S.A.D.

Seasonal Affective Disorder.

I think I caught it-- (is it contagious? Is there a vaccine?)

It's not like we have less light than you down South-- maybe a half hour or so less?-- but the lack of light when I trudge to work, the lack of light when I leave work, compounded by the isolation sometimes of living in a small town where I can't easily just go catch a movie, or head to a yoga class, or BUY VEGETABLES AT THE STORE is starting to get to me.

So I then I wallow a bit. And then I try to practice patience. And count down to Vancouver/ Mexico (36 days!)

In the meantime, I thought I'd repost something I'd written on my private blog last year, in my inaugural year of living in the Yukon. It's a reminder that there are many beautiful things about this place.

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The North Pole

In case you are wondering what my house looks like, this is a most recent shot of it:

Good ol' 106 Kennedy St, Haines Junction. Cozy.

      I kid.

New Beginnings

I have always loved to write.
From my days as a bowl-cut sportin' 5 year old, I had a little pink diary where I filled pages upon pages with scribbling, huge loopty loops of nothingness-- though if you asked me at the time, I would tell you I was handwriting very deep thoughts.


I've kept a private blog since 2003, filled with entries that were mostly for me (so mostly likely very cryptic to everyone else) and poetic observances of life. I don't write in it much anymore.

When Maggie and I moved to London in 2009, I attempted to start us a blog so family and friends could see what life was like across the pond. Frustrated with the format of tumblr, that project was soon abandoned.

Recently, my sister started a blog of her free-spirited travels in New Zealand: Shabadoo's Blabadoo
She is quite a unique and funny writer, and her anecdotes and pictures have been a great glimpse into what's going on in her nomadic life, several time zones away.

I started to regret. Regret not  persevering through the London blog, regret for lost stories about stray cats in Croatia, searching for fairies in Ireland, English school brats stealing money from my wallet and toilet papering my classroom. Regret for not being a more diligent communicator, when B and I moved north of sixty in 2010. Regret for not articulating my first northern lights, or coyote or minus thirty degrees walk to work.

So! Here we are.

Because 2012 is about new beginnings. Say no! to regrets!

If you check back from time to time, you will start to see what living in Haines Junction really means for Bry and I. Hopefully this means we stay in touch more, and I feel like I'm still where you are. Maybe you'll even meet our pet polar bear, Tofu.

Regards,

the BJs

Since this picture, I have learned that one should ALWAYS wear
rain boots when traveling to Alaska. Here's to Joann, becoming more
street smart! (er. wood smart?)