The days are so short. So far, it isn't as bad as I expected it to be. I had this notion that I wouldn't see the sun or something. Intellectually, I knew I would, of course, but nonetheless, there is more daylight than I anticipated. That's not to say there is much, but there's enough. If it would be more consistently sunny, that would be nice. We're having a Chinook, at the moment, which is a warm Pacific trend blowing over the mountains. It's lovely. I even wore a skirt (with leg-warmers) tonight, and haven't needed to zip up my coat for a couple of days. Now this is how winter is supposed to be (in my world). I got my car's winter tires just in time ! They make driving in the vaguely mucky, slippy, slushy snow a lot easier. Who knew, you really don't need 4WD to survive winter.

Having a car is really wonderful. I guess I can afford to have next to no disposable income in exchange for freedom - or at least the sense of some liberation. Tonight, just for the heck of it, after going with Andrew to Brave New Works and Wonton soup, I took a drive. Originally in mind to see the local Christmas lights, it seems Whitehorse is a lot like Peterborough in that people's lights go off by 10pm. Yeesh. People ! It's Friday night ! Anyway, I ended up on the Alaska Highway. Having not had the chance to really try out the car (who is named Viola, by the way) on the highway, this was as good an opportunity as any. It was lovely. The gas consumption was minimal and the handling steady, comfortable, and at 120kph, it was neither terribly noisy, nor did the car feel like she was straining. I turned around at a photo point about half an hour north of Whitehorse and then came home. If I hadn't, I'd probably have driven to Haines Junction !

Before meeting with Andrew, I went and hung out at Zola's Cafe and chatted with one of my favourite people here, Meshell, a very funky, execptionally warm-hearted fabric artist. I also wandered over to Studio 204 to take in the Plastic show. I wrote about the artist, Jen Williams, in What's Up Yukon a few weeks back, so I thought I'd better see it. To get an idea of how she uses the iconic Barbie doll to highlight contemporary issues, check out her site. It's nothing new under the sun, heck, back in Grade 5, or so, I distinctly remember a Mad Magazine that featured the mock ad for Bag Lady Barbie and Wino Ken, but William's work is fun and provocative (at least in Whitehorse), and she's a lovely gal to chat with. I like articulate, unprepossessing artists.

In other news, totally unrelated to artists or driving, I'm going to hire the boys upstairs to look after Choco and Twee when I go home. I figure I'll pay them $25 each and they'll take it more seriously. I remember when I was a kid and got paid by my neighbours a whopping $30 to look after their cats. $25 each will be great for these kids, I think. And they like cats and they live right here. I will leave them a list of things that need to be done, like the litter, feeding the beasts twice a day, playing with them, etc., plus I'll leave numbers for emergencies. I'm mostly concerned that my cats keep out of trouble while I'm gone. No doubt, every drawer and cupboard will be opened every day during my absence. At least they keep each other entertained. But ohhhh, the wrecking of my things... I should probably invest in toddler locks... Well, we'll see. It won't be so bad if the neighbours are coming in and out and amusing the cats.

And now, I shall go wash off my make-up and get ready for bed. It's been a nice day off, but I'm working this weekend, so I can't stay up late or be irresponsible. Hah. You know, when I got stopped by the RCMP tonight doing a drunk drive check, I had to laugh. "Nope," said I to the cute officer who was probably straight out of the academy, "I haven't had anything to drink - except a lot of wonton soup."