Abandoned tea

The abandoned cup of tea

I always have felt that the winter days in Yellowknife are too long (really). At 62.4°N, the sun still rises for 5 hours during winter solstice and it makes me miss the polar nights of Scandinavia so much. I love the 24 hours of darkness, and it’s okay if I’m the only one.

And then on January 19th, I would have loved it even more.

In the middle of our day, an intense solar storm had begun to buffet the earth and as soon as it was dark, the sky filled with the most gorgeous pinks and reds.

After an early dinner, I had just come to my sofa with a cup of tea from the kitchen to finish the episode of Clarkson’s Farm I had started. I picked up my phone, refreshed the aurora conditions, and panicked. I immediately talked with my guests and moved our already early beginning of tour to a what’s the soonest we can be ready tour start time. We wasted not a moment - they walked out of the elevator as I walked into the hotel lobby, and we were off travelling across a few lakes to what is probably my favourite, favourite winter place in Yellowknife, and we stayed until the clouds ate us up a couple hours later.

I returned home before midnight, with such a full heart, to my untouched cup of tea sitting right where I left it on my coffee table.

The abandoned pot of tea

A night later and I had it off. I had no guests booked, so it was a quiet, cosy night for me, with plenty of time to finish that episode of Clarkson’s Farm.

I was still keeping an eye on the aurora conditions through dinner, and unchanged since years, I was fully vulnerable to a sort of aurora anxiety. I live under it, but it still breaks my heart to miss it. It’s the middle of winter - I am frozen and exhausted, but I am still in love with the aurora.

I checked my phone several times over the next 10 minutes, watching what was happening in the sky above Yellowknife, wondering if I should get changed out of my pyjamas, blow out all my candles, and abandon a 1.5L pot of tea that wasn’t even done steeping on the kitchen counter for a very deliberate drive into the countryside, knowing we were right on the cusp of a spectacular break up that was probably just some moments to minutes away.

After twice trying to put my phone away and just settle into my sofa, I grabbed my car keys, remote started the Sienna, and ran upstairs to get changed. I ran back downstairs and out the door, wondering what I was forgetting, aside from the tea strainer still sitting in the teapot on the counter.

I had made it out in perfect time, doing exactly the speed limit the entire way. The next couple hours were breathtaking, including some reds to my eyes. And just as perfect was being back home by 9pm to finally finish that episode of Clarkson’s Farm, the entire pot of tea, and even carve out a little time for yoga before bed at an almost normal hour.