The Stark Beauty of Spring: Whitehorse

"Some say it’s a fine land to shun;

Maybe; but there’s some as would trade it

For no land on earth — and I'm one."

~Robert Service, The Spell Of The Yukon

Time spent in solitude, especially in northern climes, invites introspection. It makes you cherish those distant connections with friends and family even more, yet also opens you up to new possibilities of adventure. In fact, travel inherently is paradoxical: you pull your past along with you while also forging ahead into new landscapes. The weight of the past may be light or heavy, depending on your relationships. Some seek to cut the rope that holds those memories behind them as they climb, run, hike away into new valleys of experience. However the trick, I think, is to keep your loved ones in your heart, trusting that you will return to them after your sojourn away from them. And perhaps, just maybe, leaving them for a time brings your closer to them in the end.

The view from my room in Whitehorse

I am going to try to blog more frequently up here in Whitehorse as I have less distraction than when I am in Ontario, and the rhythm of my days is much different. The Yukon is so vast, it is comforting to know that there are less than 40,000 people here in the entire province!

Glacial water has that luminescent blue hue that is sublime..

A view of Whitehorse

I wanted to post some new photos that I have taken of the surrounding area on a small tour with my friend Ian. His cats are warming up to me and I have included a photo of my latest painting subject, the lovely and convivial Pumpkin. Ian informed me last night that he had briefly considered naming her "Grendel's Mother", which is a FABULOUS name. Perhaps that can be her middle name. Certainly she has a better temperament than Grendel's Mother :)

So today I shall think about our own unique histories, for each is as individual as a fingerprint. Revisit what you might have put aside or neglected or turned away from. Our past shapes our future, of that I am certain.

The lovely and incomparable Pumpkin (aka Grendel's Mother)

The Yukon River, which I have not seen since I was in Alaska two years ago near

Fort Yukon on the Dalton Highway

Have a beautiful day :)

Heather

"We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfilment." -Hilaire Belloc