Here in the Yukon, summers are short and intense. If you live here, you know what summer means: the warm, wonderful days slip through your fingers all too quickly, so every day is a manic effort to cram in as much summer activity as possible. Camping! Lakes! Picnics! Outdoor concerts! We don't want to waste our precious daylight hours, so even though daylight lasts 20 hours or so, we don't want to sleep at all while the sun is up. Everyone is happy, happy, happy, and sleep-deprived. Two weeks ago, my sister and her family and our parents descended on us for their first summer visit. I was especially glad my brother-in-law got a chance to revise his impression of Whitehorse as a perpetually cold city. They all came and watched the Frantic Follies, of course, and we visited museums, the Yukon Brewing (it's beer worth freezin' for!), the waterfront trolley, the Fireweed Market... all the requisite summer-tourist activities in Whitehorse. We also drove up to Dawson City, checked out a very small bit of the Dempster Highway, and tried our hand at gold-panning in a creek. My sister and I both screwed up our courage (and stomachs) to do the infamous Dawson City Sourtoe Cocktail, containing a bonafide pickled human toe (bone removed). [caption id="attachment_499" align="aligncenter" width="500"] "You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow, but the lips have got to touch the toe."[/caption]

You may have heard there are strange things done in the midnight sun...

Aside from the Yukon shenanigans, I've been having more meetings with my producer to work on plans for my debut album recording, writing a couple of new songs, and hammering out details for a mini-tour in eastern Canada next month. Also, facing the reality that my eldest daughter will be starting Grade 1 next week. Tell me, please, how has your summer been?