Northern Life
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Alone in the Dark, an Arctic CBC
It shouldn't be a surprise, given where I live, that it gets cold up here. The last few days have hovered around -30C, which is pretty normal for this time of year. It also shouldn't come as a surprise that vehicles really don't like the cold. A couple of days ago our truck gave up
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And in the morning.
Two ravens flying with purpose to a destination they alone knew, came straight at me from far out over the bay. Behind them the pale blue sky was tinged with mauve and pink at the horizon. The first sunless morning of the season was breaking. There is a quality of light here that staggers one.
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At the going down of the Sun
Yesterday the Sun set. And that's okay. We'll not see the Sun again here in town until the 6th of February. That curious tilt of the earth (23 1/3˚ if you're interested) has carried the pole away from the Sun and into the Earth's shadow for the next three months. If you've followed along you'll
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Anticipation
I so cannot wait to be able to get safely closer to this iceberg, which will probably spend the winter locked in the ice near town. I know, I know, more iceberg photos. You'll just have to tough it out.
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The Big Freeze
Arctic Bay froze yesterday, hopefully it will stay. If the calm weather remains, it will. Once again it is late from what I know as normal, the Thanksgiving Weekend. My understanding was normal used to be even earlier before I got here. The last six or so years have seen late freeze ups, from 3
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The wait
The last sunset of the season is only about a week and a half away. How quickly we change to the dark season. This year we've had so many overcast skies that the dark season has crept up even more quickly. There have been so very few dramatic sunrises and sets this fall, just varying
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Shark!
When most people think about our wildlife in the High Arctic it is our mammals that get all the attention. Polar Bear, Narwhal, Bowhead Whale, Beluga, Ringed Seal, Bearded Seal and the like all spring to mind first when you think about our oceanic fauna. So its not on very many people's radar that we
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Is there anybody out there?
Last Thursday, sometime early in the morning the Anik F2 satellite decided it needed a little more sun. The Anik F2, a behemoth communications satellite parked in orbit above North America, oriented itself towards the Sun, rather than down here towards northern Canada. And for the better part of the day it gave us a