It was a busy day in the 'knife.
My sister and S. are both involved in education, so they have the summer off...mostly. So after knocking back a hard sleep, I was up and moving around 8 am (MDT), but I knew it would be a couple of hours until anyone else stirred.
The dog appeared to want to go out, so I let him out the back door, but after doing his business, he started to wander off over the rock behind the house. He stopped and started to spend a lot of time in one spot, so I went out to see what was so interesting, and when I got to him, he was there, snarfing down some abandoned dog kibble that was just spread out over the rock. WTF? Who just leaves out a bunch of dog kibble? It freaked me out. Our cat, Purrball, had been taken from the pack at my ex-Mother-in-Law's place, and it saved Purrball's life. Some of the other cats died after being poisoned by a neighbour. All I could do was warn Baby K. after she woke up and watch Dog for any signs of distress.
We hit the grocery store to augment Baby K.'s gluten-free purchases for Etienne, and then we headed "downtown" to go to Erasmus Apparel and the Post Office. It was set to be a quiet evening until K. got a text wanting us to go to their friends' place (also in the education business). The wife had been one of my high school teachers, so I was a known quantity, but it was going to be interesting to see how they would take to Etienne. Well, as far as I can tell, they liked him. After some drinking and joking about, we headed back to the house after sunset (so after 10 pm, maybe?) to sit in the sun room. There was teasing and storytelling, and just enjoying each other's company, when I happened to look out at the darkened sky and noticed it...
the Northern Lights.
We see them so rarely in southern Canada, and it's also not common to see them in Yellowknife in August, but there they were, putting on a show for Etienne. To be honest, I'm not sure he's ever seen the Northern Lights.
There are few things about the North that I miss. I miss my sister and her family, and I miss some of the friends I grew up with and family members who are still around there. I miss the lake, and the Midnight sun in the summer. And I miss those Northern Lights. Winters are a miserable experience in the North because they are long, very dark, and cold, but the one good thing about them is the skies dance at night.
The Northern Lights...
...Wish you were here.
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