“All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost. From the ashes a fire shall be woken, a light from the shadows shall spring; renewed shall be blade that was broken, the crownless again shall be king.”
(Source: jasoncasino)
i’m pretty happy here these days. it’s light til midnight, it gets light again before 5am, and the thermometer on my balcony told me it was 25 degrees on sunday. little yellowknife was the warmest place in canada last weekend. i can sit out on my balcony and drink my coffee and just generally love life. i can’t complain about much. yellowknife is amazing because it is so easy to meet people, and so many of them are so wonderful. here are some of the people making me smile lately.
two of the most important people in my life, my mom & my aunt carolyn, came to visit last week and left today. they arrived just in time to get me through one of the toughest periods of life since i have moved up here. if they hadn’t been around for the last week i would have been alone to deal with things slowly but surely falling apart around me. turns out they did all fall apart, but having family here helped me to deal with the falling and now comes the putting back together and the starting over. like the wonderful mother and aunt that they are, they let me sit around and cry and stare at the wall thinking for seven days straight as they put up curtains and hung pictures around me, and made me delicious food and ensured i had enough alcohol at all times. they dragged me out of the house to see things and to distract me from the inevitable, somewhat successfully. i could not be more grateful for them having been here. i feel sad that they weren’t here at a happier time when i could have been a more gracious hostess, but next time i hope they will be.
despite the chaos, i have felt like a pretty good yellowknifer this past week, getting out and doing a bunch of the stuff that’s been on my list of things to do since i arrived here. here are some pictures of our hike at cameron falls:
well, i’m still here and haven’t cut and run yet. but i’ve gotten so bogged down in negativity this month, it’s like i completely forgot that i live somewhere pretty amazing. i’ve been physically sick, mentally tired, and letting myself be that way and just feel drained emotionally. there are certain habits we can easily take with us wherever we go and i didn’t leave mine in ottawa. i am a pretty positive person usually, but i just fell really hard this month and never bothered to get up til just now. but i gained some perspective this week, and lost some unhealthy baggage that was starting to accumulate around me. i feel like getting back outside and enjoying this place again. yellowknife has so much to offer.
this is ken on frame lake, which you can still walk across from uptown back to downtown. ken is also a ray of sunshine in my life when it’s dark up here, figuratively or literally. his positivity is contagious and i am lucky to call him a friend.
guess what? if you’re blonde, yellowknife turns your hair GREEN. i discovered this on the weekend when i woke up, had a shower and started blowdrying my hair only to realize the back of my blonde head was now completely green. not a good look.
i spent $60 in the salon today getting 3 different treatments to rinse it out as the stylist told me “oh, this happens all the time. our water is really fucked up.” i now no longer have green hair, and i also have another appointment on saturday to dye my hair brown. for the next two years. cuz really, im not going to spend $60 every other week to rinse the green out of my hair.
see you back in toronto, blonde.
alone, thank god.
Edmonton, Alberta is the closest major city to Yellowknife - it’s about an 18 hour drive away. I had never been, but before I relocated here I got to spend New Year’s Eve with Tracey-Lynn, one of my best friends who has lived in Edmonton for over 5 years and who I’d never had the chance to visit her there before. It was a pretty sweet trip and we got a chance to spend some time reconnecting and relaxing before I got on a plane to the subarctic. I also love her dogs way too much. I hope to go back before she moves away again in the spring!
We share an enthusiasm for wine.
Stinky!
Stella!
Good morning 2011 vodka pong - why not?
What?
Flannel all day.
It takes a lot of wine before this parka starts to look good.
Miss you Tracey! xoxo
Have you ever noticed that when you’re really tired, your sense of smell is 1000% stronger than it usually is? I’m pretty sure on one...
Best tattoo ever? (Taken with Instagram at Parts & Labour)
Day of the Dead, Toronto, 2010
Frightened Rabbit “Fuck This Place”
i said that i was going to grow my own cucumbers and make my own pickles.
and so i have.
mission accomplished. goal achieved.
i win.
jacob 1 |...
The Bike Thief, Toronto, 2011
Hot Dogs, Toronto, 2011
Black Magic, Thailand, 2011
The Tourist, Phuket, 2011
