Date: January 13, 2006
Weather: -24°C and snow
Sunrise: 12:51
Sunset: 15:17

Well, I have confirmed it. There IS such a thing as a sun! I had been complaining for some time at work that I thought the weather office indication that the sun was rising, was a fraud. I was sitting at my desk some time after lunch when a coworker called me to say that if I looked out the south windows in the building I would see “it”.

He was right.

I saw the sun. And not just a piece of it...I saw the whole thing! It had already risen completely above the horizon by the time I got to the window. It was a sight for sore eyes!

The big ball of fire in the sky bedazzled its spectator. The low cloud cover just above the horizon cast an astonishing effect on the sky. If the sun was anything, it was not subtle; sitting on the horizon like that only served to magnify its grandeur. Giant rays of hot white light radiated out from the centre of the sphere, some disappearing below the horizon, others shooting upwards, consumed by the clouds. Then there were the rays that knifed out parallel to the horizon. They radiated colour that you simply do not see in the south…brilliant sunburst oranges, maple leaf reds, neon pinks and impossible purples. The whole spectacle looked like something you’d see in a movie, something planned, something created by computer generated images. Except I knew better; I knew it was nature at its finest. There was no show here, nature was just being itself.

The light cast a back glow that illuminated the white-grey cloud cover. The backlight served to give the clouds a three-dimensional quality; rather than shapes in the sky, they became giant structures of impossibly immense volumes reflecting light of every shade of the red spectrum. I could imagine, almost feel, the fiery heat of the sun as it burned off millions of tones of fuel every second to create this intense light show for this one watcher 150 million kilometres away. I couldn’t feel its heat, only see its colours, and that was good enough! I stood there watching it until I though I would go blind. Mother always said, “Don’t stare into the sun”.

Reluctantly I returned to my desk to finish out the day. Strangely time seemed to go faster, the air was lighter, things were brighter and I think I actually smiled a little – well maybe grinned a little at least. Yes, Virginia, there is a sun - There is a sun indeed!

The other highlight of the day was having some friends that are neighbors over for dinner. We had Muskox spaghetti as planned, chatted and watched a movie together. As a thank you, Russ (a 16 year old Inuvialuit boy) left us with a hand drawn, and coloured sketch, of a red Ferrari Spyder. That kid has talent! The picture will be displayed in my office.

Cheers!