been a sin to let such beauty go unnoticed) and gaze in awe at the sunrise.   We see these daily spectacles mostly in December.

Happy Solstice to all.

December 10

Drove downtown around 6PM tonight.  It was FOGGY.  Unless it is -40 with ice fog, we do not get fog in the north.  But apparently not true any more.  It was only about -10 outside and there definitely was a fog right from my house to Main Street.  (See the giant tree at the end of Main Street).

This is how many shoppers are crowding the sidewalk at 6PM.  The reason ?? - most of the shops are closed.

Ended the evening with a Merry glass of wine at  Deb's house.  Her house is looking all Christmassy too. 

Dogs at Christmas

Couldn't resist sharing a bit of Christmas dog humour.

Our Christmas Trees

Went to SR & Brooke's for supper tonight.  They had just cut down their tree yesterday and were busy beavers decorating it today.  I included this photo as I loved the tree topper.  Don't know if you can decipher it, but it is Rudolph and his Lady.  Perfect! And I think they found the perfect tree too.

Took a little doing but did get Lily and Timber in front of the tree.  They are very good at keeping their distance so as not to bother the tree or gifts.

Now in comparison, I have the Grinch Tree.  And after years of having the perfect tree too, I am now very very happy with my wee tree.

Book Club Christmas

Here is our "official" BookClub Christmas photo - beside the Grinch tree.  Too bad we are missing one member, but we were all thinking of her.  Can you find the lucky pickle in this photo?  

We had a shout-out Christmas Quiz, the winners receiving fridge magnets with photos of previous book club meetings.  Here we are looking at all the magnets.

Our gift exchange theme this year was a gift starting with the letter "S".  We had a great variety of S gifts including:  Saskatoon Berry Pie Filling (homemade of course), Soap with a Scarlet Scrungie (sorry Meghan I couldn't remember all the S words you so cleverly put together), a knit Star decoration,  a Salsa dish and Spoon, direct from Mexico and Sunglasses that assist in finding those darned lost golf balls.  Guess who got the sunglasses!  It was great fun.

Cookies

Christmas time again and that means Christmas cookies.  Made these for a BookClub Christmas which I was hosting this year.  I guess our Christmas gatherings are a little later as I didn't have too much time to put into baking, but here are the results so far (and we had a member on her yearly  Vancouver trip whom we missed).

Our Gift Exchange criteria was a gift starting with the letter "S" as in SANTA.  As you can guess, mine was Shortbread.

Holiday Dinner Party

My friend Bev sent this to me and it is so so so true:

Whitehorse Pop Choir

Went to the Whitehorse Pop Choir Rock n Roll Christmas Show and Sing Along tonight.  I knew Brooke and Emily in the Choir.  Although there were only one or two slightly Christmassy songs, they sang a variety of tunes, some I knew and some were new but all were thoroughly enjoyable.  This is a brand new choir assembled from a newbie from Vancouver.  They have only practiced 13 times in total.  You could tell that the performers were truly enjoying themselves and were thrilled to have an audience.  The venue was very small and I was happy that they plan a larger space come spring for their spring concert.

Dancing

During Rendezvous we will be performing prior to the introduction of the famous Gillian Campbell.  They want us to do a waltz to Hank Karr's Yukon Waltz so we are practicing two different waltzes.  The one above is called Husbands and Wives, a dance choreographed to the Brooks and Dunn song of the same name  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIrkJkhg18c .  (I would rather dance to that song to tell you the truth!)  The last dance will be Hello Dolly which will be lots of fun.  The two middle dances will be Country Rock - which I know and quite possible Line Dance - which I really have to practice. 

The Trailer below I made for our instructor Angie.  Hope you like it!

P.S.:  Having trouble with my videos.  If anyone knows why they show on my computer, but not on the iPad (blank space) or iPhone (frozen blurry picture) please let me know.   Thanks!

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Hospital

Just in case you ever come to visit and need the hospital, here is what it looks like.  Apparently we now have an MRI machine.  We fundraised and reached our goal a year ahead of the predicted time so now we have a machine but no room to put it so they now have to build an extension to house this machine.  Wonder when we will be able to use it here, rather than flying out the Vancouver for an MRI??

Well, the Christmas season is once again here and last Friday was the Seniors' Soirée.  It was a lovely evening held in the convention centre, surrounded by the beautifully decorated trees which we could bid on, offered a delicious buffet dinner, had a silent auction and then dancing.  This is the first year I have attended this Soirée and I was amazed that I knew so many people there and they were all, all dressed up - something you don't see very often in Whitehorse.  We bought tickets through our line-dancing group and of course, we line danced the night away.

Music by Hank Karr and the Cannucks.  It was a hoot.  You know, I love those Cannucks.  They apparently started out here at the Whitehorse Inn.  Yes, remember that hotel you old folk???  Where the CIBC stands today and the neon sign now displayed at the McBride Museum.  I have to say we were a hit at dancing.  Even the dancers on the floor were turning their heads to watch us dance.  Soooo much fun, I think I'll do it again next year.