For those who don’t know what a tuque (pronounced tuke) is–a tuque is a warm, knitted, and usually pointed stocking cap that is a staple in most Canadian wardrobes. A tuque–believe it or not– is purely Canadian (or the word tuque is anyway). Originally worn by French Canadian Voyageurs in the 19th century, the true purpose of a tuque is more function than fashion. In colder, northern climates where you can loose up to half your body heat through your head, a tuque is indispensable. I interviewed a few people the other day about their tuque fashions.

Ljubi Tokic was sporting what appeared to be a hand-knit white tuque while having tea at Tim Hortons with her Mum and Grandma. Her Grandma, Pam Chapman from Ottawa, Ontario, knitted this particular tuque.

After doing some research on tuques, I can’t really classify Anne Louise’s hat as a tuque. It was however, a fairly handsome–yet functional–hat: leather and sheepskin. On a warmer day, you can wear the earflaps tied up on top of the hat. On a cooler day, you can tie the earflaps down over your ears. She bought her hat at www.eglifarm.com and mentioned pimping up her car with a sheepskin steering wheel cover.

When I asked Larry Leigh about his hat, he said his hat is fashioned what the Gwitchin First Nations of Old Crow wear in the winter. Larry’s hat seemed to be a traditional Mountie muskrat hat over top of a baseball cap. The visor of the baseball cap shades the glare of the sun (in the few hours a day there is sun) and the traditional Mountie muskrat keeps him warm. You can buy a traditional Mountie muskrat hat from www.mountieshop.com and you can use your favourite baseball cap for the visor.

Mike Craigen was wearing a Santa hat as he was volunteering for the Salvation Army. He said he own approximately 30 tuques–one for each year he’s lived in the Yukon. I wondered if he had a tuque to match his coat.

Alison Perrin is visiting her boyfriend’s family in Whitehorse for the holidays. Her tuque is one of six she owns and was a traditional woolen knit tuque with a pompom on top. She bought her hat from 180 Mountain Sports in Golden, BC where she works.

Felicia Chief was fairly festive in her red Roots jacket and her woolen knit tuque. Her friend helped her pick this tuque out at the Super Store. She liked the pompom and the fact that her woolen tuque had a fleece liner. She said traditional knit tuques let heat out–too many holes between the stitches. The fleece liner makes it more efficient and practical–and in her case–fashionable.

Robert Postma wasn’t wearing a tuque when I met him just outside the CIBC bank on the corner of Main and Second. He said though, that he owns approximately 10 tuques, one from each country he has visited. He promised he would email me a photograph of his favourite tuque, which happens to be one that a friend had knitted for him and that he had traded for some photography. You can see Robert’s gallery of photography at distanthorizons.ca.

My brother-in-law Jim Herd borrowed a tuque from his father to visit us in the Yukon. He and my sister live in Mansfield, Ontario and he spends most of his winters reffing hockey. Jim–how is it that you had to borrow a tuque?

Become a tuque scholar yourself by reading more about the history of tuques at: A Touch of Tuque.

We had moose soup for lunch yesterday. It was a soup my parents had made so I don’t quite know the recipe–except I do know about the moose.

It turns out that the last time my Dad went moose hunting, he shot a hermaphrodite moose. It looked like a bull moose with horns and everything–so he shot it. When he started gutting it, he realized it had both male and female organs. But, hey, it was a moose. Do you know how many families you can feed with a moose?

I’ve had lasagna made with that moose before. And now, I’ve had moose soup. Tomorrow, my Dad says, we’ll have spaghetti bolognaise a la hermaphrodite moose.

How’s that for interesting?

I’m experimenting with multimedia. When I went for my walk the other day, I recorded the sound of my feet walking in snow. The picture isn’t that interesting, but I thought the sound was. Here is my debut audio/video.

It’s not a sound that I hear often in California. I wanted to record it. Tomorrow, I might go for a ski around Mary Lake. I think I’ll try to record the silence.

I’ve been working on my Mum and Dad’s computer. I’ve found a few pictures of them that I’ve taken over the last few years. I just love them. I love my parents. They are as real as you can get.

PS: No live sightings of the Northern Lights so far. It is cloudy this evening.

Well, I’m home for the holidays. I’m here in Whitehorse for three weeks. I just wanted to start putting some pictures up so you could see what Whitehorse is like in December. When I got up this morning, the thermometer read -25C below 0. Brrrrr. But not enough to dissuade me from taking a walk. I bundled up: four layers on the bottom, five layers on the top, toque, neck warmer, and mitts. I walked the full circle of Fireweed Drive out here in Mary Lake (approx 5 kms or 3 miles). Not bad for a California girl–in the -25C too! I would like to mention that the sun didn’t come up until after 9h00 am. And, by 11h00 am when I was walking, the sun was only high enough to shine on the treetops and hillsides–not on the ground. Just something I noticed because people in California keep asking me how long the days are in winter. I didn’t notice when the sun set today. I was visiting a friend. I’ll have to pay more attention tomorrow.

My parents stocked the refrigerator and freezer for the holidays. Hopefully all of this food lasts the lot of us for more than two weeks. I’ll come back to California all fat and happy if it doesn’t. I’ll try to keep things in check though. I’m planning on walking or skiing everyday I’m here. Maybe, I’ll even get to snowboard at the local ski hill one day. That would be fun.

The newspaper says we should be able to see the Northern Lights. It’s clear enough outside tonight. I think I’ll go check before I go to bed.

Rick Mercer is a Canadian comedian who has this show called: Talking to Americans. In this show, Rick Mercer interviews and satirizes the perceived American ignorance of their northern neighbours. However, the other day, we were sitting in a restaurant in Healdsburg. After dinner, I excused myself to use the ladies room. When I got back, my dinner partner was snickering. I asked what happened. He said that when I left, he had overheard the conversation between some people who worked in the restaurant. One had just gone to Canada with his family. He’d toured Niagara Falls and a few other places in Ontario. Then he mentioned visiting Saskatchewan, the waitress had commented: “Oh. I know Saskatchewan. That’s where they have sasquatches. ”

Ok. Sometimes you just have to laugh.

For further reference:
Surf around Rick Mercer’s web site.
Watch some clips of Rick Mercer’s Talking to Americans show.
Learn more about sasquatches.
Learn more about Saskatchewan.

I spent all day yesterday making Christmas gifts. Mainly, I made Quebec-Martin’s famous Mango-Cranberry Chutney. My idea was to make small jars of preserves for gifts. I bought the jars, but I didn’t have the faintest clue how to make the preserves so I phoned my Dad for advice. Here is what he said:

1. Boil a big pot of water.
2. Turn off the burner and put the jars and the rims in the hot water.
3. Don’t heat the lids with the rubber seal–they’ll melt.
4. Put the hot jam, jelly, chutney (whatever) in the hot jars.
5. Smooth out the air bubbles with a spatula.
6. Put the lid with the rubber seal on the top of the jar and hold down with your fingers.
7. Tap the jar firmly on the counter top four or five times (to get rid of the air).
8. Put the rims on–as tight as you can. Then, tighten them more.

That’s it. Let them cool.

Wow. It was that easy. I now have eight little jars of Mango-Cranberry Chutney. I hope people like them.

I finally woke up this morning after a terrible night of no sleep. My mind was turning with ideas to improve my situation. What good does it do you from 2 am to 4 am though? I just toss and turn and curse how I am going to feel in the morning. It is now morning. I’m cursing the lack of sleep.

I wake up and open my door. My housemate is already awake and calls from the kitchen: “Jen. Jen! The word of the day today is: loquacious.” I look at him still groggy and now mystified. That was a word that I’ve been talking about to my Spanish-speaking friend lately. I’d heard it on a TV program a few weeks ago, but never knew what it meant. I kept meaning to look it up. Now I do.

lo.qua.cious

Pronunciation: lO-’kwA-sh&s
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin loquac-, loquax, from loqui to speak
1 : full of excessive talk : WORDY
2 : given to fluent or excessive talk : GARRULOUS
synonym see TALKATIVE

AKA: Princess Donkey!

I’m going to be organizing a WordPress meetup in San Francisco on 27 Jan 2007. I have been using WordPress to make a few other sites lately, and I decided to try to find some other bloggers out there who use (and sometimes struggle with) the software.

I looked on meetup.com to see if there was a group already organized in the greater Bay area, but alas–no. I discovered meetup.com sort of by accident when I was thinking about meeting other Canadians in the Bay Area.

Regardless, I’ll be organizing a WordPress meetup next year. I haven’t the faintest idea how to do it, but–like the rest of my life–I’ll just figure it out.