with the sun came wind

It's very difficult to take pictures with mitts on, so I struggle-- take mitts off and freeze my fingers or clumsily try to press the shutter with mitts on. Today; mitts on won. (Temp -30/windchill -43.)

Alan had remarked to me that he could hear a jet behind us, when I looked up, it was in front....wrong there were two jets streaming across the cloudless sky. Alan took this picture before the jet streams broke up and leaving a trail of dots on the sky.

The recent strong winds have filled in and buried Nanuq's house. She finds shelter under the steps.
Underestimating the depth of the snowdrift, the truck got stuck half way into it. The drift blocking the driveway is not enormous, it is about 2 feet deep but fooled us into going forward.



Nanuq and Kamik playing nicely. At first sassy Kamik tried to dominate the much bigger Nanuq by mounting her; this went poorly for Kamik. It now seems they've come to an agreement about who's who.Frosty face and icy nose.

and then the sun came back

After days of mild temperatures; our December was milder here than other places in Canada, finally the cold returned.

The mild weather seemed stuck in some kind of eerie movie scene; days of icy mist, the horizon hidden by a fine freezing drizzle, the sun behind gray curtains. Everything including cars, buildings, and the ground was solidly covered by thick ice and a frosty topcoat. Raven and dog were not immune; raven had a frosty head and dog frosty back.

One morning I lay in bed thinking how comforting this noise is, how familiar it is....it was in fact the power lines humming under a coat of ice.



Eventually the cycle broke, the sun returned from behind the fog and revealed the hard, windblown landscape.

Ending the old year we had a special treat; a blue moon. Some (we won't mention who) were surprised to find it was a regularly coloured moon, not blue at all.

blue moon before dawn (around 0830h)