Bnsf train in colorado alamy stock photo

' Mozhet byt,РІР‚Сњ I respond, proudly saying РІР‚СљmaybeРІР‚Сњ with my long neglected, college-level Russian. I look up and connect the teasing voice to a woman with blonde hair giving a goateed man a haircut in a salon. Puffy clouds seem to mark our EarthРІР‚в„ўs spherical curve, bending across the blue expanse. Mostly itРІР‚в„ўs the sky-built of interlocking blues, purples, and golds-that arrests attention from the quiet scenes of local life, seen way below.Р”Р„s the artist explains simply in the book Ted Harrison: Collected, РІР‚СљPeople see different things in the sky.РІР‚СњР”Р„fter looking at a couple of galleries, IРІР‚в„ўm watching the huge Yukon sky above the downtown sidewalks. ServiceРІР‚в„ўs 1907 poem РІР‚СљThe Cremation of Sam McGee.РІР‚Сњ In them, blocky smears of solid color unexpectedly brighten Yukon landscapes. His works hang in public buildings and illustrate books like Robert W. One of the YukonРІР‚в„ўs most famous artists is the late Ted Harrison, a Brit who lived part of his life in Carcross, south of Whitehorse. One would get my dog to chase him and the other would steal his food. РІР‚СљRavens are clowns,РІР‚Сњ Heather adds, approvingly. From a riverside sign, I learn of a local First Nations story of the raven as a creator/trickster who steals a box of light to create the sun. IРІР‚в„ўve been noticing the gangly birds all over town, peering at me with a squawk from atop power line poles. РІР‚СљEverything in Canada is just РІР‚В¦ nice.РІР‚Сњ)Р”В«y coincidence I bring up one of her favorite art subjects: ravens. We talk art, Whitehorse, college life, then-invariably in an election year-U.S. Unauthorized use is prohibited.Р”Р„t Yukon Artists Work, an artist collective filling a cute royal blue house with a white-picket fence, I meet local artist Heather Hyatt. ThatРІР‚в„ўs about one per 600 residents, an almost Santa Fe-esque tally. A brochure I picked up at the YukonРІР‚в„ўs visitor center lists 38 studios and art galleries in this town of just over 23,000. Everywhere you look, colorful wall murals back buildings with tributes to First Nations culture, moustached Mounties or, in another case, Jimi Hendrix. Gorgeous backdrops of low-lying mountains and big skies rim a central grid of wide streets filled with many cubical buildings that seem, at times, like theyРІР‚в„ўre bracing for winter all year long.Р”В«ut artРІР‚в„ўs hold on the city is unmistakable too. Whitehorse-named for Yukon River rapids tamed by a dam since 1958-is like many northern cities. РІР‚СљThe only bad thing about living here is you donРІР‚в„ўt get any sleep,РІР‚Сњ says Wolfgang Bublitz, the German owner of WhitehorseРІР‚в„ўs Northern Lights Resort. They make me think of unseen giants playfully running their chubby fingertips across our sky, as if it were a cosmic cakeРІР‚в„ўs frosting. At first theyРІР‚в„ўre slight and murky, then saturate into impressive bold stripes made from solar winds crashing into our atmosphere.

Though itРІР‚в„ўs only the start of aurora borealis season (which lasts from late August to April), white lights are stretching across the sky. I grab a jacket, slip on my shoes, and hop out into a brisk late summer night. At least when the northern lights are out. ItРІР‚в„ўs totally fine to wake fellow guests in the wee hours in the Yukon. РІР‚СљTheyРІР‚в„ўre dancing,РІР‚Сњ Mike from Ontario explains. HeРІР‚в„ўs in shorts, winded, fog seeping from his breath in the chill. At the door stands the man I met at dinner. Urgent knuckles rap against my bedroom door.

Bnsf train in colorado alamy stock photo