It’s been a cold spring up here in the Yukon, but we’re pushing through it!

Finally the afternoons are warm enough for me to work from the front porch (even if sometimes I’m under a lap blanket!). I’ve been reminded every day how loud summer is (and I love it). Everyone has a really tight window to do their house and home repairs (the house across the street is getting a new paint layer so first comes the grinding and sanding) and it feels like the local dog population has doubled and they all bark (except Hank). Jeff’s already cut the grass twice!

We were invited to a backyard barbecue to celebrate Alex’s new bbq and his first spring/summer in his new yard. He’s got big beautiful flower beds planted full of new annuals. It’s a perfect house, property, and location!

We were treated to smokies and broccoli salad and chips and mint chocolate chip ice cream!

Speaking of ice cream, the ice cream store is one of the important places in town to open for the season! They serve Chapman’s ice cream, and they are crazy generous! This is an order for 2 scoops in a bowl!

It’s probably more like 4-6 scoops!

I have a blog post swirling around my head about the importance of community in my life. How it grows, how you feed it, and how sometimes it withers, and how those times led me to move on. (Maybe I’ll hammer it out and get it posted soon, maybe I won’t, who knows.)

Nothing about my community in Dawson City is withering. Not even all the grass I wish would stop growing in my front flower box. It’s that 50 foot long weed and grass filled burden. My neighbour borrowed it for her planting the last two years, but she unfortunately moved away, so I went back to it.

And my friends Tarie and Janet showed up to keep me company during one weeding session, and even helped out! Tarie brought sunflower plants to plant because I had so few plants to go in it. (I suspect I didn’t believe I’d actually tackle weeding that burden again so I hadn’t bought many.) And she knew I already had sunflower seeds I was starting from my Uncle Joe (thanks!) to see if they’d like the front garden this year! Fingers crossed that I’ll end up with a sunflower oasis out there soon!

Sure enough, the weekdays are so packed full with work and walking Hank that I haven’t weeded it in 5 days and the grass is already back.

We’ve been quadding (see previous post). In fact with the camper loaded on Jeff’s truck, he’s been quadding every day. He’s been driving his ATV to work (it’s just a km across town) because parking is limited around his office, and the quad just makes him a bit more nimble!

We’ve celebrated our friend Tim’s 50th birthday (welcome to the club!)

And we’ve even had all of our wood for a few weeks now! This is 3 cords, delivered bucked and split. We’ve got it stacked already, but could really do with another cord, maybe a cord and a half. We may just plan to cut a cord ourselves later this summer, or fall, depending on when we take the camper off next.

We’ve dined at some of our favourite seasonal establishments. I tried the Triple J’s limited-time Mediterranean bowl. They were out of tzatziki sauce that day though, so it was really missing something to tie it together. But still decent!

It feels like a drastic reduction in tourists arriving by vehicle so far this season. Maybe due to gas prices? Maybe the rumours (true ones) of the hideous road conditions and construction on the Klondike Highway (we can’t make it too easy to adventure your way up here!). Perhaps it is too early to judge and it will pick up. But we’re nearing the solstice and Front Street just doesn’t seem as jammed pack with motorhomes as I remember. Lots of miners though. And there are lots of guests on foot that come in with Princess Cruiselines to stay at the Westmark. For the vehicle traffic I do see around town, I’d say (totally not scientifically) that there are more American visitors so far than Canadian. I’ve seen license plates from Maine, North Dakota, Alaska (of course, our neighbours), Minnesota, Missouri, Washington, and Texas. Several from Ontario, but not many from the rest of Canada.

We’ve got our first camping trip planned and then we’ll see what else the summer holds in store for us! It can go by in a blink of an eye so I’m trying to make sure I don’t keep my head down while grinding through at work and miss it all.

Anyway, enough for now. More soon, as always!