Tales of the beautiful everyday from the North
The fall of the cloud factory
Even in the west - ol’ reliable - we found ourselves a little bit stuck with some lingering cloud. We were just at the edge, but couldn’t quite get fully out from under it. The cloud continually passed quickly, but for how fast it blew over, more would form just behind it.
But a few more kilometres down the highway, and a little more time passed, the clouds had finally left us with clear sky and faint but steady aurora until the early hours.
Same as it ever was
It was just like old times. Leaving town, satellite weather imagery aligned well with what we could see on the distant horizon. We chased clear skies into the sunset out west - one of my greatest fall comforts, like vegan soups and cool fresh air in through the bedroom window overnight. It was perfect.
Threading the needle
Leaving the edge of town, a guest asked how long I’ve been doing this. “This is actually my first night…” I said with some laughter, but then continued to explain it was my first night back in Yellowknife after 3 years away. “So about 10 years as a career, or 18 years kind of actively, obsessively interested in this.”
We drove further out of town to a familiar spot, trying to thread the needle between good weather now and what would still be good later as well.
Despite some cloud, forest fire smoke, moonlight and still a brighter night, the aurora was spectacular. I was amazed myself, humbled, and a little bit reflective in thought that Yellowknife really doesn’t know just how special they have it here.
It was a special ‘welcome back’ night to be sure.
Back to the roots
In a separate tab, I open my blog to check on my last post and manage to surprise myself seeing that it was back at the end of February. I knew it had been a long, long time, but I didn’t think that long.
I also knew when I titled it ‘Closing in’, that it was a subtle lean into what was coming - a somber end to my few years in Whitehorse. At the time I wrote that post, my apartment was under offer, I knew where I was going, but not yet where I would be living, and between those two small life changes, I would be embarking on the trip of a lifetime that never once felt quite real - but more on that next post.
For right now, my days are filled with reacquainting myself with where this life of chasing the northern lights nightly began. I am home again in Yellowknife, exactly 10 years and 2 days from when I moved here the first time, to once again take possession of a home I had not yet actually seen.
With so much to do, we wasted little time and began light renovations the day after I moved in, and it all remains ongoing. Tours begin in August, and I cannot, cannot wait. And finally I’ll lead you out of Whitehorse, through the summer in BC, and finally up to Yellowknife with a chaotic collection of photos.
After moving out of my place in Whitehorse, I spent some weeks with Doris in hers before I would head south for an abbreviated summer. We packed, and repacked every single box I thought I had perfected to all fit into my Sienna to take with me. No moving company this time, just what I could bring with me. But I had too much stuff, and I was too heavy. Moving day was not the best day of my life.
Over the next week and a bit, we opened every single box, re-sorted and repacked them, got rid of a lot (Doris will be eating dried lentils and rice for the next 3 lifetimes), weighed every single box and loose item, and set aside 2 boxes to ship ahead of another Canada Post strike.
All of this set me up full to the car ceiling, exactly 40kg under the car’s maximum takeoff weight, for an early, early morning out of Whitehorse to drive straight-ish through to my mum’s place, some 2,200 kilometres south. But this was not without a cat nap or two along the way as my eyes got heavy, twisting myself over and around boxes and plants to stretch out, time at the Liard Hot Springs, of course, and photography stops too.
Late, late pizza takeaway after move out day
Just completely taking over Doris’s life with my chaos here…
Weight ended up becoming a bigger issue than space
A little tail heavy despite my best efforts…
Driving through the night in northern BC and of course she kept me company
Typical summer views from my mum’s place in Kamloops
The final weeks leading up to departure day for Yellowknife were chaotic in everything from helping move my dad to the Philippines, couriering original (thank you, NWT, for being so relentlessly, painfully archaic - never change), notarized documents to Yellowknife from BC in the midst of another potential Canada Post strike, and making endless design decisions for spaces I had once again not actually seen.
With our final days planned and our departure from Kamloops sured up, we first spent some nights in Calgary with my grandparents, making final final decisions on design with trips to Home Depot and IKEA, but most importantly, bean bag toss tournaments in the backyard.
From there, just 1,800 kilometres and one overnight in smoky northern Alberta was between us and Yellowknife.
Smoky morning leaving High Level
Christmas in June…
So this is about where things stand. 70L of white eggshell paint down, 3 major appliances unexpectedly replaced, many IKEA orders received, more still on the way, and the main bathroom 2/3 gutted but on it’s way back, with the ensuite mostly finished, and a few closets gutted and redone.
When my dad asked how it feels to be back in Yellowknife, I said I wasn’t really sure because I haven’t actually really interacted at all with Yellowknife yet. I’ve barely been outside for more than repeating trips to Home Hardware and Canadian Tire.
But I am settling in, sleeping more than 5 hours a night finally, and taking time to breathe and practice yoga, of course. Sparrows, yellow warblers, and robins sing outside my windows all day, a neighbourhood cat wanders into my yard at breakfast for cuddles, and both the front and back steps make for perfect afternoon fika spots.
My first tour is already only about a month away, and I can’t wait for that, but all of this time since closing day in Whitehorse on March 28th has passed far, far too quickly. For now, time could not slow down enough, but this evening I’ll prepare for my new dishwasher that I should be wrestling into my place sometime tomorrow, while the rest of the bathroom walls upstairs are calling for the tiling to continue…
What's good isn't only happy
April 14 at last, -23°
Ethiopian one last time for dinner because there could be no better ending than that. Back home, it felt like forever laying on my back. Just staring at my ceiling, but I eventually fell asleep on my old sofa. The northern lights still danced outside every window. The serenade was of course perfect too.
A restless night ended to low, orange sunlight pouring in the windows. I made a small, spacey walk around the house running my fingers along random walls. I held back tears for all of about 4 seconds inside my long idling car, and finally pulled away for the last time, looking back more times than I can remember.
