colours

"Dat'al, datthaw, jenntl'ur,

ya-aa

jenachu'ur ni-ii."

(southern tutchone)

Red, yellow, green and black - I've seen it.

nakhel

Yesterday, I saw glowing amethyst

among the autumn colours

in my back yard.

This solitary lupin nestled close

to the firewood drying for the winter.

In Southern Tutchone dialects cottonwood is called:

laju; lajyu; or dan t'u.

Flowers are nakhel.

Dad

Dad preferred to keep his hair in a neat brush-cut.

Often though, as the years crept up on him, 

he'd  let his silvery brush-cut grow long and his hair would stand  straight out from his head.

When his hair was like that
I'd tell him he looked like
a dandelion 

gone to seed.
He'd
laugh and agree...

Dad passed on in June of 2008

but every time I see 

a dandelion gone to seed

I think of Dad, 

of laughing with him,

 and 

of his silvery brush-cut.

cranberry bog

Ruby, silver, and emerald...

... colours of a Yukon cranberry bog.

beautiful doll

A beautiful doll ...

In Southern Tutchone a doll is:

"gugara";

a young girl is:

"a yejala";

old timers are:

"kwaday dan"...

the old timers referred to Christmas as a gifts day:

"k'ats'adale Zanu".

This beautiful doll was created by 

Southern Tutchone artist 

Sandra DeWeert 

and is a special treasure in my

personal collection.

Miles Canyon~morning and evening

Miles Canyon 
shrouded in fog

at 8:30 a.m

August 21, 2010...

...same vantage point but
with sunshine

at 6:00 p.m.
August 24, 2010

I've heard Southern Tutchone old timers 

refer to this place by two different names:

Chu-lin and Kwan-lin.

berries = jam

 As a child I lived in the Southern Tutchone regions of the Yukon harvesting the land for subsistence foods with my parents, grandparents, siblings and extended family.

Living a primarily traditional lifestyle meant store bought berries and fruits were a very rare treat.
So every now and again, I indulge.

In Southern Tutchone strawberries are called:

"kwansi zhur"

...blueberries are called:

"nandhay".

I like blueberries:

"Nandhay yanili."

As I worked on a batch of jam this weekend, 
using store bought berries,

I  thought of Gramma and how she would have marvelled 

at the crates of

berries and fruits, inexpensive produce, pressure cookers, 

and the

flats of jars and rings now available to us in the stores of  Whitehorse. 

Gramma and I made jams and jellies with the wild berries we picked and processed with a hot water bath and sealing wax using the old style, zealously hoarded, glass mason jars with the glass lids. We also used recycled jars with a simple
wax seal.