Alaska Highway, Whitehorse to Watson Lake one year ago today

One year ago today I drove away from Whitehorse, embarking on a solo journey down the Alaska Highway in -30 something temperatures. I stopped along the way to take some photos and jot down some poems. Here is that post.

Day One: Whitehorse to Watson Lake (December 2, 2013)

This is the Alaska Highway: 037

 

 At 10:45 in the morning my car’s thermometer is pegged at-30: as low as it will go. I do not know how cold it really is, only that it is colder than 30 below. After an hour on the road, there is still ice on the hood of the car and the clutch is still as stiff as tar.
040 042

 

I am driving East, into the rising sun, with everything I own.
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Poem:

When the road ahead
is drenched in molten gold
I know to raise my hand
in anticipation of being blinded,
until
the road slides west
and sunrise
falls

behind me.

044Haiku:

outhouse in December
someone has left the seat up
amber icicles

046

Poem:

Driving east,
sarah brightman
eases the pie jesu
into the rising sun

as brilliant bursts  of liquid bronze and gold
splash champagne,
while shadows
chase the sweetness
of the melody
across the hillsides.

039a

Poem:

Telephone poles stretching
one after the other,
t-braces white with frost,
a thousand messiahs
with knees and feet of alabaster

and frosty brows bowed down,
connected by living wire,

carrying my whispered voice
from christ jesus
to christ jesus

to christ jesus
until it reaches
your
ears.

This is a short video of the road, shot holding the camera on the dash as I drove. It’s beautiful. Click here if you can’t see it.

Retirement: week one

Today is my 6th day in my new home in Salmon Arm, B.C and I have been procrastinating (no, really!). This week is GIVEAWAY week over at Sew Mama Sew, and I have spent literally hours entering all the draws. There are over 300 draws.  Three Hundred. Yes, I entered every single one. :).

As a result, unpacking has been going very slowly. We bring in a couple of boxes and I take some things out and put other things back in then send the box back to the garage. Then enter another dozen draws. Then open another box. etc.  Actually, there is so little storage space here compared to my old house t trouble figuring out where to put stuff. Which takes me from “zero to overwhelmed in 60 seconds flat” several times a day. But that’s okay. There really isn’t any hurry, and I’m slowly finding the things I need the most.

Yesterday we were out all day and today we’ll be out again…Kelly’s new business as regional flight test examiner took him to Vernon yesterday, Kamloops today and Kelowna next week. (what? isn’t he supposed to be retired?). Not being familiar with these places, I’ve been riding shotgun.

We hung the cuckoo clock, the Jim Rob and the Chris Caldwell the other day. Funny how those little touches of Whitehorse brings the house that much closer to feeling like home.

On Sunday we were reacquainted with a friend from years ago (Anita) who came over with our dear friend Karyne who was visiting from Ottawa. Karyne considers it her good fortune that two of her good friends now live in the same town!  Makes it much easier to visit! So Anita drove her over and we had our first visitors in our new home. I had unpacked the tea and the cups, thank goodness! Next time Anita comes over I will have some cookies to offer her, and maybe even a plate to put them on, lol!

Upon our return from walking Samson on Tuesday afternoon, we were met on the street by new neighbours just down the hill (Bob and Darlene) who invited us in for coffee and shortbread. Isn’t that nice? 🙂

And since it is Christmas after all, I look forward to putting a halt to everything and baking some cookies soon. Maybe tomorrow can be a stay-at-home day and I can make a floury, sugary mess in the kitchen then. 🙂

This is just a little update so you don’t think I’ve forgotten y’all!

Alaska Highway: Whitehorse to Watson Lake, December 2, 2013

Day 1:

day 1 map

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the Alaska Highway: 037

At 10:45 in the morning my car’s thermometer is pegged at-30: as low as it will go. I do not know how cold it really is, only that it is colder than 30 below. After an hour on the road, there is still ice on the hood of the car and the clutch is still as stiff as tar. 040 042

I am driving East, into the rising sun, with everything I own. 032

when the road ahead
is drenched in molten gold
i know to raise my hand
in anticipation of being blinded
until the road slides west
and sunrise
falls

behind me.

044outhouse in December
some one has left the seat up
amber icicles

046

driving east,
sarah brightman
eases the pie jesu
into the rising sun

as brilliant bursts  of liquid bronze and gold
splash champagne,
and shadows
chase the sweetness
of the melody
across the hillsides.

039a

telephone poles stretching
one after the other,
t-braces white with frost,
a thousand messiahs
with knees and feet of alabaster

and frosty brows bowed down,
connected by living wire,

carrying my whispered voice
from christ jesus
to christ jesus

until it reaches
your
ears.

click here to be directed to youtube if you are reading this in email and the video doesn’t show up.

Kelly has arrived

Kelly has arrived in Salmon Arm!

He drove away on Sunday morning. It was a 4-day drive of fairly easy lengths each day. He stopped when it was dark and camped for the night wherever that happened to be. The cats seemed content in the camper. Samson was discombobulated but will recover. I’m next…31 more days!

20131031-182337.jpg

Cabin Living

Well, we’ve been living at the cabin for 3 weeks now and I am enjoying it immensely. We don’t have electricity or running water, but we do have propane lights, fridge & stove, and a wood stove for heat when it starts to get chilly. Surprisingly, the hardest thing to adjust to was not having any TV or internet! I was a bit shocked to realize just how much time really spent zoned out on the couch. After the first week of feeling like I had ants in my pants, though, I’ve figured it out and am liking the quiet time with books, handwork and the radio. CBC has really great talk programming and I’ve started looking forward to listening to favourite shows while I hand quilt or do other hand stitching.

079

Here’s my log cabin kitchen:

081How do we stay clean with no running water, you may be asking yourselves…we heat water on the stove, fill the solar shower bag, and shower just like everybody else. Except we can’t stand and luxuriate under an endless flowing stream. Showers are shorter, but just as enjoyable.

I brought some pots of flowers to make it feel more homey, and so that I can say I’ve got a garden…and the first thing the ants did was set up a colony in the tomatoes. I got tired of trying to scare them away. So now we have an ant farm in a pot. I guess they can’t hurt anything…

025

It also takes longer to commute to work – an hour each way. So we get up earlier, of course. And at the end of the day, we take the dog for a 5 km walk before driving home, which means we don’t get home until about 7pm or later if we’ve had to stop for groceries. After preparing a nice supper, doing dishes & taking turns with the shower, we only have an hour or so to settle down with books/crafts/radio shows before bedtime. Sometimes we watch a movie on the laptop (which is recharged with solar cells).026

 

So there you go…my summer-time life in a nutshell!

082

 

A Moving Post

The big day has come and gone. The U-Haul was loaded and is now on the highway, heading south to a storage locker in Salmon Arm, BC.

073

We are so fortunate to have friends to help. I don’t know if we could have loaded it on our own!

059

Stuffed to the gills.

061

My house is so clean and pretty…and empty.063

 

This was a wonderful family home for us. There are good memories here.

066

Lots of love and good spirits reside here.

007

 

My lilacs, which have never bloomed well, are full of blossoms this year. Their farewell gift to us.

006

Goodbye Muffin and Dinah, my sweet kitties. I will always love you.

058

The people who have bought it are a young couple. This is their first home. They are expecting a baby girl this fall. Somehow that makes it easier to leave.  I hope they enjoy this home as much as we did.

075

Goodbye, Dear House!