More aurora of the grainy variety

I've been watching the aurora forcasts on a variety of pages. and the last few days had potential for geomatgnetic storming. I did see some nice lights, but so far the solar wind is in the 550-590 range - so even with a high proton density and some nice southward Bz values the kP hasn't gone above 4 - which means that we wouldn't see them back home yet. But the good news is that we've had 4 solar cycle 24 sunspots in October, which sure beats the summer filled with no sunspots. The last sunspot that just rotated out of view to the far side of the sun - stuck around for a while and even produced 2 C class flares and quite a few B class flares... so.. here is hoping that with longer hours of darkness and more sunspots and solar activity in general that the northern lights are going to come around soon and give us some better and better shows as we start the upward climb to the solar maximum.

Get a Tripod

I have a tripod and a faster lens... but I was cold and tired - so I did the best with what I had on hand and then went to sleep. We did actually see some tinges of red and a quick splash of purple, but mostly it was green. But there was some excellent dancing going on and some nice spooky shapes.

Wonderful Wallhanging

This awesome wall hanging graces the front entrance way of our school. It is huge. The people on it are actually people sized - give or take. I don't know anything about its history or what it is meant to symbolize... but now that I've thought about it I'm seriously interested in finding out more.... I'll have to ask someone on Monday. It is really neat though.

The School at Dawn

We've been having very nice sunsets and sunrises. Here is Jonah Amitnaaq Secondary School at dawn. I'll have to consult with Gabe about how to take a picture of the school like he did of the Rivergrove Community Centre.

Beached for the Season

The sled dogs are howling outside - they've been baying mournfully all evening. I wonder what is bothering them. There is a rumour that the caribou have made it to town though.

Here are a couple of cool links I stumbled across in my travels:

http://www.aquatic.uoguelph.ca/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/index.html
http://nature.ca/notebooks/english/mon2.htm
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/vertebrates/flight/evolve.html
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/diapsids/dinobuzz.html
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/home.php

:D The internet can be a cool place

Snow-clad Twigs

We are still waiting for our first blizzard. There is too much cold for the Hondas and not quite enough snow for the snow mobiles - which doesn't actually effect me much since all I have is feet and skis... and there is my problem. There isn't quite enough snow for skiing yet.

Its been a nice quiet and relaxing weekend. I've been eating healthy food and just recharging. I haven't been outside much - it was quite nice yesterday, but I just was in the mood for quiet.

Leaf-bare snow-clad twigs
Poking through fresh snow - seeming
A bit like antlers

One ring to bring them all and in the darkeness bind them

Hmmm... The eye of Sauron seems to have made a brief appearance in Baker Lake Yesterday for Halloween.

I've got my eyeballs on you

This is part of my door after the halloween door decorating contest - sadly, the picture I took with our "mutant" attached was one of the unrecorded ones - but my next-classroom neighbour took one too - so hopefully that'll all work out and I'll be able to post it later. Artistic and Creative Credit goes to my Grade 11 Science Students.

This one is for my best friend from highschool......some things never change

Eyeballs hanging from the ceiling
Those who watch, but have not feeling
Do not care that we are dying
Eyeballs with no tears for crying

Foolish, thoughtless, mindless beings
Do not understand their seeings
Just hang there from the ceiling staring
With not hearts or minds for caring

Red Light - its alright

When I first got here I was confused by the fact that a lot of the houses had these crazy red lights. You see, where I grew up, the story was that if you had a red light on your house it meant that you were welcoming to gentlemen with a bit of cash and desire for a very friendly encounter... Rather than living in the red light district, the lights are there for the water delivery trucks to tell them when a house is empty - if the light is red, you are alright and if its off - you better not flush the toilet. We haven't run out of water too often, but we did manage to run out and then have the propeller in our pump mangle itself completely right in the middle of parent teacher interviews. Its funny, about 3 years ago I wrote a paper for Urban Planning on water and sewage infrastructure in the north - look up the word utilidor for the keeners (we don't have any here though) - :D and here I am living it. At least we aren't one of the places where you have to put your sewage out on the curb (or side of the snow-covered gravel road as appropriate) in a garbage bag.

So there you go... same symbol, different meaning and it sure makes you rethink water and how you use it - especially after taking it for granted back home.

And on to November

The past few months have whipped by so quickly I don't know where the time has gone. Today has been dedicated so far to cleaning and now to baking a loaf of bread. As soon as I have it set to rise - I'm off to the store (I supposed I should specify the Northern because there is also the convience store and the corner store - but I've never been to either - we also have a building labelled the Sanvik Coop - but even though I walk by it often - I'm not sure where the door is or if it is open) to buy a mop, some milk and some eggs and probably some fruit. I'm going to convert the leftover canned veggie soup I made up for supper into something more impressive soupwise and maybe make something special for dinner - and use up my potatoes. And that is what I have in mind of today... quiet, boring, and useful.

Sunset Halloween-style

I"ve already washed my face and brushed my teeth and taken a two hour nap - so this will be short. Halloween was cool. I had a lot of fun today - the only tradgedy involved some memory card issues which means that I don't have a good picture of my own door :S and I lost quite a few good pictures and on that note... I'm going back to sleep.

The sign of the song

Like my political views, my musical tastes morph and wander and come back to where I began.... Okay.. maybe not quite back to a four year olds impression of Fruit-Juice Me Tonight by Olivia Newton John.... um... maybe that wasn't the actual song she sang.

Grade 8 it was Depeche Mode - followed by a grunge/Canadian folk/Canadian Alternative phase - followed by a psuedo hard rock/metal - (cough cough.. mostly Canadian Alternative/Folk) There was a Tori Amos phase, A David Usher phase - well... actually I guess I'm really a Moist fan that has stuck around - A dance pop phase (ick! - except when I'm exercising) and this week its Imogen Heap and David Usher. I still really like his new Album... I think its one of my favourites.. I haven't gotten bored of it yet and I've been listening to it lots since my Ipod disaster where I lost a huge chunk of my music - its not lost lost -its just stuff I had on CD back in the south - and so my choices are somewhat limited currently to recently acquired music... And Imogen Heap... I think the haunting sounds suit the terrain here - she has a wintery voice.

I guess I'll admit I like music with energy, interesting layers, descent guitar and lots of keyboards... other current favourites:
Dala, Dar Williams, The Beautiful Unknown, Niyaz, Yoav, Nightwish, Feist, Fiction 8, Sarah McLaughlin, Isaac and Blewett, Stabillo, and I'm looking forward to David Cook's new Album due out in a few weeks.... so... I guess I'm listening to folky alternative rock with a heavy streak of Canadian talent in the list.

Anywho.. I ramble.... but yeah for music.

Random things I've learned this Week

Still no northern lights :S.

But I have learned a lot about bread and yeast.... like there is this enzyme called zymase that yeast makes to facilitate the fermentation of glucose to alcohol and carbon dioxide and that its actually the protein gluten that gives bread its fluffy structure.

I learned that pyrex is borosilicate glass and that lead oxide is added to glass to make softer, sparklier lead crystal.

I also learned that next time I buy an alarm clock at the last Walmart I'm likely to see for over 4 months - I shouldn't be frugal. My clock while rich in features is poor in workmanship.... and has an annoying alarm. It makes me miss my bright green one - the one I used to have to flip over to make my room dark or alternatively, could use as a reading light in a pinch. Although, the last time it was on the fritz I did stumble accross the new vinyl cafe. There isn't anything as nice as being snuggled up under a down duvet, lying on your stomach listening to Stuart Mclean relate the latest in the life of Dave and Morley.

Anywho, my red pen is giving me a dirty look... so its back to correcting and organizing and trying to come up with something ghoulishly cool related to math......

night

Jennith

Luminesence

Ah.. promise fulfilled. I grabbed some shots in -20 C (-28 C with the wind chill) of the sun setting behind the airport (or Blueberry Hill). I can't believe that tomorrow is Halloween already and my first thought is not to forget one of my friends from Kash's birthday...

The solar wind is zipping along, the sky is clear and all we need is nice little geomagnetic storm.... I'll poke my head out in a bit and see how it is.

Welcome Back Salmo Salar (Atlantic Salmon)

Here is the Cataract stretch of the Credit River - a watershed near and dear to my heart. I found this story and I just had to post the link because its so exciting that they have Salmon returning to the Credit. I have a soft spot for Atlantic Salmon too.

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/526473

Canada Day

This shot was taken nearly 4 months ago and 2600 km away on Mount Nemo. Today, I find myself busy, but content. Maybe because I live in a place where the baking of a cheese cake is sufficient reason for a get together on a Wednesday night.... I guess I should have put the pictures of Sherrie and I's adventures in Cheese Cake up --- but I'm not sure I have photos from quite that long ago. Yeesh! I guess I took those with one of those film cameras. I can't even imagine not having a digital camera - especially since I use my pictures nearly exclusively on the computer.

The solar wind is up over 600 km/s - and the sky is even mostly clear - but the k value is at 3 and there isn't much in the way of northern lights. The tempeture has dipped down to -18 C though and so I've hauled out my big old Sears Parka that is likely older than me. I did buy a little Kamik zipper pull from the flea market on Saturday. I should post a shot of them. They are really nice.

We have real snow now. It even snowed lightly all day and the sunset was beautiful. The lake froze over last night and the ice is covered with a patchy dusting of snow. There were heavy clouds near the horizon, but the sky above was clear and tinged in purples and pinks and I was away from my camera. Tomorrow.. I'll manage to get out when there is some light... It makes me think things like Merry Halloween :D - but definately.. you'll need a costume that'll fit over a snow suit here. Its no place for skimpy costumes.

In science class, we made bread and we repeated my science fair that got second place in grade 5 - losing out to crystals in the life catagory no less.... shouldn't they have lost because they thought crystals were alive... It was pretty fun all in all... and the only thing that smells better than 2 loaves of bread baking is 8.

I wanted to post this link for my mom. It was definately worth the precious bandwidth to watch - especially since I've been pretty much starved for the real thing so far. http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1693928/aurora_in_alaska/ - I also found a nice new to me Aurora prediction site for the Yukon - http://www.auroraborealisyukon.com/auroracast/

And in another random direction... 2 days ago I logged onto my blog to find that I was the 20,001 hit. Now, granted that is actually not all the hits on my site because I didn't add stats counter for quite a few months and also granted that I probably make up at least 40% of my traffic - less lately, but still I'm a significant piece (I use my blog as a portable favourite's page). Still, not to shabby considering that I mostly ramble whatever comes out of my brain as fast as I can type it with only limited editing and no real purpose.

So.... I'd better get back to test and assignment writing before I get sleepy. Honest... pictures soon. I'll have to take some on Halloween.

Some other Sunday

Well, its been a productive weekend in some ways. I've caught up on my sleep, and then some (what a waste of time to just sleep). I've tidied my room, baked bread, watched a movie (I can't remember the last time I did that), made a stir fry, wound 4 or 5 skeins of wool into balls, went to a flea market, went on a walk, tried out Kathy Smith's Step Video, and restarted my socks.... So now it is time for a cup of coffee and a red pen and quantity time trying to organizing my boxes.

I am totally guilty of failing to take a picture of the new fallen snow or my wool or my sock....

Soon..

Jennith

Tundra-cicle

Here is a nice hummocky chunk of frozen tundra. By tomorrow, unless Environment Canada changes its mind again, should bring our first real snow of the the year - maybe 15 cm. My skis are calling... maybe a little bit of skiing will be in order... probably not, but I'm excited. I always love the first snow of the year... and a I'm a bit miffed that I move up to the 64th parallel and they get snow on the 46th before we do here... it just isn't fair - is it??? LOL.. I bet they get spring first though!

Other random thoughts -

When we scrutinize ourselves too sharply, we always find plenty to criticize. You are striving to compensate for what you suspect is a personality defect. Grant yourself permission to be who you are. You have nothing to apologize for.

This is today's horoscope.... I guess this could apply every day, but I think I've been giving myself a hard time a bit more often in the last week than before... So... I made an extra effort to be myself and not try to be what I thought anyone else wanted... and it was nice and oddly... it worked better. Go figure.

Since I've started teaching again I've noticed a few changes about myself. The most amazing is that my printing and handwriting are neater. I won't lie and say that it is anywhere near what I'd call neat, but it has become consistantly ledgible - which is a monumental achievement for me.

I think I may have made a lasting educational impression on some of my grade nine's. I don't think they'll forget what a parasite is..... nothing quite like a photo of a cat intestine spilling nematodes from an incision to leave a lasting impression.... Okay... I think my parasitology lab has probably left more of a lasting impression on me than most of my other labs combined. Save maybe plant evolution and wood products - but only because 4 hours of drawing pictures of things through a microscope usually ends with me curled up with a splitting headache wishing that there was some other way to draw cross sections of phloem and xylem - but I don't think that increased memory. Parasitology lab was at 8:30 am on Friday mornings - Thursday night is pub night, and while I didn't usually participate in the festivities of pub night - I worked as a Foot Patroller until 3 am, so searching through the intestines of thawing roadkill 5 and a half hours after I got off work was... rough and we had to use microscopes.

And I keep forgetting to mention/photograph my knitting related stuff. My Yarn Forward order came and I'm loving the Cascade 220 colours. I have to remember to follow up and order some more. Photograph coming soon. I also need to photograph my sock... I started the second one, but had a stupid moment and knit the tail in the wrong direction on the cuff... so I think its time for some frogwork for sure... sigh and I hate casting on.

Hopefully... pictures of snowcovered tundra soon.

Jennith

Huskaplantae

Okay.. no real thoughts to add at this time... but here is an extra picture.

And rabbits the size of cats

I must have a better picture of an arctic hare somewhere... but seriously... they are at least as big as an average raccoon, definately bigger than cats. I think my dog would think about it a bit before chasing after them... but then chase after them anyways. This one decided he didn't want to stick around for a photo session. We kept an eye out for him when we we got around the corner... but no visible sign of him anywhere...

Its been busy lately - I think its going to stay that way. Look for northeren lights (maybe even down south) on Oct. 31st and apparently they have more snow in Central Ontario than they do here... go figure.