3 in the afternoon

taken at 3:15 in the afternoon

The sun sets now at around 3:30 in the afternoon and doesn't come up until 10 in the morning. The nights are long and cold. Today it was -30 which is -22 F for those down South. It's been more and more difficult to get out and enjoy the little bit of sunlight that we have or to get any fresh air. The air is so dry and cold that when I breath in it feels like the inside of my nostrils are sticking together. People walk down the street with frozen condensation around the hoods of their coats and on their eye lashes and eye browns. The ravens have frozen feathers, I wonder how they can survive these cold cold temperatures. This is wintertime in the Yukon, in all it's glory. Cold and harsh, frigid and dark-but amazing at the same time.

This morning I saw someone biking to work in the complete darkness. It was -25. Only in Canada do you see this. I made eye contact with the person on the bike as I drove by in my pre-warmed up truck. I felt sick to my stomach with the thought of biking in those conditions, the biker looked pleased as punch and proud of himself for his accomplishment. Crazy Canuck!

We moved up here last summer knowing full well how the winters were. We knew of the darkness and cold cold temperatures and now we are bracing ourselves for our first Yukon winter.

And as much as I may seem to be complaining of these harsh conditions, I am also looking forward to becoming a sourdough as opposed to a cheechako. I want to see what it is like to make it through the winter here and to live to see the Yukon River thaw out come spring.

I also have been finding myself enjoying the darker nights, the coziness that it creates inside, how it takes longer to wake up, the slowness of it all.

So happy Winter Solstice everyone. Today we celebrate the shortest day of the year and in the Yukon will only be seeing about 5 hours of daylight. Now I'm off to soak in that little bit of sunlight that there is...Have a lovely day!
xox