'tis the season

The red plumage of the ground plants is a sure sign of autumn. The leaves start turning in late July, but I remain in denial until the tempertures convince me that it is true.
It was a fine Saturday afternoon to go see if the hills are ready to give up their fruit. Yup they are, and so the three of us went a picking. Kamik was a good puppy not running off with strangers (as she has done) instead she caught on quickly to berry picking. In using good sense she didn't raid the basket but stole the berries out from the patch. Happily she nibbled the berries while we picked. Frequently we sent her to find her own patch of berries to enjoy. She has yet to figure out how to drop them into the basket.

Katie and Kamik picking berries.

The hills offer a beautiful view and an opportunity to race.

the real big boys came to town

HMCS TORONTO
Chopper

F18


Kamik playing catch-up


The small capital was inundated with a military presence. Is this the future the PMO has in mind for the beautiful arctic?

I still get a thrill watching the F18s roar overhead but best of all is watching them leave the tarmac and in a heartbeat are so far into the sky it seems to defy logic.

From my seaside balcony we had a great view of the airshow on this cloudy day. This time they departed for quite a long while, I wondered if they flew to Arctic Bay and back in the 40 or so minutes they were gone. At top speed they cross the Atlantic in about 3 hrs, can make the trip from Quebec to Newfoundland in well under an hour.

(The images are a little blurry due to the extreme zoom used to capture the vehicles.)

oooh the big Kahuna arrived

So it is that the arctic is such a hot spot currently we get more official visits than anyone would imagine.
The big blue cheese arrived in a black jet with an entourage of security guys, aides and ministers. The local cops kept up perimeter blockades.
Let it be said; no body here much noticed or seemed to care. What's the big deal? Reminds me of American rap star or Kelly Clarkson and their entourage. With his plastic face and never changing hair (why doesn't he show up when the wind is blowin' a gale?)
PM Harper has been here before and can no longer be considered a 'newbie' to the north. So how is it he insults everyone with the misspelling of the capital city? DOH!
With the recent hoopla created by the nationally circulated photo of two children sleeping in front of the grocery store this summer, the PM instead focuses on military issues, arctic sovereignty (for mineral rights?). All for naught if the future generations are not prepared for the quickly changing times in their world.
So with military and all the little big guns in the area for the week, I wonder who does it serve?
We pay a flat rate subsidized for gasoline, it is shipped in.
The city is ripe for corrupt, non transparent government and business practices. Nepotism is so common it is understood that is the way of things.
But at least the PM will ensure through military presence that the real issues can be ignored. Basically a showman using the oldest trick in the world...distraction, slight of hand and diversion. Politics is magic.

big sky

While out on our daily constitutional, Kamik and I headed down to the graveyard. Oddly it does not have the same sense of most burial sites. I don't find it peaceful, or creepy, or anything weird.
This day the clouds seemed to go on forever and when Environment Canada says we have a 48km visibility, one has to believe it on days like this.

...as it happens

I didn't have to worry about the key deficient laptop for long. One day just any ordinary day, my laptop refused me. No power no how. *sigh* PC is dead. No blogging, no facebooking, nothin!

All is well as a replacement arrived rather quickly in the mail. Next on the agenda is rescuing the hard drive so as to recover my pics and tunes. Really I'm sure I don't know how much stuff is locked away until the transfer of goodies is complete.

taking the lead

Kamik is a clever, friendly little dog chasing after new friends, mostly the two legged ones. On the flip side, she returns to me at lightening speed when I call her back lest she trails after an unsuspecting person to locations unknown.

Often I take her to the river, a good, only-puppy entertains herself chasing the waves and tossing pebbles around. While I got busy fishing away the afternoon, she was chasing the waves, she got careless -- KER-splash. Since it wasn't a fish splashing at the end of my line it must have been the pup. Sure enough there she is; soaking wet, little paws trying to climb back onto the rock. She had tumbled into the Sylvie Grinnell river! I had visions of her bobbing downstream into the bay but she clambered back up, gave a shake and found a stone to amuse herself with.
One thing I've learned about dogs; they know how to get on with things and don't linger over the "what ifs".

Bistort
Vetch