One of the wonders of Yellowknife is the light in March. Followed closely by the sun in March. Well actually they are one and the same, but with slightly different characteristics. Often the memory of something or the description of something ends up being better than the real thing. Once in a while though the real thing is better than anyone can describe or remember. That's the way it was for me when I drove the "Going to the Sun" highway in Glacier National Park in Montana. I had heard that it was a wonderful, scenic, mouth open kind of road. How can anything be that good, I wondered. And then I drove it. It was far and away better than I had imagined.
And it is the same way with the light in March in Yellowknife. This is the fifth time I've experienced it and every time it is better than what I remembered. I don't know why it is better than February, or even June - there is certainly more of it in June, but I think it has to do with the blanket of snow - the usually bright and sunny days, and the fact that we are getting more than twelve hours of it now that we've passed the spring equinox. It is also the harbinger of spring despite the fact that we'll likely have snow on the ground for at least another six weeks or so - it's too far north for groundhogs!
As I said, even the sun is a wonder, although today you wouldn't really know it. The temperature didn't get above -22 all day and the wind was as biting and nasty as it has been all winter, but even so there was just a hint of warmth in the sun even if the air all around us was unseasonably cold even for Yellowknife.
I gloried in the light as I walked home for lunch today. I'll remember it for next year, but I just know that next year it will still be better than I remembered!
Yellowknife,
March 23, 2010
