Molly sleeping on her back

Here is our growing kitten - who tends to buck the cat sleeping trend of curling up (Zoe is a good curling up type of cat).  She normally sleeps on her side with her legs and front paws all stretched out, but this time she fell asleep in a pile of blankets on her back.  Silly kitty, eh?

Sunset Finale

As the sun slipped behind Blueberry Hill, the vibrant oranges faded to warm golds and peaches and greys and purples.  The land largely painted in redish browns and yellow browns has great texture to set of the vibrant sky.

Sunset Seranade

This was the early view of the sunset whil the sun was just above the horizen.

Spectacular Sunset: Part 1

The clouds were just cool and then add the awesome lighting from the sun and you've got this sky.

Failure to Launch - Moon stuck sitting on the Ground

The moon appears to be resting on the ground just beyond the sewage lagoon.  It was the start of a great little evening walk for pictures.  Yesteraday I think the temperature beat 14 C - which is like late summer here and the sunset was incredible - see pictures above.  Today it seems overcast, but I guess we'll see what happens, as its supposed to be sunny and 8 C.  After the weekend the temperatures are supposed to go back to seasonal (read hovering around and slightly below 0 C) with snow predicted for the end of the week.  Winter is coming.

Its been a busy couple of weeks with Science Camp, work, barge order and everything else.  Things are approaching normal here which is good.  Molly is curled up on my laptop case purring away and looking quite content.  Zoe who was perched on her favourite chair has wandered over hear too and is sitting on one of the chairs under the table.

One last flower

Fall is well upon us in the north with a fairly impressive bit of snow the other morning.  Still I managed to find this one flower straggling to bloom last Monday.  The land has gone from red to brown and the temperatures are starting to get cold.  It'll rain probably a fair bit for the next month.

I was reminded that this time last year I was heading to Kugluktuq for my journey aboard the Amundsen with Schools on Board.  I remember the first night aboard there were crazy snowflakes swirling in the ships lights and that the rocking of the boat put me right to sleep.  I hope all of the folks I met there are having good years and still doing interesting things.

Me, I'm tackling a long to do list this weekend, hoping to get kind of caught up on all sorts of things.

In the news, and I mean that literally - Molly ended up in the Kivalliq news when I accidentally sent her picture to the editor with some of the Grad Pictures.  My photos have made the local news a couple weeks in a row now.

Otherwise, the cats are doing well.  I had to kick them out of the office because Molly was having an epic battle with the laundry on the drying rack and I didn't think the end was going to be good for her or the sweaters.  Molly continues to grow and Zoe continues to settle in.  Molly is, of course, going through her teenage rebellious stage where she needs to be on the kitchen counters and table.  Our big fear is that she is going to try to play on the stove while it is hot, so we are trying to deter her with water, which works temporarily, but her memory is short.  :D  We keep a good eye her when its hot and try to keep hot burners covered with the kettle.

I think I'd better go make some breakfast and maybe some pumpkin chip muffins (which I've been thinkin of making for at least a week now)  Enjoy the beauty of turning maples for those of you in the south..... we'll be starting our snow season early maybe this winter here.

A Beautiful Weekend

Yesterday, in spite of being crazy busy, we ended up on a nice little walk around town.  Probably good for us considering we clearly had no energy until after we went out.  Its beautiful again today, but there isn't much wind - leaving at risk of being bothered and bitten by milugiaq (black flies) - so less tempting.  We certainly are appreciating our lovely view out the window at the lake and the sun shining on everything.

Our walk included company from a friend and sightings of siksiks, 2 pairs of sandhill cranes and a flock of white-fronted geese (I had to look up nearly every kind of goose found in Nunavut on Wikipedia to figure that out).  They were quite handsome, but beyond the range of my camera to shoot.

I'm ramping up to get ready for our Kivalliq Regional Science Camp this week.  Its one of the excellent programs that KSEC (Kivalliq Science Educators Community) runs.  It brings kids together to learn in the outdoors and in fact is pretty much the only camping I've done since moving here, other than a handful of days in Jasper 3 years ago.  I'm sure its going to be a tonne of fun and that I'm going to be exhausted, but happy when it is over.

Hoping for beautiful weather and not too many bugs.

Otherwise, we are settling into our new place well and have lots to look forward to in the coming year - not the least of which is euchre with friends and the occasional brunch.  I hope to get my real camera out during science camp and get some really nice pictures.  I've been mostly using my little camera lately because it is light to carry.

Oh! Picture number 2 is proof of our shiny new street signs taken at the corner of 1st Avenue and Cul de Sac.

Undercover Kitten

Molly is in hiding.... does she suspect me of wanting to clip her claws or is Zoe lurking in the background waiting to pounce (the actual case).  Zoe has been pretty angelic lately, while Molly, being a teenage kitten, has been prone to mischief.  She has taken to launching off the floor, onto your back, off the wall and around again.  We've been working on wearing her out with the laser pointer.  I think she is about to grow as she has gained a sudden intense interest in food, where before we practically had to pick her up and put her nose in her food (unless it was wet food - she sure likes that) to get her to remember to settle and eat.  Now she has been meowing to take a second run at what she didn't finish at earlier times.  I think when she is done growing, she'll be a sizable lass.  She's all  gangly paws and long tail for now though.  She has also taken to exploring the counter with the dishes - in spite of discouragement from a spray bottle.  She is currently sprawled out on top of a very patient Zoe.  I might just go sneak up on her and see if I can get that left claw clipped.  I'm sporting lots of scratches currently - so I have lots of motivation to get this accomplished.