New Blog For A New Adventure

I have created a new blog for the new adventure and you can find me here:
http://dartmouthcove.blogspot.com/

The End of The Northern Adventure

Well, on December 20th, I drove out of the north for the last time, heading south to Victoria, BC. The car was packed with camping gear, moving stuff, and Stormy the cat. There wasn't much room left in the car, but we made it. We drove to Fort Nelson the first night, via the Fort Liard Highway, crossing the Mackenzie River at Fort Providence. The river was frozen all around the crossing, and slob ice in the open area. We spent the first night in a hotel in Fort Nelson, and then headed for Mission, BC to drop Stormy off at his foster home for the holidays and I continued on to Victoria to visit with some good friends there and chill out after what was the busiest fall ever, between work, packing, moving, planning for a Christmas holiday and then a subsequent move across the country.

I am unemployed and homeless, ha ha...but will stay with my parents in Dartmouth for a few weeks, hoping to get my own apartment in February. I also had a job interview that went very well, so hope to be starting work in late January.

So ends the Great Northern Adventure. It's been just over 3 years, dozens of beautiful friends, 3 jobs, 3 homes, lots of souvenirs, tons of photos, and endless memories of my time in the north. This will be the last post on this blog, and you're welcome to continue to follow my journey on my Under The Sky blog at http://dreamazone2.blogspot.com, my old blog that has been around for years. Good night all from the land of the midnight sun.

Brrrr

Temperatures are dipping...ice fog, squeaky snow, creaking and banging wood, and frozen noses...ah, winter is here.

Signs in Winter

So they FINALLY plowed my street this week. These are the signs they use to show they are plowing your street that night. They plow one street at a time. My street was low on the list I gather, since it was the first plowing this winter...even though it snows damn near every day. They just let it build up and everyone drives over it, then they come and chip it away after it's packed down like fucking concrete. Now there is a big drop off where the parking lot meets the street, just like a curb, as the parking lot also needs plowing...

This sticker was on a garbage can at Tim Hortons. There are huge ravens EVERYWHERE. They are such scavengers and people throw garbage all over the place up here...so disrespectful. So much for taking care of "their land". The sticker says "polishing the gem" - a reference to diamond mining here.

Jack Frost Strikes YK

Frosty day in the city today...Jack Frost struck again. Everything was covered in a thick layer of hoar frost. There was also a fair bit of ice fog. Made for some interesting shots. I didn't have my zoom lens on when I saw the raven...even he had some frost on his feathers.

Winter Wonderland

Winter is well underway here in Yellowknife. We've had snow for about a month. It's piled up all over, and people are wearing their down. I'm not...it's winter, but it isn't that cold yet, though tonight the temperature is dropping. It's -18C at the moment. I'm still just wearing my Folk on the Rock sweatshirt with a pashmina and mittens. I tried my down the other day and nearly melted. Not quite cold enough for it for me. I need a new winter jacket I reckon. Once I move to NS, I won't need a down, but my other jacket is too big, and very worn. Yayyy...shopping...

So I was out driving around today before heading into work, taking some photos of the city, the Great Slave Lake, and Back Bay. I especially like the canoes up on the ice that people drag off to their houseboats as late as they can until they can walk on the ice. They shuffle over the thin ice, and paddle their way through the slush. Some just move in with friends for a few weeks until things firm up enough to walk out, and do the same in spring thaw.

Enough With Winter Already

Ok. I live in the north, and it's colder here. I accept that. But generally in this part of the north, it doesn't snow much. They say we have received 1/3 of the annual snowfall in just a few days. It's not even that much, just a few feet. I wouldn't mind this amount of snow if they knew what to do with it. The city doesn't. I feel like I am surrounded by idiots, in the frozen north without a snowplow. They just started clearing some streets this weekend. It snowed 10 days ago. They plow just one street at a time. And only at 1:00am-6:00am. Weirdos. And like I said, I've yet to see a snowplow. I see road graders, front end loaders, and sand/gravel trucks...and little else. And many of them not accomplishing much. The snow was pretty when it first came, and we saw the sun. We haven't seen the sun since. It's been snowing/raining ever since. And it is still snowing, has been all day. Dammit. When Henry was here he seemed to enjoy it well enough, for about 10 minutes. Then his paws got cold and he wimped out and came in. I wonder how he's doing at his new apartment? Maybe if I had a skidoo I wouldn't mind it so much, lol! I just hate driving in it when they don't plow the streets. It's like driving in sand dunes half the time. Crazy. Enough with winter already! I can't wait to be down south again...or so I think. I am not looking forward to the traffic, noise, and rush of the bigger cities though...sigh...