I have a new nephew!

Welcome Jordan James to the world!

He’s not even a week old and I’ve had THREE video chats with him! I’ve got a flight booked for January to go meet him in person and play with his sister!

He arrived just a few days shy of my 46th birthday! Jeff was in Whitehorse overnight to have his new snowmobile serviced earlier in the week, and he brought me back flowers! Fresh cut florist flowers are pretty rare in the Yukon in December! He also baked me a very nice birthday cake.

Jeff gave me a new Apple Watch for my birthday, and Julie got me a whole selection of teas from David’s Tea, including this neat mug that has coloured trees on the side when it is warm. We went out for dinner the night before my birthday with our friends for wings, and then again on my birthday with Jeff.

Remember the lights and inflatables Jeff set up outside for Christmas? We got the second place prize for the best lights in town! $200!

I think that’ll prize money will go directly to doubling our efforts next Christmas! Jeff’s already got plans for expansion!

Oh, something I’m super excited about. When I was in cancer treatment, two of my colleagues sent me some really touching art work, both from across the ocean actually! I’ve had them all safely protected since then, with no one here in town to frame them. I brought them down to Whitehorse this past fall to a framing place. The older gentlemen gave me so many options so I had to quickly decide how I wanted them framed, and I decided I just wanted to take his suggestions. It was clear talking to him that he was an artist, so I decided to trust him and see what he’d do with them!

When he mentioned cutting the white paper the Adventure Awaits print, I was starting to doubt my trust. I had pictured it in a nice brightly coloured frame. But he said he could cut matting on the same top curve as the circle in the print, changing the shape from its original square. I was almost fearful. I mean he said cutting so there would be no going back!

After waiting over a month until they were ready for pickup, the timing worked perfectly that I was able to pick them up on my last trip to the city. I’m so pleased with how they turned out!

The other is a sketch of Hank that a colleague drew! “You can tell he has a trained eye,” the framer said! I had thought this would end up in a black frame, but he instead matched some brown matting with the brown kraft-like paper the drawing was on, and then used a brown frame. I love it! It is perfectly and precisely Hank. Thank you kind caring friends!

Here’s a few more pictures from another hike I took this past weekend. I went 5.3 km, slowly, with many layers of insulation on.