Northern Life
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Capitate My Capitate
The flowers are starting to wane now, although some (like the milkvetches, the oxitropes and River Beauty) are just starting to come into their own. This year there seems to be an abundance of Capitate Lousewort (Pedicularis capitata) . My guide to things Arctic, A Naturalist’s Guide To The Arctic by E.C. Pielou has them
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Spiders!
I’m working really hard at making sure that Travis doesn’t develop the fear of insects that so many people here seem to have. I’m not sure what it is but many people have a runaway, screaming sort of fear of flies and what not. I vividly remember working at the Patrol Cabin when I was
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Fireworks
Occassionaly around Canada Day friends ask me how the fireworks were up here. We never have any fireworks on Canada Day. Now living up here I never have to think of the reason why, but I have to keep reminding myself that my reality is far different from most other’s. The reason we don’t have
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Canada Day
Canada Day, for many reasons, personal and otherwise, is a very special day for me. It is now, but hasn’t always been, a bittersweet day, and a day of certain rituals. I miss one of the rituals, now that I am no longer a member of the Force. I miss dressing in Red Serge, not
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Snow
While I’ve been sitting here, waiting for some form of inspiration to hit me upside the head, fingers on the keyboard, I noticed that there are a few snowflakes drifting down. Living at this latitude one can expect to see snow every month of the year. It is rarest in July but you can pretty
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Cilantro!
I have cilantro in the fridge! And jalapenos, and fresh limes, and avacodos. We brought up a new finish carpenter to help us in the home stretch of construction. Gerard is from Calgary and he arrived on the plane from Ottawa this afternoon. When he was getting prepared to come up here I gave him
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The Floe Edge… continued
I had just been bemoaning the fact that we hadn’t seen a single Ivory Gull on the trip so far, or even heard one for that matter when one flew over and checked us out. It was followed closely by a second Ivory Gull, which landed on the pack ice a few yards away. (Sorry
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The Floe Edge
Okay, first off, I’m an idiot. Lets get that out of the way right off the bat. I have never been so unprepared for a trip on the land as this one. Ever. I forgot eating utensils, plates, cups, and sugar, and now that I think about it, toilet paper. I left the meat in
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Ah Spring
What a gorgeous evening it was yesterday. The weather cleared in the late afternoon, the wind dropped off, and it eased into a perfect evening. Bird song, Lapland Longspur, Snow Bunting and Horned Lark, rose up and took the place of the patter of rain. Now it feels like spring. Leah, Travis and I went