Cream Pie

Yesterday I ate the most delicious piece of macadamia nut cream pie. It reminded me of my grandmother (Schultz) even though she didn't bake pies. I think it was the blue vinyl cafe chairs and the glass horizontal blinds for windows that gave the place the "feel" of my grandma's era (you can sort of see these two items if you look closely at the photo of me). The place really reminded me of her winters in Florida – think aquamarine, hamburger stands and drinking old fashioneds. Perhaps the mere fact that I was eating pie as snack at 11am also reminded me of her. In her later years of life she would often go out to a restaurant and order a slice of pie and a coffee...just because. I don't think she liked food much by the time she was in her late 70s and she really developed a sweet tooth (and yet somehow probably never weighed more than 100lbs). Anyhow, the pie at the Hana Hou was to die for - seriously good - and the restaurant was just perfect in its frozen, vintage Hawaiian sort of way.

Ono

9:47 sunrise

16:36 sunset

In 24 hours I will be on an airplane bound for Hawai'i. I'm not sure there's anything else I need to add to this post. See you in February!

Reno Progress

09:52 sunrise

16:28 sunset

It has been a pretty productive past couple of weeks as far as house renos go. The steel beam went up:

And we found drywallers we liked who have started work this week. They won't finish until after we get back from Hawai'i, but that's okay. We didn't want them to be working on the house while we're away. But look - the popcorn ceilings will be gone soon!

Today Ben and I (well, mostly Ben, but I was here) replaced two of our doors as well: one in the garage and the one in the living room that leads out to the deck.

This all feels like progress and that's good.

Happy to be healthy

10:10 sunrise

16:17 sunset

Cold again today and Ben did say that my skin is the palest he's ever seen (a sign of my time in the Yukon?). It does look a little blue in today's flickr photos I must admit.

But I am feeling well! My physician told me that I was supposed to brag about my blood work, so what more public venue than a blog post? I wasn't anticipating any problems or indicators of poor health, but I have a new doctor and she wanted to create a benchmark from which any future changes in my health could be gauged. Apparently my thyroid is right in the middle, my red and white blood cells and platelets are producing in some sort of perfect symphony and my cholesterol levels look like they belong to a "16 year old vegetarian marathon runner." She actually said that my "bad"cholesterol levels were the lowest (or is it highest?) she has ever seen. My ratio of good:bad cholesterol was somewhere around 2:1 - does that sound right? I looked at my results, but have already forgotten the numbers. I am (like many women) a little low on iron, so will be supplementing to improve that, but overall, things are good! So I guess I have genetics on my side, my cheese habit isn't harming me too much and I have little to be concerned about. Of course, now that I have said that I am going to be hit by a truck in Maui and I'll wish I had a little bad cholesterol to make up for the broken bones, but whatever. For now, I will be happy to be healthy.

Orange!

10:08 sunrise

16:01 sunset

Look at that - sunset is after 4pm again!

So tomorrow the steel beam that is going to support our ceiling should be put in place. I'm quite excited. I even have fantasies that maybe there will be drywall in place for me to paint before we take off to Hawai'i on the 20th. That's probably ambitious, but we have chosen the paint colours for the main floor. With help from a friend who is also an artist, we chose a light grey for most of the walls, a darker grey for the wall going up the stairs (and possibly the dining room) and a punchy, kinda in-your-face orange for the little bit of wall over the fireplace. The orange is definitely over the top and we may tone it down to something else, but the wall is less than 2m x 2m (30 square feet) so it's easy to play with.

I know that on-screen colours never look like the same as they do in person, but for what is's worth, here's what we picked (all Benjamin Moore):

I've now put 2 coats of the orange on the wall so that we can look at it for a few weeks and see how we feel about it. I have gone from low-level fear (with just the cutting in done), to mild concern (one coat), to a feeling that I kinda like it (2 coats). Ben thinks it might be too "creamsicle" and he might be right, but we'll wait and see. Now we need to decide what fabulous 'thing' gets to go above the fireplace. I have a hankering for a fake stuffed teddy bear elephant head, but that might be a little too much. Maybe a pair of found antlers if I can get my hands on a pair. We'll see.

End of BadMoFoBloPoMo

10:10 sunrise
15:58 sunset

Happy new year! Yes, I know I missed my last day for blogging every day in December. I kind of knew I would and I decided that I wouldn't be bothered by it and that I could do a recap today instead. Besides, I've learned that my writing doesn't get any more interesting just because I do it more often. I'll be sticking to the occasional random post related to life in the north, politics, and my house reno from now on.

As for 2009... I can't say it was an awesome year, but I am happier now than I was at the end of 2008. I just feel more at peace, more at 'home' and I know that much of that is due to where we are living - back in Whitehorse. No place is perfect, but for me, for now, Whitehorse comes close.

The amazing cyclist and way cool blogger Jill Homer ends her blog each year with her 12 favourite photos, one from each month. I liked the idea, but wasn't feeling inspired by too many of my photographs. However, I've decided to post my favourite Yukon light images from each of the three seasons I was here in 2009. I live in an amazingly beautiful corner of the globe and for that I am truly grateful.

Summer:

Fall:

Winter: