Going, Going ...

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Main Street, Whitehorse, April 30, 2009.

My backyard, April 30, 2009

What beautiful weather. Summer clothes and sandals. And I'm working INSIDE!! What luck. Snow's halfway gone in my yard. Still can't really walk in it yet though. Wet and puddelley (yes, I made up that word).
And this weekend is the Old Timers' Indoor Soccer Tournament (note the "Indoor" once again). When everyone is nice and brown from the sun, I'll still be lily white as all my activity currently is behind four walls.

It's Summer

Just like it seems the longer days come quickly, so do our seasons. Last week it was spring, this week SUMMER!!!! Temperature in the high teens. Had to get the air conditioning turned on at work. This weather is better than what we had ALL last summer.
By the way, the swan photo is not mine. I've just hunted around to give credit where credit is due and alas cannot find the photo. Sorry.

Spring is Here

Sunday morning...you don't appreciate the weekend until you work all week. Sunny, clear blue sky. I take a cup of freshly brewed coffee onto the deck, let music of Greece play softly in the background, open a lawn chair, settle down with my book and look forward to enjoying my space all to myself. Not five minutes pass before the singing and clapping from the Church of Latter Day Saints across the street becomes louder than my music. Then the swans fly overhead in a large lazy "V" honking away. Not only can I not hear my lovely music, but cannot concentrate on my book either.
But I have to say the swans are always a sight to behold, on their way north. April is the month for the Celebration of Swans, when the Trumpeter and Tundra Swans rest at M'Clintock Bay on Marsh Lake before continuing their flight north. You can often see their formation in the skies and hear their honking as they fly. Sometimes they fly so low you can hear their wings flapping.
Well, if that's all I have to complain about, all is well. The sun continues to shine. I unwrapped and washed my deck furniture and am ready to enjoy the lovely days ahead now.

Yukon

OK, so I say I don't like putting too many youtubes on the blog, and here is another one ... thanks to Iris (yes Heather, Iris is still promoting the Yukon and as helpful as ever!).

If you haven't been to the Yukon, watch the video and come up.

If you have been to the Yukon, revisit the places and things you've seen and be tempted to have another visit to experience the the beauty you have not yet seen (make sure William sees this video, he'll want to come again!).

Here it is:
Click Here to see the Yukon

Oh yeah, and fly Air North, Yukon's airline if you come. They treat you like real people.

Susan Boyle

I don't like putting too many youtubes on the blog, but this is crossing Whitehorse like wildfire, and if you haven't watched it already, it is work a look:

CLICK HERE

Quite weekend. Of course, I caught a cold (I'm sure from work - working in an office is like working in daycare - someone is always ill and spreading germs around) so recuperated on the weekend. Was good by Sunday, so went out for tea with my friend. Sipping tea and looking out the window made us think we should be sipping outside in that beautiful sunshine, but it looks warmer than it actually is. Haven't seen Brenda since Christmas - no, I did have lunch once with her since - but did have Christmas dinner at her house and left my gifts there, so collected the loot. It was like Christmas all over again! Learned about her touch screen ipod (or was it called something else). Very interesting and perhaps good for travel. Got me thinking about one. Had my summer tires put on on Thursday, just in time for our blizzard on Friday. The snow is still mid-thigh level in the yard and about six feet high where I have shovelled it, so it will be a while before we see lawn. I'm hoping for some extremely hot weather so all of it will melt. I have to plant a garden on May 20th, or there about - Victoria Day. At this point I have my doubts though.

Blonde Goes Back to Work after 30 Years

MJT sent this to me. If you have ever worked in an office in days of yore and used a typewriter, you will understand this video. Made me laugh ... thanks MJT

Happy Easter

The Easter Bunny visited my neighbour's house, as you can see from the faces of Brenna and Cora. They were full of vim and vigour during my visit (possibly a result of all the chocolate the bunny brought). They also rescued a spider, kindly bringing it into the house from the snow outside.
The Bunny did come to my house as well, but only left a present for SR. I guess you have to be good not only for Santa ... something to keep in mind for next Easter.

Yes, spring is here, as you can tell by the melting snow in the above photo. My friend is tall, but the snow is taller! I think the Copper Ridge and Granger area of Whitehorse has it's own micro- climate as it gets more snow that any other part of the city...but it is melting, if only slowly. By the way, Happy Birthday Debbie!

My deck is now visible. It will be a while though before I can plant flowers in my planter! I'm hoping the snow melts by August for cousin Joe's visit.
Happy Easter everyone!

Spring Spruce Bog

Spring is in the air when Spring Spruce Bog comes along. And it certainly is spring today. The water is running in rivers down the roads, cars are a muddy shade of grey with a windshield wiper wide view of the world, and the pristine snow roadside is an attractive black brown. Ah spring. I was happy to see Phyl is once again doing her pottery. A while back she had sold her kilns but now she is back at it. We went mid afternoon, a perfect time as the crowds had dissipated and we had plenty of room to look and chat. Even little Ella joined the craft fair shoppers although in her dreams I'm sure she was somewhere else.

Professional Brick Carrier

You think your job sucks ....



(Thanks Hans)

Correction

I said in an earlier blog that the temperature in Dawson City was -41 degrees Celcius on March 15th. I was just corrected with a picture to prove my bad!

So Sick of Winter

Need I say more??

Women in Art

Just found this on someone else's blog (thank you windrosehotel) and really enjoyed it.



500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art

500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art”—nominated as Most Creative Video at the 2nd Annual YouTube Awards—is an awesome video, submitted by Philip Scott Johnson on April 22, 2007

Music: Bach's Sarabande from Suite for Solo Cello No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007 performed by Yo-Yo Ma

Nominated as Most Creative Video
2nd Annual YouTube Awards

For a complete list of artists and paintings visit http://www.maysstuff.com/womenid.htm

Higher resolution version at
http://www.vimeo.com/1456037

Dropped into Natasha's new house this afternoon. She has just moved in and is thrilled with it. It is very nice and built by one of the best house builders in town - Horizon Construction. Of course, her husband Derick, who is in university in Edmonton, has yet to see it.
Met Tash in the early afternoon in Starbucks. She said that with all this snow, she is doing very well work wise - she is a physiotherapist. Actually went to meet Deb there and we were going to plan our next big trip which will be to Naxos - once again. Greece keeps calling me back for some reason - maybe I'm part Greek, not part Hungarian??? Was going to take my computer with me and phoned Starbucks to ensure I could get a connection. They told me to bring the computer and I could probably hook into an unprotected internet site - yeah right. So I left the computer at home. As it turns out with Natasha there, we talked house decorating instead. If anyone has rented a house or apartment close to Naxos Town/Agios Georgios, please let me know. That's what we're looking for.
Don't want to go on about the weather, no, really I don't, but, BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH. Dawson City had the coldest temperature on record for March 15 today at -41C. That's where SR is now, trying to open up the mine. Old Crow was -65C with the wind chill.
We sat at around -15C but that wind was chilly - don't even want to know what it was with the wind chill.
Picked up two good movies last night. Changeling (directed by Clint Eastwood): it was very good and Angelina's lips were very big and red. It is based on a true story and very interesting and a bit sad. Also rented Australia (with Hugh Jackman, who is pretty easy on the eyes): it's an epic tale with good guys, bad guys, damsels, horses, cattle, wars ... just about everything and kept my interest for its almost three hour length.

In Like A Lion

Driving into town today I looked around and thought what a vast country we live in. The east is being plummeted with snow storms as is Washington state, temperatures are well below normal in other areas and here we are in the far north and the temperature is -1 degree celcius and calm - something that lifted my spirits as I am well through with winter. Oh for the warmer temperatures to descend upon us and the vast amounts of snow we have had can start melting away. I washed my car yesterday (I do that when I can no longer see out my windows) and unfortunately, with this warmer weather, the road snow has melted and mixed with the sand that had been dropped all winter to prevent sliding and the mud was being sprayed onto my clean car. But, even that I could handle. IT WAS WARM.
I went into The Country House to look for new bedroom curtains (yes, I am trying to help the economy with my purchases!!) and when I came out it was like I was in transported into another world. There was a huge snow squall - thin hard snow being pelted around in huge circles by the turbulent north wind. Visibility was about 20 feet. My windshield was covered with frozen snow which needed to be scraped off before I could see. What happened to my beautiful, hopeful day?? As it turns out, it wasn't a squall, it was weather which has now lasted 8 hours and is going on strong. After my shopping I came home and retreated into the shelter of my house only to sit and look out the window at the wild weather.

Just before dinner, I decided that although it was still snowing I should shovel what has fallen to this point or I may have a very hard time shovelling when the snow stops - not a pleasant job. The chaotic wind had caused three foot drifts in the driveway. The snow banks are more than six feet high so when I toss the shovelful of snow over that bank, half gets blown back onto the driveway and if the other half doesn't reach the topof the snowbank it rolls back down into the same spot I have already shovelled. Whew! What usually takes 10 minutes took 1-1/2 hours.

Now darkness has fallen, the wind is still blowing hard from the north, the snow is still falling and the drifts are again forming. Well, I won't even think about it again until I depart tomorrow, which won't be too early as my Man U game starts are 9:00 AM at which time I'll be sitting with the fireplace on, sipping a cup of hot coffee and I'll be transported, at least for a couple of hours, into the warmer weather of England, watching an exciting soccer game with good looking muscular men in short pants! Snow, what snow??

Rendezvous

Once again, another Yukon Rendezvous has come and gone. My favourite part lately is the snow sculptures. At this point, I don't know which one won 1st place, but here are my favourites.

Above is the entry from Finland.

And this is my absolute fave, The Snow Queen, an entry from the B.C. team. She has an icicle crown and earrings.

This is why we Yukoners are tough. Even the wee ones have to brave the cold to celebrate Rendezvous.

Today, the final day, was beautiful as you can see from the blue sky in the above photo.

Joaquin Phoenix on David Letterman

Now, I loved watching Joaquin Phoenix in movies. I believe he should have won the Academy Award at least for WALK THE LINE. Apparently he's now into music and if you missed him on David Letterman, here's a real eye opener onto the NEW Joaquin:



P.S. Now I love David Letterman!

Cousin Joe still trippin'

They've rounded Cape Horn and are in the final stages of the cruise. If you're interested in such a cruise, or in the area visit his blog by clicking here. He has outlined his trip complete with photos.

Yukon Visitor

We do get visitors here in the winter (other than my mother and Jennifer!). Sues left the blustery snowy New Brunswick winter to visit the snowy and extremely cold Yukon winter. And she's still smiling!
But you can't beat our blue blue skies of the extreme cold.

Deb had some "book-clubbers" as well as former Hawaiian ship cruisers over to her house for a lovely luncheon including champagne and orange juice. (now you know why we laugh so much!)

Cousin Joe's Cruise

My cousin Joe and his wife are on a cruise aboard the Star Princess sailing aside Patagonia and through the Straight of Magellan. He is keeping me up to date on his travels and I thought I would share some of the photos with you. Above: He says, "We are on our way to Ushuaia, Argentina via the Beagle Channel named after the ship sailed on by Darwin. At 8:00 am this morning we entered a section of the channel that has glaciers and hanging valleys."

Above and below photos: "The highlight of the day for me was seeing the Osorno Volcano and some of the rapids and waterfalls in the area. For most of the day, the volcano was shrouded in clouds and it was only late in the day that we finally saw the peak. The volcano is a classic example of a cinder cone just like the famous Mount Fuji in Japan. Of course when you think of Chile llamas come to mind and you see a few on the country. We also came across a Monkey Puzzle tree which I have to admit is one of the strangest plants I have ever seen. " (as you can see I didn't include the Monkey Puzzle tree - if you want to see it let me know)

Snow, Snow and more Snow

I don't know how many cm's of snow fell yesterday but it was definitely whiteout conditions driving to attend the shower. Between my neighbour and I, we shovelled the driveway four times and it was still snowing. Being in a semi-arid climate, we shouldn't be getting that much snow. As you can see from the photo above, I have to heave each shovelful of snow high into the air to get it to stay on the huge snow bank, which I have already pushed back many many times.

There was a snowfall advisory issued yesterday and they weren't kidding. Only two more months of snow, then it can start to melt. On a brighter note, our daylight hours are increasing (sunrise now about 9 AM, sunset about 5 PM). That is something everyone notices. AND you can now feel some warmth when the sun shines. Spring is coming!!!

Shower / Meet 'n Greet

Cody-Anne had her baby shower yesterday - correction, she had her Meet 'n Greet yesterday. Showers involve making silly paper plate hats with all the bows and ribbons and playing silly games. A Meet 'n Greet involved coming to meet the new baby and bringing a gift or not, just enjoy. There was a full age range in attendance, from one month (Ella) to 62 years (or there about). Also in attendance was Cody's step daughter Sam and step son David (who stayed hidden during the affair).
Little Ella slept through the whole affair even though she was passed around to everyone. She awoke at the end, only interested in food, to which Cody obliged, and fell asleep once again.

The proud Grandmother hosted the party and did get to hold her new grandchild, at least for a bit.

Sue & Iris come north

Paulette is having her hip replaced in YVR, Nuge is having his fused spine checked out at the same time, so Sue & Iris came north to look after the house, kids, and invalids (when they return). I was lucky to catch a bit of their time and we had a lovely luncheon today at my house. I've known Sue & Iris for over 40 years (!!!) so it was fun to get together and "chew the fat".

Lego Inauguration

Legoland California has created the inauguration of President-elect Obama and his family along with Vice President-elect Joseph Biden and his wife as mini-figures in Lego bricks.
Invited dignitaries include Lego versions of President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Lynne Cheney, former President George H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush and Sen. Dianne Feinstein
Here is Jennifer's favourite part. Interested in seeing more? Check out this site, click here, or watch on Youtube by clicking here.
(Thanks Jenn for this info)

Movie Review

With only 2 double theatres here (one with a hole in the screen!) I often have to wait and wait for a good movie to come. Recently there has been a rash of horror movies (I'll pass thanks) and kids movies (unless it's Shrek or similar, I don't really want to go). I've been waiting for MILK, not yet here and waited and waited for some in the recent past which never did make it here. But in the last two weeks, I did see two movies.

TAKEN: with Liam Neeson. I like Liam. I didn't think this would be a blockbuster movie from the trailers, but thought it would be worth seeing - WRONG. Full of spy killing, cars rolling and bursting into flames action, it is so bad and unrealistic. Liam escapes at least 5 machine guns and hundreds of gun shots and yet can shoot his attacker with one pull of the trigger. The IMdb website gives it 8 of 10 stars. I give it 2 of 10 and that's being generous. Click here to see movie details .

GRAN TORINO: with Clint Eastwood. Again, I like Clint (other than the fact that he has five children from five different women), but I'm not big on muscle cars, so I wasn't expecting too too much from this movie. He played a bigotted old man in a multi-cultural neighbourhood (lots of fuel for the fire). I LOVED the movie. Definitely worth seeing. IMdb gave it 8.5 out of 10 stars. I'd give it 9 of 10. Click here to see movie details .

MILK: Coming soon to a theatre near me - I hope.

Need a new Job?

I'm sure you've all heard of this job being advertised in Australia, toted as the Best Job in the World. Click on the link below to see the Job (click on the links at the top to find out the details of the job and see picutres of where you would be working, should you be the successful applicant) and see one of the applications from the north:
http://www.islandreefjob.com/#/applicants/watch/_gpv6kO1WY4

Just want to see the northern applicant - here he is:



If winter is getting you down, you still have 20 days to apply! Good Luck.

Note the temperature - crazy! We go from -30 to -4 in two days.
Just celebrated Sue's birthday last night. What fun. It was a '70's theme - '70's, '70's mmmm what did I do and wear in 1970?? I had a hard time thinking what clothing in the 1970's was like - let's see, I backpacked through Europe (jeans & t-shirt), worked for CP Air (yes, remember that great airline who rivaled Air Canada) so I wore work clothes so there were mini-skirts and midi-skirts and platform shoes, moved to Calgary and wore those Indian wrap-around skirts as well as jeans and t-shirts, then moved north into a cabin in the bush and wore lumber-jack shirts and big boots as well as jeans & t-shirts. I guess it was a decade for wearing everything and anything but jeans and t-shirts remained a constant, so that settled it. And I still wear them so I had only to go into the closet. The evening started off with Marguerita's - what fun. I haven't had those since the '70's, and ended with Bailey's coffees. For a wine and beer drinker that was different. The music had variety also, from John Travolta disco to Joe Cocker. The theme was chosen as that is when Sue "came of age" and as she is once again "coming of age" (the senior's age that is) it was appropriate. And best of all I awoke today without a hangover!

My Friend turns 50 !!!!

Make a Smilebox greeting

History in the Making

I watched the inauguration this morning - history in the making, as they say. The crowds were amazing and I wondered what those people did when they had to go to the bathroom! So the good 'ol US of A now has a new President and it will be interesting to see what that means to Canada.
In with the new, out with the old. Here the helicopter awaits the Bush's. What will the comedians do without George Dubbya. And like Robin Williams says, what will he do now, he can't go on talking tours! Here is David Letterman's Top Ten List on George Bush:

While the rest of Canada was (is?) experiencing extremely cold temperatures, look at ours (below). Who'd have thought you would have to travel north of the 60th degree parallel to hit these temperatures. It has been like this since Monday and won't go back to near normal till Wednesday of this week. Gotta love it! Forecast Issued: 5.00 AM PST Sunday 18 January 2009 Today: A few showers ending this morning then clearing. Wind south 40 km/h gusting to 60. High 10. Tonight: A few clouds. Wind south 30 km/h. Low plus 2. Monday: Increasing cloudiness early in the morning. Wind south 30 km/h becoming light late in the day. High 6. Tuesday: Cloudy with 30 percent chance of flurries. Low minus 3. High plus 1. Wednesday: A mix of sun and cloud with 40 percent chance of flurries. Low minus 12. High minus 12. Thursday: Sunny. Low minus 19. High minus 16. Climatological Information

Month Mean Temperature oC Mean Total Precipitation (mm) Mean Number of Precipitation Days Daily Minimum Daily Maximum Jan -22.0 -13.3 16.7 11.0

Ella

A baby has a special way of adding joy in every single day.
-- Author Unknown

Welcome to this world of ours, little Ella. Only a few days old, Ella is the granddaughter of my good friend Debbie. It wasn't so long ago (or maybe it was) that little Cody-Anne was running around in diapers, but now she is a mother of her own beautiful baby girl.

I went to visit little Ella tonight. She was so tiny. Were we all like that once? Her mom and dad, Peter, were beaming with joy.

So was Grampa Don who held her every chance he had.
Congratulations to Cody and Peter. What a beautiful little girl you brought into our world!

My Anti-theft Key

This is a view from my bedroom. I don't venture out too much if I don't have to. But I did go to the Nissan dealership today as I have been experiencing a problem starting my (almost) new truck! I would drive to where I was going, then when I wanted to drive away, my truck wouldn't start. This happened twice both times in extremely cold temperatures. After trying to start it, and trying to start it, and trying to start it some more, I would sit, look around and try to figure out what to do. And being the holidays, the dealership was closed. If I left the truck it would freeze solid then I certainly couldn't get it started. So then I swore out loud, tried it once more and alas, it started. The problem they said was my key! These new keys have computer chips in them that must sync with the chip in the car so only my key will start it. Something is wrong with my key and my car is not reading it, consequently it won't start. So, let this be a heads-up to all of you with similar "safety" systems. Carry 2 keys.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Now in Whitehorse

Short Term ForecastUpdated: Tuesday, January 6, 2009, 9:00 PST

	Tuesday Afternoon	Tuesday Evening	Tuesday Overnight	Wednesday Morning
	Variable cloudiness	Variable cloudiness	Variable cloudiness	Variable cloudiness
Temp.	-32°C	-35°C	-35°C	-36°C
Wind	NW 5km/h	NW 5km/h	NW 5km/h	NW 5km/h
Humidity	69%	74%	74%	70%
P.O.P.	20%	10%	10%	10%

-

What ????.... they are the same!! My co-worker & I have the same first name, work in the same office, both have a bit of gypsy in us and wear the same clothes!! We were meant to meet!

Well the new year is upon us now. !!!Happy 2009!!! And we are once again in a deep freeze - I mean weather wise, not economy wise... or do I? Minus 34 at my house, minus 39 downtown, so I am hunkering down and thought a coffee, computer, and Quartetto Gelato sounds a whole lot better than venturing outside if I don't have to.

Here's to 2009, may it bring you health and happiness. Cheers!