My experience in the arctic was immeasurable in it's variety, scope and adventures.

I have moved back to my home province of Ontario and find I miss the haunting beauty of the north, the winter sky with all the universe on display, it's dancing aurora, and the feeling of cold air on my face.

I will miss my pintail visitors, buntings and ravens (for all that they are).  Below is a video of a raven who had been listening to a neighbours dog bark, then tried it for himself..remarkable bird!

My beauty

Queen of the land

My dog came with me to enjoy a peaceful life, free from the abuse and violence which she was subjected to; before you judge me she is a husky, an outdoor dog who rarely wanted to be indoors no matter the weather.

Under the snow at my door

These are my final images taken in 2015.

Thank you to all who have taken interest in my blog and blossoming photography skills (see what I did there?).

Autumn on the tundra

Apex Melting

Spring arrivals

Last summer a friend introduced me to the wonderful world of birding. Though not a large variety around Iqaluit, there are a number of small songbirds, waterfowl and raptors around.

I’ve been able to get some cute photos of the wee songbirds and am in awe of their hardiness. They arrive when before the snow has completely melted and depart on a good wind in the arctic autumn.

Hoary Redpoll

Northern Pintail

Snow Geese

Everyone is getting busy with the spring season, mating, eating, training their young during the short summer for the return trip to winter grounds.

Hopefully some of the others will show up soon. I did see the Lapland Larkspur, I’ve yet to spot the American Pipit or the Horned Lark.

oopsy it's been too long

Been busy, really busy at work and lets face it, not much to photograph in the grand outdoors when darkness prevails for so many hours in the day. My weekends in December and January typically go like this; should get busy and get outside for some sun.....oops missed it, try again next weekend!
All of a sudden it's MARCH! We gain daylight at an astounding rate and the camera gets dusted off a little more often.
The bay one frosty morn.

With a fancy new camera, I've been experimenting with the settings and purchased a sexy macro lens for summer photography!

Up close and personal

I've learned some new techniques to improve the night shots of the aurora, but we've been sadly quiet in the night sky. Forecasts for 2012 aurora are optimistic. During the recent solar flares, I was in Ottawa and missed out viewing our inky skies.

My efforts were further complicated when one evening in the late autumn, while using the tripod on a 30 sec exposure; I had to exhale and in doing so turned away from the camera to avoid tainting the image...when all of a sudden a gust of wind took my camera and tripod flying!

To my dismay the lens mount had busted, hurling the lens a metre away, and was un-usable. After a lengthy wait for the part, followed by a failed attempt at repairing it myself and in so doing damaged it further; I ordered a new lens.
Lesson learned; do it yourself in camera repair is not for me and is best left to the experts.

Yaay longer days!

the raven....again

I don't have the creepy imagination of Poe, but am fascinated by our northern bird. Raven is very cagey.
At lunch today I searched the rooftops and wires for tulugak. He wasn't there, nowhere to be seen. So I tossed out the meat patty and waited. Not long; count thirty and swoosh, on the fly out of nowhere he grabs the patty. In close and noisy pursuit six others followed! Where were they?
How did they know? That patty didn't sit there two whole minutes!

Today my coworker told me about a dog that barks and runs his chain to scold the ravens on the rooftop. Sounds normal enough, squirrels would delight in scolding Caesar if he treed one of them.
But much smarter than a humble black squirrel, Raven turns his tail to the dog and ...and....yes poops on the dogs back!

The bird pictured here made noises I hadn't heard from a raven;he clucked a noise which sounded like two pieces of wood. uhuh wood. Then he said "doink".

One year

New Year's eve marks some anniversaries for me. One year not within in 10 or even 1000 miles of the 400 series highways! YAAAAA! One year of missing my daughter. One great year with Alan.

One year of firsts. So many to consider where does one start? First snow mobile ride on Frobisher Bay. First Toonik Tyme. First time in an iglu! First Celebration of the Seal. First catch on the Sylvie Grinnell River. First taste of seal and muktuk. First joy of cooking my very own arctic char. First arctic hare siting. First boating across the bay. First lick of an iceberg! First taste of arctic wild blueberries. First time ever getting moss on my butt!

New language skills; hearing the language was baffling, after a couple of courses I am able to discern a few spoken words. Though not very capable of answering in same I can manage a few basic phrases.
My daughter is moving here! She has accepted a job which includes housing and some other nice perks. This will be all new to me. Living in town but not together. We have lived together or miles apart. It will definitely be nice to have her over for an evening meal or movies together. Or to help her decorate her new digs (I haven't been able to in the past..)Recently I have considered ending this blog. I figured the first year will be most exciting to blog about. What else would I have to say?
We'll see.