Beautiful wintry walk through town

It is Sunday… aka Football and NASCAR day in our house. So I bundled up to enjoy the crisp November subarctic air and went for a walk – dogless, since Monty has completely shed his undercoat and may need a winter coat. haha!

It is the coldest day of the season yet, about -15C now in the middle of the afternoon. The Yukon River has more slush and ice forming! There is a quiet slushy sound as the chunks collide and sail by with the current.

I love winter, and it is nice living somewhere where there is a real winter. Nova Scotia had a winter, sure, but it was rarely cold, and the time period of decent snow was short. We got so much rain in the middle of the blizzards there that the snow was often rock hard and icy. I used to miss those days walking to school in Thunder Bay with frozen eye lashes and using snow shoes for fun!

I wonder if anyone living here hates winter. Everyone so far has seemed pretty excited that it is finally here, because October was so mild and muddy compared to normal.

Today the sun rose at 8:59am (an hour earlier because the clocks rolled back an hour last night) and will set at 5:03pm. These pictures were taken in the 2 o’clock hour. The sun isn’t too high in the sky!

I wore my new Skookum Brand parka and tried out my new Canada Goose Arctic down mittens. The Skookum parka is amazing! So many pockets, and hooks, and vents. I zipped off the coyote trim (need to keep something in my back pocket, so to speak, for when it is colder out!). It was so cold when I started walking, that I had it zipped tight over the lower half of my face, but as I got going, I warmed up enough to zip open the neck a bit, and open the vents half way under both arms to keep from sweating.

My glasses were frozen in that selfie photo!

Here is the “after” photo for the ferry, now safely stored on land for the winter season:

The Canada Goose Arctic down mittens are amazing, but way overkill for -15C. I would wear them for a minute or two, and then take them off for a few minutes. They are seriously warm! There were a bit of a splurge, but I sold my old iPhone this week and wanted to smartly re-invest some of the windfall 😉

Since it was pretty cold for my regular camera, I just took these photos with my iPhone 6s. I bought a LifeProof FRĒ case for it, the type of case that is advertised as waterproof and completely covers the phone (front and back). So far I’ve had really mixed feelings. It is bulky and I don’t like having something over my screen. I whined the first week that I bought this sexy new phone and it is all covered up by this ugly case. However, this case is so great for the winter. My phone hasn’t died yet in the cold (my 5s did at above zero temperatures) and it is snow proof, so you can drop it in the snow, let the snow fall on it, shove it into your parka pocket, and no problem. Pretty nice.

Can you believe it is just November 1st?

I should have recorded the crunch of the snow. Isn’t that the best sound?

I think the next thing to improve on will be my leg coverings. I wore the traditional old cotton long johns, but if you sweat, they get wet and you’ll freeze. It isn’t cold enough yet to walk around in my snow pants, so they’ll do for now.

Some of the wooden sidewalks are completely cleared of snow, some aren’t cleared at all, and some of the main ones I think I are cleared by a sweeper machine.

Now I’m back inside, blogging from the couch, while Jeff watches football. Hope you’re all having a similarly enjoyable Sunday afternoon!