windows of time

A whale of a tail, as seen on my studio window today.

I have to say, Little Charlotte is a little bit shy. But we're warming up to each other and today, I actually had a sighting... of something. You be the judge:

I was standing in the kitchen this morning, at the sink by the window, having just woken up. I think I was washing out a cup. It was just the beginning of twilight, when the sky is still deep, dark purple around 9:30am. Outside everything is, for all intents and purposes, still kind of asleep. I was on the phone with my manfriend, like I am every morning about that time. Coffee was on the perk and I was contemplating some of my fresh Macaulay House Bread for breakfast, toasted with almond butter. I had just thrown out the slice of bread that I'd left on the kitchen table overnight for Little Charlotte (which was now rock-hard).

Strangely, I noticed a figure in the yard just then, seeming to be cutting through, going quite quickly. It was a small person, in a black hood. This isn't so unusual - it's the Yukon - everybody is in hoods this time of year. But I thought it odd that somebody was cutting through the yard like that, going where? I didn't see a face. I dismissed it as maybe a kid on their way to school or something, though the school is in the opposite direction. I commented just then to my manfriend, "Oh, weird! I just saw a little person, looked sort of like an Ewok, pass by the window in front of me, cutting through the yard..." I thought no more of it after that.

Later on in the afternoon, just around the time of evening twilight, I ventured out through the yard to take some garbage bags and recycling to the locked bin. The yard is fully covered in snow, fairly deep. It was only then that I noticed that there were no footprints in the yard anywhere. I'm serious -- it was pristine. If someone had crossed through, they would have left a trail in the snow. I looked, and looked, and looked some more for traces of that person I saw in the morning twilight. There just weren't any. It didn't snow today, either.

Dan tells me that it could have been a raven - they're tricksters, you know. I'm not convinced. I've yet to see a raven the size of a little person, though these Yukon ravens are very large. But, Dan also told me that he experienced strange radio alarm clock mischief himself when he stayed here as artist in residence.

Tomorrow marks one week that I've been in Dawson City and already it feels that time is running out.