Preparing for landing

The sun was in the process of setting as we reached Yellowknife allowing me to see things from a birds-eye view.

They have trees here!!!

Its been a long time since I've spent fall somewhere with trees.

Yellowknife at night

Sunset over Back Bay

I think this is the view my Grandparents sort have would have had back in the day :D

Yellowknife Airport

Arrival in Yellowknife

After dreaming of visiting Yellowknife since I was a child, I'm finally here and probably at the nicest time of year. You might all be wondering why on earth is isolated capital city of the Northwest Territories even on my must see travel list - actually if you knew me you'd probably not be all that surprised... I like small towns and remote locations (I do live in a smaller, even more remote and isolated hamlet on the shores of Baker Lake), but in this case it has to do the the stories of the best story tellers that I know: My Gramma and Grandpa.

From my earliest childhood days, Yellowknife was synonomous with the north, adventure, the barrens and the final frontier. My grandpa told us stories of his travels on the land with a canoe and a friend and some very bad cooking. I still remember him vividly telling me about waking up with his sleeping bag covered in snow. My grandma tells stories of the people of Yellowknife - how an old miner taught her how to cook her first turkey for my Granpa after they were married.

Arriving here, I was caught doing something as lame as photographing the polar bear diorama in the airport. I had to laugh at myself as we were driving into town from the airport that I was getting that culture shock thing that goes with cars, roads and trees and large buildings because my typical viewscape is red clay/gravel roads, trucks, hondas and machines (skidoos), and the largest building in town is the high school. The view from my room is amazing - I can see the territorial legislature and Frame Lake.

I'd better throw out a few picture and then go take a bunch more for you all. I know a remarkable number of displaced Yellowknifers for someone who has never been here before.

And the Siksik works on putting on his fall 15 lb

We participated in the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup yesterday - many of us picking up litter on 2 beaches, others (namely the siksik pictured) is cleaning some food particles he's dug out of the sand. The weather clouded over, but it was beautiful in the morning when I wasn't taking pictures, and interesting colours and light in the cloudy afternoon.

Winter is coming though even to the vegetation nearest to the temperature modifying lake... twice we've seen ice on the puddles and I've heard rumours of snow, although I've yet to see it.... The barges are still coming and going, but in a few weeks, ice will start to form on the lake.

I'm headed for the Schools on Board program in just a few days, and I'm terribly excited, and a little nervous. There will definitely be about a 2-3 or maybe 4 week gap in my blog, but hopefully, lots of cool stuff once I ramp back up to speed in late October.

And then the tundra starts to turn

Its been a busy, but postive fall - already the colours of the land have shifted from green to yellows and oranges as the weather has started to brush the subzero range. As usual, September is a rainy month, so we were thrilled when a pretty consistantly grey sky opened up to broad swaths of blue and pleasant temperatures on Wednesday for the Terry Fox run. I think we are back to grey skies again. I know I should still get out and walk with the nice weather rapidly fading. Maybe tonight.... looks like there could be more northern lights late this evening, should the sky actually clear up so we could see them here.... here's hoping.

Dinosaurs Ate My Couch

A random purchase from the clearance department has brightened my living room decor considerably. I went to put it away for having company over, and then immediately relized the positive impact it had on my living room. It kinda goes with the dorm-room feel and ikea beddesk frame and moderately chewed on furniture (just for the record, I do not have any pets).

It was a nice weekend with a quiet get together with some friends followed by two days of blissful anti-socialness spent with some fictional dysfunctional teens in Manhatten and sometimes Brooklyn and some very non-fiction science textbooks.

We made stew tonight - so lots of healthy vegetables, YUM!

And now that I've done one more bit of procrastination, I should get back to subnivian ecology for a few more minutes before tackling Tides.

Fireweed Fields

A moment of sunshine on a persistantly cloudy weekend brought out the glowing purples of fireweed and the yellowing tones of the the tundra grasses as summer turns to fall.

All Graduated

A quick good luck in all their future endevours to all 12 of our amazing graduates this year!!!! It may be the sunset of highschool, but tomorrow is a sunrise on new and exciting adventures.

I'm back in Baker Lake and glad to be here, although I've actually gotten to the point where most of the time I'm clued out to the fact I'm living in such an isolated place. Once and a while, I look up and it occurs to me that if I walk 1 km past the edge of town, there really isn't anything out there built by humnas within 275 km (and a good deal in most directions - 275 km is the distance to Rankin) except Meadowbank Mine.

I learned a new card game last night and enjoyed several rounds of euchere although I was a bit tired, and generally playing poorly (sorry partner), but still having fun. In other excitement, I bought a dinosaur themed quilt on clearance at Sears which has brightened my living room decor, even if it has failed to enhance the grace and elegance of my decor, it is cheerier than navy and buff semi abstract floral camo. Besides, the Ikea bedframe and mix of posters and technically flawed original watercolours (mine - so I can cut them up if I want - 1 is good, and two are decent and the others are okay enough to have on the wall as long as no one looks too closely) make it impossible to create an adult space.... so... yeah for dinosaurs :D

Fields of Cotton Grass

Forget socks ---- tonight is a tea night. Just put the kettle on. I guess I could crack and turn the heat on - but its 9 C outside, however the humidity is 94 % and I guess its really the damp cool Toronto-esque winter feel that is getting to me or the lack (still) of socks. I was once told at camp that the secret to being warm was having warm dry feet, and if you could achieve that the rest of you would normally be okay. I can't think of any special biology reason why warm feet are so important to a general feeling of warmth, but whoever told me this, and lent a shivering 20-something version of myself warm, dry, fleece socks and dry boots, was a saviour.

I've been slowly, a few rows a day, been working on a new pair of socks. They will of course be conducive to warm dry feet - after that I think I'm going to tackle a blanket project. I have a fair collection of cascade yarn (soft and not too itchy, but not durable enough for socks) that I think would do well as a blanket. I haven't decided if I'll stick to something plain, try out entrelac or do something with a bit of lace or cable. I figure it needs to be simple enough to be picked up and put down for months at a time to have a chance of ever getting finished...

and I ramble...

Sunset in Baker Lake

I've been an awful blogger. This summer it was largely an intentional plan to de-technology my life and just spend my time doing real things like hiking, biking, swimming, walking and visiting with family. Furthermore, after taking over 5000 pictures in Norway, I really didn't have as much drive to take photos - and I was rather sick of lugging around 5 lbs of camera wherever I went.

Its funny, this place feels more like home everytime I come back. I appreciate knowing the staff at the northern and the airport. I appreciate my classroom and its actually nice to see my students again. Its good to be busy again, at least some times. Its nice to have a sense of purpose, although I find myself pining just a bit for the crisp morning air in Canmore on my morning ride to the pool, keeping alert for possible encounters with Ms. Elk and her wee'un. I miss the pool too, the rhythem of swimming lengths, with the only things to think about being breathing, counting laps and trying to keep my strokes neat and efficient. I guess its hard not to miss vacation, but lucky for me, I actually enjoy my work. We've been trying to walk more, but, the weather this time of year has a tendency to produce kind of grim rain about 50 % of the time (thus the lack of northern light sightings since I've been here).

Its been busy, and I expect I'll continue to blog only sporadically between now and the end of October... after that, the weather may encourage blogging.

Its actually quite cool today. It caught me off gaurd to find the chill penetrating a long sleeved shirt and a lightly lined softshell on the way to work and on that note I'm going to go find some socks because my feet are the coldest part of me.

Beauty in Norway

Just looking back through my trip pictures I stumbled accross this gem of a special day of hiking in all weather in the small village of Balestrand. Looking out on the Sognfjord and the snow dappled mountains.

In the background, if you can believe in July, I'm having a conversation about hockey players... :D Only a few more months until its Hockey Night in Canada and the Toronto Maple Leafs surprise everyone by winning the Stanley Cup.

Its a beautiful evening in Canada too.

View From the Top of Sulphur Mountain

After 4 hours and 45 minutes we reached the top of Sulphur Mountain with small folk in tow. Yeah for ice cream and a gondola to take us back down.

The last 2 acts of the folk fest were excellent and now I'm really tired and should go to bed.

Sunny Break in the Plain of 6 Glaciers

It was supposed to be sunny in most places and maybe rainy near Lake Louise and Yoho. We had a lot of rain, but a brief patch of brilliant sunshine to allow me to take a picture of Lake Louise from the other side. It was a beautiful hike that I will have to do again at some point when the weather will allow me to get a better shot of the Victoria Glacier. (11 km, 365 m of elevation)

Sunset in Jasper

The sun is setting (this in itself is exciting for a person that has spent so many weeks in basically midnight sunish conditions). Still, mountain sunsets still have the ability to outclass most other sunsets. This photo was taken from the train station. I don't know the name of the mountain in question.

The last few days have been busy. I actually biked to 37 km and I've gone swimming a few times. I'm hoping to get lots more hiking, swimming and biking bits in for the next few weeks and then its back to walking and excercise videos. I'm looking forward to berry picking and the bright fall colours of the tundra.

Thats all for now. I know I've been pretty week on the blog entries. I'm trying to take a technology break a bit and just refresh my brain. I'm sure that there will be plenty more pictures in the future.

The Columbia Glacier was Here

The retreated glacier has left its mark on the once glaciated valley a few hundred meters from the Columbia Glacier. We stopped in the somewhat stormy weather so I could get pictures of the glacier, morraines, and till for my students. Fireweed remains among my favourite plants of all time. This is succession in action - pioneering the way - beautiful fireweed.

The drive up to Jasper was amazing (as expected). The weather was mixed, but in general the sun came out when it was needed to make a beautiful view even better. (The Columbia Glacier stop being the exception.) It was nice spending some time with my Mom and sharing our favourite spots on the best piece of highway in the world.

Black Bear on the Icefields Parkway

I suppose I should be posting some kind of apology for my sporadic posting over the last while or if you know me better, my general absense from the online world. I've been doing stuff. I managed to swim almost every day in Ontario and I've done a bit of bike riding and a lot of playing with kids. I'm enjoying a summer of mountainous vistas and wild spaces and new sights as well as my favourite haunts. I'm looking forward to the next few weeks living and playing in one of the most stunning parts of the world before I return home to a place of quiet and subtle beauty and a true sense of wildness. Its amazing how many people want to know about Nunavut and their positive view of what it stands for.

I will go back and caption some of my Norway pictures, now that I have access to a key board and a real computer. I'm slowly working on sorting through the 5000 + photos I took and putting them into named folders, relieved to have been able to get them all on my computer even if they all ended up in one massive folder.

It has been a great summer so far and I promise to post a lot more regularly... which is fortunately an easy promise to make.

Grizzly at Lake Louise

This is the first time I've seen a Grizzly (at least more than a fleeting glimpse of one) in the wild. We saw 3 bears including this one on our drive, the other two bears were black bears.

Mundal - the Norwegian Bokbyen

Extrs passanger, Fare not paid

Almost to Mundal on the Skånevik ferry

Norwegian Waterfall #60000000000000000

Fjærland fjord

Forest Stream

Gratuitous Pictures of Irises

St. Olaf's Church

Misty Mountains of Balestrand

Balestrand has completely charmed us with its mix of small town calm and stunning vistas. The hiking here is excellent. We took a day trip to see the glacier museum, glaciers and the Booktown of Mundal in Fjærland. It is breath-taking too with tall mountains that remind me of pictures of China.