Happy National Aboriginal Day

We had the opportunity to celebrate National Aboriginal Day on the solstice, June 21, 2016, with the Tr'ondek  Hwech'in First Nation in Dawson City, Yukon Territory.  It was held on the grounds of their beautiful cultural centre on the shores of the Yukon River.

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The women of this community do some of the most beautiful bead work I have ever seen.

When the first gold miners started to arrive in Dawson in the late 1800's, the chief, Chief Isaac had a dream that their culture would be lost so he went to a first nations community in Alaska and asked them to save their song, dances, etc., which they did.  In the not too distant past, I am not sure exactly when, the people went to the community in Alaska and learned about their culture.  So it is because of Chief Isaac's wisdom that they have learned their songs, dances, etc. which they performed on National Aboriginal Day.

The theme for the day was reconciliation.  This young woman sang a song that she wrote after her mother told her about her experience in residential school.  The people of this community have done a lot of healing which started by a group of women getting together with a counsellor and telling their stories about residential school.  Before that, no one talked about it. Later they put together a scrapbook of photos and memories which has been printed into an amazing book called Finding Our Way Home.

This is Chief  , the current chief of the Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nation.

The dress below is part of an exhibit in the cultural centre in the room devoted to healing and reconciliation.  This piece is called Cutting Through Red Tape and if you look at the bottom of the dress there are words on each strip.

When the gold miners arrived in Dawson in the thousands, Chief Isaac moved his people down river to Moosehide (photo below) because he was worried about the influence all these people would have on his people.  No one lives in Moosehide any longer but every two years they have a weekend of festivities there.  The Tr'ondek Hwech'in have a land claims settlement that seems to have been very successful for them.  It appears to be a very healthy community and people seem to be well taken care of.  Most of them live just outside Dawson in their own subdivision.  From the highway, their houses are very nice.  There are a number of businesses with the name Isaac in honour of their past chief.

This plaque was unveiled on National Aboriginal Day, June 21, 2016.

Whitehorse - First Impressions

We have been in Whitehorse excatly two weeks so it is time for you to see some photos from here.  It is a beautiful city in many ways.  The main part of the city is small enough that we can walk everywhere.  The suburbs can be quite a distance from the core of the city, at least 30 km away.  We have yet to explore them.  There are signs for them on the highway and then you look through the trees and see houses.  They seem to be little communities on their own and people I have talked to seem to love their own little "suburb".

There are mountains all around the city, not very far away, and the city itself is embraced with high clay cliffs on the north and south edges.  For example, right behind our condo are clay cliffs.  There are trails all along at the bottom and not far from us there are stairs that you can climb.  Fitness buffs seem to like them.  At the top of these cliffs is a flat area which is the airport.  So the airport is right above us, but mercifully, it has not been too noisy.  Then the Yukon river runs through the city on the north side - very fast running, very green water (seems to be from copper in the water).  So physically it is quite beautiful.

The architecture seems distinct to this area.  The downtown core where we live varies from original, quite small houses to new condos to houses that are renovations or newly built.  The new houses are often quite colourful, which I like.

I would not want to be a lawn mower salesperson in Whitehorse since most of the lawns I have seen have yet to be cut.  It is an interesting esthetic, one that I can actually appreciate, having a very big lawn myself.  There are lots of wildflowers, however, and I noticed that many lilacs were just in bloom this week which indicates how behind the season is from Ontario.

So enough words.  Here are some photos.

Below is David standing in front of our condo.  Our apartment is the one right behind him on the ground floor. Behind him are trees at the base of the clay cliffs.  There are trails here that go right along the "back" of the city.  So we are living on 6th ave. and Main St. - right in the centre and outer edge of town.

Inside of our apartment.  There is a bedroom and bathroom as well.  Small, new, clean, cozy.

Mama Melodie just made supper.  (I brought the apron with me)

David on our little balcony with the supper.

Brunch at the Burt Toast Cafe on our first morning in Whitehorse

Clay cliffs on the south side of town.

Stairs up the clay cliffs with the airport at the top.  The first time up I had to stop part way to catch my breath but I did make it.

View of downtown from part way up the stairs.

Yukon River and white cliffs on the north side of town.

You can't tell from the picture above, but this shows the green water of the Yukon River and most lakes in this area.  The water runs very fast with many currents.

Another view of the cliffs from the path to the stairs.   You can see the mountains in the background.

Taken from the rivers edge on the south side of town.  The green building is the hospital on the north side of town and the mountains in the background.

A trolley car that moves tourists along the river dowtown.

An example of new building on the right.  The older one story house on the left is typical of any downtown homes.

My favourite new downtown house at the edge of the cliffs near where we live.

Lawyers offices on our street.

Birds on a tree in front of lawyers offices.

Our West Coast Trip

This blog contains photos from our trip to Vancouver Island and then Whitehorse, Yukon.  We started our trip in Campbell River on Vancouver Island for the wedding of our son Ed and his wife Sarah.  Once we got settled at the Dolphins Resort, we headed into Campbell River for lunch. Here we are at Quay West having lunch with Amara, our daughter-in-law and Steve, the best man.

Now we are at the Dolphin Resort where the wedding took place. Below are pictures from the deck of our cabin looking over the Discovery Strait.  As you will see in most of the photos, Vancouver Island is a land of lush vegetation, vast beaches, stunning mountains and beautful forests.

Some of the beautiful gardens at the Dolphin.

The pergola on the beach where the ceremony took place.

After the wedding weekend, David, Jeremy, Halina and I stayed with our friends Heather and Murray in Courtenay on Vancouver Island, about 45 minutes south of Campbell River.  Below we took a day trip to Quadra Island.  Here we are having lunch at Harriot Bay.

After lunch we walked down Rebecca's Spit which led to this beautiful beach at the tip.

The next day we took a trip to Tofino on the west coast of the island.  The drive is a spectacular journey through the mountain pass.  Below is a picture from Cathedral grove where there are some of the only old growth trees left - trees well over 500 years old.

We stopped at this river to stretch our legs and walk on the rocks.

We stayed at Middle Beach Lodge in Tofino.  Here is David resting on the bed in our cabin.  Jeremy and Halina had the loft above us.

View from our cabin deck.

Beach beside the lodge.

Halina and I went on a whalewatching expedition.  Our boat driver and guide is from this first nations village across from Tofino.  When the tide is out cows graze in the tidal flats.  He said this has been happening for hundreds of years.

After Tofino, we went back to beautiful Courtenay to Heather and Murray's place.  Jeremy and Halina went home to Toronto.  

We went for a walk on the trail by the estuary when the tide was out.  Wherever you look in Courtenay there are spectacular mountain and/or ocean views.

Heather and David at the Estuary in Courtenay

David and I went on a Courtenay art tour.  One of the stops was in Tintown.  It is a neighbourhood in the city where all the buildings are sided with tin.  The ground floor is commercial/business spaces with a few art galleries and the second floors are residences.  

Quite a few artists have their studios here and/or live here.  I took the picture of  this door because I liked the way the purple and green brightened up the tin.  Rebecca Meilleur makes art out of old rusty car parts.  Her dad was a mechanic and she grew up with car parts all over the place.

The pictures below were from Miracle Beach, part way up the island between Courtenay and Campbell River.  When we arrived the tide was out.  The view of the very large tidal flats, the ocean waters and the mountains across the strait was spectacular.  The herons were a beautiful addition as well.  The ground had rocky parts, grassy parts, shells and mud.  It was hard to believe that a few short hours before the whole thing was under sea water!

In Courtenay, everywhere you turn you see snow capped mountains.  One of the largest is Mount Washington.  We took a drive up the mountain as far as we could and then a little hike.  We had to cut our hike short because the trail was covered with fairly deep snow.

A few days before we left Courtenay, we took a day trip with Heather and Murray to the Sunshine Coast, an hour and twenty minute ferry ride over to the mainland.  Murray grew up there and had a home there for many years.  He was going over to tend to his beehives that he keeps at his friend Rick's place.  I fell in love with Rick's place.  It is way back in the bush, a fairly big property where he keeps a garden, fruit trees, laying hens and other animals.  He has a cabin that holds his ping pong table at which weekly games are held.  His house has floor to ceiling book shelves, filled with books of all kinds as well as a small room that holds his record and cassette tape collection.  Rick has made hundreds of scupltures out of found objects that dot his property.

Rick and his wife's house

The largest clematis flowers I have ever seen.

Heather and Rick

David and Heather under the leaf covered front porch

Our last day in Courtenay was the warmest day we had, around 28 degrees C.  We started the day at the farmer's market in Courtenay - a great community market with food, music and plenty of people watching.  While David and I sat in the shade we met Carolyn and Ross Walton who live in the area.   We soon found out that they used to live in Smith Falls where Ross taught school.  Carolyn is a award winning travel writer.  The clinker was that Ross has been to Flower Station.  He asked about the store there, which is now the outfitters.  Can you believe that?

Melodie, Carolyn and Ross

We then spent the afternoon on the beach in Comox, a twin city with Courtenay.  A naturalist, who has expertise in ocean plants and animals led a walk on the tidal flats.  It was one of the lowest tides of the year so she offered to take people out to explore the plants and animals.  What a stunning place and a great experience.  Below are pictures of the beach.  There were many Bald Eagles dotting the shoreline and, as everywhere on the island, the view of mountains in the distance is spectacular.

So then we went back to Heather and Murray's, got our stuff together and headed for the airport for Whitehorse.